Creative Types,
Again I have to praise some great advertising! Yesterday I was smoking cigars with a long time friend (who is not of the advertising species like us) and he went on and on about a series of TV Commercials for a certain brand of hummus.
I am sure you know the series of which I speak….you know the ones in which the Greek Yiayia (Grandmother) calls her granddaughter a “prostitute” because of how she is dressed. This commercial cracks me up every time I see it because the out tag by the actress is priceless “Did she call me a prostitute?”.
There are several other commercials in the series and I urge you to watch for them. A well done and a “tip of the hat” to the creators of these ads.
http://www.youtube.com/athenos
More soon…
~The Head Who~
Hello Creative Types,
It has been awhile since my last post but in my own defense I must say. I’m busy. Today I wanted to write about a couple of books I think are must reads for any entrepreneurs or creative types who want to expand their minds and perhaps learn to take a different view of business, innovation and creativity.
Read:
What Would Google Do by Jeff Davis
This is a very insightful and thought provoking read. I would recommend that you keep this book handy and every time you are even tempted to dwell in the “status quo we’ve always done it this way” world of management; you take it out beat yourself over the head and then open it up and read.
The Starfish and The Spider by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom
Love this book. Changed my views of traditional management. Helped me innovate. Helped me build my company! Read this book.
There you go Creative Types that’s it for today. Read the books..there will be a test which represents 80% of your management grade.
~The Head Who~
(Source: whodidthatmedia.com)
If you have watched television, listened to the radio or visited Youtube in the last 48 hours you have probably heard or seen the story of the homeless voiceover artist Ted Williams.
Dateline Columbus, Ohio. A reporter interviews the homeless man with the golden voice then publishes his story and viola that homeless man appears this morning on the TODAY show with Matt and Meredith.
Ted Williams a radio personality in the 80’s found his journey to the future wrought with tragedy. Drug addiction, alcohol addiction, petty larceny and forgery, time behind bars and eventually life on the street seeking the essentials of life from the random homeless shelter that might have a bed or a change of clothes for him, Ted Williams should by all reason be defeated and hopeless. Instead America sees is a man who wants to make a comeback to the human race. The road ahead will be difficult as he transit0ions from the world of the unknown to the world of the known.
I am thrilled this gentleman will have a second chance and I pray that he will not stumble on his new path.
Ted Williams has inadvertantly become the face of the homeless in America. His phoenix like rise from the ashes reminds us all that anything is possible in this great country of ours. I wonder if the cure for cancer, hunger or war lines in the brain of a homeless person we are passing on the street.
The homeless problem does not exist in big cities alone, in fact more and more we are seeing homeless citizens showing up in small towns and hamlets across the United States. We cannot pretend they aren’t there. We cannot ignore them because they are unwashed or ill. What we can do is begin the process of understanding.
The homeless population in America is made up of people just like you and I. Veterans, Teachers, Craftsmen, Authors and as we have discovered Voiceover Artists. Yes there is mental illness, yes there is disease and yes there is addiction ever present in this ghost population of America. One can’t imagine the trauma these people go through every day unless they themselves have lived on the streets.
I am not recommending that all Americans go out and pick up a homeless person and bring them into your homes. What I am asking you to do is educate yourself, become aware of the plight of your fellow man and then reach out to an organization that can help these people. There are many organizations that need your support. If you can’t donate cash donate your time. Do not be too proud to do something, after all we just witnessed a man go from begging for change on the side of the highway which unknown to him would soon become the on ramp to the road to redemption.
Congratulations Ted, I hope you will set an example to the rest of America with your new life.
~The Head Who~
http://www.whodidthatmedia.com
Who’s a Who Copyright 2010 Who Did that Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Creative Types,
Just a quick note to say well done!!!! The quality of this years crop of Halloween commercials has been pretty great. In fact I was so in the spirit after seeing a couple of these fun commercials that I jumped in the car and drove to my local hardware store to pick up one of those inflatables for my front yard. I thought to myself “Why not put up a fun and festive inflatable for the neighborhood kids to enjoy?”
With an optimistic and hopeful swagger in my step I walked through the doors of the mega hardware store. Approached a Greeter with a courteous “which way to the Halloween decorations?”
It is at this point that the pumpkins began to rot in the patch. I was informed that “we took that stuff out last week!” As I glanced over the Helpful Harbinger of Mood Deflation’s shoulder my eyes were filled with visions of sugar plumbs, Santa, snowmen, Christmas trees. SO sweet I was getting the visual sugar diabetes from just gazing upon the spectacle.
So a note dear friends. Please mark in your 2011 calendars that Halloween is officially over on the 20th of October according to that orange hardware store.
BOO!
~The Head Who~
Dear Creative Types,
Today I write as a viewer not an “ad guy”. Here we are just days away from Halloween and I have never been so scared in my life! Scared to death of watching another political ad!
Here in our nations capitol we are besieged by political advertising from Virginia, Maryland, The District of Columbia and West Virginia. One evening recently the rest of the family was out and I decided I would eat my delicious frozen dinner in front of the TV. I reached for the pile of remotes that control the various devices and shortly I was bathed in the digital light of my big screen. As I took my first bite I was invited to look at graphic pictures of aborted babies by a candidate from Washington, D.C. running for a seat on Capitol Hill long held by Eleanor Holmes Norton.
I am not expressing my political views one way or another, however this sort of advertising is not only disturbing but frankly I think it may have cost the candidate votes.
I am not opposed to political advertising, in fact I have produced a few commercials myself, however I am opposed to political advertising that is assaulting.
TO BE CLEAR before I start getting the nasty grams…. I am not going to disclose my political position one way or the other regarding the issue of abortion, taxes, big business or the environment.
My point today is to ask you my fellow advertising gurus to consider for a moment creating a message that is truthful, direct and NON-ASSAULTING. I have been told that “Mud Slinging” is a great American tradition. I am wondering if perhaps the greatest nation on the face of the earth might like to start a new tradition of enlightened, factual non inflammatory discourse that might actually allow the rest of Americans to vote for the best candidate not for the candidate with the ability to out sling and out spend the other.
Just a thought,
~The Head Who~
Hello Creative Types!
Saw a commercial today that reminded me that I needed to vent about another little something about script writing.
When I write scripts for clients I focus on either the telephone number or the url of the business but never both. And more and more I encourage clients to go with the url mostly.
You say, “but wait…..I have a cool vanity phone number”. Then use it my good man, woman or gender neutral person! But whatever you do don’t try to make the viewer or listener work too hard to remember your name, phone number, url, zip code, dress or suit size and political leanings.
I use a Blackberry for my communication. Now if I were to see an ad that said “call 800-EAT GOPHERS”, well I would certainly want to check it out but those of you who own a Crackberry know…you can’t spell out a phone number…..JEEEZ! Now same scenario I see the same commercial and it tells me to go to go to EAT GOPHERS .com Well with just a few tippy taps (yes I said tippy taps) I am on my way to the website whether I am at my computer or on my mobile device.
Here is an annoying test to try with your Lab Rat…I mean Cube Mate. “Gopher” your head over the partition as say “Hey Cube Mate remember this number…888-947-1928….thats 888- 947- 1 - 9 - 2 - 8.” Then one day later “Gopher” your head up over the partition and ask them to repeat the number you gave them yesterday. Unless they have written it down..there is a high probability that they have forgotten the number.
Now try a new experiment. “Gopher” over the partition again and say..”Hey Cube Mate remember this website….”GOPHER POWER dot com..that’s Gopher power dot com”. In all likelihood they will probably type the url in right away but I bet you a wooden nickle that tomorrow when you as them they will remember “Gopherpower.com”.
Hey it’s just my opinion. Got one? Well let me hear it.
Have a productive and creative day!
~The Head Who~
The fall television season is upon us. We have been hammered with promos for The Event, warned that our favorite show has been moved to a “better night and time” and we have been told that if we miss a single episode of a new show we will be LOST (no pun intended) and never able to catch up. Apparently there have already been football games touted as “the game of the season”. Ladies and gentleman I give you marketing at it’s best.
What is the lesson we learn from the barrage of new programming promos from the networks? FREQUENCY……HELLO!
As a marketing professional I have heard numerous clients say things like “oh I tried TV it doesn’t work” or “Radio and TV advertising is a waste so why bother, nobody watches the commercials”. When I hear things like this I want to wrap my arms around that spurned advertiser and apologize for the media professional who led them down the path to poor results.
I can remember my little league baseball coach saying over and over again…”the more at-bats the more hits”. This little pearl of wisdom applies to advertising. If you are going to invest the money for radio or television then you better commit yourself to FREQUENCY.
The other part of the equation of course is the creative message. But I will save that for the next blog.
~The Head Who~
Greetings Creative Types!
This past weekend I took a few days to visit family in North Carolina. On Friday night my wife and I were lucky enough to attend a baseball game in Durham featuring the Durham Bulls the minor league team made nationally famous in 1988 by the movie Bull Durham. No, Nuke LaLoosh was not on the mound and Kevin Costner was not behind home plate urging actor Tim Robbins on with charming phrases like “C’mon Meat throw me that weak-***… ” well you know the rest.
My wife and I have have attended baseball games at some of the greatest ballparks in the country, Camden Yards, Nationals Stadium, Fenway Park and Dodgers Stadium but I must add Goodmon Field to my list of beloved ballparks.
You ask how in the world could a little old minor league ballpark deserve to be in the company of such legendary big league stadiums? I could mention the incredible baseball, the tremendous value ($8.00 per seat on the third base line), the delicious food, the wonderful fireworks show and these things are terrific however it was the conversation I had across from the concession stand that blew me away.
My wife ever the “networker” struck up a conversation with a young man from an Explorers group. As the conversation continued we were joined by a gentleman who introduced himself as Ken Bland the leader of the Explorer’s. The conversation and tour that took place over the next 20 minutes made an indelible impression upon me.
So what is this Explorers group all about? According to the Durham Bulls website
Explorer Post 50 is a youth based television broadcasting program that provides students, ages 14-20, with an invaluable opportunity to gain exceptional experience in the field of television broadcasting.
So let me tell you what these kids do. EVERYTHING. These kids actually run a television broadcast of the Durham Bulls games. I watched a young lady about 15 years old deftly maneuver her camera from her position above the dugout on on the third base side. In the control room I observed a director younger than the pair of jeans I am wearing right now call out cues and direction. As I moved room to room in the press box I observed young folks handling all the elements key to producing a live sports broadcast and I was inspired.
The next morning while watching the highlights of the previous nights Bulls game on the local news I had to smile and wonder if the rest of the viewers realized they were watching footage produced by a teenager.
In a day and time when we are worried that our kids are playing too many video games and becoming one with the couch I am overjoyed to have been witness to the work Ken Bland and his kids are doing at Goodmon Field.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Jim Goodman owner of WRAL TV, Fox 50 and The Durham Bulls. It is a rare thing to see corporate America making an effort to provide our kids something so meaningful. Goodman has ensured that these kids are able to work with real equipment so they may be prepared to enter the broadcasting world with big league skills. Or perhaps these kids are his farm team….ah…that is genius!
Last but not certainly least, hats off to Ken Bland. I could tell by the gleam in his eye that he was proud of his explorers, but Ken should know that his efforts on behalf of these kids is truly admirable.
Follow this link and check them out
~The Head Who~
[video]
Greetings Creative Types,
So today I wanted to share some thoughts with you about BAD ADVERTISING. Look let’s be honest, we have all seen them and the commercial posted here is a perfect example of local advertising that went really wrong.
I am sure this insurance agency is a good one and the agents are very good at what they do however they should stick to insurance and not acting.
Local advertisers are courageous. They expect and deserve results from their advertising. When you think about it the local advertiser has so much more at stake when they advertise. The advertising must work!
There are no guarantees in advertising, however the best advice I can give a local advertiser is to use a professional to create your advertising message. The cost of hiring a professional is a small price to pay when you consider how much you have riding on your advertising. When interviewing prospective production companies ask to see their work, ask for references and most importantly make sure they do a thorough needs analysis with you. There are many camera guys who make commercials. What a local advertiser needs is a Commercial guy who has cameras. The ability to look through a lens does not make one a marketing expert.
So before you make the investment in advertising… fire yourself as the Creative Director and bring in a pro. Consider this. You wouldn’t go to the finest restaurant in town and cook your own meal…would you?
~The Head Who~