Januari 2012

Activate Social Audiences On All Media Ecosystems

Friends, I have good news.

I read a PR release from a company named Unified that says it has a new product that can "activate social audiences on all media ecosystems simultaneously." It's a freakin' dream come true.

"Unified's enterprise marketing technology allows global brands and agencies to easily activate social audiences and impact consumer actions on all major social media ecosystems

Overcooking The Set-Up

My so-called advertising career has included about 1 billion creative presentations to clients. I have made many of these myself, and have witnessed millions of others.

As a result of sitting through so many of these things, I have developed a hypersensitive allergic reaction to "the set-up."

The set-up -- the front end of the presentation before you get to the work -- is supposed to

Ungratefulness Runs Deep

Dear General Motors,

I hope you are happy with the 50 billion dollars that I and my friends gave you a few years ago.

Are you enjoying it? Do you have nice offices? Have you been out to a few yummy dinners recently? Are your kids nicely dressed?

That's great. I'd hate to see you unhappy or uncomfortable.

Just one thing. I noticed in the newspaper the other day that you had a 3 billion dollar

Humiliation Builds Character

Several years ago, in my creative director days, I was shooting a TV campaign in Los Angeles. I was staying at a suitably swanky Hollywood hotel.

The hotel had an equally swanky restaurant. The maitre d' was a grimly efficient woman who presided over her dining room very much like a third grade teacher governing her classroom -- with acute attention and an equal amount of thinly disguised

I'm Not A Whore. I'm A Pimp.

It has occurred to me that I have not pimped my book recently on this blog.

The reason it occurred to me is that I just checked the sales numbers and they're dropping like Tim Tebow at a revival meeting.

So, since there are thousands of you (okay, dozens) who read this thing every day and haven't yet shelled out the meager pennies, I thought I would torment you with quotes from the Amazon

The Human Factor

If I told you that a tortoise had a body temperature of 83 degrees, could you tell me if that animal is healthy or sick? Unless you had some idea of what normal was -- what it's temperature should be -- there's no way to know what the number means.

We have a great deal of data and a great many metrics about online advertising. Other than direct marketing, however, we have little to no idea what

Davey and Me

A few months ago, the advertising industry celebrated the 100th birthday of David Ogilvy.

I was lucky enough to know David (or as I called him, Davey) intimately. I used to think of him as a younger brother. I thought I'd share my experiences with him. With you. I mean, the experiences were with him but I'd share them with you. You know what I mean.

Most people think of David as an elegant man

Conscience Of A Contrarian

I have mentioned on many occasions that my first job was to teach science in public schools.

The one thing that teaching science imbues you with is a high regard for the difference between a fact and an opinion.

In science, establishing something as a fact is a daunting process. First you need convincing experimental data. Then you need to establish the reliability of your data by repeating the

The End Of Broadcasting. Don't Miss the Party.

Get out your tuxedo. Mark your calendar. Advertising is dead again, and we're having a celebration!

It's all being brought to you by the Content Marketing Institute. They're having a "Post-Advertising Summit" and we're all invited.
"The Post-Advertising Summit celebrates the end of the broadcast age and the dawn of a new era for marketing." Now, this isn't the same "end of the broadcast age"

All Marketing Is Local

Tip O'Neill was was one of the great American politicians of the 20th century. He was the second longest-serving Speaker of the House in U.S. history. O'Neill once famously said, "All politics is local."

From Wikipedia...
"...this phrase...encapsulates the principle that a politician's success is directly tied to his ability to understand and influence the issues of his constituents.

Twitter's Phony Numbers

One of these days Twitter is going to have to stop being a hobby and become a business.

When it does, presumably it will make its money from advertising. And when that happens, its numbers are going to be critically important to advertisers in determining value.

Right now, I have no idea how reliable Twitter's user numbers are. But I do know one thing first hand -- the number of followers

The Future Of Nonsense

There was a time when it was believed that the web would be a beacon of rationality that would deliver a deep blow to the forces of ignorance. According to Arianna Huffington...
"Thanks to YouTube -- and blogging and instant fact-checking and viral emails -- it is getting harder and harder to get away with repeating brazen lies without paying a price..." If you need evidence of the astounding

The Way-Too-Simple Online Ad Strategy

It seems that every company in the world is trying to cut through the hype and baloney about online advertising and produce an online ad strategy that makes sense. Here at The Ad Contrarian, we always put our loyal readers first and so today we are going to speculate on how you might spend digi-dollars sensibly and prudently.

Let's start with all our cards on the table. As you know, when it

2011 Top 10 Best Of Bullshit

It's the time of year when everybody is making Top 10 lists. Here at The Ad Contrarian, we want to be part of the fun too, darnit.

2011 may have been an astonishingly stinky year, but one thing you have to say -- it's been a fabulous year for bullshit.

Since bullshit is our beat, we thought we'd make a list of the varieties of bullshit that made 2011 such a delight. So here is the 2011 Top 10