The “De-Skilling” Of The Ad Industry Isn’t Just Happening In America

I tend to view the advertising industry through an American lens. But over at The Guardian’s Advertising hub blog, Shuan Varga, Chairman and Creative Director of Ingenuity, talks about some problems the UK ad industry is facing in light of budget cutbacks. His arguments sound awfully familiar, except he calls the dismissal of experienced ad execs a “de-skilling”:

From the agency point of view, this experience deficit makes the entire industry vulnerable. Agencies used to claim routinely to be “custodians of the Brand”. I wonder how many of them can plausibly say that any more. Nowadays, while you might still find an agency that’s worked on a brand for a decade or more, if the most senior person on the account team graduated six years ago and has worked on the account for two, that doesn’t sound much like genuine custodianship to me.

Like many folks on this side of the pond, Varga points to cost-cutting and industry consolidation as the major culprits in the “de-skilling.” Downward pricing pressure has affected all businesses, worldwide. Clients force the ad industry to cut costs. And when the ad industry has to cut costs, we apply that to our vendors (Photographers, printers, freelance creatives). And so on it goes. Is anyone (or anything) going to finally make this come to a halt?

The post The “De-Skilling” Of The Ad Industry Isn’t Just Happening In America appeared first on AdPulp.

Hey Ad Man, What Business Are You In? #Rhetorical

I don’t know if ad grunts are any more likely to complain about work than any other profession, but I do know we find plenty to complain about: unreasonable timelines and budgets, long hours, okay pay, testy clients and account directors, unnecessary attitudes from the creative department, mindless focus on the minutia, and so on.

But all that is the glass half-empty view of the agency business. For the glass half-full version we turn to former CEO of Leo Burnett Singapore, John Kyriakou.

Writing for Campaign Asia-Pacific says, Kyriakou extolls our virtues, while challenging us to reach higher.

I still hear people say ‘we’re in the ad business’. At some point we need to realise that the success of our business is entirely based on the success of our clients’ business. Entirely.

If we at least begin to accept that, then we should be developing ideas, not just ads, that help strengthen the spreadsheets of our clients. We need to become, you guessed it, thinkers and innovators.

Businesses need to be more creative now than ever, not more conservative. They need new ways to stimulate people, whether it be through product development, packaging innovation, new distribution channels. People do not need more of the same, they need difference in their lives. Agencies have everything at their disposal to supply it.

It’s funny, I was in the “ad making” business for awhile, and it was a me-centered universe. What mattered was selling the best creative, regardless of what the client thought of it, or if it actually might work in the marketplace. Because those things didn’t matter. What mattered was a better book for me, so I could get a better job and more pay. If my clients and their customers were also happy, all the better.

Thankfully, I managed to grow up and get past this limited POV, but I am well aware that the conditions which created it remain in place. We are human beings and we like to follow formulas. Even the best agencies follow formulas. Take W+K. It might be a stretch to say their work is suffering, but I will say it is increasingly formulaic. And there’s a reason for it, which has everything to do with following formulas.

The formula W+K and other elite agencies use looks like this: Hire only the people we know, or know of, people with strikingly similar books and backgrounds, and keep them busy doing what the agency is best at — delivering TV campaigns.

Why do you think digital is such a challenge for W+K and other leading traditional shops? Digital is outside the formula. So, right now a new digitally-enhanced formula is being made, which will theoretically create new digital hits. Yet, for digital to jump the direct marketing shark and emerge as a brand building platform, we need radical disruption, not another formula.

The post Hey Ad Man, What Business Are You In? #Rhetorical appeared first on AdPulp.

Creature Feature: An Inside Look at the Award-Winning Seattle Shop

SEATTLE—I am in Seattle to discover where the brand transformers work. And how they work different to achieve better results. Jim Haven, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Creature, is my willing and hospitable guide.

Haven and Co-founder Matt Peterson started Creature in 2002 and have since seen the agency grow to 50 people in Seattle and 20 in London. Creature is a well known shop in creative circles, having done outstanding work for Pacifico Beer, Nike, Starbucks and many others over the years.

At this time, Creature is preparing to debut its first work for Fort Worth-based clothing brand, Dickies.

For every client we want “irrefutable ideas, something that’s never been done,” Haven says. He admits it is a “North Star goal” and that they don’t always get there. Naturally, lofty goals require strategic thinking and the ability to execute, which is why Haven is excited to show me the agency’s home for “living briefs.”

In the basement of their refurbished Capitol Hill industrial chic offices, a fifty foot long wall where the agency’s strategists work out client problems is dominant. “It’s our secret weapon,” Haven proudly states. “Nothing is sacred. We solve problems visually and challenge things in real time.”

The strategic mapping done on this wall helps lead Creature’s creatives to better understand and solve “The Beautiful Problem,” and move from obstacle to opportunity.

“There’s a leap of faith that every client takes,” Haven explains. “Great creative requires clients to make that (leap).” The wall helps clients understand the our process more thoroughly and exposes them to “waterfall moments along the way,” so in the end recommended solutions aren’t a surprise, but a natural outcome of the system.

Back upstairs in the partners’ shared loft office, I ask Haven what makes one agency “creative,” while others, even those with talent in the ranks, flounder. “Hard work, luck and naiveté — those are the things that it takes.”

“In some ways, you have to believe in this kind of dream and pretend long enough for it to become real,” Haven suggests. “Matt and I talk about this. The laws of physics apply to life. You end up in the direction that you’re looking. So you want to always make sure that you’re looking in the right direction. Your mind and body will follow any doubts you have. That’s why I say, ‘instead of confidence, naiveté,’ because if you analyze what you’re up against — all the obstacles that get in the way of good work — you probably wouldn’t get up and do this.”


One obstacle Haven points to is the mindset of some big Seattle-based clients. He references Jeff Bezos’ famous quote, “Advertising is the price you pay for having an unremarkable product or service,” and suggests that the focus of many big clients Seattle is squarely on building a better product. Personally, I see Creature doing the same thing, and when you end up making a better product, the marketing it wears tends to fit like a bespoke suit.

Interestingly, Creature does some storefront marketing like crosstown hot shop Wexley School for Girls, which helps give both shops greater presence in the market. Peterson says, “We want to contribute to the neighborhood. We’re closer to the street, not up in some building.”

This is what advertising needs more of, in my opinion — practical idealists working side-by-side with other merchants. It’s the necessary feet-on-the-ground piece that helps make the lofty ideas come true. Think about it, an agency up in a corporate tower is physically on the client’s page, and the ideas generated therein often reflect this. But an agency that is part of the fabric of the community, it is tapped in to what people are thinking and doing.

Previously on AdPulp: Using Kegs As Canvases, What Will Pacifico Think Of Next?

The post Creature Feature: An Inside Look at the Award-Winning Seattle Shop appeared first on AdPulp.

George Lois Talks CLIOs, Ads, And Industry A–holes

At this year’s CLIO Awards, legendary adman George Lois will be the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Awards. AdPulp had the opportunity to ask him some questions about his work and the state of the industry today. The man certainly tells it like he sees it.

G_Lois

After all the accolades and awards you’ve gotten, is it still exciting to get an award like the CLIO Lifetime Achievement Award?
 
Absolutely. Young designers and ad people are as excited by my work as previous generations – and today’s generation needs the inspiration from a cultural provocateur like never before. Helping young talent is as important to me as ever, and the Clio Lifetime Achievement Award, as prestigious as any of the accolades and awards I’ve received, as well as the impact of my latest book, DAMN GOOD ADVICE, not only can be a life changer for them, but adds to my legacy as the world’s most influential creative thinker in the graphic arts. 

51GKbq5KesL._SY320_

Is there anything that can help sustain print advertising & design these days – and can print still have an impact like the Esquire covers and ads you did?
 
Print advertising and editorial design is in an even deeper hole these days than television advertising. And the only way magazine covers could have the impact my Esquire covers had in today’s culture was if there was a Harold Hayes out there with the guts to give young talent carte blanche to design monthly covers the way that great editor did. People have always said it took some pair of balls to create my covers, but of course, the heroic Harold Hayes was the guy with the balls. He was the one who had to contend with all the nay-sayers in Esquire’s hierarchy and advertising department who were shocked at messages conveyed by my covers. Meanwhile, their circulation increased issue after issue. 
 
Looking back, were there any ideas or ads that you did that make you think, “Wow, that was really crappy?”
 
Of course not. I never did an ad, tv or radio spot, logo, promotion piece, anything…that I wouldn’t be proud of, as I am now, 60 years later. I have never allowed a client, ever, to screw up my work. Never. Sounds like a ridiculous claim, but I can back it up. 
 
You’re still creating ads and other work. Where do you get your inspiration from these days?
 
Same way I’ve always done it: A continuous, passionate involvement in the history of art, reading, writing, movies, plays, and continuing to fight racial injustice and government that benefits the wealthy at the expense of the poor and powerless, protesting America’s needless and endless wars (and still playing basketball with men half my age).  
 
When you meet young people today who want careers in advertising, do you encourage them to go into advertising or do you tell them to do something else??

In ten books and hundreds of lectures, I continually speak and attempt to inspire the need for a new creative revolution in advertising. There is a desperate need for a new generation to unleash their creative potential. The world is theirs for the taking.  I tell (the most talented of them) to go into advertising, and forge that new advertising creative revolution. My book, DAMN GOOD ADVICE, tells them how. 
 
Who is the biggest asshole you’ve worked with, or for, and why is advertising littered with so many big egos and little pricks?
 
I’ve had the great fortune to work for, and had great friendships with, the greats of the design and advertising world. Reba Sochis, Bill Golden, Lou Dorfsman, Herb Lubalin, Paul Rand, Bill Bernbach, Bob Gage. Listing them, and so many others, breaks my heart. But I’ve always understood that dying isn’t the most important thing in life – it’s what you do before you die that’s important. I’ve loved their accomplishments and warm humanity to ever give a damn about the “assholes…big egos…and little pricks.” However, I must admit, whenever I spot an obit of someone on my shit-list, I hold up the New York Times to show my wife and snarl, “I told you I’d get the son-of-a-bitch.” 
 
What is your favorite ad campaign of the 21st century?
 
My campaign for Superfocus, custom made, adjustable focus, prescription eyeglasses that allow the wearer to move a tiny slider on the bridge, so you can focus on a page of a book, a computer screen, a movie screen or a distant mountain – miraculously restoring the eyesight of your youth. Can’t beat that!

Previously on AdPulp: George Lois Wants You Digital Kids To Get Off His Lawn

The post George Lois Talks CLIOs, Ads, And Industry A–holes appeared first on AdPulp.

An Agency In Five Days: JWT Pops Up At SXSWi Next Month

Big agency services for startups, at retail, for five days only. WALTER looks to be another great idea from JWT.

Call Us Walter

Next month in Austin, technology startups in town for SXSW Interactive will have the chance to meet with JWT’s “collective of industrious outsiders who embrace uncertainty and invent within chaos.” I take it they’ll leave their suits back home in New York and Atlanta, because this sounds like a roll your sleeves up event.

Startups can submit their elevator pitches on CallUsWalter.com now. If The WALTERS like what they hear, they’ll create a “customized, strategic marketing plan for your startup during SXSWi.”

I like this idea on so many levels. It’s great PR for JWT, but more than that, it allows the big agency people to grapple with a different set of problems, while lending the startups access to expertise that would be otherwise unaffordable (assuming there’s no VC money on the table).

The post An Agency In Five Days: JWT Pops Up At SXSWi Next Month appeared first on AdPulp.

Do You Care Enough To Overcome Consumer Indifference?

“Fail harder” is a Wieden+Kennedy maxim. But if failure isn’t your thing, you can take the following advise from Martin Weigel’s, “How to (not) Fail” deck. Weigel is Head of Planning at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, and his deck neatly illustrates “the gulf that exists between marketing’s bouts of hubris and the consumer’s reality.”

I particularly enjoy slide 100. “Our task is not nurturing enthusiasm but overcoming indifference.”

Words mean something; yet we too often treat words and their meaning as inventions that can be bent to our will. Weigel argues that “the rhetoric and metaphor of modern marketing – community, relationships, fans, loyalty, love, etc. – fundamentally misunderstands how people really feel and behave towards brands.”

Speaking of misunderstanding behavior, see Slide 24, a quote from Paul Adams, Global Head of Brand Design at Facebook:

Almost every App built for a brand on Facebook has practically no usage…Heavy “immersive experiences are not how people engage and interact with brands. Heavyweight experiences will fail because they don’t map to real life.”

Yet, here we are tasked with deepening customer engagement. There is no running away from the language and paradigms of our day. So what can you do? You can’t call bullshit all day, day after day and remain employed for long. A better plan is to honestly assess the tasks before you, and politely poke holes in them where needed, replacing false metaphors and flimsy thinking as you go. Then, whatever real ideas that remain can breathe.

The post Do You Care Enough To Overcome Consumer Indifference? appeared first on AdPulp.

Let’s Do Lunch

Journalists like to meet interesting people. It’s one of the perks of the job. Apparently, so is lunch at a href=”http://www.michaelsnewyork.com/”Michael’s/a in New York City.

a href=”http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleart_aid=95618″Media Magazine/a claims they don’t care for lists, yet they’ve made a rather long one called “100 people we’d meet at Michael’s”.

blockquoteIt’s not just about being rich, powerful or influential. It’s about being someone who can contribute something meaningful to the conversation and leave us with something to chew on./blockquote

Chew on. Get it? He he…

Turns out there are a bunch of ad people on the list.

11. DAVID DROGA
Founder, Droga5

13. DON EPPERSON
CEO, Havas Digital

23. JEFF GOODBY
Cofounder, Goodby, Silverstein Partners

30. SARAH FAY
CEO North America, Aegis

35. NIGEL MORRIS
Global CEO, Isobar

36. MARK READ
Strategy Director, WPP Digital

40. ESTHER DYSON
Non-Executive Director, WPP Group

42. DALE HERIGSTAD
Chief Creative Officer, Schematic

43. BOB GREENBERG
Chairman, CEO Global Chief Creative Officer, R/GA

46. ALEX BOGUSKY
CCO and Co-chairman, Crispin Porter + Bogusky

50. LORI SCHWARTZ
Senior Vice President, Director, Interpublic Emerging Media Lab

85. PAUL WOOLMINGTON
Founding Partner, Naked Communications

BTW, Cobb Salad at Michael’s costs $36.00. Bon appetite.
pa href=”http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/uEyA608jbKeJbsC3U1PzVOC8TkU/a”img src=”http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/uEyA608jbKeJbsC3U1PzVOC8TkU/i” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/a/pdiv class=”feedflare”
a href=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?a=is7gQUYs”img src=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?d=41″ border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?a=h2kBW3hh”img src=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?d=43″ border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?a=Vr3mIcca”img src=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?d=50″ border=”0″/img/a
/div

Jerry Ketel: Conductor

During Monday’s snowmageddon, Jerry Ketel, President of a href=”http://www.leopoldketel.com”Leopold Ketel Partners/a and the a href=”http://www.portlandadfed.com/”Portland Ad Fed/a took time out from answering an RFP to meet with me in the well appointed lobby of his “idea studio.”

span class=”mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image” style=”display: inline;”img alt=”jerry_ketek.jpg” src=”http://www.adpulp.com/archives/2008/12/26/jerry_ketek.jpg” width=”200″ height=”176″ class=”mt-image-none” align=”right” //span

Ketel has an infectious laugh and a sense of ease about him. He’s also full of big ideas. He talked to me about creating social memes, how Facebook is huge in China (a communal society) and how I’m at the nexus between advertising, PR and social media. Needless to say, the man had my full attention.

At one point in the conversation, the topic turned to craft. Here’s what Ketel said about the topic on a href=”http://www.leopoldketel.com/blog/”his blog/a last summer:

blockquoteOne big influence in the NW is the commitment to craft. Portland especially has a long history of craftsmanship from log cabins to glassblowing and calligraphy. This has informed all the artists of the NW, especially the painters and designers of the last half of the 20th century to the musicians, a href=”http://eatshopguides.com/cities/?view=businessesbook_id=32type=1city_id=1″food artisans/a and yes, designers of today. Maybe it’s the rainy weather that drives us to work our obsessions or maybe it’s the coffee, either way, we like doing what we do and we enjoy polishing the details like the craftsmen (and women) of yesterday./blockquote

I asked Ketel if he ever feels his shop is operating in Wieden’s shadow. He said no. “They’re them. I’m me.” He added that while W+K isn’t part of the local ad community, Dan Wieden, the man, is.

Ketel also told me interesting stories about his partner, Jaime Leopold. Leopold used to be the bass player for a href=”http://www.danhicks.net/”Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks/a. He also used to drive a cab in San Francisco. When he returned to Portland, he began selling jingles door-to-door and realized he could make a go of it in advertising. The rest is history–Leopold Ray, the predecessor to LKP, has been operating since 1991 in its lovingly restored railway building in Portland’s Old Town district.
pa href=”http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/uMySH60wILVs67CJ2adVBf3kruU/a”img src=”http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/uMySH60wILVs67CJ2adVBf3kruU/i” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/a/pdiv class=”feedflare”
a href=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?a=4vdO33tu”img src=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?d=41″ border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?a=VipnHD4G”img src=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?d=43″ border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?a=ZgRhzgXy”img src=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?d=50″ border=”0″/img/a
/div

Thanks Matt!

Karsh\Hagan Senior Copywriter, a href=”http://ingwalson.blogspot.com/2008/12/advertising-stuff-of-year-according-to.html”Matt Ingwalson/a, named his year-end ad industry favorites and we are honored to be included in his list.

blockquotebNational ad blog of 2008:/b I keep thinking about deleting AdPulp from my feeds. And then I notice that I a href=”http://delicious.com/300spartansgym/AdPulp”bookmark/a it constantly./blockquote

Matt also likes a href=”http://thedenveregotist.com/”The Denver Egotist/a (who doesn’t?), a href=”http://www.barbariangroup.com/”The Barbarian Group/a, Pure’s a href=”http://purethinking.typepad.com/”Pure Thinking/a, a href=”http://www.noahbrier.com/”Noah Brier/a, a href=”http://www.adpulp.com/archives/2008/06/news_flash.php”t-shirts/a made from CNN headlines (a Barbarian idea) and director David Fincher’s a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlXRengzZoc”work for Nike/a.

Clearly, Matt has great taste.
pa href=”http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/kytjvTvtKgxgZdl87MPVRFLC82U/a”img src=”http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/kytjvTvtKgxgZdl87MPVRFLC82U/i” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/a/pdiv class=”feedflare”
a href=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?a=Ay1VfoFm”img src=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?d=41″ border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?a=rfCw0zBS”img src=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?d=43″ border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?a=OTGthAYi”img src=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Adpulp?d=50″ border=”0″/img/a
/div

If You Want to Have Some Say, Become A Client

Dave Linne, 47, a former creative director at Leo Burnett is now in a new role at ConAgra. That’s right, he is now a client.

As senior VP-advertising, global market strategy, Linne believes he will have more impact on the work, according to Ad Age.

Creatives at Nitro, DDB/San Francisco, Venables Bell & Partners, Element 79 and Wondergroup will now be dealing with one of their own. Could be interesting for all involved.

Omaha-based ConAgra has many iconic brands under its umbrella, including Pam cooking spray, Reddi-Wip, Egg Beaters, Chef Boyardee, Hunt’s tomato products and Orville Redenbacher.

The Smaller The Pond, The Bigger The Fish

Joe Erwin of Greenville, SC agency, Erwin-Penland wrote a piece for Ad Age on attracting creative talent to smaller markets.

Green_Vul.jpg

He suggests mining the local talent pool for all its worth and employing PR tactics. He also suggests “investing considerable resources in promoting the surrounding area” as Erwin-Penland has done with “Food for Thought: A Convention of Unconventional Creativity.” This three-day celebration, co-sponsored by Michelin and BMW, brought together innovators from across the country.

I don’t have a problem with Erwin’s suggestions, but I do have some additional thoughts on the subject. The number one consideration for people considering a small market is quality of life. In Greenville, SC and other markets like it one has room to breathe, it’s easy to get to and from work and most importantly, it’s affordable.

The big drawback, as I see it, is there’s typically only one or two places to work in a small market. Technically, there are many more, but for top tier talent there’s one or two. Even bigger cities like Austin and Portland are one horse towns. So, if something goes wrong in a smaller market, you’re SOL.

Femvertising

Omnicom is forming a new consultancy to help marketers reach women. The new unit is named G23 — G as in Group, 23 as in the pair of chromosomes that carries the sex differences between women and men.

G23.jpg

The power of women in the marketplace is undisputed. Surveys indicate that female consumers in the United States buy or influence the buying of more than 75 percent of all goods.

“Targeting women is something that is at the core” of the industry, said John D. Wren, president and chief executive at Omnicom, but at the same time “the need has always existed to do it in a fashion that adds value.”

See No Evil

Jane Sample and Ad Broad consider morality in the context of an ad career.

Jane says:

I can see how some people think we are evil.

But we are not evil. The majority of the people who work in advertising are extremely intelligent and empathetic people who CARE about the world and the people in it, we just like advertising. I know many people who work in advertising and are extremely passionate about “giving back” or supporting a cause that will make the world a better place. They use the expertise they’ve acquired over the years to make a difference.

I never compromise my morality via my job. I treat everyone I work with respect and consideration, I am honest and I will stand up for my morals or in defence of others. I am not going to get ahead by compromising my morals, if that’s they only way I can get ahead then I’ll bloody quit.

I’m glad Jane sees it the way she does. I guess she’s never met these characters in the workplace.

Step Up to the Drafting Table

Alan Wolk wants to be an architect, not a builder. Me too.

Years ago, when I worked at the legendary Anderson & Lembke, Steve Trygg (who started the shop) was fond of saying that “an ad agency can be the contractor or it can be the architect. And you always want to be the architect.”

Wolk argues that typically ad men and women are not architects today.

We’ve turned ourselves into the contractors. The guys who make the ads. Who cares about the strategy, who cares about the actual product, if the ads are funny and clever and likely to win awards?

And clients get that. They get that in spades.

That’s why they turn to PR agencies like Edelman and strategy shops like Naked and even management consulting firms like Bain and McKinsey to do all the work their agencies should be doing. Because they know that too many agencies can’t even be bothered to use Google to see if the product actually lives up to the brief.

Harsh, but true. I’m so close to it, I sometimes forget just how clueless ad people can be. The fakery at Cannes was a good reminder. And there are many more reminders in our day-to-day existence in this business.

Perhaps, you’d care to share a “Yes, we’re clueless” story with us.

Thinking On Your Feet

Rob Walker has been out touring the nation to promote his new book, Buying In: The Secret Dialogue between What We Buy and Who We Are. Portland bookstore, Powell’s, asked Walker to write an essay that would help sell the book (because they’re Powell’s).

In the essay for Powell’s, Walker says no one wants to see themselves as a consumer. It’s too trivial a description for a complex organism. Yet he argues that consumer culture an important, often misunderstood, topic.

The symbols of the marketplace — brands and logos and all their related signifiers — communicate ideas that we understand without even thinking about them. You already know, or have your own view about, what Nike or Apple “mean,” and I’m guessing that’s not the result of ever having spent any time sitting around dwelling on the matter. You just know. To a significant extent, the phrase “consumer culture” isn’t even necessary: American culture is consumer culture.

According to Walker’s essay, he too thought he was above being labeled a consumer, until big, bad, multinational Nike forced him to see himself.

The moment when I had to reconsider my relationship to branded culture came when Converse, the sneaker company, was purchased by Nike. At the time I’d been wearing Converse shoes for well over 15 years, yet something about the company losing its independence bothered me, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to wear my battered Chuck Taylors anymore. I had to ask myself why. If I’m so indifferent and immune to branding, then how can it be that I’m caught up in the “meaning” of… a brand?

Are Ad Men As Hollow As The Fantasies They Create?

Alex Witchel, a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine spent some quality time with Matthew Weiner (pronounced WHY-ner). Weiner is creator, producer and head writer of “Mad Men,” the original series on AMC. The show begins its second season on July 27th.

WEINER_MADMEN.jpg

It’s a long article with lots of interesting detail, like the fact that Weiner is a meticulous control freak from an over-achieving family and somewhat insecure for a man with industry cred spilling out of his golden pockets. But what interests me most is Witchel’s conversations with George Lois and Jerry Della Femina, two ad guys from the “Mad Men” era.

Weiner chose advertising as a subject, he said, because “it’s a great way to talk about the image we have of ourselves, versus who we really are. And admen were the rock stars of that era, creative, cocky, anti-authority. They made a lot of money, and they lived hard.”

Some of those rock stars are less than enthralled by Weiner’s interpretation of their careers. George Lois, the legendary art director who co-founded Papert Koenig Lois in 1960 and recently had an exhibition of the iconic covers he designed for Esquire magazine at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, says: “When I hear ‘Mad Men,’ it’s the most irritating thing in the world to me. When you think of the ’60s, you think about people like me who changed the advertising and design worlds. The creative revolution was the name of the game. This show gives you the impression it was all three-martini lunches.”

People like me who changed the advertising and design worlds? That’s bold, even if it’s true.

Digital Diva

Adweek is profiling Colleen DeCourcy, chief digital officer of TBWA Worldwide and Cyber jury president at Cannes.

Colleen_DeCourcy.jpg

DeCourcy, 43, has been at the forefront of digital marketing since the first tech boom in the ’90s, when it mostly meant building Web sites.

Speaking about her new role at TBWA, DeCourcy says, “It’s been a leap of faith for someone like myself to spend a year not being deeply associated with any work while I do a very corporate exercise on strategy and planning. At times it’s been very difficult, but as I start to see the [results] — people who now know each other and are talking — it feels as gratifying as a great piece of work.”

“If it doesn’t yield results,” she adds with a hearty laugh, “I’ll start to worry.”

DeCourcy is also blogging on Adweek’s Le Freaque site while in Cannes. One topic she’s addressing as Cyber jury president:

What constitutes creativity in online? It’s such a blend of smart media, direct, film, design and promotional stunt that we’ve spent a considerable amount of time talking about the ubiquity of technology and the possible demise of the category as it touches all our disciplines.

Uwe Gutschow – MashUp Artist

In the slideshow above, Uwe Gutschow and Don Longfellow from Saatchi & Saatchi LA, have expanded upon Paul Isakson’s earlier work. Neil Perkin also developed a derivative work from Isakson’s original.

The Saatchi piece above neatly describes my own thoughts about content’s role in advertising. From two of their slides: We stop pitching people with messages. We start providing useful content. I’m sure many of us have these thoughts in our decks. Thankfully, there seems to be a market for them.

Wenda! Wenda! Wenda!

I’d never heard about Wenda Harris Millard before. My bad.

Thanks to Brian Morrissey at Adweek (and Catharine P. Taylor’s pointer) I now know better.

Wenda.JPG

In a talk with Federated Media Publishing founder John Battelle at the Conversational Marketing Conference in New York yesterday, she said, “emotional creativity that has been key to building brands” is being overshadowed by “the cool efficiency of technology.”

“Technology is very important, but where many companies go wrong is when they think technology is the answer or primary solution to proving a business solution to a marketing problem,” Millard said. “The business of advertising is still a business of persuasion. Machines can’t make art.”

“I’m extremely disturbed at the commoditization of Internet advertising before we’ve had an opportunity to establish its value proposition.”

Millard is the newly named president of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Minus 2.0

Hugh MacLeod can be counted on to deliver humorous material. He tends to drop it in a cartoon, but today we look at his latest list—“10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT WEB 2.0.”

I’ll cherry pick a few for our purposes here:

1. Reconciling the huge gap between how interesting and important you tell your clients it all is, versus how interesting and important you actually find it all yourself.

5. The well-intentioned but misguided belief that anonymous loser douchebags are actually entitled to an opinion.

10. The sophomoric conceit that “The Conversation” is two-way. To quote Fran Leibowitz, “The opposite of Talking is not Listening. The opposite of Talking is Waiting”.