Hasta La Creative!

The photo is off brand. Plain and simple.

The article, if you read it, lays out the Miley brand perfectly: A young superstar with a head on her shoulders and involved, loving parents to help her avoid the famous flame-outs of her tween predecessors. An all-American success story.

But the photo has blazed through all media.  Some shock (though a summer day at any neighborhood pool is more revealing) Some anger. Mostly just disappointment. It’s weird that a 15 year-old can command so much jabber. But this isn’t a 15-year old. This is a billion dollar brand.  And the keepers of that brand, the Cyrus collective and, yes, Disney, sure should have seen this coming and told Leibovitz to simma’ down.

All girls grow up. But parents with 9, 10, 11 and 12-year olds of their own are fighting to ensure it doesn’t happen too fast. Miley, 15, was a strong ally. But the photo gave them reason to wonder. There are some theories that suggest this is all by design. But it’s clear now that it was not yet time for a brand extension.

So, we’re left with a cautionary tale as to why people like us, people who work with brands, need to think long and hard about what we encourage those brands to do. Powerful brands come with powerful promises. Breaking those promises brings consequences. That said, we’re pretty sure this brand isn’t going to be withering for long.

So, I’m not sure I get this exactly. I am pretty sure that I don’t want to.

I want to tell you that I don’t like it. That its lack of high concept makes me wince. That it utilizes a jingle. But I can’t. I just can’t. Dammit, I like the the $5 footlong spots. There I said it. And I am not ashamed. Much.

Oh,Lincoln likes them, too. Wonder what Jared thinks?

Here’s to a voice that stood out. Spoken and otherwise. A voice that I’m certain our industry will miss even more than we may suspect. If you’re a little young and stupid (which is perfectly acceptable), do yourself a favor and bone up on The Riney Way. You can start by absorbing what Jeff Goodby had to say about the man.

Here’s to you, Mr. Riney. We are believers.

Tonight, is a big, big night for brands.  Star brands, studio brands and marketer brands all mix on the red carpet. We can count on the Nicholson brand doing well tonight. It’s a tradition to cut to him grinning in the audience. His smile is as iconic as the Clydesdales. But what about the marketers that are making their big bet with this event instead of the hyper-hyped Super Bowl?  Follow a live chat with the pundits on Adfreak’s new OscarFreak. If you are so moved, leave your opinions on the winners and losers here or as an audio comment. We’ll update this post with our own opinion in the morning. In the meantime, we already know what Judd Apatow thinks of the whole thing.

Will Ferrell + Old Spice + Semi-Pro Co-brand + user participation = pretty fuckin’ awesome. Check it. You really gotta hand it Old Spice and WK. This is one helluva brand renovation that’s underway. Irrelevant and cheesy to irreverent and, gulp, potentially cool. One can almost drop Old Spice in the shopping cart without shame.

The Super Bowl ’08 Wrap

John and Tug get up too early and draw far too many hasty conclusions about what worked and what didn’t. Listen and tell us where we got it right and wrong.

Happy Super Monday.

As is our tradition, Tug and I will get together Monday morning to go over a few of our favorite Super Bowl spots. Of course, we’d love to have your thoughts, too. So, after the game tomorrow, take a second to record some comments on our handy, dandy audio comment widget. Comments in by 6 a.m. Monday got a shot at making the show.