This has been a year of transformations for Adpulp. We stopped taking advertising (including paid posts), switched to a new responsive template, secured our hosting setup, loaded Facebook-enabled comments, implemented a micro-payments platform, and now we’ve refreshed our brand identity. The Chronicle of Bright Ideas The new logo was made by Jessica Knedgen, a designer […]
Too many award shows are back-slapping affairs where hungover creative directors drop a bean in a cup when they see a campaign they like. There’s a much higher standard for the industry’s output—the intended audience for the work. Did they bite or did they ignore? That’s the ultimate test of any ad campaign. Having said […]
Unlike larger and more mainstream online publications, AdPulp has the ability to reject online advertising in its current state. Like thousands of other independent publishers across the globe, we pay no rent for an office, no salaries, and no dividends. Having said that, removing advertising from this website is much more than a financial move. […]
Holding companies are the bane of the creative agency’s existence. Sell to a holding company and become like the bean counters themselves—that’s the not totally undeserved rap. Thankfully, there is another way. Your agency can remain independent, like Butler Shine Stern & Partners in Sausalito. Then you can choose to do whatever the hell you […]
After a 14-year ad-sponsored run, AdPulp.com stopped running ads this year. You’re welcome. Now, please sign up for Inkl—the micropayments platform that has the potential to change the score for thousands of indie journalists and publishers like AdPulp.com.
This year, AdPulp.com moved away from being an ad-supported site. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we currently carry no ads at all. We are now 100% publisher supported. We no longer take paid posts, although the offer is there to do so literally every day. And we no longer place banners or text […]
Not too long ago, people used to “break in” to advertising. That’s how hard it was to land a job at a top creative agency. Today, even the best agencies need to make an effort to recruit talent. Witness Brunner’s self-promotional efforts on Twitter: We offer careers where you’re not holed up over a laptop […]
Hear Ye, Hear Ye. 21% of Americans ages 12 and up have listened to a podcast in the past month. That is up from 17% in 2015. With one in five Americans tuning in, advertising pros are taking notice and grabbing the mic. According to Digiday, “Ad agencies have caught podcast fever.” Digiday highlights and […]
I love this long copy ad from the Ogilvy & Mather archive. It’s endowed with more attitude per paragraph than I’ve seen in years. Clearly, this ad is from another time. #OgilvyArchive #TBT David Ogilvy and the Ogilvy culture View full print ad: https://t.co/qnCUgJwYbP pic.twitter.com/3YxJTpDRo0 — Ogilvy & Mather (@Ogilvy) May 18, 2017 While dated, […]
Agencies are notorious for being the pauper’s child when it comes to promoting their own brand. But The PIA Agency, a woman-owned agency in San Diego, isn’t playing the avoidance game. “Our great country was built from brilliant minds and resilient souls from all over the world,” says David Clark, PIA’s executive creative director. Create […]
To celebrate its 15th year in business, Portland agency, Roundhouse, is preparing to drop copywriter Lee Kimball along Oregon’s wild and scenic Lower Crooked River. Why would they do that? To see if the writer can survive one week in the wilderness equipped with only the help of the agency’s clients’ products. “All creative agencies […]
One of Omaha’s largest real estate firms – Deeb Realty, will change its name to Nebraska Realty, effective March 16, 2015. The real estate company hired Corporate Three Design in Omaha to create a new brand identity and roll it out across traditional media. (DISCLOSURE: Shawn Hartley, the publisher of this web site is Vice […]
Thanks to this article in Arkansas Business, I came across news that the Cranford brothers of Little Rock, Arkansas have banded together to form a new agency called Cranford Co. If you’re not up on Arkansas advertising industry history, let it be known that Jay, Ross and Chris Cranford are sons of Wayne Cranford, who […]
Wexley School for Girls wishes to extend you a warm holiday greeting. The only problem is, it is 2014 and our culture is drowning in politically correct language. Therefore, the agency set out to not offend with this non-denominational winter song: At the end of the video, viewers are further encouraged to explore more options. […]
Ten years ago today we started an experiment here. The experiment has grown and morphed, and we, its producers, with it. There have been many things to learn along the way, and on this the site’s 10th anniversary, I’d like to share some of the more pointed lessons that come to mind. 1) Do what […]
NYC-based freelance copywriter Deanna Director always has an innovative side project idea cookin’. And this one’s taking her places, notably the LA premiere of “Dumb and Dumber To.” She gained the attention of Jim Carrey and movie directors The Farrelly Brothers with her Dumbure Couture project featuring fashions inspired by the movie. Tweeting the idea […]
“Keep your day job, until your night job pays.” -Hunter/Garcia
If there is one lesson I might share with you from nearly a decade as an ad blogger, it is this: Do not start with a blog and then go looking for a business to support it. Business first, then blog.
The reality is I made this correction several years ago, and now I put more time and energy into Bonehook.com. Bonehook is my marketing services company—it’s the way I make my way in the world. AdPulp is a side-project.
@bonehook Thanks for the mention, David. Didn’t realize you had a day job. I just know you from Ad Pulp.
Understand, I am a big believer in side-projects. There are dozens of reasons to pursue a side-project, and just as many benefits. Yet, by definition, a side-project is not one’s main gig.
That people sometimes perceive AdPulp to be my day job throws me, but when I step back and look at it I do see the compliment there and I appreciate it.
Given that I build brands for a living, it was important for me to build one here. This fact also ladders perfectly with my specialization in content and social media marketing. Many lifestyle brands need their own AdPulp—no, not an advertising blog—a deep daily dive into an important topic.
Do you need a director of content and social media marketing who also has a traditional adv. background? Who doesn’t? Let’s talk.
If you work for a brand and you need help with content strategy, plus the implementation of a workable, affordable execution plan, give me a ring. I’m at 503-970-3862. I’ve done it here for nearly a decade, and on behalf of clients, for even longer.
Most startups and creative talents would be proud to pull off one successful Kickstarter. But multi-talented musician Kawehi has just wrapped up her fifth, this time bringing in 10 times her goal and scoring widespread acclaim for her cover of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box."
We recently caught up with Kawehi (pronounced kah-VAY-hee) and asked her what advice she has to share with those aspiring to similar levels of Kickstarter greatness. We've also sprinkled in some of her music below, which will probably go further toward explaining her success than a Q&A could.
AdFreak: You've run six Kickstarter campaigns so far, and five have far exceeded your goals. The most recent, Robot Heart, brought in nearly 10 times as much money as you requested. Do you ever think you're being too conservative about what you can raise?
Kawehi: Could I raise more than I ask for? With the right amount of work, and with such amazing fans/support team, probably. But I think it's important to only ask for as much as you need. A lot of people come up with some astronomical number—without doing research and proper planning. I usually make EPs, which run anywhere from three to five songs. It's a much smaller project than an entire album, hence the much smaller funding goal.
I also do a lot more projects than most—it's pretty common to do one Kickstarter project a year. I usually do around three. It wouldn't feel right to me if I asked for more than I needed three times a year from my amazing fans.
With Robot Heart, how will raising $29,000 change the scope of a project you originally budgeted at $3,000?
For years now, I've been an independent artist. My husband, Paul, produces my music, shoots all of my music videos—while I write all of the music, handmake every CD/DVD, host livestream concerts, do essentially everything a record label would do—and personalize every Kickstarter package. It's been a two-person show for a while now.
We're definitely going to be able to afford a little help this time around—hire a local business to help out with making the CDs, hire local college students who need extra cash and want to be in the music business to help me put the packages together, help Paul with recording, learn a few things behind the scenes. It'll be really great to have all of this extra help and be able to invest into the community we live in with the extra money we raised.
What do you think made your Robot Heart campaign such a hit? Was it all the pass-around for your cover of "Heart-Shaped Box"?
Pretty much. I think before "Heart-Shaped Box" came out, I was at about $7,000. So the video definitely helped!
People magazine recently called your version "the Internet's favorite Nirvana cover." But it seems to have its share of detractors, too, who think it's too different from Nirvana's signature roughness. What kind of balance were you going for?
I always try to keep the integrity of the song—and I think the best way to do that is to be as creative as you can be. As a singer/songwriter, I would respect anyone who covered my song in a way that I wouldn't have thought of myself while still keeping the right emotions of the song.
I realize that by getting creative, that usually means coming from a different place/angle, and a lot of times, people don't like it. But I don't make music because I want people to like me—if they do, that's just a perk. 🙂 I make music because I have to, because I love to, because I couldn't imagine my life without it.
Everyone says great videos are the key to great Kickstarters. But yours are relatively simple and low budget. What do you think makes a good Kickstarter video?
I think it's more important to come up with a creative video than a high budget video. For my project VOX (where I was making an all-vocal EP), I wrote an all-vocal song about the project and performed it live—while flipping cue cards. For TOY (where I was making an EP with toy instruments), I wrote a song and looped it live with all toy instruments.
For Robot Heart, I dressed up in a homemade cardboard box robot suit. Quality is still important—I never just open up my laptop and shoot a video from there—but I think the idea behind the video is infinitely more important. And it should bring your project to life so people understand what the project is—why you're doing it, and ultimately, why they should be a part of it.
Your first Kickstarter in 2011 didn't get very far, with $1,315 raised toward a $15,000 goal. What did you learn from that experience that made your later campaigns such a hit?
I learned that it's foolish to think things will just "happen." I was so bummed after that failure. So I took a whole year to research. I looked into other successful projects, saw what they were doing, tried to come up with my own version of that. I also realized that I needed to put a LOT more work into building the right kind of fan base.
It was a horrible feeling—that failure—but I'm so happy that I lived that, because I'll never want to be there again.
For you, is Kickstarter more about building a long-term fan community than raising short-term funds?
It is. And I think if you have that kind of mentality, you'll have great projects. I don't do Kickstarter campaigns for short-term funds. I do it because it's a long-term path I chose—to stay independent, to do the kind of music I love and hopefully the kind of music my supporters will love.
Would it be easier to just sign with a label who'll financially support my project? Most likely. But the sacrifices I'd have to make creatively … I'm not willing to give that up. So I choose this path—and it allows me to create the way I want while allowing my fan community/support team to be there, right alongside me, experiencing it together.
Any other advice for someone who wants to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign?
Do the work. Do the research. Put out tons of quality material. Make good product and engage with your fan community. They're the ones making it happen—I never forget that, and neither should they!
The folks at Cypress Entertainment, a film production and local-advertising shop in Louisiana, produced this digestif of a commercial to convince you to dump that crappy agency you're working with.
With a deadpan expression, Kyle Gilmore, Cypress founder and "professional stirrer," stirs a beverage and delivers quite a memorable pitch. Without spoiling it, let's just say Gilmore believes his agency is the shit—or more accurately, is not the shit.
He finishes stirring, takes a sip and nods at the camera. I don't know about you guys, but I've never heard a more compelling argument.
So pull up a stool, and sample this little nugget.
Business cards already seem pretty retro in the world of modern networking, but here's one that manages to be both cutting-edge and vintage at the same time.
Portland-based photographer Kevin Bates made a business card for himself that is also a playable Tetris game. Bates calls his creation the Arduboy, since it's a Game Boy clone built on a stripped-down Arduino board that only has room for the essentials: a four-direction digital control pad, two buttons and a tiny OLED screen.
It's not exactly something you can order in bulk from Vistaprint, what with all the soldering involved, so I don't think Bates will be passing these out at cocktail parties anytime soon. With a Kickstarter campaign in the works, Bates says his goal is to sell similar cards for $30 each, with a hand-designed version for $50 and a custom-skinned model for $100. He says he's also looking for a manufacturer to produce them in bulk to reduce the price even further.
He says he'll release the Arduboy's plans and source code publicly at some point though, which is just as good, and this project should kick up more business for him than traditional networking ever would anyway.
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.
