As a creative director, I constantly bemoan what I see as the worst thing that has happened to the ad industry over my career (no, it’s not the advent of the celebrity creative director.) Hang around me long enough, and you’re bound to hear me say “It used to be about ‘what’s the best idea you can have.’ Today, it’s ‘what’s the best idea you can have RIGHT NOW!?!’” Timelines have always been a challenge, but now it’s absolute madness. Read More

The Upfront section of the June 13th issue of AdWeek has brought to light an issue that has perplexed me for nearly 20 years. The article discusses the recent ANA eight-month study focusing on media buying practices. The study has highlighted some “disconnects” between media buying organizations and their clients. One of the major concerns addressed is the fact that many media buying organizations regularly receive kickbacks and rebates from the media as an incentive to buy. Read More

I’m wondering if it’s a good thing to comprehend great differences in the creation and delivery of advertising content over the past – yikes – 35 years. Read More

Instagram has become known as a collection of colorful images and videos published with varying hues. Their updated logo and app now match this vivid community. 
As detailed in Instagram’s blog post on Wednesday, “The Instagram community has evolved over the past five years from a place to share filtered photos to so much more – a global community of interests sharing more than 80 million photos and videos every day. Our updated look reflects how vibrant and diverse your storytelling has become.”  Read More

Do you feel that pulse?!
It may be the bias of my passion for the marketing and advertising business that drives me to enthuse about the innovation – or at least the potential to innovate – that is at the heart of it.
 
New product development, restaging a dated product, generating brilliant and breakthrough creative, discovering new markets, and so many more opportunities to innovate: the possibility for building something truly novel is a rush, Read More

In the business of communicating, perception vs. reality is a daunting concept. Sometimes we strive to make perception and reality align, and sometimes that alignment is not optimal. Regardless of which works best, we are fully aware that our ability to control perception is a lot like catching the wind. At best we can influence in an impactful way.
We talk about perception vs. reality a lot. I’m sure there are folks that think: is it really that big of a deal? Read More

A year or so ago I was asked – through my blog on menopause – to participate in helping to “name” a new product offering by Kimberly-Clark. They wanted a cute/clever name for the pairing of toilet paper and wipes for women 50+. I was aghast!
What were they thinking? More to the point, what were they implying? That women 50+ leak waste? Read More

We’ve all seen bad advertising. Really bad advertising. It’s pretty much everywhere, right? But today I was stopped dead in my online tracks. My jaw dropped. It was so horrific I thought for sure Omaha.com had been hacked by some prankster.
But alas, it’s real. LowerMyBills is known for some crappy ads, but this takes the cake. They actually paid someone to create this abomination. What’s worse, some hack used flash to create it. Wonder if they proudly display it in their portfolio? Read More

Bozell’s behind the scenes of AMC’s The Pitch.
The Pitch is AMC’s new original docu-series where two advertising agencies go head-to-head to compete for a piece of real business. Of the 26,000 agencies in the world, Bozell was one of 15 agencies chosen to participate.
Bozell’s main concern with doing the show was that the agency would not be portrayed accurately. Without control of the final edit, there were no guarantees. But Studio Lambert, Read More

Embrace digital not as a competitor to traditional services, but as a complement.
Digital services continue to be the primary growth engine, but traditional revenue streams are expected to remain significantly larger throughout the forecast period.  Digital spending in the US is expected to account for 26% of all E&M spending in 2014, up from 19% in 2009.  
Overall US advertising is expected to increase at a 2.6 % CAGR from $159 billion in 2009 to $180 billion in 2014.   Read More