E trade Babies, hilarious out takes
I’ll never open an E Trade account. I don’t know anyone who trades or invests online. Honestly, I’m not even sure how that stuff works. It’s like online gambling. No clue. No interest either.
But I love those E trade babies! You know the campaign. It premiered on the Super Bowl -an infant glibly rapping about investments before spitting up. More commercials soon followed. All ripping. One spot had me laughing so hard I almost fell off the treadmill. Frankly, there was more hilarity in the 60- second version I saw at the movie theater than in the comedy I paid money to see.
Does that make this good advertising? Is it too silly for these dark economic times or just the thing? I wonder… But they sure are funny. The fact that this campaign was made by the never-heralded Grey New York adds to my wonderment.
…unless you’ve got good news.
I have been gone three weeks. Ten days in Dubai. Ten days in St. Thomas. That is the longest time I have been away from home or office since I graduated college.
What’s interesting about that is not my itinerary, although I must say if you’re going places you could do a lot worse than Arabia and the Caribbean!
Rather, I think it’s peculiar that a man could go over 20 years without taking a 3-week holiday.
In much of the world lengthy vacations are normal (paid ones at that) even for the trades. Not so in America. Here we parse our annual allotment of two or three weeks like they were crumbs on a lifeboat: Three days here. A week there. A couple long weekends. And then it’s back to the office!
The other thing one notices on holiday is how connected you can remain with home or office, should you so choose to. Emails still arrive. Files and PDFs. Meeting Makers. It’s all there, should you so choose it.
Yet, remaining “in” or “out” is no longer the only option. With all the various forms of “ambient intimacy” now available (home and office email, Facebook, Twitter, etc), one can select a level of closeness.
What this means is I can stay in touch and also be disengaged. Therefore, while away, I perused my office like it was a buffet, picking an email here, and a meeting there. Skipping what bored me. I could come to my desktop at night or hourly. My choice.
So…Gone fishing no longer means OOTO unless you want it to. And it’s this last part that’s interesting: those levels of closeness.
Such a pretty bird.
I am a happy soul!
I awoke to another favorable review of my novel, The Happy Soul Industry, this one by the sassy advertising blogger Adchick. It’s below for your consideration.
Adchick also posted a review on Amazon, which I greatly appreciate. Despite potentially dubious origins, authors covet Amazon reviews. I’ve collected 23 for Happy Soul. Anyone else who bought my book on Amazon? Comments good, bad or otherwise I’d love to see them.
But it’s her blog entry I am most thankful for. Not only does Adchick give Happy Soul a marvelous grade but she also rebukes a Catholic naysayer on Amazon, who found the novel blasphemous. No matter. God bless both of you!
Gentle Readers, I do not write books to make money. That is what advertising is for! It is readership I crave. Imagining you curled up on the couch reading my books is what drove me to write them. Barring a miracle (can you say film adaptation?), I will lose money on both novels. But I don’t care. Not one bit.
Frankly, Adchick’s review has me in such fine spirits I want to do something special. So here’s what I’ve come up with: If you purchase The Happy Soul Industry and email me the statement I’ll donate the full amount to Fourth Presbyterian Church’s “City Lights.” City Lights sponsors numerous good works throughout the Chicago area, encompassing a wide variety of social causes. Given my novel’s spiritual bent our family church seems like the perfect beneficiary. I hope you agree.
So read Adchick’s review. Get inspired. Order the book. It’ll make us all feel good. If you’ve already read HSI then order my first book, The Last Generation. (It’s darker, but no less fun.) And I’ll submit those proceeds as well.
Above all, I can’t thank you enough for your readership –of this blog, of my books. It means more to me than anything, certainly money.
Whether TV is dying, I suppose, is debatable. But it certainly is changing, as are all mass media. Which got me to thinking…
I already said I don’t miss TV but that doesn’t mean I’ve rid it from my life. Given I have ten of them in my house, I can hardly be called an abolitionist.
We still make TV commercials at our agency. I still love the craft of making them. For that matter, I came very close to selling my first novel, The Last Generation to Touchstone Television for a possible series. I helped all I could on my good friend’s TV show “Trust Me.” TV is part of my life as it is part of everyone’s life.
So, let me rephrase the point: I don’t miss TV as a primary part of my life. Having the Bears game on in the background while I read the paper. Watching Sportscenter while I jog on the treadmill. Waking up to Sponge Bob with my children. Yes to all of that. Yes to TV.
The key here is that TV is not a primary part of these vignettes. It has moved out of the living room and into the background. It has become a secondary or even more distant player in my life.
Other mass media have evolved (devolved?) similarly. Radio started out as a communication tool and quickly grew to be an important part of household entertainment. TV came along and took its place in the family room. Radio quickly moved into the automobile, where it still plays a meaningful role today. I’m guessing, before long, it will end up where it began: as a communication tool.
And what about newspapers and magazines? Their imminent demise is even more speculated than television. Clearly the Internet is forcing their hand. But they will not fold. Mass media will merely recede as it evolves, occupying peripheral space as opposed to front and center.
In other words, it doesn’t go away but it becomes less than it was. For advertisers, that means no more paying out the nose for commercials (production and media). The rise of so-called “virals” has already cheapened the form. Agencies will have to adjust accordingly. The smart ones already are.
I don’t miss TV.
As a boy, I grew up on the tube. Saturday morning catoons. Watching Hawaii 5-0 with my parents. Staying up late to watch SNL. I saw the very first MTV video in college, appropriately called “Video killed the radio star.”
Since beginning my career in advertising, I’ve probably written hundreds of television commercials and produced a good chunk of them. In some respects I owe my livelihood to TV.
But I don’t miss it.
This minor epiphany came to me while on an extended trip, which is only now just winding down. Three weeks away from home and office and, outside of brief swatches of the NCAA, I haven’t watched a lick.
I have, however, returned to my computer each and every day like a hummingbird to a feeder. My blog. Facebook. Email. Bookmarks. These I cannot do without.
Yet, even before the Internet and all its fruit, I pretty much weaned myself from the “idiot box.” Media gurus have since given eulogies for so-called “appointment TV” but I stopped making it a point to watch a long time ago.
I know there are good shows (The Office, 30 Rock, Simpsons, etc) but I’m just as happy buying the DVDs. Frankly, I don’t mind missing them entirely. Outside of significant programming (Super Bowl, Presidential debates, Oscars, etc), I don’t watch much of anything on TV.
Ironically, I adore going to the movies. And I read from a book and magazine every day. (Not long ago myriad gurus proclaimed these obsolete –because of television!). Unlike reading, computing and the event of going to a movie, TV remains largely passive. I suppose I just prefer doing versus watching.
Powerful new campaign makes agency look “good.”
March 25, 2009
Gripping new campaign for the JPA
While I was away in Dubai my creative partner, Blake Ebel finally got a pet project produced and in the books. “Verbal abuse is still abuse,” reads the headline on these pro bono ads for the Juvenile Protective Association.
Others in the agency (and out) played a role in making the powerful posters: Blake Ebel, Puja Shah (AD), and our lead on print production, Julia Cunningham. I believe our CFO, Angelo Kritikos sits on JPA’s board, where he facilitated the relationship. Special thanks to New City as well. Not only are they a client, the magazine is running all three executions as well. The shooter was Kevin Banna. And finally, we mustn’t forget Scott Giannini, our tireless retoucher who, I’m told, put more time into this project than anyone.
I go deep into the credits not just to be nice (God forbid!) but also to make a point. It’s seldom just creative that gets involved with pro bono work. Other agency personnel and vendors play a significant role. They have to. But the more the merrier. Pro Bono is a win win for all concerned: Good work. Good cause. Good karma.
Jamie King joins Euro RSCG and makes my day!
March 24, 2009
The King and I -A command performance!
I am thrilled to report that my good friend and former colleague, Jamie King is now part of our operation in Chicago. He will be Co-President with Joy Schwartz. Both are highly capable and well-matched. The move raises the standard and the bar at Euro RSCG Chicago. I look forward to seeing what they (and we) can do together.
Jamie and I go back almost 10 years, where along with Jeff Jones, we built and ran an agency called LBWorks at Leo Burnett.
For the full story (and some of the scintillating back story) please read Jeremy Mullman’s exclusive story (from AdAge):
Do social networks provide “ambient intimacy” or faux friendships? A lesson from the “friendly skies of United.”
March 23, 2009
Classic United Airlines commercial
When I first arrived to Leo Burnett, United Airlines was one of the agency’s most prominent accounts. And rightly so. The work “we” did for United was world class. In my book “Fly the friendly skies of United” remains one of the best ad lines of all time. The glossy commercials were Leo Burnett at its finest: big, wise, singular, damn near perfect in every way.
As good (and not good) as United’s work has been since, it’s never risen to the same level. Not even close. Want proof? What is United’s big idea today? You don’t know, do you? Neither do I. When you’re done reading, take a look at this classic spot and tell me (in the age of email and social networks) if the message isn’t even more relevant now than it was 20 years ago. Amazing, right?
Adpulp just did a piece about “ambient intimacy” defining it as the ability to remain “closer than ever” to people because of social networks and the like.
Hmm, I wonder. Can Twittering be defined as intimate? Is Facebook really about “friends?”
I doubt it.
I think ambient intimacy is like cosmetic surgery. It looks great but it’s just not the same. And frankly, it might even be egregious. Who knows what all this faux intimacy is doing to our culture?
The above United commercial, which I’m calling “Face Time,” reveals a deeper truth. Even then people were relying on “faxes and phone calls” instead of honest, face to face communication. In United’s narrative a company almost pays dearly for its laziness or “ambient intimacy.”
I could write a lot more about this and probably will. But do me a favor. Watch the spot and read the piece on Adpulp. Then tell me, is ambient intimacy better than a handshake or infinitely more perverse?
Digital. Easier than it looks?
The following in an excerpt from a piece I wrote for Campaign Magazine last week. The juiciest piece, it also fits into a wider discussion we’ve been having here about integration…
The biggest obstacle towards achieving creativity with digital can be found in our very own creative departments. For various reasons, we tend to build the digital creative group separate from the traditional.
This is a grievous error. In order for creativity to thrive (not just survive), another marriage is required: that of general and digital. I see a creative department made up of copywriters, web designers, art directors, flash artists and so on. Pair them up. Let them mate and have babies! These hybrid teams are the future. They can truly create worthy content that also functions precisely as portals.
Agencies hold on to old ideas. Unless we are forced (by conditions, clients or competition), we are likely to construct inefficient silos within our creative department, if not the agency as a whole. Separating digital creatives from traditional creatives (not to mention direct marketing from general) causes fiefdoms and redundancies. Working in multiple channels serves agency and practitioner alike, as well as the client.
We perceive digital creative to be more complicated than it really is. A screen is a screen, after all. Words are spelled the same.
My judging of the Dubai Lynx was not without controversy. With the festival over, I would now like to open a dialogue about the matter. I’d like your opinion…
I’d first reported (on Adfreak) about fairly dismal advertising entered into the TV category. Within hours, the festival asked me to tone down the blog for fear of queering the event. While my “reportage” was accurate, I willingly agreed to do so. After all, the Dubai Lynx is only a few years old and, upon further consideration, I agreed that my harsh review could do more harm than good.
You should know the jury ended up awarding several medals in TV, which were deserved. While it’s true the jury was disappointed by its first impression, the following day we had a healthy discussion and made adjustments.
Unfortunately, the RSS feed stayed the same and the discrepancy between the two posts was picked up by various press and bloggers. Have a look at one such blog and tell me what you think. Were they wrong to ask me to “remove or tone down” the story? And was I cowardly or brave to do it?
