Allscope Media founder and CEO Evan Greenberg has teamed up with direct response marketing executive Joe Shain to create Allscope Direct, “where proven direct response strategies will be delivered by leveraging the latest technology and data to drive substantial marketplace growth for a range of clients.”
Allscope Direct will be fully integrated into Allscope Media, working with their strategic planning team and offering “a 360° suite of resources and tools that will enable ambitious companies of all sizes to earn market share, regardless of the size of their competitors.” The executive team at Allscope Direct will work directly with clients, continuously analyzing and optimizing campaigns to maximize results. Allscope Direct’s CEO Joe Shain will be joined by president Anthony Medico, previously president of E&M Advertising.
“I’m thrilled as we embark on the next chapter of Allscope Media with Joe Shain at the helm of Allscope Direct,” said Evan Greenberg. “With this added capability, we will be able to help our clients effectively compete with their largest competitors. Our investment in leading edge technology and senior level hands-on talent empowers us to help our clients build communication programs that deliver exceptional results in this highly dynamic marketplace.”
Barry the Biscuit Boy splashes onto the scene in a slam-dunk spot for British dairy Cravendale, a cautionary tale from Wieden + Kennedy in London and production house Blinkink.
The heady mix of puppetry and computer animation milks every drop of self-conscious craziness from the script. Barry, literally a cookie-kid, swims in a creamy lake to illustrate how, if the spot's irritatingly addictive jingle can be believed, "you could lose your head over Cravendale." (In the real world, there's "Barry-flavored" Cravendale milk with bits of biscuit for fans who can't get enough.)
"Cravendale is the only branded milk in the U.K., and it needs to stand apart from the ubiquity of cheaper own-label milk in the supermarket," W+K creative director Sam Heath tells AdFreak. "So the spots need to cut through on a limited media spend and somehow lodge the thought in people's minds that Cravendale is superior in some way. The more memorably you do that, the more effective the work is."
The team strived to create "a beautifully detailed, incredibly crafted world that felt charmingly old school and yet quirky and modern at the same time," says Heath. "In the end, the whole thing was brought to life mostly in-camera using a combination of traditional techniques. So all the sets are real models with painted backdrops, and Barry is either puppeteered or animated stop-frame or sometimes a combination of both."
Unlike Chips Ahoy's recently unpacked ads starring cute and mischievous anthropomorphized treats, Barry's adventure has deliciously creepy overtones, as have past cartoon creations from W+K's Cravendale team. Speaking of which, the brand has apparently given those cats with thumbs the finger and sent them packing—at least for now. No doubt many fans will miss the fiendish felines, who clawed their way through some uber-popular ads.
Sorry, kitties. That's how the cookie crumbles.
Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Cravendale Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, London Executive Creative Directors: Tony Davidson, Kim Papworth Creative Director: Sam Heath Creatives: Max Batten, Ben Shaffery Producer: Lou Hake Production Company: Blinkink Directors: Andrew Thomas Huang, Joseph Mann Puppetry: Jonny Sabbagh, Will Harper Executive Producer: James Stevenson Bretton Producer: Benjamin Lole Director of Photography: Matt Day
The economic crisis has supposedly started a soul-searching process in the economics profession. Five years into the crisis and economists still offer more of the same in response. “Create new bubbles.” “Cut red-tape.” “Liberalize finance in the rest of the world.” Why do economists keep getting it so wrong?
Innovation feeds on diversity, but diversity is scarce in economics.
A little-remembered episode in the history of the discipline, told by Tiago Mata in his dissertation at LSE, reveals how diversity was killed in economics. Back in 1968, a group of young radical economists, the product of the campus unrest of the 60s and the anti-war movement, came to rock the discipline. Organized by the Union for Radical Political Economics, they called for a politicization of economics, accusing fellow economists of ignoring the important questions and being “instrumental to the elite’s attainment of its unjust ends.” They rejected the “marginalist approach,” today’s mantra in economics, for accepting the basic institutions of capitalism, and catering to improve only its administration … marginally.
The front-guard of the group was at Harvard, where non-tenured faculty Arthur MacEwan, Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis and Thomas Weisskopf taught a course tellingly named “The capitalist system: conflict and power.” Older Harvard faculty found the course a disgrace. But these were still the 60s and economics was not yet economics. Harvard-based John Kenneth Galbraith, a non-conventional political economist, and a notable ally of the young radicals, was President of the American Economic Association. Galbraith was wary of economics becoming a system of belief and used his presidential address in 1972 to support this “new and notably articulate generation of economists” that was coming to ask politically-important questions. Not everyone agreed.
A campaign ensued the next few years to eradicate the young radicals from top positions. Contract after contract and tenure after tenure were denied, including to the Harvard four.
Among them, the most notable case was that of Sam Bowles, one of the brightest economists of his generation, as confirmed by his later work. His tenure candidacy was rejected by a nineteen to five vote in 1973. He had received the support of the most prominent members of the department, J.K. Galbraith, and Nobel-prize winners Wassily Leontief and (yet to be) Kenneth Arrow. Albert Hirschman was one of the other two who voted in his favor, as recounted by his biographer in a talk in memoriam I recently attended in Boston and which brought the whole Harvard affair to my attention.
Hirschman, a moderate economist, left Harvard bitter in 1974 for Princeton and so did Leontief for NYU in 1975, after serving Harvard for 30 years, and mentoring such conservative heavyweights like Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow. Galbraith retired in 1975 after half a century at Harvard and Arrow departed for the West Coast. Bowles’ denial of tenure and the departure of Leontief, Galbraith, Hirschmann and Arrow brought an end to the notorious Harvard faculty battles between moderates and conservatives, not only over tenures but also University governance and student occupations, battles that had brought the department to a stalemate in the early 70s.
The young radicals did not have the luck of their more established elder supporters. They were relegated to universities of lesser prestige, radical refuges such as the New School in New York and UMass at Amherst. UMass offered Bowles the opportunity to set up an institute and host other ousted young radicals from Harvard, Yale and beyond, such as Marxists Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff.
The American Economic Association judged that there was no political motivation behind the purge of the radicals, other than in cases where the FBI was found to be involved. The rationale, however, often used in many faculty decisions to deny the quality of the radicals’ research was that it was “political” and not scientific enough. Science and objectivity in economics came to be defined through these tenure battles not only as mathematical formalism (in this people like Bowles and Gintis excelled), but as one of a particular kind, based on the so-called “neo-classical” assumptions of a world consisting of selfish individuals maximizing their personal gain. This pre-analytic vision of a world of neo-liberal subjects was considered neutral, but deviations from it ideologically-motivated.
Neutrality was defended by Milton Friedman’s dictum, that even if the assumptions were wrong, what mattered was empirical verification of the derived propositions (of course this did not apply for those who made too radical assumptions). But as the higher echelons of the discipline and its prestigious journals were cleansed of radicals, disturbing questions and propositions were left untested. Few radicals were around to verify the thousands of studies that hammered neo-liberal propositions, dressed-up in obfuscated math, impossible to be penetrated by the uninitiated. While economics got dominated by neo-liberal ideas (the farthest to the left coming out in the top journals of the discipline today is to the right of the Democratic Party) dissenters ended up founding heterodox schools of lesser influence, or move to other disciplines, like geography. No doubt, ex-establishment figures like Paul Krugman or Joseph Stiglitz do speak vocally about rising inequalities and the pitfalls of unfettered capitalism.
Yet this is too little too late. They hardly researched such stuff in their active careers and their popular books go unnoticed by the discipline or the teaching curricula. Younger economists are in no position to make similar claims in their home departments … ?at least not before they get a Nobel prize, too.
Next time young students of economics walk out of their classrooms, they could remind their professors of the Harvard story: what is taught in economics today is not the result of a noble struggle of ideas, but of political power and force. It should be no surprise that the discipline is so monolithic and resistant to change.
Economics has become the secular equivalent of religion. It includes an entangled network of scriptures (textbooks), disciples (students) and preachers (professors), trained to believe without questioning the supremacy of the free market and devotedly working to prove it in each and every context, defending it against non-believers. Like the Church and the priests before them, establishment economists will not change on their own. They can only become obsolete, relics of the past, as the world around them changes. And fortunately this seems to be happening sooner rather than later.
Giorgos is a professor of ecological economics in Barcelona and coordinator of the European network for political ecology. This article draws from Tiago Mata’s “Harvard, Radical economists and the Committee on Political Discrimination” published in Science in Context (2009). ?
Samsung is hoping it hit a second selfie home run. And it picked the White House as its latest big stage.
On Tuesday, a Twitter photo of Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz and President Obama emerged. The shot was reminiscent of the “selfie heard around the world”: Ellen DeGeneres’ celebrity-packed shot from the Oscars snapped with a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Samsung, an Oscar sponsor, claimed the shot was unplanned.
The latest shot came as the World Series champion Red Sox visited the White House. The tweet showed President Obama and Ortiz — affectionately known as ‘Big Papi’ — grinning beside a presidential jersey, with other team members in the background. It looked spontaneous, too.
Much like Pinterest, Instagram is out pitching advertisers on a premium ad offering.
Following the conclusion of a test late last year with 10 advertisers, the Facebook-owned mobile photo and video-sharing network is out pitching Instagram ads at CPMs that would put a month-long buy deep into six figures and verging on seven depending on the reach and frequency sought.
Thinking of storing your stuff in the cloud? Well, if you aren't sure what the cloud is, Public Storage would like a word. Want to hang on to the perfect scale dollhouse in your backyard? You'd better make sure an equally scale man isn't living in it. Moving back home? You should call ahead. Your dad might be sweatin' to the oldies in your old room.
These wacky ads from The Phelps Group for Public Storage take relatively normal conundrums and give them a purple nurple.
Take a look below at these amusing little gems of absurdity.
At least that’s what Samsung’s lawyer Jon Quinn said during opening statements in the brands’ ongoing patent trial. According to a quote in The Verge, Apple considered dropping TBWA\Chiat\Day after its rival’s campaign inspired headlines like this one, from The Wall Street Journal, pondering whether or not the company had lost its seat at the head of the popular table. Quinn told the jury:
“This new, edgy marketing strategy … it drove Apple crazy.”
The campaign in question was, of course, “Next Big Thing” by 72 and Sunny.
The series and subsequent headline supposedly unnerved Apple marketing VP Phil Schiller so much that he emailed Tim Cook and suggested an agency review, writing:
“We have a lot of work to do to turn this around.”
While rumored board meetings on the topic did not inspire a change, Quinn’s claim hardly serves as a vote of confidence — and Samsung shows no signs of reconsidering its strategy.
(TrendHunter.com) For those who don’t want to choose between nature and the city, this tree-inspired building provides the best of both worlds. The building was created by the Sou Fujimoto architecture firm and…
We’ve just received word that New York-based Translation, the agency famously founded by Steve Stoute in partnership with Jay-Z, will be shuttering its Chicago office.
Founder/CEO Stoute writes:
“As an agency our mission has always been to provide exceptional service to our clients, and to bring purpose and precision to our creative output. With the recent additions of President Nils Peyron and CCO John Norman in New York, and always with an eye toward the long-term growth of our organization, we have made the decision to bring our team together in New York and close Translation’s Chicago office. This was a hard choice for all of us, but one that will strengthen the agency immediately and for years to come.”
Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new and trending TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, a company that catalogs, tags and measures activity around TV ads in real time. The New Releases ran on TV for the first time yesterday. The Most Engaging ads are showing sustained social heat, ranked by SpotShare scores reflecting the percent of digital activity associated with each one over the past week. See the methodology here.
Among the new spots, Chase references classic video games to plug its current 5%-cash-back offer at Lowe’s, a couple of manly men race their Nissan Altimas (to their suburban homes) and Subway introduces a Kung Pao Pulled Pork sandwich.
As always, you can find out more about the making of the best commercials on TV at Ad Age’s Creativity.
Hulu has struck a deal with NBC Universal to stream past seasons of Universal Television’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “The Mindy Project,” Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins said Wednesday during the second day of the Ad Age Digital Conference.
The agreement will also bring reality shows from NBC-owned networks, including Bravo’s “The Real Housewives” franchise and “Top Chef,” and E!’s “Keeping up with the Kardashians.”
The shows will be available to Hulu Plus subscribers, who pay a subscription fee each month to stream TV shows and movies that aren’t available on Hulu’s free service.
The annual Future Lions global student creative competition, hosted by agency AKQA and the Cannes International Festival of Creativity, is now open for entries. Now in its ninth year, the contest, founded by AKQA, challenges young creatives to think up an idea that just wasn’t possible five years ago, for any brand they like.
Winners will be announced at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on June 18.
This year, all the usual brand suspects are joined by a host of tech companies and startups in trying to throw you for a loop—a near impossibility these days. And in an odd move, American Eagle Outfitters pranked us an entire week early.
Stay tuned. We'll be updating this list throughout the day.
UPDATE (4:37 p.m. ET): Here are still more. Scroll down to see the earlier ones.
• Lego The toy brand is delivering its new Ninja Turtles set via live turtles.
• Honda The automaker creates the world's first DIY car.
• Sam Adams The brewer releases HeliYum, the world's first helium-carbonated beer.
• Lil BUB The celebrity cat introduces her twin.
• Moshi The computer accessory maker has invented MouseBolt, the first live-mouse-based charger.
• House of Cards The Netflix show gave everyone a sneak peak of Season 3 with a script page on Facebook.
• Netflix Watch Bacon sizzle with Netflix's new original series, Sizzling Bacon. If it's half as popular as Fireplace for Your Home, they've got a winner:
UPDATE (2:59 p.m. ET): Here are a bunch more. Scroll down to see the earlier ones.
• Bonobos The apparel company created TechStyle—wearable tech-clothing that connects you socially to a psychopathic artificial intelligence.
• Denny's In a surprising, press-getting twist, the restaurant opted out of April Fools' Day altogether.
• WestJet The airline is converting to "metric time" to be even more Canadian.
• RedBox The DVD rental company created Mood Match, which lets you auto-match your movie selection to your mood. Dissapointed that it's fake? Get 50 cents off today with the code Aprilfools.
• Saatchi & Saatchi Thailand Ad agency creates an app to help clients fire their agency.
• Samsung and HTC Bothbrands have made fake wearable tech gloves. HTC won this battle.
• American Well The telehealth firm has introduced Puppy Connect, which lets you connect to puppies to improve your health. Aww, puppies.
• Captain Morgan Hopefully this Taco Rum is fake, although Chrissy Teigen says she's not opposed.
The original list is below: • Google Linked off the Google homepage this morning is the Auto Awesome Photobombs app for Google+, which lets you insert David Hasselhoff into any photo.
• American Eagle Outfitters Charging out of the gates last week, American Eagle announced American Beagle Outfitters, a new clothing line for dogs, complete with a dogumentary.
• Cheetos Spokescheetah Chester released his new fragrance, Cheeteau. They took it a step further by actually making a few bottles of the stuff, and sent one to AdFreak. It reeks, and not in a good way. In New York City today? Try it yourself on Madison Avenue between 59th and 61st Streets.
• YouTube The video site announces the absurd viral trends for the rest of the year.
• Reddit "Headdit" lets you navigate Reddit with your head. Includes special cat mode.
• Publicis Seattle The agency has created Brand Drops, the world's first branded aromatic rain. They turn a rainy day into the ultimate out-of-home, multisensory brand experience.
• Qless This startup has created Line Ringer, an app that scans for the cellphone numbers of the people ahead of you in line and calls them with fake emergencies that force them to sacrifice their place. I wish it was real.
• Fresh Direct The food-delivery company is offering eagle-caught salmon sustainably harvested in the wilds of upstate New York.
• Google Maps Compete to become the world's best Pokémon master and win a job at Google Maps. OK, the job doesn't exist, but you can download the app and find the missing Pokémon.
• Gmail Google's mail app has created "sharable selfie" themes for your Gmail inbox—or as they're calling them, Shelfies. And … they're claiming they invented the term "selfie." Again, it's not fully a joke, as you can now set your Gmail box to show other people's Shelfies.
• Orbotix Speaking of selfies, Orbotix, maker of the Sphero ball toy, has invented a tiny hovering drone called the selfie bot, so you can take selfies every second of the day.
• Google Japan Check out the Magic Hand, a joystick that replaces your hand with a robotic hand. Just another example of Chindogu.
• Nest The home automation company teams with Virgin America to create Total Temperature Control for every seat on Virgin, introduced by Tony Fadell and Sir Richard Branson.
• Virgin Active The Smarty Pants are underwear with a built-in meter to count your every glute flex and ensure your rump is in tip-top twerking shape.
• Waze How do I love thee? Count the ways with new WazeDates. Because honking only takes you so far.
• National Geographic Channel The channel will be running some of its classic programs with new audio courtesy of RiffTrax. This will probably seem more prank-like if you're flipping through and have no clue why the honeybadger is mouthing off again.
• The Pirate Bay A special device will embrace your entire mind and upload Pirate Bay's content directly into your brain.
• Ely, Minnesota The April Fools'-loving city is launching The Ely Channel, featuring great TLC-inspired shows like Sauna Wars, The Real Housewives of St. Louis County and Iron Range Chef.
• BMW Introducing the Ultimate Sleeping Machine. BMW is old hat at this, so hats off for another super cute prank.
• JetBlue In an anti-prank, JetBlue is again giving free fares to people whose birthdays are April 1.
• CafePress The site has launched CafePredict. In conjunction with the NSA, it'll ship you items before you order them.
• Reyka Vodka A lava rock drinking-water filter.
• Chili's The restaurant chain has put everything you love about Chili's in an ice cream. Try Nacho Queso Crunch, Baby Back Chunk and Buffalo Brownie Sundae. Because there's a pregnant lady somewhere.
• Life at Google Try out Google Resume Auto-Awesome (actually not that awesome).
• Rosetta Stone The language software company now lets you Learn to Speak Klingon. It's another product some people would actually buy. Plus, they got Worf himself, Michael Dorn, to star in the video.
The court is to hear arguments over the legality of the streaming service on April 22. Mr. Diller, an investor, says losing the case could stifle innovation.
Second its remote control sports a microphone to enable voice-directed search, as opposed to hitting the up-down and left-right buttons to punch in a show’s name.
Fire TV also has a feature that aims to be an uber-programming guide for bargain watchers: When someone searches for a show or movie, Fire TV will sift through its apps and tell that person what’s the cheapest way to watch a show, like either buying an episode on Amazon Instant Video or subscribing to Hulu Plus. Right now that’s limited to Amazon’s service and Hulu Plus.
Perhaps Fire TV’s biggest differentiator is gaming. Unlike Apple TV or Chromecast, Amazon’s device will enable people to play games on their TV using the Fire TV remote, a tablet app to be released next month or a $39.99 gaming controller. Top gaming companies including Ubisoft, Gameloft, Electronic Arts and Disney have signed on to add to the 1,000-plus games available on Fire TV.
Forget about “likes” for a second. Gary Vaynerchuk said during his presentation at the Ad Age Digital Conference that he often puts content on social media solely for the purpose of getting insights. We got him to unpack that afterward.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Allscope Media founder and CEO 
We’ve just received word that New York-based 
