There was a time when ad agencies were cool and clients were boring and that was all there was too it. Well, in case you haven’t been inside an ad agency for a while (or you sit in one of the few offices left in North America with a door on it), things today are different. In many cases, even the complete opposite, as agency life continues to get weird and more clients take things in-house. I’ll leave it to …
About Wade Sturdivant
How Ad Agencies Do Less With More
Robin Williams once said cocaine was God’s way of saying you make too much money. Something tells me he'd say the same about ad agencies' current fascination with turning even the smallest task into a gigantic group project. You’d think in these days of tight budgets, rapidly changing media and constant connectivity, agencies would not only be doing things faster but with fewer people. Especially after all the …
What Being A Fearless Leader Really Means
Anyone who’s ever worked in an office where fear is the motivational tool of choice (in other words, anyone who works in Advertising) will appreciate this interview with Paul Venables from Sunday’s New York Times. Specifically his observation that when it comes to motivating creative people, “What generally doesn’t work, or only works for a short time, is the fear-based motivation, the overt competition.” He …
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The Last Brief You’ll Ever Need
Dave Grohl: "Why can't it always be this easy?" Paul McCartney: "It is." From the film Sound City Fellow Creatives, your suspicions are correct. Despite all the PowerPoint decks, hours-long strategy sessions and touchy-feely tortured logic masquerading as valuable insight you're forced to sift through every day just to make sense of your newest banner ad assignment on the Acme Drain Cleaner account (or as I call …
Pepsi Next and TaskRabbit Make Time For You
So busy you don't have time to drink a Pepsi? Then Pepsi Next and TaskRabbit have just the thing. In a new promotion from The Barbarian Group, Pepsi Next is giving away free TaskRabbit services in order to give you enough free time to try "the unbelievable taste of Pepsi Next." For those who don't know (i.e. me, five minutes ago) TaskRabbit is an online service that allows busy people to outsource everyday …
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Also Made In USA? Our Conflicted Emotions About Overseas Manufacturing
In the wake of the US Olympic Team's Chinese-made uniform kerfuffle, kiplinger.com has an interesting feature showcasing some fashion brands that are still made in the USA, including familiar names like New Balance, Hickey Freeman and Pendleton. I'm sure we all know a few more names we could add. Still, it's a pretty short list. It's also telling (and a bit sad) that the list is enough of a curiosity to …
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Too Many Opinions? Let Me Tell You What I Think About That.
Separating fact from opinion ain't what it used to be. There was a time when the more you read, the more engaged you were with your world. Your city. Your neighborhood. Not some imaginary world you wished could be, but the world as it actually existed outside your door. Back in these ancient times (otherwise known as "just a few years ago") being up on Current Events was a thing people aspired to. (See? It was …
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When The Creative Product Is Just A Commodity
Just as news of Havas' acquisition of Victors & Spoils brought everyone's favorite buzzword, crowdsourcing, back into the spotlight this week, I received an email alerting me that one of my neighbors had chosen a logo for his new business. Where did he get it? From the crowd, of course, via 99designs.com. Check the screen grab: for $295 he got 151 designs from 26 designers. I'm not sure what portion of …
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Pop Will Eat Itself: Long-Form Ads Jump From Web To TV
It's no secret that people will watch long-form video ads online. BMW Films proved that long ago, spawning a slew of adland imitators in the process. Today, so many brands have their own "Brand X Films" online that it seems long-form ads were bound to cross over to the TV screen sooner or later. (Which reminds me: can we all agree to stop creating things called (Blank) Films or The (Blank) Project? People do not …
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Thinking Beyond The :30. TED’s Ads Worth Spreading 2012
For those with more than thirty seconds to spare, the TED Conference has announced the winners of this year's Ads Worth Spreading, their annual salute to the best in online video storytelling. Entries were solicited via YouTube.com and ranged from 30-second spots to 5-minute mini-documentaries, as well as several custom-made TEDTalk-like pieces humanizing companies and causes. “Ads Worth Spreading has been …
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Not Your Father’s CMO
Today's CMOs are more than marketers, they're "Marketing's CEOs." That's according to CMG Partners and their 4th Annual CMO's Agenda, a study of the latest trends and issues facing CMOs today. Based on interviews with 30 CMOs at U.S. companies, the study identified five trends affecting Chief Marketing Officers, including a reported increase in influence and credibility within the C-Suite, specifically with the …
One Badass Product Positioning
In the world of rock guitar, you can never have too many effects pedals. Especially distortion pedals. Guitar players talk about distortion the way wine drinkers talk about wine. One pedal has "a brittle edge with a sweet undertone." Another features "boosted mids and a smooth top-end." One pedal pairs well with a vintage tube combo amp, while another goes better with a modern head and half-stack. Some players prefer …
