Can We Get A Recount. AdWeek Media - A (Vote and) Decade to Remember

(Note: My father told me opinions are like assholes... we all have one... most of them stink... except your own)
 
Well the votes are in and the results are posted... and the AdWeek has spoken.

Alex Bogusky made you angry. Irwin Gotlieb made you jealous. Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein made you smile. Google, Honda and Coke raised the bar. R/GA, SMG and Butler, Shine, Stern raised the stakes. Our picks, and yours, for the top marketing, media and agency performances of the 2000s. Selections in 33 categories spanning 10 years.

It's true, the readers choices counted... but for what? A simple exercise. Oh it is easy to have an opinion, but this will all make for great watercooler...er, Twitter and blogger conversation for the next few days.

I am not 100% sure how Alex Bogusky made us angry... or how Irwin Gotlieb made us jealous, but one thing for certain the readers choices and the AdWeek staff seem to be at odds. Seems almost every category the readers had a different choice then the staff. Okay, Alex Bogusky was the clearly the Creative Director or the Decade on both columns, but agency of the decade and executive(s) of the decade were significantly out of whack.

Of the 10,049 votes cast for Agency of the Decade, CP+B posted a leading 18% of the votes yet Goodby, Silverstein & Partners were named the top dog (note: GS&P wasn't in the top three). Long known as a creative powerhouse for culture-penetrating TV and print work, Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners best work included Super Bowl spots for Budweiser, E*Trade's "Dancing Monkey". But the ground breaking work for  "Got Milk?" easily made them a "gold standard" of creative.  All the while, it was transforming itself from "ad maker" to "content provider", producing "art that serves capitalism," as Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein call it, in whatever form that's required. Hard to understand, the work is great but CP+B spent the most of the decade reinventing itself and its clients for "digital future" and speaking of "culture-penetratin", did they see the work done for Burger King (Subservient Chicken or Whopper Freakout), Volkswagen, Microsoft, Old Navy and recently the GAP... please. Okay, I got to give some disclosure here, I am big fan of CP+B. They have been defining the creative standards and clearly have dominated the award shows throughout the decade.

Oh and were or were is Weiden + Kennedy in this agency of the decade conversation... Nike, Honda etal.

One of the innovators and industry leaders that brought a small south Florida agency to the national and worldwide advertising spotlight, Chuck Porter was a clear leader in the readers votes. He carried 22% of the 4,915 votes ahead of the David Jones (20%), Chief Executive Officer of Euro RSCG Worldwide and the third place (14%) Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, co-chairmen and creative directors of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. AdWeek named the GS&P duo their executives of the decade. Sorry, but what Chuck and CP+B has done over the last 10 years will the basis of case study in success and creativity. His leadership extends into the business, but also the a holding company and an agency can live in harmony. Oh wait, then again, did AdWeek forget Lee Clow?

As for Creative Director of the decade, Alex Bogusky was the easiest choice for both readers and the AdWeek staffers. Alex took 30% of 4,304 votes ahead of the brilliant David Droga who took 12%. Under the leadership of Alex, CP+B has dominated the award shows and has drawn some of the greatest creative talents to both the Miami and Boulder offices. The young "AdLanders" I have the privileged of working with in my classes are all drawn to the work and desire to work for CP+B. The past 10 years and the future has been bright and will be brigther because of his talent and personality. David Droga is a case study in "doing right". Droga5 has design brilliant creative thinking for its clients, but also taugh clients that you can "pay forward" and still lead your category. Droga5 has created amazing work for UNICEF with the Tap Project and New York Department of Education "Millions" project, and the very funny Sarah Silverman "The Great Schlep" campaign for the Obama Presidential run.

Oh, did I mention the biggest oversight... Scott Goodson and StrawberryFrog. Look it up... "Cultural Movements". Hmmmmmmm... a real game changer.

Well, like I started this rant... check the results, read the insights, view the work... truly a healthy conversation will be had.

Here's Something You Don't See Everyday - A Rock Opera (AdVerganza)... About Milk

As big fan of if 70's Rock Operas, specifically The Who's "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia" and the near perfect Lou Reed offering "Berlin". If you asked me if I would ever see the day that there would be a rock opera about milk, I would likely say "nah" not a chance in hell. Well the that day is here and hell has likely frozen over.

“The most amazing rock opera ever made - about milk.”

Seriously, I'm not kidding. This totally online effort is sponsored by the good folks at “Got Milk” and creative advertising genius agency Goodby Silverstien of San Fransisco and starring a dude named "White Gold" (wielding a milk filled electric guitar no less - for onstage replenishment) and chocolate milk partner "Jug Life", his lusty pal "Strawberry Summers" (right) make some sweet music together and of course "The Calcium Twins". (see additional images below)

I present the new rock opera "Battle for Milkquarious"! Check out the trailer here.

If you want more... then check out "White Gold" and his totally awesome website. It’s very milk-centric.

“Originality is the confluence of the opposite of epitome.” - White Gold

If you’ve never heard of "White Gold", he’s the marketing creation of California Milk Processor Board and ad agency Goodby Silverstein - who together brought us the infamous “Got Milk” campaign.

White Gold is the fake rocker who prefers milk to the bevy of stronger drugs presumably available to him. 

I am looking into details about this campaign being a "relaunch" from the spring of 2008.  MarketWire posted a piece on April 7th, 2008 about the campaign devoted to a rock band professing its love of and devotion to milk. The campaign made its television debut that day, and also launching its very own web site whitegoldiswhitegold.com The campaign will show music lovers, especially teenagers, how cool and beneficial drinking milk can be. The article noted White Gold gained much of its popularity in social networking circles and video-sharing sites. Fans include teens, young adults and even influential bloggers and DJs. White Gold's MySpace page logged close to 50 thousand hits and has added about 3000 friends since it debuted on March 17, 2008 and  the band's YouTube page has garnered over 350 thousand hits.

White Golds MySpace site gives some exclusive insights to "Being White Gold".  To learn that guitar geniuses like White Gold aren't just born. "They're honed". "Crafted". "Perfected". For this maestro, consumption was the only way to become reborn and set free.

Before White Gold found "milk", the luscious white mane, the four-hour guitar solos and ripped abdominals, there was simple White Gold, the man. A mess of frail hair, a dull smile and a scrawny body. It was a rockless bottom for White Gold. He couldn't finish a three-song set without being booed off the stage and thrown out onto the street.

White Gold's stylings are described as “milk-otestical” (or possibly “milk-tastical”) which sounds disturbingly like “milk testicle.” Not sure that will be around in any of the future media releases or mentions.

The Got Milk people have a goal in producing a milk themed rock opera. This is part of $50,000 scholarship for the arts for the California Public Highschool art programs. Nothing is being given away for free however. There is going to be a contest in which entrants (students) will enter by creating their own video spoof of the White Gold Rock Opera and uploading it. More details on the exact rules where posted last week. The prizes will be a $20K scholarship for first place, one $10K winner for second place and 8 honorable mentions at $2.500!

This "adverganza" also includes a YouTube Channel and Facebook Group.

 True fans will be able to celebrate White Gold’s entire catalog when it hits iTunes no less.

Jug Life (top), The Calcium Twins (middle) and White Gold with Strawberry Summers (bottom).