I’m posting this because it’s kinda funny. But at the same time, it’s not. But it kind of is.
It’s not funny because I think there’s nothing more important than an informed, passionate client. I’ve worked with some great ones. They’ve elevated my game. A great client can make up for any short-comings on the agency team. That said, this is kinda funny.
TweetI’m not sure that the brand connection is super tight on this technical spot for the lightweight Audi A6 but I find it highly watchable and very well done. I’m pretty sure that humming birds are incredibly inefficient, burning almost all the food they take in immediately, but who cares? Really? It’s a nice spot.
TweetOK, we all know this is just a stunt to get hits and a cool award-show, making-of, aren’t-we-cool video but it’s still kinda cool.
TweetThanks to David Wright for sending this. It speaks for itself. There is a ton of star power behind this.
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Rolled the dice and lost. Risky outdoor from Hacienda.
Would you pull this ad? Would you approve this ad? If comedy is tragedy plus time , when is it OK to trade on tragic events? In this case, ‘a northern Indiana restaurant that erected billboards referring to the 1978 Jonestown cult massacre in which more than 900 people died.’
The company admits it was a mistake but only after complaints. But let’s be honest. This is not a cheap execution and a lot of people had to approve it. A billboard like this one takes weeks to execute. There was plenty of time to see the mistake. These guys rolled the dice on a controversial ad and got nailed for it. That’s all.
Story and photo credit to Associated Press, Mon Feb 21, 10:27 pm ET.
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It's a horse, of course.
Zenyatta is the big girl who kicked ass in the boys’ club. She was 19-0 heading into this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup and a celebrity on par with many B-listers. Her fan base is fiercely loyal and compared to all of the let-down spokesmen from the human sports world, she looks like a smart brand’s dream.
Although she failed to clinch her final race, she will be assured a place in history and hopefully a few product endorsements.
Here are a few reasons to give your slimy quarterbacks and golfers the boot and hook up with an athlete you and your brand can count on.
She’s famous
She has a Facebook “Girl Power“ fanpage. She has a fan wiki where you can buy Zenyatta merchandise. She’s been referred to as a feminist icon and some guy named Richard Dyer took the time to write this: “Star images are always extensive, multimedia, intertextual,” and the proliferation of digital tools and online social platforms enables fan co-creation of stars.” Does this turkey know that he’s writing about a six-year-old horse?
So called veteran turf writer Steve Haskin says, “Zenyatta transcends mere racehorse-ness because of her diva-like presence and prima ballerina moves, her uncanny showmanship and ability to take on human traits.”
She’s even been compared to Lady Gaga. “Both are stars with niche, femininely gendered fandoms; both are symbols of female empowerment; both are subjects of passionate debate; both have fandoms that believe their stars, and thus the fans themselves, occupy marginal social and cultural roles; both are Other yet one of us; both are becoming-human and becoming-animal. Although relatively few people have heard of her, Zenyatta matters.”
There will be no sex scandals
Zenyatta’s sex life will be a clinically supervised series of affairs with the Who’s Who of the stud world. Her lovers will all come from big money, have homes in the country and well-documented pedigree. And she’s a horse. She can’t really sneak out and bang the nanny, so to speak.
There will be no wreckage
Zenyatta will never total her SUV or drive her sports car into a flower shop because she is a horse. She can’t drive. That’s part of her “racehorse-ness” (as the veteran turf writers say). Interestingly, her trainer does allow a pint of Guinness a day. But she still can’t drive. She’s still a horse.
There will be no embarrassing flashes
Paparazzi will never get a 100K photo of Zenyatta exposing her privates, smoking a joint or hanging out on the deck of a yacht with someone else’s man. She’ll put on a few pounds in retirement but no one will care. Sooner or later, there will be shots of her baby bump and speculation about the success of her offspring but it won’t get worse than that.
It’s sad state of affairs when human friend horse on Facebook but it’s sadder that we can’t rely on human heroes to set examples for the kids and show some respect for the brands that make them millionaires.
TweetJust start and figure it out as you go.
Ellisism began as an experiment. I was one of a half dozen creatives at Organic who committed to creating and maintaining a blog to explore best practices. Craig Ritchie was our leader and mentor. He explained that a blog is not a thesis. He read that somewhere. Instead, it’s a work in progress. It’s an evolving thesis. Wow. That blew my mind. It was like Dennis Hopper explaining the science of 3-D.
Ellisism is now stocked with over 100 posts and I’m beginning to understand the evolutionary nature of the thing. I approached the project as a copywriter and I imagined this being a blog for other writers and clients.
Instead, I found myself wanting to write about a broader range of topics. My list of categories and tags grew with every post. Now, the blog is a chronological map of things that I found interesting but it lacks focus. I’m torn between two conflicting ideas. A marketer would tailor the content to an audience. A writer would just write and hope to develop an audience.
In order to instill a little focus, I decided to create a set of editorial guidelines for myself. Here’s what I came up with:
Ellisism is a blog devoted to art and ideas through the lens of a guy who makes his living as a head writer in the digital marketing business. Each post will contain something of value for others who create or approve ideas.
So that’s lesson #1. Just get started and see where it goes. Where you end up may look nothing like your original idea. But you knew that. That’s true of all creative ideas.
TweetThompson Hotels and Dennis Hopper.
Thompson is a chain of cool, laid-back hotels in the hipper parts of town. Their new blog “Room 100″ looks like it could provide an interesting view of hip culture. The link to an upcoming Dennis Hopper retrospective seems like a perfect fit for the ultra-cool brand. We’ll see how well they take advantage of this blog opportunity.
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