BEST OF A View From An AdGuy - Secret Career Advice for Young AdLanders "All it Takes is a Little TLC!"

Originally posted to the Advertsing Week Blog where I am a member of their original "Blog Squad"

On Day One of Advertising Week 2010 has clearly demonstrated that it has become “The Premier Event” on the advertising calendar. Sure the south of France and Cannes has the big “cache”, but it doesn’t offer the same resources and engagement with industry leaders all in one room.

On the first day I watched the many young “Adlanders” affixed to the voices of a diverse group of industry leaders sharing their knowledge, opinion and insights to where we have come from and where we might be heading. But today a great lesson was shared and learned during a networking opportunity before at the Billboard “Amp'd Up!” opening concert benefiting GeneratioNext. It wasn’t much of an exchange in terms of time, but it was a powerful exchange.

Fellow ”AdWeek BlogSquad” member Allison Walton and I managed to muscle our way to center stage and front row for the “Amp'd Up!” Concert featuring Bruno Mars followed by John Legend with The Roots. Sharing the tight confines found us chatting in a matter of seconds with an amazing young women named Courtney Gallo who works for The Partnership For A Drug Free America. She is a Field Services Manager who has enough passion, energy and spirit to fill the room. As we chatted it was a “gem” of a concept Courtney dropped on Allison who used this chance meeting as a networking opportunity.

“It’s all about TLC”. Brilliant!

Talent. Luck. Contacts.

This simple little concept is what ever young “Adlander” needs to understand.
I chatted with Courtney about how this idea came about and it was clear why she has achieved her career success to date. “You need talent, that’s your stock, that’s your commodity. You won’t get far without a depth of talent”.

“You’re gonna need a bit of luck, maybe lots of luck”, she added. To me luck is about creating opportunity and that’s were the magic of “contacts” comes into the mix. The more contacts made the more opportunities can come about. I thought about it this way, you can buy one lottery ticket, but that’s one “chance” to get lucky, add a few extra and the chances your luck will increase rises.

It became apparent quickly why Courtney strongly believes in this concept, and it didn’t take long for me.

When Creative Truly Love Their Craft

A MUST SEE SITE: The Black Acre Brewing Co. But please click I am Under 21 ONLY... when your craft truly speaks.



http://bit.ly/n6e4N7

Celebrating David Ogilvy at 100

Two great new web engagements were created to celebrate the 100th birthday of the advertising pioneer David Ogilvy.

He inspired many to reach greatness as an adman and author.

His agency paved the way for talent to grow and entire industry to reach for greatness.

Both of these engagements are worldwide efforts.

This first effort was courtesy of Ogilvy Cape Town South Africa.



This engagement allows you to show your love to your Twitter and Facebook profiles to share the celebration by turning your profile picture red and you will be added to the webpage image.

Very cool.

1-4-3

 

Earlier this year I was given a very cool opportunity by Len Kendall who created the 3six5 Project (Follow on Twitter @the3six5)

Every day for 365 days, a different person will write an entry of 365 words about their experiences that day. The key is that each post somehow relates to what's happening in the world that day and how it relates to them.

Thank you Len it was great fun sharing my thoughts.

Here is my post: 

Secret code? I love you? A well-played double play or the rare triple play?
 
It’s the eve of the Major League Baseball All-Star game. This game marks the midway point of the season and for me marks the “official” start of summer when my world turns to baseball; all levels of baseball, major leagues, minor leagues, local senior leagues and even my sons Little League. Simply, I “1-4-3 baseball”, the SMM text code for “I Love You”, but it is also the way I can recall that critical 5th inning double play that changed a ball game. “1-4-3” is part of a “code” used in enjoying baseball beyond words, “keeping score” or “scoring”.
 
Baseball is divided into two worlds, those who keep score at a game and those who have not made the leap into the art of “scoring”. After learning how to score a baseball game in 1967 as young boy at Maple Leaf Stadium in Toronto, I realized how much more the game meant to me. “Scoring”, keeps you in the game from first pitch to the final out, recalling every play from batter to batter, inning-to-inning or even years down the road. “Scoring” a game is like keeping “instant replays” at your fingertips.  
 
The baseball scoring “code” is rather easy to comprehend, yet for others it looks as complex as decoding nuclear physics. Every defensive position is assigned a number from the pitcher; number 1 to the right fielder number 9. Once a ball is hit into play you mark what happened within an intricate square on a scorecard; a fly ball hit to leftfield is marked F7, a groundball hit to the shortstop who throws it to first base before the runner reaches is scored 6-3 . Strikeouts are defined by type; a swing and a miss is a K, batter caught looking is scored with a backwards K. Every play is recorded. Knowing the “code” even makes watching (yes watching) baseball on the radio more of a pleasure.
 
It’s summer; you might find yourself at the ballpark, why not pick up a scorecard and see how you like it.  But I warn you, scoring a ball game can be habit forming. 

AdMissions Review: WTF! That’s all very well, but what’s the message?

This ad created by Rain43 for Ontario Power Generation and the Ontario Provincial Police aims to remind people about water safety and the importance of staying away from dams and hydro stations.
This television spot has me still scratching my head.

Here are my thoughts from National Post AdMissions. All summer I will be lending my opinions and POV on ads.

Peaceful waters. Grumpy old man. Man's best friend alongside. Ominous music. Ghostly message. What's the point?

Things I learned from this are that cucumbers can be "tranquilized" and "there is no fury like that of second ex-wife." What I did not learn was the point of this ad.

Public-awareness ads have to deliver a clear message. Preaching your message or being too subtle will have the same effect on the audience -it will be ignored.

Knowing the "headponds" above and below dams and hydro-stations are particularly dangerous, the setting here is your basic tranquil Muskoka waterway. These calm waters could change quickly, and become rapidly moving and dangerous. This point is not clear in the ad.

I can't help but put this up against the clarity of the WSIB "Prevent-it.ca" campaign, but here the message is lost.

I am unapologetic that it took me a few too many viewings to figure out or even get the basic message.

See the complete AdMissions Team reviews Click Here

AdMissions Review: Fear Not Martini You're Safe.

It’s summer and that makes it beer season in Canada, and the ads are out to prove it.

This week the "Ad Missions" Team reviewed (and I actually sampled the beer) a TV ad created by CP+B Toronto for Molson Canadian 67 Sublime which pits the low-calorie beer against a martini.  Somehow the comparison has fallen short.

I really want to love this cute little 15-second spot.

It has key elements for communicating a strong message for Molson Canadian 67 Sublime. It has a breezy summer patio setting, perfect for a hint of lime beer. It has a woman reaching in with her pink sleeve and well-manicured hand, which is the targeted audience. It states the 67-calorie message, which hits the audience during bikini season. For entertainment, it even has a cuteness factor of a pair of “googly” eyes with a sense of fear in them. What this spot doesn’t offer is a fair comparison, appeal or message. You gotta dig deep to find all this.

Those cute, fear-filled eyes are in fact a pair of olives in a couple of martini glasses that see competition in not being the favoured summer drink of choice. Comparing martinis to beer, even a calorie-conscious lime beer, is like comparing apples to avocados.

Like martinis, beer is all about taste. In this case it’s lime. It’s summer. It’s refreshing. It’s 67 tiny calories. Will women actually favour a beer over a martini? Fear not, my little martini friend, you’re safe for now.

View the spot:



To view the other National Post AdMission Team reviews click here.

When A Magazine Cover Is An Ad

When does a magazine cover actually become an ad?

Toronto Creative Director and the inspiring author behind the AdTeachings blog Suzanne Pope made a perfect observation:

A magazine’s cover is rightly conceived as the ad that will entice you to pick up the magazine and buy it. Nowhere has that aim been more bluntly expressed than in this classic 1973 cover for National Lampoon.

She is 100% spot on.

Think about every cover you have even seen or might need to design. The cover invites the reader to potentially stop and buy.

This cover caught my eye way back in 1973 as I made my way to the street car platform at the St Clair subway station in Toronto on my way to Northern Secondary High School. It spoke to me. It spoke to my sense of humor. It simply screamed "buy me or else".

After spending many a weekend listening to the National Lampoon Radio Hour from Buffalo, I was hooked and the magazine soon joined my families subscription list. Imagine what the mailman thought when they delivered National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, MAD Magazine and National Lampoon to our house.

A couple years back a student of mine paid homage to this cover for our Creative Advertising Program at Seneca College when he helped create a series of posters stating "if you don't hire a Seneca Ad grad..." he also created a complete series referring to competing colleges with advertising programs... to bad we could never use them publicly (LOL):