I sent a version of the text below to my creative department last week, also copying certain account groups. It was due to a bit of discord between ranks, nothing serious. But given the recession, I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.
Having received plenty of such notes myself over the years, I’ve discovered them to be more than just memos; rather they are like artifacts, illuminating and capturing a moment in time. Read the below portion from my correspondence and see if you agree:
Unlike most agencies (and companies), we happen to be busy and growing. Layoffs, doom and gloom are not a part of our current forecast. This is a major blessing and we are grateful.
However, the reality is that all this could change. The best defense against that happening is to remain useful…
…When you’re given a brief, any brief, regardless of account, I want you to jump on it with vigor and enthusiasm. Look at extra work as a precious life preserver, even if it is outside your sweet spot or job description. I literally have a hundred saved emails from the recently unemployed who would jump at such opportunities.
It’s scary out there. Let’s all work together so we can stay together.
For obvious reasons, I left out portions proprietary to our company and clients. What I’m interested and passionate about is maintaining balance between gratitude and what I like to call a “healthy fear.” In my opinion, these qualities are as important to a company (and its people) as natural ability. What do you think?
Parker’s a Mad Man, but he’s written one hell of a book.
February 26, 2009
Parker: Let the buyer beware!
A senior colleague at my agency is terrified of George Parker. Prior to joining us, he’d worked at an advertising agency that was regularly taking it on the chin, and elsewhere, from this merciless critic of, what he calls, Big Dumb Advertising Agencies, or BDAs.
For those unawares, Mr. Parker runs the wildly popular trade blog, AdScam/The horror! According to Parker, as many as 10,000 of us visit it daily. To put that in perspective, my blog gets close to 400 visitors a day and I’m damn thankful for them.
But ten thousand? Parker does it by offering content that’s unashamedly caustic, critical, profane and, most of the time, deadly accurate. If you don’t agree with me, take it from Ad God, Jeff Goodby who wrote as much in the preface to Parker’s new book, which I have now just completed.
The Ubiquitous Persuaders…
Meant to be an update of Vance Packard’s bestseller, The Hidden Persuaders, Parker manages to do just that and, surprisingly, sans the massive quantities of “piss and vinegar” pouring from his website.
Those familiar with Adscam may be surprised to find not the hard R Parker from his blog, but rather a more professorial version, cleaned-up and, dare I say, erudite. Could we have a Jekyll & Hyde in our midst? Dr. George the learned author. Mr. Parker the fiendish blogger!
After noticing the lack of four-letter words the second thing you’ll notice about the book is how well the man writes. Unlike his ripping and addictive blog, here we find well-crafted arguments fashioned by delightful prose. Sorry, George, but it’s true. You write like the voice of experience you so clearly are.
In a scant 200 or so pages, Parker has captured our business, filleted it, cooked it and served it right back to us… deliciously. He tells us where we’ve been as an industry and shows us where we’re going. I don’t agree with everything Parker writes but part of me wonders whether it’s more that I don’t want to agree with it. His vision of advertising does not suffer Fools and Asses. Unfortunately, it makes a lot of us look like them.
In a way, I think The Ubiquitous Persuaders is the first legitimate textbook on Modern Advertising: its beginning, middle and perhaps end. I’ve read most of the popular texts written about advertising, as has Parker, and yet this one feels definitive…like there’s nothing else left to say.
That is both a compliment to his book and, scarily, an indictment on our indust
Scads of fun. My presentation at the Savannah College of Art & Design.
February 25, 2009
Scad's not too shabby campus!
I recently gave a presentation to the advertising department at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). The topic was Creating Cult-like Belief Systems for Brands. A favorite topic of mine, I’ve covered it on Gods numerous times. It is also an important component of my new novel, The Happy Soul Industry. The idea is converting people into true believers -the Holy Grail for advertisers. Brands like Apple, Nike and Altoids (thank you!) have been able to do this, with marketing playing a key role. Amazon and Starbucks have done it without much advertising. Either way, once a belief system is in place, people worship these products like they’re deity.
To be honest, I half expected SCAD to be a tiny, artsy workshop. Nothing could be further from the truth. With a student body approaching 9,000 students, and covering almost 50 fields relating to design, film and advertising, SCAD is no mere workshop. First of all, the campus encompasses buildings all over the historically famous town of Savannah, capped off by a 28,000 square foot student center housed in a gloriously redone 19th century synagogue! It was there I gave my presentation.
Before my speaking engagement, I visited the Advertising School, auditing Professor William Shanahan’s Advertising Business class. The students were creating integrated marketing communications (IMC) as part of their curriculum. I was impressed at how accurate the process was compared to “real life” IMC plans. Granted, their plans were rudimentary but the program is timely.
In terms of current technology, the school is loaded. These kids were working on the best machines in Apple’s repertoire. In a film editing class, I observed students cutting film on dual monitors with state-of-the-art flat screen preview in front of the class. I was told their professor was the sound editor for the Academy Award winning film, Amadeus. Because of his pedigree, the students actually get to work on that movie. Pretty cool.
Despite what seems like a exceptional education, I told the students it will undoubtedly take time getting gigs in our woeful economy. But that’s true for everyone is almost every field. Oh well, if twenty-year olds have one thing on their side, it’s time. Given the grim prospects (at least for the short term), I can’t think of a better place to hang and learn than SCAD.
Nice layout for Ad school
In my day, there were no such schools. Not really. Back then advertising was part of journalism and it was often fairly naïve. For perspective, I took one ad class at the University of Wisconsin and I took it pass/fail. I recall our mid-term featuring a print ad with various blank call-outs. We were to identify the headline, tagline, logo and body copy. Pretty lame. While my alma mater has dramatically improved since then, I doubt even it has the species-specific expertise so obviously on display at SCAD.
Super Bad commercial from the Ukraine puts tacky on the front lines!
February 24, 2009
“Foxy Ladies, would you like to see my big gun?”
I know my “MO” is about creating my own content but you’ve got to see this spot for the Ukrainian Army. I found it on Adrants and it had me howling. If you’d told me this was a skit from SNL I’d be less surprised. The concept, the casting, the wardrobe; it’s all too priceless for words. Check it:
When do I write? When I’m not reading.
February 23, 2009
I write therefore I am.
Many people ask how I find the time to write several posts a week, let alone the two novels, given I am Chief Creative Officer of a sizable advertising agency. For the record, I am also the father of three little girls, which has its demands! Adding to my time crunch is the fact that Gods of Advertising is almost 100% original content; in other words, I have to come up with everything I write and then write it. Lame as some of it is, I bust my ass to get it right. Doing so takes time. This post took 3 hours, in two separate sit-downs.
Do I want a medal? No, but I could use a few more hours in the day.
Plain and simple, it takes passion. I love writing. Always have. In high school, I was feature editor for the Lane Tech Warrior. This meant I got to cover my favorite musical artists and the occasional movie. My review of Rush’s three-night stand at the Aragon (yes, I went all three nights) is a highlight of this early period. At the University of Wisconsin, I wrote for three newspapers while barely maintaining a B average, as well as learning how to drink like a pro. In addition to a music magazine, I worked for the college’s right wing paper (Badger Herald) as well as the left wing rag (Daily Cardinal). I don’t think either paper knew about my bi-writer proclivities.
My ambition to work as a copywriter at Leo Burnett was so strong I eschewed the convention of traveling to Europe as a college senior. I interviewed 2 weeks after receiving my diploma and was in a cube days later.
This is to illustrate the importance of ambition and passion in shaping a life. For better and worse, I had it in spades. The biggest reason I am able to write for this blog as well as other personal projects is because I want to. The same holds true with my considerable duties at work. I love doing it. And where there’s a will…
So… time? When do I write? Just now I am sitting in the cafe at the Women’s Athletic Club writing this while my youngest girl, Lily is taking her swimming lesson. I will then drive to a suburban stable to pick up her sister, Camille who is a riding fanatic. While Camille cleans her beloved horse (we share board), I will be writing. You get the drift. Should I be watching my children as they pursue their own passions in the pool and ring? Maybe, but I don’t.
The generic answer I always give to the time question is ‘after the kids go to bed and on planes.’ Between 9PM and question mark is quiet time at the Postaer home. Should I be watching “20/20” with my beloved wife? Maybe, but I don’t. I’m pretty sure this mortgage on my marriage has consequences but so does not writing.
Airplanes continue to be the best all-around writing place. Not only is it typically quiet, there is absolutely, positively nothing better to do than read or write. I do both, guilt free. No wonder I like business travel more than most.
I tossed in the word “read” because one cannot be a writer without being a reader. I manage about 4 books a month, alternating between fiction and true stories. February consisted of Guns ‘n Roses over-the-top saga, “Watch You Bleed,” Carrie Fisher’s sardonic memoir, “Wishful Drinking,” the creepy true-crime tale, “The Monster of Florence” and currently, George Parker’s bombastic and wonderful, “The Ubiquitous Persuaders.”
In the end a writer writes. Prior to the blog it was novels and short stories. Before that journalism. And through it all, of course, I wrote copy. Never, then, has the following statement been more relevant: Thank you for your readership!
Kid Rock and the National Guard. At Frost/Nixon? You gotta be kidding!
February 20, 2009
Among the advertising and many previews prior to the screening of Frost/Nixon, my wife and I were bemused (if not assaulted) by a music video for the National Guard by Kid Rock also featuring NASCAR driver, Dale Earnhart. I believe the song is called “Warrior” although Kid Rock belted the lyric “American Warrior,” lest there be any mistake.
The video is nothing short of an anthem for our armed forces. Brazen in its imagery, we see Soldier’s breaking down doors and seizing weapons. We see military might doing what it does best: kicking ass and saving the world. “Freedom ain’t for free,” Kid Rock reminds us. (It sure ain’t, Kid. Last I checked the war in Iraq was costing us over 10 million dollars a week, not including human tolls.)
In Top Gun fashion, racing scenes intercut the rolling tanks and Hum Vees. Dale has his uniform. The Guard has theirs. Checkered flags. American Flags. What’s the difference? It’s all good! NASCAR, the National Guard and Kid Rock. Contrary to popular opinion, Red State America is alive and well.
Directed by Academy award winning director, James Mangold (Cop Land, 3:10 to Yuma), it’s more like opening a can of whup-ass than a commercial. Make no mistake the film is gorgeous. It’s a big time production, old school and proud of it. It’s just that the piece is dangerously close to being “America, Fuck yeah” from the wonderfully vile, Team America World Police.
Though I’m not the target (if I can use that word), the film gave me the willies. Aren’t we (as a nation) over such in-your-face patriotism? After all, we just replaced “Dubya” and, one hopes, his hawkish policies.
Trust me, folks. I’m no liberal. My politics are thoroughly in the middle. We need a strong military and I believe advertising one is legitimate. But watching a rock video about the glories of war seemed sad and wrong. I wonder how the young men and women in the audience felt. Could a spectacle such as “Warrior” actually motivate America’s youth into signing up with the Guard, especially now, in this time of supposedly big change? Even in rural parts, where auto racing and kicking ass reign supreme, I would think this imagery feels tired. Certainly tired-er. Wouldn’t the promise of good pay and an education be a more lucrative strategy, especially during this recession?
Why at a screening of Frost/Nixon? Here’s a film about a President mired in controversy from Watergate but also the Viet Nam war. During the film’s intense last reel, we see brutal footage from that terrible conflict perversely mirroring the imagery from the National Guard commercial. Awkward.
And, finally, we are down town Chicago, where Democratic politics are a foregone conclusion. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest the 70 year-old Jewish woman sitting next to me was aghast, at both the romantic use of violence as well as Kid Rock. If there were any teen-agers watching Frost/Nixon that night, I didn’t see them.
The Happy Soul Industry is being reviewed from on high.
February 18, 2009
The author praying for book sales!
The publisher of my second novel, The Happy Soul Industry brought several reviews to my attention, emanating from the spiritual community. (I’m attaching a couple for your consideration.) Though they are not universally praiseful, I’m thrilled. I’m also kicking myself.
When the book launched this fall, we focused most of our attention on the advertising community, neglecting a far bigger community of potential readers: religious and spiritual. After all, the book is about God. And God has more followers than, well, anyone. Thank God, then, Inkwater Press had the good sense to pitch the novel in that direction.
Not that the attention from ad land hasn’t been awesome; it has. Ellie Parpis from Adweek reviewed it. Adrants. Adpulp. The American Copywriter. Before it’s all over I may even get my ass kicked by none other than George Parker from Adscam. But there are only so many ad persons in the world and, due to the failing economy, less and less of them every day.
Finding readers elsewhere is a Godsend.
Besides, the spiritual reviews are fascinating –mostly because they come from people so unlike my peers, at least on the surface. The two critics here gave my story kudos but got stuck on the profanity and sex in the novel.
“I think that this could have been a great book had the author not felt the need to include the f-word on several occasions,” said Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur of SpiritualWomanThoughts.blogspot.com
Bob Zykowski of Bobzbookreviews.blogspot.com was snider: “The author mines his knowledge of the ad biz to create an interesting story with characters that readers will care about. That is, if readers can get past the soft-porn.”
Um… as I said, I’m thrilled by these reviews. That professional, God fearing people found Happy Soul to be an “engaging” book filled with “good ideas” is a blessing.
In the novel’s defense, how in the *%&$ do you tell a story about advertising without dropping any f-bombs?
At the same time, the polite condemnation of the book’s naughty bits is not only understandable but also, frankly, charming. I’m not being patronizing when I say I’m delighted people still take exception to, shall we say, racy content. Somehow, it’s reaffirming. It makes me smile.
Am I slightly irked by the negativity in these reviews? According to Bob and Pat, I’ve written a spiritual and highly engaging story sullied by sex and off-color language. Sounds damn entertaining to me! Now, come on folks, the book is only 9 bucks on Amazon. Tell them God sent you and you’ll receive free shipping!
“Daddy, where is everybody going?”
I spent President’s Day-Valentine’s weekend in Manhattan with my wife and three daughters. The girl’s mother is a true believer in family vacations, having grown up with a mom and dad who swore by them. Me? I swear by them as well, only mostly with four-letter words.
When it comes to moving a family of five from one set of closets to another, I get the willies. Especially, given we are talking about an ALL GIRL family. Not to be controversial, but women of all ages pack way to much crap when they travel. How many pairs of shoes does a female need? If each of my girls brought four (they did), that makes sixteen pairs or thirty-two shoes –not including what they were wearing. And those shoes come with outfits.
The only reason I bring two pairs of shoes is because one pair are for the gym. Otherwise, I’m good with loafers and boots, the latter of which I wear on the plane.
Now that that’s out of the way, I’d like to offer some unexpected kudos to the centerpiece of our NYC weekend: Shrek The Musical. The actors. The sets. The costumes. The whole thing was spectacular. Four stars.
If you read this blog with any regularity you know how much I loathe Disney and its cult like hold over children. But, being a good father, I acquiesced to my wife’s request and procured five choice seats in the orchestra. I’m glad I did. I found myself smiling giddily from start to finish. The last time I did that was at a U2 concert. Yes, the story is by the numbers. Yes, the sanitized double entendres are borderline patronizing. But I didn’t mind. On the contrary, I found the show to be cathartic, the perfect stress reliever. Recession? Shrek and Princess Fiona punctuate their singing duo with a medley of burps and farts. What recession?
Another observation worth sharing were all the tourists on Fifth Avenue and in Times Square. Maybe folks weren’t buying much but they sure as hell were out there. Brand stores like Apple, Nike and FAO Schwartz were packed and rocking. And if Toys R’ Us is dead in Des Moines it’s hopped up on goofballs here in New York. There was a 40-minute wait to ride the Ferris wheel inside the store, in spite of a four-dollar fee. We’re talking about a glorified elevator ride. Massive line.
Virtually every piece in the venerable NY Times was about the recession (or is it a depression?) and how it was killing retailers from So Ho to the Upper East Side. And I don’t doubt that’s true. But for a couple hours in a theater or seven deep on a sidewalk, it seemed business as usual in New York.
Insecurity in the creative department. It happens to the best of us.
February 13, 2009
“Tell me I’m special”
Fact is creative people are an insecure lot. I’m not ashamed to admit it. We crave validation from our peers, bosses, clients and everyone else (also known as consumers). There are so many masters to please, so little time. Then, sadly, if you’re like me (having worked obsessively to please these masters), you end up spending what little downtime you have at home in the doghouse.
Yikes, no wonder we covet awards! As “commercial artists,” we are forever at someone’s beck and call. And our patrons are seldom benevolent. So, we bust our butts at work while mortgaging our lives at home, in both cases craving adulation and respect that we’re likely not going to receive.
Am I being melodramatic? Make the jump and find out:
Has advertising become the product or are we just smoking our own fumes?
February 12, 2009
I'll have what she's having!
We are what we eat.
Not just food as the adage was intended, but media too. The books we read (or don’t read), the movies we watch, websites we bookmark, TV shows, news, music, our growing collection of “friends” on Facebook. And so on.
All of this is stuff we consume on a daily basis, every waking moment really.
And then there’s advertising. Not only do we consume it, we make it. But unlike bakers of bread, we don’t make ads to be consumed but rather to facilitate the consumption of something else. Or do we?
Many of my peers believe advertising is an end product. Sometimes I do too. A viral gets watched thousands of times it’s successful. A commercial film wins a creative prize it, too, is successful. We tend to tack on results, real or otherwise, as an afterthought, kind of like the sprig of parsley near the steak.
Alas, advertising wasn’t invented to be the steak. Barnum and Bailey understood this. The Greatest Show on Earth! Advertising was intended to be the sizzle; the promise a product or service might deliver.
Nobody goes to McDonalds and orders the clown. Or do they?
Things change. People now clamor for the sensational posters of the bearded lady. They may cost thousands of dollars at auction. The actual lady? Not so much. The propaganda for the circus became more enticing than the circus itself. The advent of graphic design and post modernism changed the world, and, needless to say, our business.
We makers of ads have gone through the looking glass. The Burger King Whopper is exactly the same sandwich but –and I use their own word- the “hoopla” created for it by Crispin Porter & Bogusky is even bigger. The disturbing “King” became a consumable property. Video games. Viral stunts. People started buying the clown!
That is the not-so-secret wish of every creative I know. And I think it might be coming true. The stuff we make became a product. I’ve heard the smartest, most famous people in our business say this.
Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Or am I just high?
