Hasta La Creative!

UPS inks Big Brown to marketing deal

UPS believes Big Brown is the complete package.

The shipping giant is trying to capitalize on Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown, whose minority owner named the horse in the company’s honor.

The company said Friday it has signed a marketing agreement with jockey Kent Desormeaux and Big Brown’s owners. UPS, also known as United Parcel Service, will be the exclusive marketing partner of the Big Brown team.

The deal calls for the company logo to be the sole corporate sponsor logo on Desormeaux’s racing pants during the Preakness Stakes on May 17 and the Belmont Stakes three weeks later.

Brown is the main color on UPS’ delivery trucks and the word and color are a focus of its advertising.

Interesting, I noticed this while watching (and losing money on) the Preakness, I have a nasty habit of rooting against favorites out of spite. It seems like a natural fit, Big Brown, and “What can Brown do for you?” Though if he doesn’t win the Triple Crown, it’s all for naught, and to do it that early in the process I guess gets the investment in while it’s small.

It just seems like a lot of money for little return. Will Big Brown be getting Whiteboard commercials (Jeff note: a campaign I like) or perhaps a testimonial commercial on how his feed is shipped?

Horses aren’t the most reliable athletes to put a company’s money into, but then again, a corporation putting money into a professional athlete is always a bit of a risk, as Nike has learned with Michael Vick. Maybe horses are smarter across the board since the money won’t go to their heads, and most horses don’t have a crew.

The irony here is that UPS has probably gotten more free advertising from the jokes by sports commentators, and never really had to put the money into actual sponsorship. I’ve heard at least four mentions on a variety of networks say “someone should sign that horse for a UPS deal.”

No word on how some below the radar sponsorship deals have worked out: Smith and Wesson for Eight Belles, and Elmer’s Glue for Barbaro

Technorati Tags: UPS, United Parcel Service, Big Brown, horse racing, making fun of dead horses

Apple is known for it’s advertising. Has been for awhile. Recently, mostly with the invention of the iPod, Apple has been responsible for helping to launch the careers of some once-unknown artists. I don’t think I actually know anyone that had heard of Feist, CSS, Yael Naim or The Ting Tings before their partnerships. And hey, as an up-and-coming artist, can you think of a better way to launch your career?

Now, while I’m excited that these talented artists are getting some of the attention they deserve, whenever I hear “New Soul,” by Yael Naim I want to throw my TV/radio/computer through a window. I don’t know if this is because the commercial was WAY overplayed or what. But this morning, while watching VH1, the song started playing, I immediately turned around to change the channel, thinking it was the ad and having zero desire to see that laptop in an envelope one more time. However, I found that it was actually VH1 doing a little news blurb on her. So I feel like I’m torn. I like the ad… but only for the first three times I see it, because next thing I know, I can’t stand hearing the song. Unlike other ads I could watch over and over without getting old. It got me thinking… does this happen to anyone else? Do you hate Apple commercials? Or do we just grow tired of the song, like being overplayed on the radio? Maybe a mini test you can try for yourself. MacBook Air commercial is below, followed by music video for the song. Can you make it through the whole thing? I can’t.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MacBook Air, iPod, music, Yael Naim, CSS, Feist, The Ting Tings, advertising, promotion, commercials, music videos

I’m a huge fan of the idea behind the “original games” campaign. Cafe ping pong & street fencing are genius. The 180 Amsterdam commercial (below) produced by Stink (London) piqued my interest.

And with concept that grabs my attention as much as this one, I was hoping for a bit more than some playable computer games. And while the Skate-or-Die-style of game is cool, there’s still a bit of a disconnect for me from the true idea behind it all (or at least what I hoped the true idea would be). Still a cool execution, but I hope these games aren’t the finale of the “original games” concept… it seems to have so much potential.

(I was going to embed one of the games, but this site’s formatting shrinks it down and messes up the flash a bit, so click the image above to be taken to the Adidas site to best experience the games.)

I wanted to write a response to Jessica’s great coverage on the One Show

The first lesson you learn when you pursue a creative endeavor for money is that you have to be willing to “kill your darlings” to set aside your great idea should someone want to change it.

When I was first taking concepting classes, I was the only one not working in the industry in some capacity, and also the only one not able to recite line and verse of last year’s One Show winners. I found it almost freakish in a way.

I’m not totally against using these as a guide post for your work. In fact, my class partner at Book Shop, Kari Yu was a finalist this year in the college competition and I was happy to see her on the list.

I didn’t start in advertising, it honestly wasn’t my lifelong dream. I got my start in another creative field and then got into advertising. Something I’ve learned–acting classes, screenwriting trade magazines, etc. can be a helpful tool and help you with the technical aspects of your craft, but if they also make you second guess your natural creative instincts.

I also find if you watch or immerse yourself too much in some creative endeavor, two things can happen–you become a less interesting person, as all you talk about is “your passion for the industry” which after a while is the equivalent talking about how sausage is made. No one’s interested in how the pig gets to market, they just matter if it tastes good. There’s a natural progression that happens–start learning craft, get to the point where it’s all you can talk about with each other, eventually get the point where you burn out talking about it.

The other danger, which I learned the hard way doing stand up comedy in my late teens and early twenties is you’ll find other people’s great ideas seeping into your own work, either consciously, by people who have no soul, or unconsciously, by well meaning people who make an honest mistake and honestly think they came up with the idea. Then you fight a two front battle, coming up with your own great ideas, while systematically fighting off other people’s ideas that enter your head.

Imitation is only flattery if everyone knows you did it first.

Or even worse, you start comparing your work and feeling inadequate, which can be more harmful in the long run.

Like anything else, being a well rounded individual can only feed your creativity, so I shudder when people tell me I “have to” look at the new Communication Arts and hear them deconstructing every ad that’s between the covers. In my case, ignorance may be bliss.

Conversation is always welcome.

Technorati Tags: One Show, Communication Arts, Cannes, Golden Pencils, Ad Shows, Sacred Cows, I like talking about myself, How much you wanna bet I can throw this football over them mountains

Last week, I posted a blog about the announcement of this year’s One Show winners. I received a comment questioning my belief that winners of The Golden Pencil help to shape advertising to come. In this post, I’m going to share with you why. Just today, while brainstorming with fellow creatives at work, we flipped through this past December’s Communication Arts Advertising Annual for inspiration. It is my personal opinion that things like the Ad Annual, The One Show, Cannes Lions and the Addys are all important in shaping what’s to come in advertising. Why, you ask? Work from all over the world is looked at with these competitions. Some of the best ads I have seen in my life have received this coveted awards, and I can only hope to one day have one of my own. I’m not saying they shape advertising in a sense that these brilliant ideas will be ripped off and re-done, etc. but that when I look at ads like this, I feel inspired. It makes me want to think outside of the box… to be the next to come up with that great idea, that great execution or that great headline. While all out there may not agree, that’s fine. But I can’t believe you could have your heart and soul in this industry and truly not trying to create award-winning work. To each his own, but I will always stand by my previous post and this one. As a special treat, check out some of my favorite winners of last year’s Cannes Lions – as the 2008 festival will be upon us sooner than later!

  

Technorati Tags: awards, Cannes, Gold Lion, Grand Prix, Addys, One Show, One Club, advertising

This morning, I checked my email as usual and opened up my daily AdAge email. The first thing I read is an article about how Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty might not be so… real. It has come out that renowned photo retoucher, Pascal Dangin, may have had something to do with Annie Liebowitz’s final photos. After Dangin was featured in an article for The New Yorker, the writer, Lauren Collins, found out that Real Beauty was a Dangin job. Of course, there is still doubt out there about the extent, if any, of Dangin’s involvement and if he worked with Liebowitz this time around.

 

So what will this mean for Dove and even Ogilvy? While something like this could definitely cause an uproar, I wonder, from a personal stance, how this will really affect how women will look at Dove products. In my opinion, okay, so they were touched up. But when I look at the photos I still see women who aren’t stick thin, have curves, wrinkles, tattoos and other “imperfections.” I still see real women. I see a woman, that if I walked out of my house right now and started walking down the street, I would run into in my little town.

 

In the same breath, we all remember the award-winning “Evolution” viral video, one that takes a stab at the act of photo-retouching.

 

Hello, hypocrisy. So, as a woman, what am I supposed to think about this? What is Dove trying to tell me? It’s okay to be real but only so real? Maybe I should be okay with not being a size two but not too okay with it? Maybe I should be self-conscious about a blemish but that tattoo I regret is okay? I’m interested to see how this story unfolds but in the meantime, how do you all feel about this coming out? 

Technorati Tags: Dove, Real Beauty, viral, campaign, beauty products, photo retouching, airbrushing, controversy

This is a question that I’ve have had rolling around in my head for a minute. Where are the personalities? The creative class has always been full of interesting personalities (No, bi-polar does not count as interesting) but recently the creative personality cold war has produced a bunch of carbon copies. On the other side of the house the charismatic face man/woman has been horse whipped out of existence. Have the account folks been reduced to waiters and note takers. Can any out there name some folks with some real swagger you know “That guy”? People who are appreciated for being smart not slick?

A couple of commercials on rotation currently strike me as incredibly similar. In fact, I know people who didn’t even realize (at first) that the commercials were for two completely different products. Enter the AT&T Go Phone spot with Meatloaf and Tiffany and a handful of Comcast spots, including the “Lady Marmalade” ad. Notably I find them similar since each uses singing as the main means of conversing. Personally, I find AT&T’s spot much more interesting to watch as it is more of a mini-musical – including the song being edited to fit the product. As far as Comcast goes, their spots showcase one of the actors singing the song back as part of conversation, in a weird dubbed-over way, that I find, well, creepy. After much debate, I have found that most prefer the Meatloaf spot to Comcast’s. What are your thoughts? Do you find them similar? Maybe not? 

Technorati Tags: Go Phone, AT&T, Meatloaf, Tiffany, Comcast, Lady Marmalade, Patti LaBelle, tv, commercials, cell phone, singing

When is it alright to put your logo on roaches? If you’re brand is Zoo York, you can do whatever ever the hell you want. Zoo York is challenging you to spread the word by any means necessary. As long as you don’t break the law or disrespect anyone. They launched the campaign with the help of their roach department to show that you can get as random as you want. Young skaters spray painted the Zoo York logo on some big’ol roaches and they let them loose in New York City. This is one of the more unique viral campaigns I’ve seen recently. Do roaches count as new media?

One of the things I hate most about this industry is the use of the word consumer. It’s a bad word and it implies that humans do nothing more than consume. What bothers me about the word consumer is that it objectifies people and neglects natural cycles. I usually replace the word with people or audience whenever possible. But, by doing so I avoid thinking about the negative side of consumption. Like most of you, I am not a “green” freak, but I am a logic freak. We can’t consume forever without some natural corrective cycle.

I came across a neat little site, which tells a great story in a way that is easy and logical to follow. It tells The Story of Stuff. It brings to life human production and consumption patterns. It’s a must see for two reasons. It’s deals directly with an issue that many of us (or maybe just me) haven’t looked at beyond a surface level. The story of stuff is also a good example of digital and mixed media being used to engage, entertain and enlighten without losing sight of simplicity.