The Living Dead: A ghoulish metaphor in desperate times.
April 30, 2009
Buddy, can you spare a dime…or a limb?
Last Sunday, a substitute ministered to our church. The residing pastor was taking a requisite holiday after the travails of Easter. Anyway, the replacement pastor was a younger man, bearded and portly, with a wry grin. He reminded me of, of all people, the Comic Book Guy from the Simpson’s TV show. It turns out the comparison was valid in more ways than one. For the deacon’s sermon began with a most unexpected metaphor, one perhaps more suited to a comic book store than a Presbyterian church.
God love him, he compared the resurrection of Christ with Zombies! Paraphrasing a story from Newsweek, the pastor claimed zombies to be the perfect creature for desperate times, “chewing away at our psyches as well as our 401k’s.” His words not mine. The undead, he said were the new vampires, replacing the gothic bloodsucker in popularity.
Amen. With so many of us suffering tremendous financial hardship, zombies are like the rapacious creditor, insatiable and evil. And, once ruined, we become desperate ghouls ourselves…
Or do we? Pulling a religious 360, the pastor reminded the congregation that Christ’s rising from the grave was as far from evil as an event could be and, obviously, that it symbolized new life, hope and good tidings for mankind. This, of course, is familiar post-Easter rhetoric and certainly welcome. Especially after the wonderfully gruesome reference to flesh eating monsters!
Some of you already know how much I love horror. I’ve written several posts on the matter. And in the genre, next to vampires, nothing turns me on like a good zombie story. The preacher was right. The undead are trendy as Hell right now, pun intended. Between the Swine Flu and our collapsing financial markets, the walking dead fit right in.
Fun zombie facts:
-Prior to making the beloved movie, Slum Dog Millionaire director Danny Boyle made both zombie-apocalypse thrillers 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. Not to mention the equally gruesome (and wonderful) Trainspotting.
-Over 50 years before Will Smith’s tepid version, Richard Matheson wrote the genuinely terrifying I Am Legend. An equally scary film version (The Last Man on Earth) was made in 1968, starring a surprisingly stoic Vincent Price. Read the book. See that film.
-Rumor has it legendary commercial director Joe Pytka served as cameraman for the even more legendary George Romero during the filming of the greatest zombie movie (if not horror movie) of all time, Night of the Living Dead.
Darn, nobody’s friending me!
Once in a while I encounter someone who does not own or operate a computer. My grandfather for instance. He just turned 96. He proudly points out the computer room in his retirement home but, as far as I know, he’s never been. Jack Postaer came into the world before television, air-conditioning and jet planes. Way before. During his childhood, horse driven carriages still occupied the brick-paved streets. Chicago was Hog Butcher to the World. Gramps is completely unaware of blogs, let alone mine (which is probably to his benefit!)
During service work, I’ve met others who go through life without computers. Usually it’s because they cannot afford the machines or ISPs. They might own a cell phone and a TV and that’s about it. If they work it is in a job that does not require computers or the skills to run them. A few are in telemarketing, which I assume utilizes computers. However, I have been told these machines are heavily blocked from anything but mission critical applications. In other words no Facebook or streaming videos on ESPN.
These are the ones I worry and wonder about. Clearly, they are being left behind. As I watch my small children grasp evermore-difficult tasks on our family’s computer, I can’t imagine anyone remaining ignorant, much less oblivious. Hell, I’m stunned anyone still uses dial up!
I’m not sure if we (the tech literate) have an obligation to those without the means or inclination to get wired. Is this a brutal example of the fit surviving and the weak declining? Perhaps when phones become fully loaded and dirt cheap, it will allow everyone computing power in their hands.
As for Gramps, he got to see his beloved White Sox win a World Series, which we all believe extended his life.
The Mantra or how to find grace in copywriting.
April 27, 2009
I still haven’t found the tag line I’m looking for.
Featured in the lyrics of U2’s exceptional new album, No Line On The Horizon is this exhortation from Bono: “I found grace inside a sound. I found grace that’s all I’ve found.” On an earlier track he beseeches (God?) to “let me in the sound…let me in the sound.” Over and over again. Until he finds grace. And then he can “breathe again.”
God, I love U2. Whereas some tire of Bono’s grandiose soul searching and God-filled exhortations I can’t get enough. Many years ago, when it dawned on me that U2 was making music primarily about God and the search for Him something clicked. Here was a rock band looking for greater meaning and not a cold one or a hot piece of ass. Nothing wrong with singing about beer and women but eventually we grow up –or try to anyway.
But if the popular reading of U2’s lyrics is about searching for God, there is another view and one I think all readers here can appreciate: Bono is singing about creativity. You know… when it’s just you and the keyboard, looking for words, playing with an idea, shaping and rearranging it until it’s almost perfect? That. That moment of Zen is what he is singing about. This is where he finds grace.
When I sit down with a brief, I begin hunting for one true thing I can say or express about the client I’m being asked to advertise. If I hit upon something then I go about trying to prove it out in a paragraph or two. We call this a mantra. Writing a mantra is akin to making art. We do not just hash something together. We roll the words around like stones in a rock tumbler until they are perfect. We find grace.
Subservient Chicken. Mascot for Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Poster child for viral marketing. But was he a good salesman?
April 23, 2009
I’ll give you finger licking good!
Burger King just celebrated the 5-year anniversary of its infamous “Subservient Chicken” web campaign produced by Crispin Porter & Bogusky and the Barbarian Group.
The anniversary came and went, with the trades and various bloggers picking up the story. Certainly the hubbub was nothing like it was when SK first danced upon the personal computing screens of America. Oh, weren’t we all a-twitter? And I’m talking pre-twitter.
Subservient Chicken put Crispin and Burger King on the map. But they were different maps weren’t they? The vaguely perverse chicken became an icon for its ad agency, eliciting more love and hate than the war in Iraq. SK validated Crispin’s Fame mission. SK validated the obsession for digital marketing. SK inflamed the passions of countless intern copywriters and art directors looking for new definitions of creativity.
But what exactly did the S-Chicken do for the B-King? I’m pretty sure it was created to sell chicken sandwiches. Did it? I don’t remember. It’s a safe bet that more people were talking about chicken than eating it. And since that is the definition of fame, then by Crispin’s criteria the campaign was wildly successful.
And if Subservient Chicken was a phenomenon then Crispin’s reinvention of the Burger King became an icon. The creepy and mischievous King is about as famous as marketing stuff gets, maybe not Tony the Tiger but right up there with Madge and Mr. Whipple. And the King doesn’t even have a catch phrase!
Famous. No question about it. Crispin delivered to its client a celebrity logo-type thing out of the charcoal broiled vapor.
But is it working? After Spongebob’s booty call, after “waking up with the King,” after all the campy mayhem and frat boy antics are more people buying Whoppers than Big Macs?
Maybe. I honestly don’t know.
I do know that despite having an ad campaign with almost no creative charisma, McDonald’s is making money hand over fist. Their “I’m Loving It” mantra has contributed mightily to the golden arches golden profits. Those results are known and talked about a lot more than the advertising. I’ve never been a fan of this line. On the contrary, I don’t like it. But that’s immaterial.
Which client do you think is happier?
As I write Adweek is reporting that BK intends to significantly increase ad spending next year, so they mustn’t be unhappy. But the WSJ indicates March sales were down sending the stock price sliding 20%.
All questions aside, I am firmly on record as being a great admirer of Crispin Porter & Bugusky. In my view, they are the Doyle Dane Bernbach of our time. But for all the hype (press) and glory (awards) I wonder about sales. For all the sizzle, where’s the beef?
And you thought he was annoying…
Since we’ve been on the subject of inappropriate online behavior, let’s talk about the Dominoes “Boogergate” scandal. You know the story. Two employees of the pizza chain posted a video of them doing gross things to foodstuffs and then, presumably, selling the goods to unsuspecting customers. Apparently, over 1,000,000 people have viewed the spectacle.
48 hours later, the Dominoes CEO posts a video apology. In it, he soberly details all sorts of firm actions the company will be taking to protect the public and prevent this type of disaster from ever happening again. One measure involves closing the store down and sanitizing it top to bottom. In his latest Ad Age column, Bob Garfield goes into the particulars and offers commentary.
I haven’t seen the offensive video. Don’t care to. I get the gist of it. This sort of video blooms like algae on the Internet.
Frankly, I’m more interested in the Dominoes apology. I understand the need to do something and rather like the idea of a video, but why apologize for the two miscreants? They are morons. Dominoes isn’t at fault. As Garfield points out, these two could have been working at any number of fast food operations. Young men plus minimum wage plus the Internet equals this video. It is not a shocker when you consider what else is readily available on the Internet.
I suppose CEO, Pat Doyle did what he was advised to do. But imagine if he’d been more brazen and real: “When we find these two idiots were not just going to fire them but we’re going to film them eating their own wonderful creations. Put that on You Tube and suck it!”
Of course Doyle didn’t do anything like that. But I bet if he’d consulted with his ad agency, none other than Crispin Porter & Bogusky, he would have gotten just such a suggestion. Imagine…the ultimate agency pranksters taking two vidiots to school and scoring big time points with and for the client.
Ah, the revenge fantasy! Have I not learned my lesson? In my own case (see last post), fighting fire with fire proved to be a bad move. Yet, the urge to go fight club on these two nimrods rages, even in me.
BTW: Not that I need other ways to get into trouble but I’m on Twitter if you care to follow.
That’s me in the corner…
Last week Alan Wolk wrote about the unpleasant phenomenon of schadenfreude, where one relishes the pain and suffering of others. He was particularly concerned about it as it occurs in Ad Land. It was a strong piece of writing. So much so, Agency Spy posted it on their popular site.
The ensuing comments were a revelation. One reader, by way of example, took umbrage at something I had written… In my recent posts about the collapse of JWT Chicago I’d taken some heat from an anonymous blogger. Childishly, I chose to fight back using my own ugly language and ideas.
Bad idea times two. First, I should not have used vulgar discourse against one of my readers. After all, I’d invited him on to comment. This is no way to treat a guest. Secondly, I should not have tried to explain or defend myself on Agency Spy.
What was I thinking? In recovery programs the troubled soul is taught, among other things, to promptly admit it when he is wrong and to make amends as soon as possible. Good medicine for someone who acted impulsively…twice. So, that is what I’m doing. I’m sorry for my bad behavior. I became what I despise: a slime ball on the Internet! As amends I vow not to allow vile commentary on my blog ever again or to spew it myself.
I’m no more or less thick-skinned than any other creative person, which is to say not very. I’m still learning the protocol of blogging, if not being a good person, and this was a great lesson.
“Teenagers are curious about sex.”
-Blake Ebel
My creative partner at Euro RSCG Chicago, Blake Ebel appeared on the Today Show this morning talking about the very topic I had spent my last story discussing: sex(ism) and race(ism) in advertising.
Total coincidence. But understandable, given all the hubbub of late. The Today show isolated two spots in particular: the risque’ Spongebob Squarepants mashup for Burger King and hottie chef Padima’s burger eating orgy for Hardees.
I’d written about these and other fast food commercials that seemed to be hitting below the belt -wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Blessed with suburban good looks, it’s easy to see why Today show producers opted to interview Blake. He comports himself well. Check out his 15 seconds of fame:
Ebel on Today Show
Racism and Sexism always on the menu in fast food nation.
April 16, 2009
Some fervor in Ad Land over the latest Popeye’s commercial featuring “Annie, The Chicken Queen.” The controversy is two fold. First the obvious question: Is Annie a stereotype of black women? She’s in our face, shucking and jiving, yammering about fried chicken. So, yes, Annie is a stereotype. But what makes the bit even more controversial is the idea that a bunch of white guys in Texas created the commercial. Indeed, GSD&M is taken to task on Agency Spy. Perhaps with good reason. In the comments, a frustrated African American woman makes numerous good points, and not just to white America. The article and the spot are attached:
Agency Spy on Annie the Chicken Queen
The use of offensive stereotypes in popular culture is nothing new. But the amount of it in fast food advertising is acute. Twelve years ago Chiat Day and Taco Bell introduced a talking Chihuahua. “Yo Quiero Taco Bell!” I was so startled by this campaign I ended up satirizing it in my new novel, The Happy Soul Industry. A yapping Mexican Chihuahua? Hadn’t we been down this road before with the Frito Bandito (to say nothing of Speedy Gonzales)?
Apparently not. Yet another dubious Diablo inhabits Burger King’s recent commercial for the Texican Whopper. Here the height-challenged stereotype is a masked wrestler and he’s donning a Mexican flag for a cape. Aye Carumba. As of this writing BK’s agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky is reworking the spot to make it less offensive. The story and commercial are below.
And speaking of inappropriate behavior…Sexism reigns in recent campaigns for Hardees and Carl’s JR. In one, hottie chef, Padima makes love to a colossal stab of beef. In the other Paris Hilton tries to eat hers while having sex with a car.
What is it with fast food advertising and isms? I understand that young people and minorities eat junk food but pandering to these audiences with soft porn and stereotypes rankles. And besides aren’t Paris, Padima and Queen Annie all wrong anyway? It does seem like middle-aged white ad guys trying to be “dope” and, of course, failing.
And what to make of Burger King’s latest campaign, which mashes a bootylicious anthem and Spongebob Squarepants?! Not only is the ad sexist (joyfully so) but it’s presumably for children. Or is it? Adrants has more.
Adrants on Spongebob booty call.
Sigh…Almost makes one nostalgic for McDonald’s fake white America. Actually, we ought to give Mickey D’s props for getting pop culture right at least once. Last year’s “How Low Can You Go?” commercial seamlessly weaved hip-hop with middle America in a musical and visual treat for, of all things, Happy Meals. My kids liked it and so did I.
I’m taking on a lot here, I know. Look at the work. Besides creating a fast food nation is the Quick Serve industry (and its advertising partners) also committing more egregious fouls?
Even Death is bored.
First JWT closes down its 100-year old operation in Chicago, and then the much-beleaguered, much-named Enfatico is swept under the WPP rug. And the drumbeats get louder: Advertising is dead. TV is dead. Newspapers are dead. Long live the…
The what? The continuous reporting of death and destruction in Ad Land was inevitable and necessary but isn’t it part of a bigger story, a story that’s ready for part II…or even part III?
Honestly, the beginning of the End started 20 years ago, give or take, with the phenomenon of holding companies taking over the advertising landscape. A decade later the Internet arrived and, while at first aiding and abetting Ad Land, it quickly took on it’s own agenda, sucking advertising revenue from older media and, more crucially, changing how consumers and content relate to one another.
So here we are. In my last post I wrote with optimism about the future of marketing services. If big agencies are truly unified (not posing or fronting) they will prevail. Specialty shops always have a place. But I’m missing a piece, one that is critical.
You.
Who among us will emerge from the chaos poised to reinvent? As current leadership (myself included) goes about playing the cards we have (some far better than others), where are the game changers?
Does marketing have a Michael Jordan or a Tiger Woods? Is marketing even the right word? Granted, unlike sports (where the game hardly changes at all) our world has been turned upside down. But still, we are only transitioning. In order for the ad game to be reinvented we need inventers.
Agencies like Crispin Porter & Bogusky and clients like Apple show us the potential for our industry. They think different and it shows. Alex and Steve are visionaries. My opinion, haters of CP&B are mostly ignorant, jealous or both. This agency is the modern version of Doyle Dane Bernbach. I’m sorry if that’s a hard pill to swallow. In his day, Bill took a lot of shit too. Apple needs no explanation or defense. So strong is their karma it altered not only technology and marketing, it changed the world.
So who’s next and what’s next? Instead of everyone criticizing the old models and their fat cat leaders, why aren’t we seeing any new gurus and game changers? Picking on Martin Sorrel and Howard Draft is so last year. Harping on the death of everything is equally laborious. If you want the definitive text on what went wrong and who’s to blame read The Ubiquitous Persuaders by George Parker.
It’s not a war between advertising and digital. Or direct marketing versus general. They are ALL important. And they are all in trouble. Enough said.
I’m declaring that part of the revolution over. Who among us is capable of delivering the new model for another fifty years, or even twenty? And yes, I’m talking to all the sharp shooters hiding within their cubes or trolling the Internet looking for targets. Put down your water pistols and figure this shit out.
From the ashes, new growth.
I had a long conversation with the AdAge reporter who first broke the disheartening story about JWT’s demise. Jeremy Mullman wasn’t prodding about that agency; he’d already done his homework there. He told that sad tale. Instead he was considering the future of marketing services in Chicago. Funny, I told him, I’ve been doing much the same thing.
Clearly JWT’s passing begs many questions but, contrary to majority opinion, not all of them are bleak or discouraging. Frankly, I told Jeremy, there’s a lot to look forward to.
Yes, over the last few years, it was as if a fire had burned through the corridors of Ad Land. Few in Chicago were exempted from its fury. Yet from these ashes might we see new growth, perhaps healthier and better prepared for the 21st century?
I have ample reason to be hopeful.
In 2004, Euro Tathum Partners found itself in the same sorry shape as JWT. The advertising agency had been decimated by client defections and staff eliminations. Morale was low. An unhealthy fear pervaded the air. The local press named Euro a corpse and called for its burial.
Yet, in Euro’s case, the people, places and things were reassembled in such a way as to put it in good stead. It serves no purpose to tell that story here. You readers haven’t an appetite for braggadocio! Suffice it to say, Euro RSCG is viable and strong. For this we are a little proud and a lot grateful.
And we are not alone. Elsewhere, there is new growth or sustained growth. I urged Mullman to look for it, report it, and even herald it. For Chicago agencies, (ours included) need this support. Nourishment comes from many sources, including the trade press.
If big agencies put forth an honest commitment to ALL the marketing services (Digital, Direct, Promotion, Data and yes, even Advertising), they will do better than merely survive. Clients want and need a unified approach and, done properly, they will gladly pay for it.
Specialists have their place as well. As Mullman correctly pointed out, Chicago’s own Starcom leads all comers in media. In a recent column, Alex Bogusky sang the praises of small advertising boutiques, rightly extolling them for their creative prowess.
Paying lip service to one or, worse yet, fronting another causes decay and, as we have now seen, death. In George Parker’s remarkably intellectual book, The Ubiquitous Persuaders he uncovers these frauds and makes a harrowing case for new and improved models…or else. I urge you to read it.
And so, having arrived at a new and improved model, agencies (big or small) must make a genuine commitment to it. Those that do will prosper. These entities are the future of our industry –not just in Chicago but everywhere.
Mullman with AdAge is working on an extensive story about the future of advertising (or whatever were calling it) in Chicago. The piece may run as soon as Monday. In the midst of it all, I sometimes miss the obvious. Likely he won’t. So I look forward to his view. I also look forward to a better tomorrow. Easter is here and with it the story of resurrection. Likewise, spring brings new growth. Pray our great city finds evidence of both. I am confident it will.
