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How To Outrun The Inevitable - Robert Campbell

The Dubai Egotist — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:12:52 +0000

There are a lot of agencies out there.

In China alone, there’s said to be tens of thousands.

TENS OF THOUSANDS!!!

However amongst all those – not in China, but generally – there’s a few that have a ‘global’ name.

Traditionally, they fall into 2 camps:

Those who are living off their legacy and those creating it.

Yes, that’s harsh – and there’s a whole host of reasons for it – but that’s pretty much how it feels.

Of course, these two states are in a constant state of motion … one good campaign can lift an agency from the past to the present and vice versa … however the agencies that tend to have the greatest momentum are the ones that seemingly are continuously creating their legacy rather than riding on their past.

Now in no way am I suggesting an agency purposefully ‘takes a back seat’ – there are many reasons why that can happen – however the point of this post is that as much as there are many agencies out there who are grabbing a bunch of the headlines right now, there’s 2 that are seemingly always at the forefront of commercial creativity.

BBH and W+K

Now without doubt there are some fundamental differences between the 2 companies – some good, some not so good – however the thing I find fascinating are their commonalities, of which a number of them, I believe, have directly enabled them to succeed while others have fallen.

I should point out that what I’m about to write is my perception.

The fact is I’ve never worked at BBH and while I know many of the guys there very well – I am still basing my views on observation and here-say.

And as for W+K. Well while I have had the pleasure of meeting Dan and his senior management team, we’ve not really talked about this sort of thing … most of the time I’m getting bollocked for something.

But that aside, here are 5 things that have made these agencies so creatively influential for so long.

1. Consistent Management.

The guys who run both these agencies have been at these agencies a long time.

Better yet, they are the people who founded these agencies – so they have a vested interest in maintaining the culture of the place rather than just go after the profit, regardless of the implication.

That said, they are constantly introducing new people into positions of influence and power.

Younger people. Talented people.

People who bring new perspectives and thinking to the table so while the principals of the company will stay the same, the expression of it is at the forefront of the times.

2. Control, Not Controlled.

In short, when you own your company rather than a holding company with masses of shareholders, you can control how your company grows and where your company goes.

Basically, control means you can focus on the longer-term, bigger play rather than purely focusing on hitting the next quarterly target.

It’s probably the best ad for communism you could have, ha.

3. A Willingness To Fail.

Both agencies try stuff.

Better yet, the want to try stuff.

There is a reluctance to rest on their laurels.

This isn’t just because they believe to stick with what you know is the surest way to future failure, but because they are adventurous by nature and they believe great things happen from experimentation, even if on first impressions, the result is not quite what they hoped.

They also put their money where their mouth is.

They don’t expect clients to fund their adventures into the unknown, they’ll pay for it … be it in the activities they do or the people they hire.

For both, failure is NOT trying stuff.

4. Culture, Not Function

When I first joined W+K, people talked about it’s unique culture.

To be honest, I’ve heard this sort of thing before and almost always it’s turned into a crock of shit … because the culture that was there was because of the people in the place rather than the company.

But in W+K and BBH’s case, I believe it’s true.

Sure, the people that work there enhance and develop that culture, but there’s a strong philosophical view that permeates every element of both companies.

It’s not about the press releases or the credentials deck … it’s about their standards … their expectations … their beliefs.

They actively encourage trying new things … exploring new approaches … not going for the lowest-common-denominator or the category convention … standing up for what they believe in …

In short, it’s about filling their company with interesting and creative people who share their beliefs [even if they express it in radically different ways], rather than simply those who can perform a specific job function at the lowest price.

5. Involvement, Not Observation.

Northern wrote a blog post recently where he said he was convinced the reason older, senior people lose their dynamism and originality is because no one challenges them and they don’t get in enough situations to be told something they don’t know.

Very true.

However one thing I really like about W+K is that while the senior guys are ridiculously talented and smart and experienced … they welcome opinion, debate and challenge. From everyone. Literally everyone.

I remember the first time I met Dan and John and had an ‘out of body experience’ where I saw myself telling, arguably 2 of the most respected ad guys in history a bunch of stuff I think we should be doing.

OK, so Dan said, “you’re fired” … but he listened and that’s more than many would do.

The other thing is they are all deeply involved in what’s going on.

Not in the sense of dictating outcomes or decisions, but being part of the chaos – contributing, listening, exploring.

Sure that doesn’t happen on every single piece of business on every single campaign, but you’d be amazed how knowledgable about what’s going on. Seriously, you just need 2 minutes in the company of Dan or John or Dave etc and you know that they are absolutely bursting with dynamism and originality, even though by the protocol adopted by many agencies, they should be put out to pasture by now.

Why are they like this?

Because they still care. I honestly think it’s that simple.

They still want to learn. They still want to do stuff. They still want to push boundaries.

It’s fantastic and I honestly believe that one of the reasons this is the case is because they seek out people they regard as talented and interesting … people who can push them … their colleagues … their clients … and their agency to a different place.

Not being scared of change or youth or provocation shows people who are very confident with who they are … which for all the ego and posturing that goes on in this industry, is very rare indeed.

Of course you might think this is all bollocks … and maybe it is, however I can tell you from my time at W+K and my relationship with BBH that I see all this time and time again.

Sure it’s not always perfect, sure there have been some bad mistakes – but that aside – the fact they have been at the forefront of mass market commercial creativity means they must be doing something right … something few other companies have been able to pull off over 30 odd years which is why I honestly believe these are things we could all benefit from following or learning – whether we work in a company or want to start our own.

Making money is not hard.

Being the creative industry darling for a moment in time, is not out of the reach for all.

However making money while sticking to your principals and being an acknowledged leader in [effective] creativity for 3 decades is, and that’s why W+K and BBH stand out from the crowd.

While both agencies shun propriety processes in favour of being judged by what they do [rather than what they say they do] … the reality is you can’t ignore how their principals, philosophies and approach have directly contributed and impacted to the work that so many of us [general public, not just adland] hold in the highest esteem.

Saying “it’s all about the work”, might make a nice headline that people can gravitate to, but a great creative legacy starts way before the brief lands on the table.

----------

By Robert Campbell, W+K's Asia Regional Head of Planning. Reposted with permission. Read the original blog post here (and don't miss the delicious comments.)

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Camera Phone Love

The Orlando Egotist — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Local

Do you like taking and sharing photos using apps from your camera phone?

That's what the Orlando camera phone show Depixtions is asking camera phone enthusiasts. Participants can use whatever apps on their phones they want, as long as the photo was originally taken with a cell phone.

All of the approved submissions will be printed and displayed at the gallery show to be held on March 10, 2012 at the Orange Studio. Each print will be for sale and with all proceeds going to New Hope for Kids.

Submission deadline is February 17th.

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Now Hiring: On Ideas, Inc.

The Atlanta Egotist — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Local

On Ideas, Inc. is now hiring a Junior/Mid-Level Copywriter.

Note: You must become a member to see jobs posted in the last three days.

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Now Hiring: Carmel Group Inc.

The Atlanta Egotist — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Local

Carmel Group Inc. is looking for a Marketing Manager/Creative Director.

Note: You must become a member to see jobs posted in the last three days.

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Jackson Hewitt, Not Quite How You Do It

The Atlanta Egotist — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Local

Granted it's hard to get anyone enthusiastic about tax season, but this first spot from 22squared for their new client, Jackson Hewitt, certainly ain't doing it.

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Douchey Account Guy

The Atlanta Egotist — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

National

Douchey Account Guy is like a digest of what not to say to a creative.

via

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The Twitter Year In Review

The Atlanta Egotist — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

National

Many people now tune into Twitter to watch big new happening, other people tune in to share mind numbing thoughts about the Bachelor. If you're one of those first kinds of people, here's what you probably learned via Twitter. If you're oe of those second kinds of people, here's what happened last year.

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How the Atlanta Egotist can help you in 2012.

The Atlanta Egotist — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Local

Ok, 2012, right? We're going to kick some ass and take some names. We'll make it to the gym more, not drink so much (during the week) and try not to spend so much time at our computers, oh, and post more. And we resolve to help make Atlanta even better than it was in 2011.

To that end:

Creative people - Join us. Create a profile to show off your work. It's free and companies look for talent on our site all the time. It'll take you 5 minutes. And when you create something cool? Send it to us. We love posting your work.

Creative businesses - Send us your work. Ad agencies, art galleries, musicians, mobile developers - if it's creative, we want to see it. But don't let that limit you. New hires, big news, company picnic photos - all good.

Anyone with a job opening - Post a job with us. Our Jobs Page is the second-most visited page on our site (after the home page) and the Atlanta's most creative folks are there looking at it. For a fraction of the price of most job boards, you'll get a highly targeted job post and great applicants (internships and freelance positions are still free!). Or post internationally across all the Egotist sites and get the eyeballs of 28 creative communities on your job post (including Dubai!)

Anyone looking for a job - Again, join us. That gives you a 3-day sneak peek at the great jobs posted here.

Advertisers - Our banner ads (to the right) are ridiculously cheap. Talk to us at atlanta@theegotist.com for info on how you can get your product or service in front of Atlanta's most creative people.

Writers - Have something to say? Write an editorial for us. We're always open to interesting points of view. Drop us a line at atlanta@theegotist.com if you're curious.

Here's to an awesome 2012.

Respectfully,
The Atlanta Egotist

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BBDO Atlanta Citrus Spots Revealed

The Atlanta Egotist — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Local

Turns out BBDO Atlanta's spots for the Florida Department of Citrus are exactly like the brief, however, the copy is much better than the concept revealed. Knowing the paces these spots were put through, BBDO Atlanta should be pretty happy with the result.

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Keep the Holiday Cheer Alive

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Local

If you're like us and can't believe that the holidays are behind us already, keep the holiday cheer alive for a little longer with Digitas' holiday card. Click the card to donate to a charity from each of the cities where they have offices, and then use their "Snowdude" bookmarklet to turn any website into a holiday wonderland.

E.g.:

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New Year, New Brand

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Local

Matchstic is starting the year off on a new foot, with a new brand. A year in the making, Matchstic has evolved their brand to fit with their new office space. The stationery suite is well thought out, using a custom set of stamps to personalize business cards and add personality to printed materials. As Matchstic continues to grow, this brand will serve the grown up identity firm well.

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The Girl With The Faber Castell Earring

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

National

Seriously?

Faber Castell from eric yeo on Vimeo.

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Happy New Year, the Son&Son's Way

The Atlanta Egotist — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:02:01 +0000

Local

From us and them. We'll be back in 2012, with gusto.

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Son & Sons TV

The Atlanta Egotist — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Local

We spent some time cruising around the old Google Reader today and stumbled upon some behind the scenes footage of these designiacs at work.

This is what they look like in the morning:

This is what they look like working:

This is what they look like dancing:

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Now Hiring: Creative Circle

The Atlanta Egotist — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Local

Creative Circle is now hiring a City Manager in Atlanta. If you love matchmaking creative talent with creative agencies as much as we do, this job is for you.

Note: You must become a member to see jobs posted in the last three days.

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BBDO Atlanta brings the great outdoors to NYC

The Atlanta Egotist — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:30:12 +0000

Local

REI's grand opening of their new SOHO store could not have been timed more perfectly with the new urban camping trend (a.k.a. Occupy Wall Street). Hopefully the NYC store sells tents handmade by disgruntled unemployed workers, not big name corporations. Regardless, BBDO Atlanta introduced the new store to both the 99 and 1% by bringing expanses of beautiful landscapes to the crowded NYC streets with their integrated outdoor/augmented reality campaign.

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Behind The Website: fitzco.com

The Atlanta Egotist — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Local

When we were researching for our piece on Fitzgerald + Co's Pergo campaign, we happened to notice that their website was looking different.

Take a look around.

We asked ECD Marc Lineveldt to explain where the idea for this Mac OS Finder-inspired website concept came from, here is his reply:

The philosophy at Fitzgerald+CO is to help our clients move from traditional one-way communication to ideas that invite full participation. So the idea of the new Fitzco.com is to walk the talk, by fully turning over the reins of our website to the user.

The site's navigation is simple. It's your computer desktop. Launch the computer icon in the upper right (it often takes people a moment to catch on) and you're able to access our information, just as you would on your own computer. Change the wallpaper, browse our private files, rifle through our porn folder.

This iteration of the site is just a rough sketch of where it's headed. Soon you'll be able to upload your resume right to our desktop, add videos, change our bios and even watch a live stream of one of our copywriters.

If anyone has any other ideas for the site, please let us know – participate@fitzco.com.

What are your thoughts on this unconventional approach?

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Armchair Media Turns Ten, Time To Party

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Local

Armchair Media is turning ten this year, and to celebrate, they're throwing a party slash art exhibit slash charity silent auction this Wednesday night at Poem88 cleverly named "Tenure".

Party with the Armchairs, check out original poster by their designers (plus a few friends of the fam) and bring home a one-of-a-kind piece of art honoring an Atlanta charity to put under the tree for the design enthusiast on your holiday shopping list.

Cobb County could be Anywhere, U.S.A.

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0000

Local

The Cobb County Convention and Visitor's Bureau recently underwent a re-brand with Atlanta ad agency TG Madison. Trying to appeal to research that said leisure and convention planners want "convenience, affordability and a place that's family friendly," T.G. Madison has dubbed the 4th largest county in Atlanta "Atlanta's Sweet Spot", and successfully turned it into any suburb in any city across the country.

If you're looking for an indistinctive place for your next vacation or company meeting, a grueling 45 minutes away from (the real) Atlanta, then Cobb County is definitely your place.

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New Editorial: None Of Us Is As Dumb As All Of Us

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Local

Our good friend Felix is back to end the epidemic plaguing our creative nation: groupthink. How do you get beyond everyone's options and achieve a higher level of creative execution, free of asinine comments and changes?

Read on, friends, and pass on (to CDs, AEs, even clients, if you dare).

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None Of Us Is As Dumb As All Of Us

Felix — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:30:00 +0000

I “borrowed” that from one of those Demotivator posters. If you’re wondering why someone with my cynical outlook on life needs a demotivation poster, just remember that sad sacks love to wallow in misery. And oh, how I love the wallowing. It’s a great site for realizing just how fucked up so much of the business world is; and this comes from someone who worked in an office full of the original motivational posters that make you want to hang yourself with Roseanne Barr’s thong.

So enough of the horseshit intro; what’s this rant all about?

One word…opinions.

It was inspired by the recent lump of festering shit designed for Colorado Springs, an abhorrence that slid out of the puckered anus of local “design” firm Stone Mantel (sounds like something cold that supports crap from Goodwill…hmm, the irony).

When I first saw it on The Denver Egotist I thought it was a joke. Nice one! Even worse than the Fort Collins travesty, but there’s no way this malodorous boil is real. Good old Egotist, always one for larks and japes and…

…oh. Shit.

I wasn’t exactly expecting Pentagram quality, but this thing looks like the kind of rotten puke you see in student books; the stuff that means you have to break it to the hopeful brat that they’re better off flipping burgers than polluting the world with their lack of design skills.

Actually, it’s worse. And that’s because it reeks of design by committee.

This is one of the biggest problems I see with the advertising, marketing and design industries. And it’s also prevalent in movies (oh god, the shite movies we now have to endure), music, product design and almost everything else that we encounter on a daily basis. You can see the hands of wannabe artists, designers and writers everywhere, who sit behind a desk crunching numbers for most of the day. But when they get to review work, they get to show just how damned talented they really are.

Design by committee is rife in advertising and design, but could never exist in some professions. Here’s a quick example. Imagine a surgeon performing an operation, only he’s joined by a bunch of other people, including: his boss; a surgeon who hates his guts; an intern; the secretary; the girl from accounting who he’s been fucking at night; and the mailroom guy.

Just as the surgeon is about to make his first incision, there’s immediate opposition.

Asshole surgeon: “Whooah, is that the best place to cut? We need to discuss this at length. And that scalpel is all wrong.”

Intern: “We should probably have coffee and look at these charts I pulled on the best place to make first incisions. It includes new data from focus groups.”

Secretary: “Do we even need to cut him at all? That seems harsh, perhaps we can massage the failing liver back to health and burn some incense.”

Account girl: “Statistically, we shouldn’t even go near this cut. The legal team says it could open us up to lawsuits, and that means more expenditure. We should probably go somewhere private, together, and talk this over.”

Mailroom guy: “Cut him now! Big cut! Let’s see blood!”

Boss: “I say we make a small cut in a different area, one less likely to cause visual trauma, remove a small part of the liver, put a small part of the new liver in there, sew him up and then put this all on the back burner while we wait for the results to come in. Let’s see how he performs.”

Surgeon: “OK…making incision.”

Asshole surgeon: “Hey, we need to talk about the shape of the incision, the depth and so many other factors. We should take this offline and run the numbers.”

You get the picture. It’s ridiculous to think of it in those terms, but it’s exactly what happens in advertising and design. And it’s not too much of a stretch to consider the client and their product as a patient in need of medical assistance.

Their brand is dying, their sales are on life support, they need a solution, and quickly. But opinions are allowed to grow and flourish from all sides. Everyone’s thoughts matter. Even people who have never created an ad, or wrote copy, are allowed to directly influence the copy and art direction.

“How about this headline?”

“Oh, yes Julia I like that. But maybe not so bold, and let’s add a call to action in there along with Justin’s idea about combining those two headlines from the other campaign.”

“Brilliant! Let’s get a focus group together for even more opinions!”

Clients, account managers, planners, they all have their place. But they rarely stay in it. Creative territory, and to some extent the strategic side of the business, seem to be fair game to everyone else. If a creative, like an art director, asked to see the fiscal projections for the next quarter, and supplied a spreadsheet with numbers that he or she liked, there would be hell to pay. But anyone, and I mean anyone, has a valid opinion when it comes to the business we’re trained in.

Oh sure, it’s sometimes disguised as self-deprecating verbiage, but you can see straight through that. How many times have you heard these gems:

“Look, I’m no copywriter but have you tried something like…”

“I’m not a designer, but I’m thinking we could try this color…”

“You’ll figure out how to make this much better, but what about…”

Before you know it, your sketch pad is filled with “suggestions” from the clients and your own management team, and you have to bite what’s left of your tongue, go back to your corner of the office and turn something great into something mediocre. And then repeat the process a few dozen times until everyone can agree that they don’t hate it.

It’s the equivalent of taking a car into the shop with a leaking engine, and picking up a completely jalopy with a new paint job after 3 months and $100k in expenses.

So, how do we solve this?

It’s solvable, but it requires an incredible amount of discipline and trust from both the client and the agency.

First, the client must have one decision-maker. ONE. And that person must be in the loop from the start. That doesn’t mean the CEO, it means one person responsible for signing off on the finished project. That means the CEO and the board has to go with that person’s decision. Like I say, trust. But really, if one retarded monkey had sat down with crayons and designed The Springs logo, and another retarded monkey signed off on it, would it be any worse than the one the fucking committee agreed to?

It also means that the agency must get a very specific creative brief, signed off on by the main decision-maker. And it means the agency must put its foot down when the client asks for god-awful changes. To put it bluntly, fuck them. They don’t know what they’re doing; if they did they wouldn’t need an agency. Steve Jobs said that he refused to test the iPad before it went to market. He knew people don’t know what they want and it would score badly. So he took the “fuck you” path and released it. It’s now the most popular tablet by a large margin.

Jobs also had to put his own money into the infamous 1984 commercial. The committee hated it. He loved it. And we all know how that turned out.

The agency must also put a limit on brainstorms between all kinds of people. A team is great, but I honestly believe three’s a crowd. Bernbach wanted the art director and copywriter to work together to formulate ideas. It worked great. I don’t ever seen great work coming from brainstorms with five or six people in the room. Too many cooks. Too many opinions. Ideas get left on the table because one person in the room isn’t keen. Other ideas get pushed because the group likes them. Generally, when we think in large groups, we play safe and the tepid ideas rise to the top. There are notable exceptions (Pixar), but not many.

If we want less of this Colorado Springs crap, we all need to start putting our own houses in order. Solid direction, one main decision-maker, small teams and no more of these big group brainstorms. Try it. You’ll save time, money and the sanity of the talented people around you.

Felix Unger is a site contributor, ranter and curmudgeon for The Denver Egotist. He’s been in the ad game a long time, but he’s still young enough to know he doesn’t know everything. If he uses the f-bomb from time-to-time, forgive him. Sometimes, when you're ranting, no other word will do. In his spare time, he does not torture small animals. He has been known, on occasion, to drink alcohol by the gallon. Do as he says, not as he does.

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Here’s a Radical Idea. How About Being Honest?

Felix — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:10:20 +0000

“That the best you got Felix? Not very radical is it?”

Well, it’s not a new idea. Bill Bernbach started the whole “honesty in advertising” thing way back in the sixties, and then, it really was radical. The very idea that you would devote a full-page ad to a car that was inferior, or a “lemon,” well that was shocking.

Back then, traditional car ads went on and on about how awesome the cars were. Any flaws were overlooked. Any problems were locked away in deep, dark dungeons, never to be talked about again. The ads painted picturesque Norman Rockwell images of nuclear families, in pastel tones, all ready to take a drive after a good ol’ steak ‘n’ taters dinner. Sure, the husband was beating his wife and kids behind closed doors, drinking bourbon and fingerbanging the secretary at work, but that’s all laundry that wasn’t aired. Happy, blissful, unfettered motoring was all that needed to be talked about.

So, the sheer nerve of saying “hey, some of these cars have problems, so we recall them” was mind blowing. It was…honest. You know, not lying, not “exaggerating the benefit,” but really saying something pure. And the public lapped it up. They loved being treated with that kind of respect. Volkswagens could not be built fast enough. Who’d a thunk it?

Then, Avis came out (courtesy of Bill B.) saying “we’re number 2, so we try harder.”

“Number two? Are you fucking insane? Don’t ever admit that, it will never wor…oh, it worked. Shit. Wow. What the hell is going on?”

Honesty, for a time, was in. It was bold, fresh, different and absolutely wonderful. Even now, I bathe in the glory of those ads. If I was slightly more perverted I’d rub one out to them, but even I have my sick and sordid limits.

Here’s the tragedy, though. Honesty is still a radical idea, right now. In fact, it may be even more radical that it was back in Bill’s day.

Can you imagine, for one tender fucking moment, that those DDB ads would make it past the uptight, creatively-baron boardrooms of today’s neurotic, moneygrubbing corporations? There are shareholders to please. There are corporate standards (oxymoron) to uphold. There are lawyers to contend with. Think about it.

“Christ, what if we put out an ad saying we have to recall some cars, and then the cars that make it to the showroom end up having a mechanical failure? We’re wide open for a goddamned lawsuit, we’ll be ruined. Which twat came up with this stupid fucking idea anyway?! Fire this old-school fucktard, hire an art director to show a pretty picture of the car, throw in a pithy headline if you must – it’s ok to stare – and slap our logo in the corner. That’s it! Anything else is leaving us wide open. Now, I have an enormous bonus check to deposit so leave me the fuck alone.”

Take a quick look at adsoftheworld.com and scour the hundreds of pages of ads. When you find one that’s even trying to be honest, jot it down. Actually, count them on your fingers, you’ll only need one hand anyway. And chances are, that ad is for a smaller business that’s trying to make a splash and doesn’t have corporate lawyers leeching the life out of it yet.

There was an ok-ish movie made in 1990 called “Crazy People.” The premise was great, the execution not so good. It starred Dudley Moore (listen to Derek & Clive if you want to know the real Dudley) as a frustrated creative who was sick of the glossy ads that said nothing. So, he started producing honest ads. He wanted to level with America. There were gems like:

“Buy Volvos. They’re Boxy, But They’re Good.”

“Forget France. The French Can Be Annoying. Come to Greece. We’re Nicer.”

“Quaker Oats. Does This Cereal Taste Great? Who Knows, But The Box Is Cute.”

“Jaguar. For Men Who’s Like Hand Jobs From Beautiful Women They Hardly Know.”

What happens next? They have him committed to a lunatic asylum, but somehow his ads get printed anyway, and the public goes nuts for them. Like selling out of everything, empty shelves nuts. And so, he works on more “true” ads with all the drooling vegetables in the lunatic asylum, because it takes morons to write true ads. Here’s one:

“Porsche. It’s a Little Too Small To Get Laid In. But You Get Laid The Minute You Get Out.”

And eventually, they do an ad for Sony that has the following script:

“The Japanese. They’re short, so their eyes are closer to the components than many other nationalities. Caucasians are too tall and gangly. Look how far away the Caucasian workers eyes are from the integrated circuitry. That’s why Sony products are better. SONY. Because Caucasians Are Just Too Damn Tall.”

Can you imagine, for a second, what would happen if an ad like that ran? Well, maybe not as blatantly racist, but with the honesty of the Volvo or Porsche ad? Aside from the insane amount of free PR it would get, it would be taking a stand in a place that no corporation ever goes. And as Dave Trott has said often, getting noticed is way more important than an ad being liked.

How about some honest ads for products you and I all know well? Here are a few that probably go too far, but…

Want some more? How about…

Toyota. How Big A Discount Will It Take To Make You Forget About Our Runaway Cars?

Levis. Give Your Fat Ass A Chance To Look Less Fat.

Obsession. Smell Like The Attractive Woman You’ll Never Be. It’s Dark In The Nightclubs Anyway.

Well, ok, too far. But what’s better? Blatantly misleading and grossly exaggerating the few benefits of the product, or pushing something truthful? And these days, the truth would stick out like an uncut dick at a Jewish nudist colony.

If getting noticed is key, be honest.
If being memorable is the issue, be honest.
If customer loyalty is needed, be honest.

I think a sharp, but cleverly worded, dose of the truth could really change things for the better. Honest.

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Creative Mornings: Sid Mashburn

The Atlanta Egotist — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:45:23 +0000

Local

If you weren't able to attend the premiere of Creative Mornings Atlanta, here's the video of the first event starring Atlanta man of style Sid Mashburn.

Sid Mashburn from CreativeMornings/Atlanta on Vimeo.

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SNL Spoofs 22Squared Lincoln Financial Group Ads

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:18:57 +0000

Local

If you consider being roasted a high honor, welcome 22squared to the club. Their Lincoln Financial "Future Self" commercials have been spoofed by SNL.

Original:

SNL Spoofs:

(With Ben Stiller)

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Bold Mo #1

The Atlanta Egotist — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Local

Evidently there is one man with real balls who reads this site. And that man's name is Rick Vanderleek. He's a bad Mo Fo. And this is what he looks like after one day of growing a Movember 'stache.

Support his sprouting facial hair, and men everywhere on his MOspace page.

If you're participating in Movember, send us some progress pics to atlanta [at] theegotist.com and we'll pimp the sh*t out of you for donations.

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