There's nothing like a few weeks of TV news horror stories to get a marketer motivated. From Ad Age: Two weeks after news that taking Ambien could result in binge eating and driving while asleep, sales of sleeping medications began tanking, finally causing Sanofi-Aventis to wake up and advertise the safety of its product. And it looks like rivals won't be far behind. The print campaign for Ambien, the $2.1 billion …
DeVito/Verdi Climbs Out On A Tender Limb
DeVito/Verdi is one of the more creative agencies in the land. Therefore, I was surprised to see the following pro-bono campaign from the New York shop. If we can put aside what we think about Bush and his war, and focus just on the ad, it's simply not up to DeVito's own standards. No big idea, no arresting visual, nor any thought-provoking copy. For that matter, how can any soldier in Iraq be put "at ease?" This …
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Bean Counters Unite: Marketing Must Be Held Accountable
The Boardroom Project is a group of advertisers, agencies and marketing scientists—including the likes of PepsiCo and research giant VNU—dedicated to (finally) discovering a formula for how and why marketing works. If successful, the initiative will establish easier ways to determine the success of marketing decisions. With the life expectancy of CMOs at an all-time low, I suppose such a metric might be …
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Henderson Closes Doors After 60 Years In Business
Spike Jones at Brains On Fire informs us that legendary Greenville, SC agency, Henderson Advertising, closed its doors yesterday. Richard Breen, Editor of GSABUSINESS spoke to Ralph Callahan, the company's president, chairman and chief executive. According to Breen, Callahan declined to comment, other than to say there's litigation pending, the firm is not bankrupt and that he's still in the office. The agency …
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If You’re Not On A Mission, Pick Up The Pace
The 4As are meeting in Arizona this week. Between rounds of golf, the elite men and women of the ad biz will discuss the shifting landscape under their feet, and what to do about it. Here's a preview from the New York Times: The increasing willingness of companies like Coca-Cola, General Motors and Unilever to hire smaller shops is among the most profound changes affecting Madison Avenue. "It's a slight red herring …
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Goodby’s Grasp On Interactive Called Into Question
"The materials on this website are copyrighted and are presented exclusively for viewing by clients, prospects, and employees. Before entering the site, we ask that you agree not to copy, rebroadcast, or otherwise reproduce the work displayed here." -Goodby Silverstein & Partners I've noticed this STOP sign before, and bemusedly bypassed it. Sure, it's annoying, if not stupid, but Goodby has earned a tanker of …
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Spring Cleaning Extends To Agency’s New Homepage
When you're faced with a PR problem today, you need to act FAST, or the hyperlinked beast will eat you alive. That's precisely what Canadian agency, henderson bas did yesterday, after one of its workers leaked an internal email to Steve Hall at Adrants. I once worked at an agency that took cleaning one's cube a little too seriously. It was always in relation to the fact that clients would be visiting tomorrow. And I …
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WongDoody Joins The Revolution
Adweek reports that WongDoody has additional capabilities. Independent WongDoody has launched an interactive design and technology division, United Future, the agency said today. The 12-member United Future team works at the agency's Los Angeles office. Some of the first collaborations between WongDoody and its interactive arm include projects for Autodesk, T-Mobile and a viral marketing campaign for RealNetworks. …