Advertorials happen. They happen all the time. Whether you think they’re effective or misleading, you probably rarely give them a second thought.

That is, until they begin appearing on your front page.

Alice In Wonderland

Historically, newspapers and magazines have held the front page as an Advertising Free Zone. It only makes sense. No one buys a publication because of the ads on the front; they look to the cover as a de facto table of contents. That’s where the impulse to purchase is created.

But with the decline in advertising revenues, publications have begun allowing more and more leeway. Small banner ads appear near the bottom of the front page. Plastic covers promote wireless services. Post-it notes offer coupons. Ads are creeping into that valuable space, precisely because it’s valuable. Precisely because magazines and newspapers can’t sell the insides as much as they once could.

So, you can imagine, if you offer a newspaper $700,000 to print a full front-page wrap, there’s a good chance they’re going to take it.

That’s what Disney did with the Los Angeles Times. The ad – a four-page wrap that mimicked the Times’ front page – was designed to “create buzz, and to extend the film’s already brilliant marketing campaign,” said John Conroy, spokesman for the Times. It also pushed the day’s headlines to a second page.

It’s not the first time the Times has slipped advertising in under the radar. Last April, an ad for NBC’s Southland gave only minimal indication that it was, indeed, an advertisement – and that was long after the “article” would have been read.

Newspapers: a Vehicle for Journalism or Advertising?

Which begs the question: where is the line? When does journalism begin and advertising end?

According to the American Society of Magazine Editors, ads and editorial content require a clear separation, and front-page ads not allowed. But when faced with the decision between selling a lucrative front cover ad and the ASME’s minimal repercussions (a letter or reprimand and exclusion from the National Magazine Awards), there’s often no more than the approval of a publisher standing in the way.

More than anything, newspaper and magazine readers place their trust in the publications they’re consuming. When ads are placed in a way that blurs the line between editorial and advertising – when advertisers seek to gain attention through deception by designing an ad that looks like real content - that trust is taken advantage of.

In other words, the content of the ads should be considered – not the location.

The Times ad reaches the news outlets because it’s on the front page. But it’s clearly an ad. It steers clear of deception simply because it’s too big to be believable. No one read that and thought, “this is a Los Angeles Times article about the movie.”

However, an advertorial clearly wants to be seen as content. Its entire premise is dependent upon a reader seeing it as an article. Posing as something it’s not, the advertorial plays upon the trust of the reader.

In other words, outrage seems to be misguided because the definition is so hazy. The line is smudged. Possibly irreparably. And it’s up to us – as advertisers and publishers – to, once and for all, redraw the line. Clean it up. Set some standards.

The balance, really, stands between editorial honor and the need to keep the lights on. We can take sides, fighting against either the stuffiness of journalistic integrity or the demons of advertising greed. But both sides have their arguments. Because without determining where that line is – the line between honorable content and the advertising that helps pay for it – we may lose the trust of our readership.

A lot needs to happen in selling and buying a house, and that puts a lot of responsibility – and therefore, a lot of trust – into the Realtor/homeowner relationship. Trust that needs to be earned. Trust that can’t be forgotten.

Which means, often, homeowners are on the defensive when it comes to buying or selling. They don’t have time to set up meetings with prospective Realtors, listen to presentations and choose. And often, questions arise before the Realtor is even chosen. What will stop my house from being sold? What do I need to do to prepare? Should I even sell?

For that reason, Realtors are taking to new ways of getting their positioning statement public in more non-traditional ways. We are happy to help one local Realtor – Tony Ratchford – in this very thing.

The concept: offer a seminar on selling a home on the potential seller’s time. Instead of setting up an appointment, coordinating schedules and arriving in person, Tony and his team developed a short video that highlights the needs for selling a home – and the benefits of doing so with Tony.

It’s simple: request a password, view the video, and proceed from there – which, coincidentally can all be handled on the same site. What’s your house worth? What homes are on the market? What resources are available in the community? It’s all one click away.

Fully automating the Realtor/homeowner relationship while still reaching out for a personal touch. It’s the best of both worlds, and it’s the future of buying and selling homes.

Check out the site for yourself at www.WhyHomesDontSell.com.

They signify a finish, a point at which the creative process stops and the technicalities begin. Everything leads to that deadline, and as time approaches, stress builds.

It’s the nature of the business. And it’s what makes a good number of us thrive.

Sometimes, our deadlines are far away. We’re afforded a large chunk of time with which to make magic happen. But most of the time, however, we’re on tight deadlines. Publications and print dates and special events and product launches are all tied to a specific date, and to that specific date our marketing and advertising materials must coincide.

Deadlines are a bane. But they’re also a framework and a promise.

So when a super hot job lands on our doorstep, sometimes there are only a few hours available to plan, design and implement. Take, for example, the case of a recent Web project we handled for the South Dakota State University Foundation.

With site design approved on Tuesday, there was but a crazy overnight coding session holding it back from getting to them by Wednesday. And it was done. Four days later, after content was entered, the site was live.

What what?

Listen, none of us want to work on midnight oil deadlines. But sometimes, they happen. And when they do, there’s a certain feeling of accomplishment – and dedication – that drives us to turn it around in an emergency.

It’s a deadline. They’re the bane of our existence. But, they’re also what makes the industry so exiting, and, in a way, what makes it so rewarding.

What what, indeed.

This airplane is really an infographic. And, for that, I salute Kulula Air (a low-fare, small airline out of South Africa), despite the fact that I’ll probably never get to fly on a single one of these planes.

From the Fast Company article:

With the help of local branding agency Atmosphere, Kulula launched this new look, called Flying 101. It’s more proof of the ubiquitous cool of infographics, I guess–everyone loves a good labeled diagram. And what a way to stand out on the tarmac, amidst South African Airways plain-Jane fleet: white, serifed type, and the most predictable logo possible, the South African flag.

They may not have Jet Blue or Southwest level service and support, but they certainly have an extra level of awesome. Nice work from Atmosphere.

(via/ Fast Company)

The attention you give it, however, does matter.

Because we all know that every business is looking to jump full steam ahead into social media, regardless of need and viability, and we know that it’s totally the thing to do.

In many cases, that’s true. As long as you focus on the “to do” part of the equation. The “keeping up with it” portion.

An example, from right here in our dusty little village: The City of Sioux Falls, and its SiouxFallsSnow Twitter feed.

The goal of @SiouxFallsSnow is, naturally, to let people know when a Snow Alert has been announced, allowing residents to get their vehicles off of the roads and save them from possible ticketing.

Awesome idea. Seriously.

As long as you keep up, that is. Yesterday’s snow alert went silent on the Twitter feed. This morning, a “reminder” of the snow alert was posted. And, just 15 minutes later, a fellow ad twitterer, who relied on @SiouxFallsSnow for updates, was ticketed for being in a snow zone.

The issue: when you offer up a service – in this case, vowing to let people know when a Snow Alert has been announced – some people will keep you to your word. They will rely on your service. They will look to you for the information they need. And when it’s not delivered, they will wonder what happened, turn away and express frustration.

Nothing against @SiouxFallsSnow – on the contrary, I still think it’s a great idea. It’s just that this small incident highlights the importance of keeping up with a Twitter feed. Or a Facebook page. Or updating a Web site with new information. The content you offer doesn’t exist in a vacuum – it’s followed by real people, who look to you for information just as they would in real life.

It only takes one slip. From there, one errant situation. One frustrated follower. One mass message to the Twitterverse.

If you are going to promote social media or social marketing, make sure you’re doing it right. Similarly, if you are going to offer a service, even if it’s for free, make sure you back it up. Because whether you’re selling candy bars or letting us know about the snow alerts, we’re depending on you.

So, it should come as no surprise that the brains behind Post Haste are really into punctuation and words and things like that.

That being said, if you’re a copywriter, or if you’re into words, or if you have an excellent sense of humor that doesn’t mind a little randomness, you should be checking out the cartoon charts at The Oatmeal, especially the ones about grammar.

Need to learn how to use a semi-colon? An apostrophe? Want to know the 10 words you should stop misspelling? Done x3.

15 things you need to know about coffee? Also done.

It’s worth checking out, if only because you’ll actually learn something and you’ll have some funny things to post in your cubicle.

That’s all. Carry on with your work week.

So, we have this guy who works at HenkinSchultz. He’s been here for 12 years, but it seems like he’s been in this business for at least three or four decades. He’s the voice of a billion spots, and you know his work by heart. He’s the solid rock our production team is tethered to, the radio expert, the guy so filled with puns and groaners that he often strains to keep them locked up.

And, after those three or four decades of service to the regional advertising and marketing community, he’s being brought out from behind the microphone and honored.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we proudly congratulate Mark Johnson – producer, voice talent, videographer and industry stalwart – on being named the 2010 South Dakota Advertising Federation Creative Legacy Award recipient.

It’s been a long road, Mark. Now, you can rest assured your name will adorn our ADDYs programs for at least three or four more decades to come.

Congrats, Mark!

Click on image to see full size

Good Ol’ CP+B continued a tradition of great non-traditional advertising for the Mini Cooper line with these fantastic trash piles, adorned with a Mini-sized cardboard box. When it comes to marketing automobiles as a logical holiday gift, Lexus could learn a lot from Mini’s lead.

Via Ads of the World

I had convinced our partners that we should develop a company blog. Very few other marketing agencies in our area had blogs, and it was time to take a dive into the ever-expanding world of Internet marketing and social media.

Searching for an audience – and looking forward to a jaunty dialog with our naturally intelligent readers – I developed a “Look At What We’ve Done!” e-mail. I sent it to every marketing and advertising blogger I could find. I said, essentially, why I thought our blog was great.

I gave them a look at something new. But I failed on one major level.

I never told them why it mattered to them.

Of the 100+ e-mails I sent out, I received only a handful back. Some were congratulatory. Some were dismissive.

One really stood out. The name doesn’t matter – I can’t remember it, anyway – but the tone was distinct.

It chastised me for asking people to care without offering a benefit. It hounded me for blindly grasping for attention - not by participation and discourse, or by giving anything of substance (because, at this time, there was very little on the blog), but by the assumption that I deserved it.

It taught me an important lesson: no one cares until you give a reason to care.

Fast forward to today.

A magazine I’ve never heard of sends me an e-mail. They assume I’m willing to help them pre-promote an upcoming issue. They open with a salutation of “Dear Blogger.” There is no mention of what I’m getting out of the deal, or why I should care.

I see this e-mail, and I see a little of myself that first time around, when I was promoting Post Haste by sidestepping relationships and blindly throwing darts, hoping some would stick.

It’s the same as sending out press releases that make more work for a journalist, or – even worse – assume a store promotion is real news.

It’s the same as blanket spamming a thousand Twitter users with a new e-commerce site.

It’s the same as knocking on my door, asking me to tell all of my friends about your product, and then leaving without even acknowledging my time.

And I know from experience. It’s not impressive. And it doesn’t work.

The Great Gingerbread Cookie Decorate-off is over, and with a bevy of bejeweled bakery goods scattered amongst our break room tables, we have made our difficult but oh-so-satisfying decision.

But first, the cookies. Be warned – there are a lot of images after the jump.

Corey underwhelms with his rendition of a mall Santa after work. (Booze bottle and cigarettes are difficult to see, and also very inappropriate.)

Tammy and Lisa went topical with a pairing of newsworthy gingerbread cookies: Tiger and Mistress (respectfully).

Erik turned the creepy up to 11 with Mr. Sandman.

Karla’s grasp of fine art is only matched by her inability to leave the arms on her cookie. The armless Venus de Ginger, everyone.

Martha Stewart would be proud of Amie’s Martha tribute, complete with stockpot and stirrer.

If Heisman Trophy nominee and Nebraska Cornhusker Ndamukong Suh knew he’d have a cookie created in his likeness, he’d be assured the best week ever.

Peek-A-Boo, the Christmas Elf, explodes with good cheer and cuteness. So thanks for that, Becka.

Joey goes with a touch of morbidity thanks to a broken spoon, a bloody head, and a dead rollerblader.

Not everyone understands that this is the Celtics’ year, especially Justin. Which explains this Magic Johnson “Showtime” cookie.

An impressive head of brownie-assisted hair tops Teresa’s warm weather wishes: Bahama Mama

It’s a cookie. It’s an egg! It’s both. And thankfully, it’s here. Because, really, the original cookie that Cami devised is not appropriate for an All Ages Marketing Blog.

An Honorable Mention goes to Melissa, who recreated Santa in the image of Kirby Schultz, complete with wire-frame glasses and candy cane sleigh.

Third Place goes to Jason, who accidentally flipped his cookie upside down and saw visions of Rudolph.

Second Place lands in Lynell’s lap with HenkinSchultz’s guardian angel, Gabriel Ann Halle Lu Lu.

And finally, First Place goes to Wendy, who painstakingly knitted a sprinkle-laden sweater for Ginger. Sure, there’s no face. But…seriously. That was probably more work than it was worth.