...Because who needs real friends anyways?

can't write...in the process of freaking out...

Easier Comps

Sketch2Photo: Internet Image Montage from Tao Chen on Vimeo.

I don't know if I can explain this better than in the video but this is F'N crazy. Doing comps just got a whole lot easier. Guess they don't need interns anymore. Next time someone wants a picture of an elephant hugging a velociraptor at a wedding inside an inflatable pool filled with pecan pie, it'll be a simple sketch and search away. Technology making our life easier..scary.

Doritos = Boo

At first glance someone would say this has nothing to do with advertising but I would actually venture to say that this campaign does more for Doritos than talking directly about the product. It's this wild concept of advertainment that scares clients so much. I mean wtf does pretending to be a crazy person have to do with eating tortilla chips? Point is that this speaks directly to the target; teenagers that like to eat while watching scary shit. So how do we get teenagers that like scary shit to eat more Doritos? Give them a scary interactive experience provided by a snack brand. Things like this make interactive concepting so exciting because this era is allowing us as creatives to make content that goes beyond advertising. This game is just plain fun and that creates a positive brand image for Doritos and the fact that your Facebook friends have to participate in order for you to continue the game makes this one of the best examples of interactive I've seen in a while.

The Cure for ADD

Huh? What was that? Hitachi has invented a TV with face detection that knows when you look away and turns off the screen. Good luck with that if you tend to look around a lot. There's a fine line between practical and annoying. I mean it's definitely a good thing because I know people who leave the TV on even when they're not home or fall asleep with it on. What a waste. What happens if the president looks away from the teleprompter? What happens if I look at my phone and then the play of the game happens? It's definitely a technology that might change the way we act. What about a radio that shuts off when we're not listening. Now that's creepy.

Keep It SIMPLE Stupid

Simple is the acronym for sustainable and innovative mobility product for low energy consumption. This acronym couldn't be more ironic and I think all of BMW knows that. What this concept car is capable of is anything but simple. I think the observation of why there is so much traffic is true. Most of it is commuter traffic with only one person in the car so making it a 1-seater is pretty smart, but it limits it as well.

The car looks soooo futuristic, which is actually a pet peeve of mine. We all have a perspective of what futuristic things are supposed to look like, but that's a complete contradiction. If something is made now and portrayed to be in the future, then it's no longer futuristic because it exists now. It's weird because I watch Demolition Man, which is set in 2012 and the cars look "futuristic" even though they weren't because that movie came out in 1991. This image of what the future looks like is always the same but it's almost 2012 and cars don't look like that and we arn't living in Blade Runner or Judge Dredd. When Justin Timberlake came out with Future Sex Love Sounds, everyone was raving about how futuristic it sounded, but how can something sound like something from the future if it is in the present?

I don't know, that's a head-scratcher. My point here is that this BMW concept looks too much like what we perceive the future to look like. It looks like it doesnt belong on a regular street. I don't think that's what people want. I think the design is cool but it's too much of a spectacle. I think people who want to consume less gas and help the planet don't necessarily want to drive around in a neck-breaker. I mean really. Is this a car for people or for the next Batman movie? Keep it SIMPLE stupid.

Definitely Not A Bladow Idea

This is the worst idea I've ever seen. Most insensitive piece of advertising I've come across. Why would anyone try to "outcrisis" anyone else. What does it matter that the tsunami killed more people than 9/11? They are both super terrible. Thanks for the math DDB. Oh my God, I'm so appalled. Apparently it got entered in Cannes. This is the reason why awards cloud creative minds.

Get Your Head Straight

I don't know how this can apply to advertising just yet but its nonetheless some interesting technology. This makes Total Recall look like a joke.

Get Your Basketball On!

Apparently this is for Nike. It was created by Weiden + Kennedy according to the Agency Spy blog. Either way, Charlie Murphy is hilarious and the website is so addicting. Go to www.getyourbasketballon.com

Fingerpainting for Adults

This painting was done using an iPhone app called "Brushes". See the stories and the speed painting below. It's revolutionary. iPhone are really going to be something for everyone and the fact that anyone can relatively make an app makes the possibilities endless. Apple gave us the iPhone as a canvas, but all of us are the artists who make paintings as well as limitless apps.

Great Video for Oxfam Young Lions Contest

What Goes Around Comes Around

Shout out to Big Ant International (http://bigantinternational.com/) for these briliant ads. Nice use of media and simple concept. No need for a fancy tagline, just a classic idiom. Big Ant started in 2006 with 5 students and is now becoming quite the little NY ad shop.

Dyson It Future Lions 2009

Dyson It Future Lions 2009 from Gabriel Ferrer on Vimeo.

An app that lets users organize stuff in their digital life as they do in the physical world.
AD: Ramzi Sarieddine
CW: ME

Life in 2019

I'm not sure if I want to live in this world. It's a catch 22. Technology aids my career and ways to communicate with people, but what about my personal life. We are all becoming inexorably linked to each other without an option to disappear from this technological radar. Also, the less and less we are forced to think as a species, the more likely it is that we will be tremendously impacted if/when technology ever fails us. Cool video though just kind of scary IMHO.

I won't ruin this one

Random Ads I've Liked

love the illustrations



this is genius. the effects are really cool.



not an ad but a cool music vid.



"233,267 people just twittered on twitter, 26% of the people watching this have no idea what that means" love that line.



very cool stuff w/ projections. go droga5!



I just find this hilarious.



this is pretty crazy. the real definition of a notebook computer



Gotta love The Simpsons

It's not just deodorant...It's a kick ass commercial

I saw this when I went to the movies yesterday. I thought to myself that it didn't feel American. I was right. During my hunt for this video, I realize that it had been playing in other countries a couple years ago for Lynx deodorant, which is Axe in other countries. Better late than never because this is pretty hilarious. They exaggerated a problem such as sweating to a crazy degree.

I was speaking to a fellow copywriting student the other day and he said " you either got to do something for real or just be completely ridiculous. If you can't find Chuck Norris, then you might have to purposely have people cheesily walk around with Chuck Norris masks. There's no middle ground."

I don't know if this is fact, but I agree with him. This "documercial" goes balls to the wall with this "water wings" problem and makes it work. It doesn't hurt that it's on strategy either. I mean, isn't that what deodorant is for? To be able to interact with people without them wanting to barf. Axe Dry proved to be the solution he needed to normally interact and attract his current girlfriend. Wish I knew which agency did this. Good work.

Who needs shoes?

This commercial is hilarious. Can I get one of these installed in my house? It's hard for women to understand why men drink so much beer. It's always been pretty difficult to explain so why not equate it to their love of shoes? This probably won't be a campaign, but it's a good one off.

Worst commercials of 2009

WTF??!!! Am I the only one that thinks this sucks. It's so cheesy. Is this an ad for gatorade or Bambi? Just because the animation is nice doesn't instantly make this cool. Clear example of execution over strategy. I get that Gatorade Focus would make me focus. Could it not be so literal? Barf.

My Opinion Leader 2.0 Takeover Theory

Presentation in school from last week.

More Technology on Steroids

I'm not going to lie. This stuff is cool. See your drawings come to life and interacting with a virtual pet is pretty dope. The piss-screen is a really effective form of advertising. How the car is controlled by pee is still a mystery to me, but well done.

The Future Is Now

Watch the video first or none of this will make sense. Watch the video first and most of it still won't make sense. How did we get to this point? Am I the only one that thinks this is scary? Really? A brain implant in 10 years?

Anyways, the guest speaker at Miami Ad School this week showed us this video and it's an interesting video to analyze in the context of advertising. I feel like our entire job as creatives is to create perceptions of what brands are in the mind of our consumers so that when consumers are faced with a choice of products they will refer to the perceptions we have implanted for them, and make the decision based at least in part by advertising (sorry run-on sentence..whatever take a breath). But isn't the whole aspect of perception building eliminated by this device projecting onto products what products truly are? If a consumer can really get all the facts about something then advertising might be less effective. What if I'm trying to position something as environmentally friendly and the sixth sense technology shows that a competitor's product is more eco-friendly? Well there goes all that work.

So like anything in this world, this technology is a gift and a curse. While it may feel threatening to me right now, I'm sure advertisers felt threatened when the internet came out. Well print and TV advertising is still around and so is radio despite podcasts and satellite stations. The question lies in how will advertising adjust to this new form of media to communicate to consumers. And for those of you who thought that you would be able to use this device free of advertising, you are sadly mistaken. I'm almost 100% sure we will find a way to target you through this. It's what advertisers do.

If people can find out exactly what they need about products when they are faced with them then we need to target advertising directly on the products. This brings me to a whole series of hypothetical ethical questions. If a consumer gets facts about a product on the product, then maybe us advertisers need to start altering these facts to influence them differently. Don't lose your mind. I'm not advocating this. I'm just saying it could happen. If a customer gets Amazon ratings when looking at a book, then maybe ad agencies will start giving really good ratings on Amazon to books they want to sell, which will actually skew reality for these consumers thinking they are getting the truth.

The concept of an entity having the ability to skew reality reminds me of The Matrix. People will never know that they're not in control or that they are being lied to if the way they are getting their information seems like it's accurate. I know I'm reading really deep into this, but seriously this technology is revolutionary. A sixth sense that will cause yet a whole new generation to render part of their brain obsolete. I feel like we're going to forget how to think because everything is already thought out for us. And what will happen if our technology fails us?

Our desire for instantaneous information is changing human behavior. She also showed us a video that brought up a funny point. There are over 200 million searches on Google a day. Who did these questions get addressed to before Google? We are becoming an impatient species. We used to have to wait until someone was home to speak to them, now we just tweet them. Don't get me wrong. I love technology and I consider myself an early adopter, but in the past 5 years technology has been on steroids. Somebody give this tech boom a drug test.

Cheaters Never Prosper

It's only cheating if you get caught. Then it's social murder. OMG, I can't believe to talk about how brilliant this is. To launch a TV show without TV or print. Again, an excellent example of thinking differently in terms of approaching a problem. This was definitely the most cost efficient and effective way of getting the word out.

Men Of The Year

If you can't decide who deserves to be man of the year, then maybe you can just combine them to make an ultimate man. My teacher showed this in my Everything is media class to show that you can still be creative using traditional medias. You don't have to necessarily have to do something digital or force an iphone app on your client to do something out-of-the-box. This could totally be an iPhone app, but it's not and I think that physically moving the pages around makes this idea much more interesting. Kudos on a good creative idea.

Most Interesting Men in the World?

Is the most interesting man in the world still as interesting if there is someone else just as interesting? Dos Equis has launched a campaign that introduces us to what we should view is "the most interesting man in the world". All the commercials present really outlandish and interesting things that are done by this unnamed man and at the end he drinks a Dos Equis. They obviously want to tie being interesting with that beer, which is a different angle. As a copywriter, I love this campaign. I think the writing is really funny. I think it is even smarter to try and something that is such a commodity such as beer by promoting the beer drinker not even the beer. Let's be real. Beer is beer, but different people drink different beer and I would like to think advertising has something to do with this.

On the super bowl, Cars.com launched a commercial introducing us to David Abernathy. All the commercials present really outlandish and interesting things that are done by David. Hmmm, it sounds a lot like Dos Equis. At the end, they show that even though David has been a prodigy his entire life, car buying is still a worry he has and he depends on Cars.com. The problem here is that I don't give a crap about David Abernathy. The Dos Equis guy is clearly more interesting and cooler. Secondly, there really is no link between David Abernathy and Cars.com. I felt like it's such a stretch to create a character in order to sell car-buying peace of mind.

This brings me to my next point. How valuable is it to create a character? I think it's a cop out to create a character unless it's done right. Creating a character is the easiest way to come up with creative because then you can just make that character do whatever you want. The truth is that people like characters. They emotionally connect to them...OR they hate them and thus hate your brand. As a creative, I find it limiting. If your character works out, now you are forced to write communication in that character voice for years to come.

I feel like Dos Equis is a good character, but David Abernathy is a fleeting message that will soon disappear. At least I hope so. I'll leave with with some more Dos Equis commercials about the man who is a lover not a fighter, but is also a fighter so don't try anything.

Pigsy In Space Music Video

This was for a D&AD Brief I did. The story is about an animal that can trust robots or humans. He is saved by a clear and pure being that has not yet been clouded by other ideas. Hope you enjoy it.

Got Milky Way?

This is really creative and effective. Props to BBDO.

Celebrity endorsements or gambles?

I was reading an article on Adage about brands that are starting to use timeless celebrities in their ads such as Elvis or Einstein because they won't have to worry about those people getting caught in legal turmoil. Of course this is in reference to the recent scandals with Michael Phelps' marijuana use and Chris Brown's boxing training. I mean domestic violence (sorry Rhianna). The truth is that why would an agency use so much money on a celebrity endorser? Look at the videos below with Phelps and Brown.





I mean seriously. Michael Phelps didn't make me want to learn a new language and Chris Brown didn't make me want to chew gum. He actually just made me want to dance. This following ad for Stride gum is much more effective at making me consider trying this gum brand.



As an advertising creative, I have to wonder how a writer or art director goes into an internal meeting and presents an idea with a celebrity. I have to wonder how someone would think that Chris Brown dancing with gum would be more effective than a good creative idea. As a matter of fact, it kind of defeats the purpose of our job. We are supposed to come up with creative ideas. Picking a celebrity to do your dirty work is such a cop out. I understand that celebrities are opinion leaders and they influence people but please pick your battles. The following is a commercial for State Farm starring Lebron James.



Someone tell me how the hell Lebron James is going to sell me car insurance. He can try and sell me Vitamin Water. I probably still won't be convinced, but car insurance? Throwing a celebrity into the mix doesn't guarantee you a homerun. Plus, it's way more out of the client's budget.

My point is let's be creative again. We wouldn't have to worry about our celebrity endorsers screwing up if we didn't use them at all because we actually had good ideas. Let's stop using actors and athletes as a crutch for our unoriginality. And will someone slap the shit out of Chris Brown. What the hell is he doing?

Copy Cats

Wow what a straight rip-off of the Fight Club scene. I mean I've heard that no idea is original anymore, but Fight Club is a pretty huge movie. I frown upon stealing in general, but did they really think people weren't going to catch this one? I guess that's why it's banned.

What Do You See In This Picture?

If you saw it the first time, you might be a pervert or I might just be a retard. Point is this uses a really interesting angle on pornography that I haven't seen before. It's appealing to people not by showing skin but by comforting them by letting them know that their kids won't be able to see how perverted they really are.

The only problem I see with this commercial is that I didn't get it the first time. I had to see the erotic tagline to realize that I should be looking for boobs, a penis, and a rear end (wow that was really politically correct of me). Unless you have TiVo, you don't have the luxury of rewinding to see this a second time and if you have TiVo you probably missed it anyways becaused you zipped through the commercials. Also, this would never fly in the US. Either way this is really fun once you get it.

Enjoy you sick, demented pervs!

"That's Kind of Our Thing"

New Hulu commercial. I love it. This concept is great. Read my Hulu blog under "...because were aliens"

We Think Therefore We Are

It's hard for me to explain it any better than the video did and you are probably tired of reading by now, but it is true that more and more people are engaging in conversation and idea creation. We must advertise something that ignites a conversation between them. The only way we can do this is by providing a message they can believe in.

This video was brought to my attention today by our guest speaker at the Miami Ad School, Domenico Vitale, creator of People, Ideas & Culture (http://www.pic-nyc.com/). His approach is that we should stop selling lies and actually provide believable, behavior triggering messages. It's not just about attitudes. It's about behavior. People change their attitudes depending on who they talk to. It's what they actually do that reflects their true intentions and their intentions are usually triggered by something they believe in.

Domenico made a point about the Obama election. People stood in line for HOURS to vote. Their patience didn't come as a result of politics or marketing. People waited in line because Obama made them believe in something. Hope and Change weren't advertisements, they were promises.

Granted, our brands arn't running for presidency, but we should highly consider all these changes occurring such as the age of "mass innovation" and create advertising that will make us proud to be a part of.

Gatorade Going Medieval on Your Ass

Gatorade has rebranded itself as simply G and in order to promote the new name and logo, it has created commercials that star a myriad of athletes in a quest for G. Initially, I thought the commercial was crap until I realized there was an extended version online that’s 9 minutes long. It is a parody of Monty Python’s quest for the Holy Grail.

I can see how this idea got sold. Putting American athletes to imitate British actors in a parody of a movie that was already a parody to begin with sounds interesting. Then you add the fact that you’re creating a “webisode “of this quest that has the potential to go viral.

Personally, I still think it’s crap. To begin with, this 9-minute mini movie probably cost a ridiculous amount of money to produce when it’s including around 10 athletes and it’s just not good. While I cracked up when I saw Kevin Garnett pet a unicorn, I think Gatorade went too far. They had excellent brand equity and now they are chipping away at it. There are too many things going on. The references are obscure and the payoff at the end with Michael Jordan’s voice wasn’t enough for me to put up through 9 minutes of bad acting and cheesy special effects.

I get it. G is trying to appeal to more than just elite athletes. It's trying to appeal to everyone. I think it's brave for them to move a beverage in a completely different direction in a category that is usually about serious, athletic advertising. I just think this brand stretched too far. That said, Usain Bolt's pet ego is completely hilarious though.

Predicting the Future

This is cool. Thought I'd share this too. God why can't I sign off already.

It's Valentines...Let's get Engaged!

Things have changed and the truth is advertising is not as simple as it used to be. This video does a fantastic job at showing how our industry has changed and how we need to make advertising that is truly worth interacting with for our clients. Advertising isnt easy anymore, which means that only the truly passionate people will survive. The ones with thick skin as Michelle Zubi once told me. Enjoy the video. I wish my Flash skills were that good.

...Because we're aliens...

I'll get some crap for this but I think this is genius. I'm taking two account planning and strategy classes and I have an appreciation for planners directing the message for creatives to do their thing. I have to believe that this type of work probably came from a good brief.

Hulu as a service is fairly simple. It's all the shows you want to watch or missed...for free. It's better than Tivo because you don't have to remember to record something you're going to miss and it's better than YouTube because it's in HD not in that pixelated webcam look. A planner could have suggested a creative to sell consumers on the idea of convenience or accessibility.

Instead, CP+B opted to use all the negative perceptions about TV to sell Hulu. People will embrace that. Some people watch TV all day and get reprimanded for being lazy and wasting their time, but the people that do that will defend it to death. They love not doing anything productive with their time. All people that watch Hulu do is productively watch TV by eliminating most of the commercials thus allowing them to watch more of their favorite programs using that extra time.

Embracing something negative is nothing new. Black people were oppressed for years by the N word and now they use it themselves to throw it back at anyone ignorant enough to still be racist. They took its power away. If this campaign works, Hulu will take away the power from the perception that watching too much TV is bad. More people will watch Hulu without being criticized.

Also, there's aliens in the plot. And that's always a plus. Also, theres Alec Baldwin. And he's right up there with aliens.

Beautiful Monster.com

Someone (that I will leave unnamed) came to guest speak at my school that was a former employee of BBDO. She is now a creative director. She said BBDO was the most boring advertising agency on earth. It was too traditional and very much like Mad Men. I think she might be wrong. These two spots by BBDO are hilarious. The moose was one of the highlights of the Super Bowl and the Battle spot is completely left field. We all know that some people's jobs suck, but they are literally showing us sucky jobs that one would never imagine. The spots use cognitive dissonance to perfection. Originality is hard to find in advertising and I personally think this is truly fresh stuff.

Also, a GoDaddy.com spot just came on while I was writing that and I almost barfed. Their advertising is so incredibly bad. Can someone tell them to stop doing their work in-house? Anyways, the Monster.com ads are great. I hope they can keep it up. I'm sure a lot of people will go on the site now that thousands of people are being laid off, but I'm not sure how successful they will be at getting jobs on Monster. No one is hiring and if you are....then hire me. I'm unemployed. HELP. Just kidding. I refuse to make this blog into a cry for help. Wait a minute I just did by capitalizing help in the last sentence. Just enjoy the spots.

It's Tantastic!

What's better than tanning at the beach?... Tanning at the office. DUH! As if getting a tan was ever a chore, now it's portable. Humans are so lazy. Did I say that outoud? Yup. Please go to www.computertan.com and experience the free trial today. I won't say anything else because I don't want to ruin it but jeez this is such a fresh, creative and brilliant angle to take on this.
:: clapping for McCann Erickson::

Have a Coke Zero and Smile!

This classic Coke commercial from the 80's was re-made for Coke Zero. It's perfect. The Steelers are back in the Super Bowl. Troy Palumalo is the best defensive player in the league just like mean Joe Green was in the 80's and Coke Zero needs a super bowl spot. All the stars aligned. The twist was hilarious. In general, I think the whole taste infringement idea is genius. I don't think it was a rip-off. It was a perfect tribute. As Bob Garfield said in AdAge, the original spot has residual value that carries on to this spot. That value was definitely used here. By far my favorite super bowl spot this year.

PepsiCo's New Year's Revolutions

Some people think that when a new year comes around everything is new. Clean slate. New year equals new life. I'm not one of those people. You probably still work at the same place, have the same girlfriend, and the same problems. January 1st is just the day after December 31st for me. Not that I don't celebrate new year's like its 1999 (is that phrase even applicable anymore??), but I live in reality. Apparently Pepsi Co. has adopted that philosophy and has attempted to refresh everything. Literally, I mean just change all their stuff.

When the new Pepsi logo was launched, I thought that it was a smart move to use the wordplay to allow consumers to become accustomed to the new look. After all, Pepsi has had some failure in trying to change the formula in the past so this is a pretty big step for them. A brave move which I respect. The ads are all over the city, on top of taxi's, you name it. They are vibrant and unmissable. The words inspire cheer and are definitely riding the Obama wave that he may indeed refresh everything. It's also simple, which is good because we all know what Pepsi is. Don't overcomplicate our lives.

Additionally, as a copywriter, I think it's brilliant to associate a list of words directly to Pepsi. Maybe next time I hear hooray or howdy, I will think of Pepsi. Ok, maybe I'll never hear anyone saying hooray or howdy, but my point is that word association is smart. I applaud TBWA/Chiat for this. My irritation came when I saw their new campaign for Gatorade.



TBWA,who recently got the Gatorade account in April from Element 79, was not content with just rebranding Pepsi, but they wanted to rebrand Gatorade too, which is part of Pepsi Co. Ok, so kudos to Pepsi Co. for having such big balls in 2009, but wouldn't they realize the similarities in advertising between two products in the same company? I saw a bunch of bus shelter posters today for Gatorade today when I was driving to school. They were using the same vibrant colors in the background and white letters that said "no excuses", "shine on", and "be tough". My friend (who's in advertising) saw them too. He thought they were part of the Pepsi campaign. Granted the Gatorade ones don't have the logo replacing the O's, but it's confusing. A single phrase in a white font over a colorful background for two different beverages under the same company seems pretty ridiculous. Is that all TBWA has graphically? If it's confusing for my ad friend, imagine for regular consumers. Comm checks anyone? If they were different agencies, then maybe it would be coincidence, but from the same one? Come on guys.

I get the Gatorade rebranding. I kind of like it. I like the fact that I can refer to my flavor as "no excuses" instead of "rain". Gatorade has always been about going the extra mile in athletic competition. I don't like that it's not Gatorade anymore though. It's 'G'. It's nothing but a g thing now. This brings me to my next point. While I kind of like the repackaging of 'G', I absolutely hate the TV executions. Watch it below.



What's G? Who knows? Many people had to look it up on Google: the other big G. Gatorade is for athletes. Why are the Jabba Wockees on there? Probably just to throw us off. And why is Lil' Wayne the voice over. Are you serious? How is he shedding a positive light on the G brand? If anything, he's really making G stand for gangsta. His raps are ludicrously vulgar. That's who G wants to voice their product. I read another blog that said Lil' Wayne was the voice of our generation. If people in my generation believe that then I'm ashamed to be a part of it.

Overall, I prefer Coke anyways so I'll keep drinking that. Speaking of which, they also have changed their brand identity from "the Coke side of life" to "open happiness", but that's another blog. Point is that Obama promised change and we're starting to see change even in our favorite beverages.

There's nothing Mini about this

Find more videos like this on AdGabber


Note: Watch the video or you won't know what I'm talking about.

This is pretty huge. Can you imagine how far we can take advertising with this type of technology? All of the sudden the media space on the back cover of a magazine has gotten much more valuable. It's no longer a 3 seconds glance. It could be a 3 minute interaction with a consumer. That's not mini...that's HUGE!!!! Despite my excitement over this technology, I have to raid this party with some reality.

I was reading the first chapter of Truth, Lies, and Advertising today for my account planning class and there was an excerpt about efficiency and effectiveness, which I would like to share. In the 30's in the Soviet Union, Stalin assigned production targets to factories that they would need to reach or face severe consequences. You can imagine the pressure. A steel mill was given a production target for nails in weight not quantity. In fear for their lives, they didn't make a lot of nails, they just made huge nails. Some of them were even three feet in length. Completely useless but nonetheless, they met the weight requirements that were asked and lived to nail another day. This is a clear example of something that was efficient , but not effective. The nails went straight to the garbage.

As I saw the Mini ad, I thought to myself whether this was either one of those. Well it is definitely effective. You can get a complete 3D view of a car from the comfort of your own home. Oh how we love to make you lazier don't we? As if the drive to the Mini dealership was going to kill you. Either way, I'm having a few problems getting my mind around this. It seems to me that the actual creation of the 3D model took quite some time and money to make. The production value on this must be insane. I'm assuming. I don't know the price, but I would venture to say that it's pretty high. Plus, what if I don't have a Logitech webcam on my computer? Then it's just a lame looking print ad. It's not cool unless I actually engage in the activity, which means that the eyeball count isn't the same as for a regular print ad where I get the message right away. Measurability is going to be a factor.

Artistically, it's mind-blowing, but we are not in the business of selling art. As Truth, Lies, and Advertising says "art is a means to sell our product, but the art alone isn't enough." Our business is to sell product and sometimes art gets us there. This ad will probably win something at Cannes for interactivity, but ultimately will it sell more Minis? That's the objective. As advertisers, our duty is to make the most effective campaign using the clients money. This look like it took a lot of money out of the Mini budget. I'm not necessarily taking sides.

If someone was thinking so economically then this cool ad wouldn't have been brought into being and I wouldn't be having this discussion in the first place. They would have done some TV and print and wham, bam, thank you mam! Sometimes that still works. Emphasis on the sometimes. In a way this ad is succeeding in many other ways. For one, I'm blogging about it. So are a bunch of other people. I was exposed to the ad without even purchasing the magazine the ad was in. Buzz counts too.

I guess we'll see how effective it was eventually, but for now I'm in a tug-o-war on this one.

Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band

As I walked through Best Buy to purchase my copy of Pineapple Express (that’s my product placement of the day), I came across a display that made me stop before I got into the line to pay. I’m not sure if I would have stopped if it wasn’t for the purpose of this exercise, but because of it I found something interesting. I’m having trouble trying to pinpoint exactly what the display was for because it did not showcase a product. It showcased two. The products were Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It was clearly not advocating one or the other and I wasn’t too sure if Best Buy did that intentionally or it just seemed convenient to promote the category altogether.

This led me to realize the true nature of Best Buy as a company and why so many people prefer it. Best Buy is quite literally there to provide the best buy for your buck. They don’t take sides and their employees don’t have an agenda, which makes consumers feel pretty good. Consumers can ask an employee for an opinion and expect to get a pretty honest answer. That’s really what people that shop at Best Buy want: objectivity.

The Guitar Hero/ Rock Band display is a pretty accurate manifestation of Best Buy’s objectivity. Which game is better? They’ll let you decide. Try them both and make a choice, because choice is essentially what makes us human.

This is where our specialty comes in. In the event that two competitive products are placed next to each other in a retail setting, advertising should be one of the deciding factors in a consumer’s preference. To be honest, I think the advertising on both sides has been short of spectacular, which leaves content as the last remaining factor in our decision.
It used to be that Guitar Hero was pure guitar work and Rock Band came in with a more inclusive product in which you could play the guitar as well as the drums and sing. That distinction was eradicated when Guitar Hero launched World Tour and added drums and a microphone to their entourage. Now we have two identical products that are only separated by their set list, and isn’t that a whole can of worms?

People like different types of music, so if the music on the game is the only thing determining whether I’ll buy Guitar Hero or Rock Band, then I think that’s a pretty big problem. What did I get from the packaging? The fact that I realized I liked songs on both games? How can I push one game over the other if there’s no unique selling proposition? Pepsi and Coke are practically identical but at least they taste different. For some reason, after I played both Guitar Hero and Rock Band at Best Buy, I had the same taste in my mouth.

These products need a makeover because they are too similar. Maybe if I were allowed to pick what songs I wanted on my game from a list of them, then I would get exactly what I paid for. Consumers are getting used to choice. They can customize their Facebook pages and iPhone apps however they like. Someone do something about these video game Nazis telling us what songs to play in “our band.” Ultimately, I couldn’t decide, so you’ll see both Guitar Hero and Rock Band at my house, which doesn’t say much about brand equity.

My Hiatus

So I haven't written in a while but it hasn't been out of laziness. I did two back-to-back internships at Zubi Advertising and Crispin Porter + Bogusky and I respect their confidentiality agreements. I didn't want to be blogging about all the cool shit I was doing and then get the boot. I respect their privacy and the trust they place on us as interns.

I will say that they were both equally amazing places to work at and I learned a lot from both. Zubi taught me the meaning of hard work. Very late nights and multiple rounds of creative slapped me across the face with the hand of reality. I still want to do this, which was also an important revelation after all that. I even had a late night encounter with Joe Zubi himself the night before the client presentation, which I'll never forget.

CPB taught me to never limit myself. Advertising is not what it used to be. TV, Radio, and Print are a thing of the past and there are many more ways available to reach consumers that we must take into account. Facebook widgets, iPhone apps and even Tivo are all open for the taking. Being a copywriter just got a whole lot more exciting.

Anyways, I'm back in the game and anyone that may like my train of thought is welcome to subscribe to my blog. I'll post a lot of my opinion and general things I find interesting. I started Miami Ad School now so I should have a lot to talk about.