bref., the Mobile App.

Darewin, an agency I work with, just released this case study for French short-form series bref. Get this: that's my voice!

The case study (in English) covers how the agency was tasked to maintain the show's cult status after it stopped airing. What'd it do? It created a mobile app that put the hero's phone right in your hands. With it, you could relive bref. through his eyes ... and even call his friends. (Not recordings of his friends. The actual friends.)

More drippy fangirliness: I've discussed bref. before (see all the special effects used in the show), and word's out that they're making an English version called So. Soon, you too will be able to experience its awesomeness. So, consider this a sneak peek.

A Roundabout Explanation of Our Addiction to Photo Shop

From maureenjohnsonbooks:

1. Most fashion/lifestyle magazines make A LOT of their money from ads.
Ever notice how those glossy mags are made up of lots of ads? (Ever notice how a bridal magazine is pretty much ALL ADS? There’s a story in itself.) There’s not really a lot of actual magazine content in there. Because the ads are of primary importance, the content must not be offensive to/wildly contradict the aims of the advertisers.

This, in and of itself, is not an evil thing. It’s just the simple fact of the matter. Glossy mags are often advertisement collections with thin wafers of story nestled between them.
2. The point of advertising is to make you buy something. Which means you must create a perceived need.  

Hey, did you know how you HAVE to buy an engagement diamond? How that has always been the thing, since all of time? Oh, except, no it hasn’t. The whole “diamond engagement ring” thing was made up by DeBeers with the help of an advertising firm in the 1930s. They made up the phrase “A diamond is forever” in 1947. They wanted to sell diamonds, so they made up a need. You HAVE to have a diamond for your engagement! It’s the DONE THING!  

Advertisers make up all kinds of needs! You need a bigger/smaller television/computer/phone/car. You need this diet to be thinner. You need this pizza with actual cheeze deposits in the sides. YOU NEED IT. LACK OF IT MEANS FAILURE.
3. Ads create an (often/usually) fictitious worldspace in which whatever product being advertised is the answer to a problem or a deficit. Sometimes, a deficit you had NO IDEA YOU HAD. 

You’re just wrong! Didn’t you know your hair is wrong? You eyelashes are too short! Your white, glinting teeth cannot be seen from the moon. Your phone is a source of shame and embarrassment to your family. Frankly, everyone hates you and your sandwich. Loser.

- "Why Do We Photoshop People?"

This doesn't make me proud, but it was so much fun to read. I recommend sitting for the whole damn thing. And maybe take your engagement ring off so you don't have to look at it.

Another fun fact regarding diamonds and De Beers: diamonds are actually not worth that much; in terms of objective value they are roughly in the same neighbourhood as rhinestones. This is also De Beers magic: every time somebody finds a diamond mine someplace they set up a shop nearby, announce that the diamonds aren't up to snuff, and wait for the harmed would-be competitor to crawl to the doorstep on its knees, sniveling and begging for buyout.

This is probably the only thing I remember from college physics. That, and my teacher's theory about why time travel is impossible.

Connecting Things and Copycats

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.

- Steve Jobs, 1996 Wired Interview (via MyEDOL)

"Connecting things" -- behind that is the premise that the full picture was already there; it just needed the lines that connect the dots.

I'm currently reading The Case for Creativity and there's a full chapter about originality and our industry's obsession with it. Being accused of copycatting is often just as condemning as being outright guilty of the act. But it's a lot easier than we think to have the same idea at the same time as another person; examples proliferate in science, technology, art and -- obviously -- in advertising.

Many thinkers have surmised that when it's "time" for something, that idea just appears in the ether, ready and waiting to be claimed by unconnected minds who start thinking in its direction. (Maybe that's why execution is considered a lot more valuable than ideas. On the other hand, artists work fiercely to protect their ideas; in a way, they're the only babies we get to have. But that's another discussion entirely.)

This notion of ideas hanging in the air like ripe fruit resembles a theory biologist Rupert Sheldrake has called "morphic resonance": the notion that once you have an idea, it is that much easier for another human to conceive it -- in the same way that once a rat gets through a maze, the exit is instantly that much easier to find for all other rats in the universe.

We're somehow all psychically connected to a fast-moving energy hive that doesn't care who thought what first; once a thought or a sentiment's there, it's there for the taking. I know this all sounds mystic as hell, but in any case it's interesting to think about.

And if morphic resonance just rubs you wrong, that's okay, too; environment, our shared news streams, technology's "logical next step", the circles we run in and conversations we have all make it more likely two unrelated people will conceive similar ideas at the same time.

Or maybe they really are copying. *Shrugs*

New Logo.

Instead of embarrassingly self-important potential trainwrecks like The Pitch,* advertising could use a mockumentary-style series on what it is actually like to hear things like this all day. It can be a nice postmodern response to Mad Men that brings to light how many wrong turns you can take on your merry route to finding a brand's soul, not to mention the ongoing battles between clients and agencies on how that soul should manifest.

We'll just use satire to protect the innocent, and maybe along the way there will be those rare moments of gold and of conviction. But most of our players aren't Don Draper, though they all bloody well believe they are, and that can be part of the fun.

And the conferences! God, you could devote a whole thread to the conferences alone. Most industries use them to get trashed and forget work for a week; only in advertising do you find that people are getting trashed because they think it's making their ideas richer, fuller, more palatable. But after 4 days of sleeplessness and your eighth drink of the night, all that's really happening is that you've lost all capacity to catch subtle (and ever-increasing) human cues of disinterest and derision.

---


*It's possible that I'm being too hard on The Pitch. In a way it could be exactly the mockumentary I imagine, except not on purpose, and that will be just as good.

Of all the things to dedicate your life to...

...why advertising?

A few days ago Jeff Kwiatek sent me this screenshot of a conversation that took place on Twitter between Mark Wnek and Edward Boches. It's interesting because it poses, aloud, a question people must ask in their heads all the time:

Why write about advertising? Even if we all agree that advertising can serve noble purposes, or at the very least has a great responsibility in its ability to influence, why write about it?

A few years ago, holed up in Ithaca and pushing out 16, sometimes 20 articles a day for two ad and marketing publications, I shot up out of bed and had a horrible realisation: I've given my life to a banality, something that really doesn't matter to anybody -- something most people claim to hate.

Humor me ››

Brandon Schaeffer's Movie Posters

There’s something to be said about distilling a central theme or idea of a film down to it’s core and translating it into a simple, iconic image. It’s a nice exercise that shows just how limitation can breed possibility and eliminate distraction: by setting yourself a series of self-imposed obstructions, your focus becomes more refined, and communication becomes key.

- Brandon Schaeffer

See more of Brandon's movie posters, as well as a few more of his thoughts, at Escape into Life. (Thanks for the tip, Candace!)

The Long, Gritty Holiday Decompression

Yeah, I know we still have New Years ahead of us, but might as well start grinding on some brainfood early so Jan 4 doesn't get you all depressed and looking for candles and razors and Enya.

AdVerve partner in crime (and blogga from anotha motha!) Bill Green sent me the above greeting. I think it is nice.

Anyway, as the season winds down and we recover from the funnel-fest of food, I imagine a lot of you are using your downtime to scope out Twitter, see what's hot or at least peruse-worthy. To help, as we traverse that short road back to the mills, here are some links that I promised myself I would read sometime today or tomorrow(ish):

• Top 10 Branded iPhone Apps of 2009 (AdAge)
• Twitter is Profitable. Your Argument is Invalid.
• 5 Ways Slideshare Can Help Your Business (Rohit Bhargava, who I find quite neat)
• 10 of the Biggest Lies in History (includes some faux Vermeer action, and my favourite: the Trojan Horse)
• US vs British Healthcare (for sounding smart and well-rounded when the moment is nigh)

A coupla links in French, for those of you that read it or want to make the best of Google Translate:

• Retour sur la gestion de crise Eurostar (Sandrine Plasseraud, who is loveleh and who thinks)
• Les Français décomplexés du porno. How porn is penetrating the mainstream -- couples watching it together, people being able to say they watch it without looking like sick sad potential pedos, etc.

And some fun shit:

• I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BUTTER. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
• La Main Perrier (I'll write more on this later)
• Strindberg and Helium! If you liked Salad Fingers, you will quite enjoy this. (Thanks, Beeg.)
• Domino Day!
  
• Stefano Ferroni Photography -- generically Vogue on the surface, but pretty and a little stark. The Exhibition section also has some neat things:

• Gonna wrap this up with Violet Blue's Top 10 Sexy Geeks 2010, not just because Google can now index (and immortalize) evidence of my goddesslike countenance for time immemorial, but because... no, that's pretty much the only reason.
  

AdVerve Episode 6: The French Connection

Fred. We interview Frédéric-Gérard Leveque for a unique take on the ad scene in Paris and the state of agencies in general.

One point that comes to mind after hearing Fred is that you realize the problems facing ad agencies in France are things ad agencies deal with all over the world. WE ARE NOT ALONE.

(BTW, there's a point in the 'cast where we forget the name of a good Swedish agency. I say 'Swiss' at the end of the show, but really it's Swedish. The agency we discuss is Farfar.)

Five minutes with... the other half of AdPulp, Danny Goldgeier, or “Danny G,” as he's called on the streets. He talks about getting out of the cubicle a little more. (Check him out on Twitter.)

Humor me ››

Space: An Armchair Viewer's Next Frontier

With "Space Chair Project" for the Regza SV, Grey London aspired to bring Toshiba's "Leading innovation" tagline to the next level: stratospheric.

This is an amazing thing to watch, in part because it's something we've never seen before, but also because it represents the penetration of something utterly banal -- in this case, a chair -- into a sphere most of us can't even imagine crossing into ourselves.

IT'S (the edge of) SPACE, BITCHES!

Also, footage was taken with Toshiba cameras. More plus for the brand.

Center Stage, On tha Mic!

Podcast junkies: AdVerve Episode two is up and available here. Topics by timestamp:

00:04 – Bill makes me do an uncomfortable dance about limits and the French market.
05:20 – Our approach to podcasting.
13:30 – 10 for 10 -- a topic association game.
42:22 – The agency/PR landgrab for social media.
49:45 – On being a creative octopus.
54:09 – Wrapup and GO.

Housekeeping shite:

• Still working on finding a good content platform for the website AdVervecast.com, but in the meantime listen to the first ep here.
• We are pending approval on iTunes. Here is our show feed; you can also subscribe from FeedBurner.
• Houston, we have email. Hate or love can be sent to advervecast@gmail.com.
  

Actually It Wasn't Farting Hearts; It Was Farting Lower Carbon Emissions.

We give you Ad banalities!, Tokyo vs. Paris edition.

RB @girlsarestrange.com:


Angela: I like these little containers

Chelsi: in a Japanese advert, those would be pictured alongside an actual banana

A: just in case you don't know

C: and the caption would read: banana juice for my heart on warm summer day
: and then there’d be a little cartoon banana just below it
: dancing a jig
: and then just to the left, an actual Japanese person
: probably some smiling chick
: touching her face
: and then it would be blown up to some ridiculous size and pasted on a building
: or a bus

A: that sounds like the worst thing ever
: although I did see an ad yesterday in which a car appeared to be farting hearts.

'Consistency was always one of David's greatest attributes.'

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of David Ogilvy's death, (m)adman George Parker wrote this cockles-warming bit about his two experiences meeting him, and reflected on what the man stands for in the context of the industry.

I like this part:

He glared, snapped his red braces, (Well, I made that last bit up, 'cos it sounds like the kind of thing he would do) banged the table and shouted "Never forget, advertising is about selling".

Then he was escorted out of the room by the minders.

The legend of Ogilvy resonates because he possessed no misconceptions, no shame, about advertising's end goal: selling.

Not to say there isn't art to persuasion. Ogilvy built on that foundation with another oft-quoted anecdote: "The consumer isn't stupid, she's your wife."

Philosophy in application: Ogilvy on Advertising is a book he had published expressly to shill his agency. Despite the motivation -- or rather, because of it -- it contains some marvelously good stuff that remains applicable today. It's also beautifully written.

Walt Whitman for Blue Jeans.

A practical choice for if you're gonna go rambling off into nature with little apparent intention of returning. And that's pretty much all I have to say about that.

Read more on the effort launched by the Homer of our time, Levi Strauss & Co.

Oh Yeah, and Before I Forget...

Here's "Shoe Circus," the Microsoft ad with Seinfeld that everybody's going all bananas about. (And not in a fun way.)



Went live yesterday. I actually sorta liked it. But after reading all the negging, you start seeing what other people are seeing, and then you start to think the ad objectively sucks.

I don't want to be that kind of blogger, so put me on the record and try me thus: I liked it. That's right, I liked it!

*flinches reflexively*

Mad Men Goes High Fashion

Courtesy of Michael Kors, which pretty much puts Mad Men in the same promotional sphere as, I don't know, Lagerfield safety vests.

Top Reasons to Go Into Advertising

Blow in her face and she'll follow you anywhere.

In February, I asked agency professionals what their top reasons were for going into advertising. I also asked whether they had any thoughts for college students with moon eyes for an ad career.

Read their responses (two pages' worth of insights!). But here's a taste of some really good stuff:

Don't get bogged down in what is and what isn't the "right" way to do things.

Once we solve the problem, we need the next one to move on to, if it isn't there, then we go in search of it. I don't think it's overly surprising that there are a lot of gypsies in this business.

It [struck] me that one probably actually gets paid for doing this advertising design thing - in other words not beerless - and maybe even bourbonful, which indeed it was (this was 1964, folks!). So I changed schools and majors. I liked the program, and I love the job that came out of it. Now I get to manage a small agency and some creatives who are just as easily upset by client changes as I was (I am over that now - jaded, I suppose), and I am having fun designing bourbon packages. Is that amazing or what?

The ad biz has taken me all over the world, from NYC to Jakarta Indonesia. Along the way, the friendly folks at JWT, BBDO and a few other agencies have been generous enough to pay me for creating ideas. It’s been a good gig.

Learn a foreign language. Preferably Chinese, Indonesian, or Spanish.

There is NO good reason to go into advertising.

I got tired of all the insipid ads on both TV and Radio. I wanted to provide a creative, (notice the word creative) instead of the simple repeats of someone elses idea for promotion.

For account service, an advertising degree is great, but really - if you have some great internships and experience your degree can be in basket weaving and it won't hurt you.

The opportunities on the interactive side of things are endless. There is a huge shortage of talent in a category that is growing daily. Programmers, designers...pretty much anything having to with the interactive side of things is marketable in many arenas.

As one of the previous posters stated, the most important thing is experience. Intern, intern, intern.

Why did I get into this? Like many others, I fell into it.

Mad Men: Not Just a Series; It's a Lifestyle!

The magnanimous One Club has invited me back to NYC to cover the launch of Real Men and Women of Madison Avenue: Their Impact on American Culture. The exhibit will be showing at 188 Madison -- the Science, Industry and Business Library -- until September.

If you're a serious ad-head, YOU MUST GO. No excuses! I scheduled an event on AdGabber for ultra-easy planning magic.

Bring mutti and vati if you want. Everybody loves a trek down Memory Lane -- what do you think keeps VH1 in business? -- and Real Men and Women of Mad Ave. covers about 80 years' worth of crunchy nostalgia. Revisit Meowmix! M&Ms! Old-school Nike! Maybe even Snausages!

You'll also learn more about the secret lives of advertising's heroes, those engineers of my childhood and yours. Expect cameos from those still living, like legendary copywriter Phyllis Robinson; and old rogue Jerry Della Femina, whose Meowmix song and Joe Isuzu prototype still ring in my ears.

I'll be in the City from Sunday-Tuesday. I'm gonna try to catch part of OMMA, if only to abuse the finger-food; and I also look forward to swapping notes with Ric Kallaher, who mentioned he might check out the Wrath of Cannes.

He promised me zany pictures. And baby, I love me some zany pictures.

Rhea Scott Gets Personal on Adrants

A few weeks ago I got to interview Rhea Scott, the brains behind Little Minx.

Little Minx is a production company that seeks to turn ad directors into filmmakers. Directors' ad work is supported with a dream budget and serious creative license (mostly courtesy of parent company RSA).

To promote its directorial talent, Little Minx launched a series of films under a campaign called "Exquisite Corpse," which was inspired by a storytelling game of the same name.

One of the productions -- which incidentally features Rhea's daughter -- drove me on a discovery mission for the origins of a song called "Come Wander with Me."

I like the idea of advertising as a multi-layered manifesto. The purpose of an ad is to make a product relatable to people and reinforce an existing brand "personality" -- why not go to town with it? Every successful spot doesn't have to feature some celluloid Whipple man.

Catch the Rhea Scott interview on Adrants.

Converse Shoots for Authenticity, Scores in Artifice

Converse, the quintessential anti-sports-shoe sneaker brand, recently tapped "anti-ad agency" Anomaly for some anti-advertising advertising. In one spot, the following words appear (à la Star Wars) against the backdrop of a just-crowned beauty queen:

"Why are we sitting and watching I Wanna Be the Galaxy's Best Supernova Diva Star? Dutifully phoning in our votes for the next big thing while we wait on our couches to die." It preaches on about democracy, thinking for yourself, seizing the day before you're dead, etc. See the other spot here.

Copyranter's not impressed.

The problem with this smarmy anti-ad stuff is it assumes advertising is inauthentic by definition. That's not true. Like a person, a brand has a dynamic personality with central values that consumers expect it to always reflect, no matter how often it changes its hair.

When a brand is fully confident in who it is, and that vibe resonates in the advertising, you've got what I'd call a truly authentic campaign. A confident brand doesn't have to pander for inclusion in a clique; it sets the bar, and the cool kids come running. Think Apple, Starbucks in the '90s and Ivy League sweaters.

Converse doesn't have to trash pop culture to look authentic. It has a long, interesting history and a product that resonates with lots of different people. Recent campaigns (1, 2) suggest Converse knows that. All it needs to do is stick with it and let the message evolve naturally.

Weigh in on Converse's anti-marketing ad campaign at this poll by Copyranter.

Your Virgin Voyage Into Advertising!

I.AM High?

Way to baptize the new. The talented ones will be knocking our doors down now!

Check out the program website. To enroll your own bright-eyed bitty (which may potentially constitute a form of child abuse), email I.AM.highschool [at] gmail [dot] com.