May 25, 2009, Posted by Mike in the category, 6 Comments
Just caught a spot while watching The Deadliest Catch that caught my attention… which is saying something these days. The spot for The Coleman Company (THE camping equipment folks) makes the bold claim that Coleman is “The Original Social Networking Site”… well, actually, I’m not really sure if that claim is about the website or about any campsite using Coleman equipment, but that’s not the point of this.
Jan 05, 2009, Posted by Mike in the category, 0 Comments
Dear NYC Post-Production House:
I would address this to you by your company name, but of the three people who just called me (within 5 minutes) on your behalf, none could speak English well enough for me to understand. Not that I didn’t ask each of them to say the name of the company again; it’s just that they chose not to respond to my question, they just continued on with the script.
Dec 04, 2008, Posted by Mike in the category, 0 Comments
How can I put this delicately?
There really is no way to… err… Have you ever been or known a 10-year-old boy? (Or or a 40-year-old one?)
Ummm….. Well, there really isn’t anyway to be delicate about this one. If you follow the link below, you’ll see that it’s:
- puerile
- sophomoric
- uncouth
- indelicate
- One of the funniest holiday campaigns you’ll see this year.
Harry Hoover from My Creative Team, Inc. twittered an innocuous little post:
Sometimes I can’t believe I get paid to do this: http://www.laughyourgasoff.com/
The only word I could come up with for my reaction was Gobsmacked. Yes, it is funny, and yes it should drive traffic to the site. I was gobsmacked by the guts it took to pitch this to the client, BernzOmatic, but even more gobsmacked at the guts of the BernzOmatic folks to OK the campaign.
So kudos to BernzOmatic, and to My Creative Team. Now, how can I pitch something like this to the folks at The Gutster?
Marketing is fun sometimes.
Jul 18, 2008, Posted by Mike in the category, 1 Comments
Playing catch-up here lately. Here are a couple of fairly unrelated things I’ve come across for your weekend (and beyond) reading:
- Via Seth’s Blog:
Mike Laurie over at Ship’s Biscuit has put together one of those masterful blog entries that you come across every once in a while: Viral Marketing Review: Using and Identifying Design Patterns.
I can’t imagine how much time and thought went into this piece, but if you’re even a little bit interested in adding viral video to your marketing mix, this is a must read for trying to understand just how big a topic this really is.
- A big congrats to Director Tom on his new big-time blog Let’s See That Again! over at FastCompany.
- Looking for a quick way to see what’s happening in the blogging world on a specific topic (You should answer yes here): Guy Kawasaki et al have put together a service I’ve been using for a while, but haven’t had an opportunity to write about: until now.
Alltop gathers the RSS feeds from the top blogs on a given topic, and presents them on one page. Topic areas range from the useful to the absurd, but it’s a quick way to scan the top blogs out there. In particular, I’m a big fan of the Small Business, Marketing, and Ireland topics. Give it a try, you may find your new favorite blog
Back to work, have a good one.
Jul 17, 2008, Posted by Mike in the category, 0 Comments
Steve Hudgik over at The Safe Workplace Blog pointed me to this campaign from the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia , Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Worker’s Compensation Board of PEI (Prince Edward Island for us Yanks). The campaign has 3 videos (titled Bucket, Ladder, and Nail) produced by The Extreme Group, one of which (“Nail”) won a Bronze Lion at the 2008 Cannes festival.
From the Extreme Group’s website:
Extreme Group, along with the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia , Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Worker’s Compensation Board of PEI have taken home a Bronze Lion in the Product and Service, public health and safety category for their “nail” television commercial at the 2008 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. This is the first time a Nova Scotian agency has taken home one of these prestigious awards.
Aside from being visually compelling (in as much as a spot about a bucket can be visually compelling) the spots are effective, direct, and flawlessly produced… everything a safety spot should be… and I wish we had a hand in them.
OK, here’s where you can take a look at the videos:
http://www.extremegroup.com/work/42
or
http://www.worksafeforlife.ca/doit.php?cat=Advertising
Congratulations to the Extreme Group folks.
Jan 08, 2008, Posted by Mike in the category, 0 Comments
One of the best things about this business is the broad range of businesses and topics you have to get to learn about during the course of any given day/week/month.
I wish I could remember who said it, it may have been Harry Beckwith, it may have been Tom Peters!, but “you never know where your clients will take you business.” Case and point(s): December 2007 – January 2008:
Organizational Performance
Altus Training Solutions
We just completed the web site for this training and organizational development firm in Camp Hill, PA. Earlier in 2007, we did the logo design for them. In the market for a little team building? Give Susan a call at Altus Training Solutions… and yes Susan, I think you have the coolest business cards in all of Camp Hill as well.
Cellos
Ashley Bathgate
OK, so this one is still technically in the works… We just launched the web site for this amazingly talented young cellist in advance of her Carnegie Hall debut in February 2008. In addition to the web work, we’ve designed the concert poster, post-cards, and are currently working on the program for the evening. Check out a few of her performance videos on her YouTube Channel.
Lavado de manos
Perhaps the most challenging (in a good way) project has been the translation of the Hartz Mountain Corporation cGMP video for the Bloomfield, NJ facility into Spanish. Since the last time I read this much Spanish was 5th period in St. Thomas Aquinas HS my Sophomore year, we were lucky to find a great partner in CTS LanguageLink. Oh, BTW… Lavado de manos = Hand Washing.
and the rest
As they say, meanwhile back in the studio…
- Currently working on the finishing touches to a promo video for a totally rad, local 80s cover band Amethyst
- Localized a few TV spots for the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ.
- Assorted ongoing projects with various organizations great and small…
Gotta run and do a press check, shoot a couple of scenes, debug a javascript, and whatever else comes up today.
Nov 29, 2007, Posted by Mike in the category, 2 Comments
Doh! I just infringed on the copyright of the new VisitScotland SNP government’s brand slogan with that title. I kid you not. The Daily Record is reporting that:
A £125,000 campaign to replace Scotland’s Best Small Country In The World tag has been unveiled.
And the exciting new catchphrase dreamed up by top advertising brains is…”Welcome to Scotland”.
For those Americans who read this blog, that’s over $250,000.00 for “Welcome to Scotland”.
What is happening to those wacky Brits and Scots these days? Between this and this past July’s London Olympics 2012 logo fiasco, I’m not sure what anyone on the island of Albion is thinking these days.
Having just finished a logo design for Altus Training Solutions maybe I should let them know to expect a much higher bill for their website development.
Aug 21, 2006, Posted by Mike in the category, 0 Comments
Just a couple of quick tidbits from around the web today:
From Seth Godin:
From AdPulp:
Everybody’s getting into the video biz.
2 from From Digital Producer:
Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: The Blu-ray Perspective, Part 1
Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: The Blu-ray Perspective, Part 2
Finally, from the shameless self-promotion files:
We’re about to launch a new web site for the New Brunswick Cultural Center, (That’s New Brunswick, NJ for those who live in Maine, Georgia, Canada, England, and whereever else there’s a New Brunswick). NewBrunswickArts.org is about a week away from public launch, but for those 3 BrunswickMediaBlog readers out there: Here’s a Sneak Peek.
Apr 29, 2006, Posted by Mike in the category, 0 Comments
Full of Health? Then Don’t Click! I must get 15 – 20 copies of this spam every day, and I chuckle every time I see it. My spam filter immediately moves each copy into the trash, but day in, and day out they keep sending it.
Back in college, I had a copywriting class taught by Bill “Shep” Sheppard, who would only write one comment on anny assignment that started with a question: “Do you want to pass this course? Then rewrite it!” Shep was one of those ink-instead-of-blood, Lou Grant kind of newspaper guys with a heart of gold who took every incorrect answer personally as if he had somehow failed in teaching you correctly. So when you got his note on your assignment, you knew that “the lecture” about not asking questions in a headline was coming.
Full of Health? Then Don’t Click! – OK, I won’t. ::delete::
Are you tired of_____? – No. ::delete::
Do you want _____? – No. ::delete::
Almost every copywriting book/website/resource at some point urges you to use a question as a way to engage the reader, but they often fail to warn you about the drawbacks: what if your question sucks?
Sure it’s an easy device for getting your point across, but be prepared for most of the readers to answer your question with a snide remark and move on. Instead, just get to the point.
Old – Does your chewing gum loose it’s flavor on the bedpost overnight?
New – 97% of gum chewers experience severe overnight loss of chewability. We have the answer.
So the next time your ad agency/marketing folks show you copy with a questionable question as a headline, be like Shep, send it back for a rewrite, or call Brunswick Media Services LLC.
