The NFL Negotiations:Impacting Industries Across the US

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By now I’m sure most of you have heard something about the potential lockout in the NFL next year.  Yes I know our Ravens just won a huge game yesterday and we are already looking into next year, but next year can have some huge implications for businesses around the country.

Thanks to NFL games, many businesses can keep busy during what would typically be a slow time of year.  The big deal about the lockout is the NFL Commissioner and executives want a longer season and limiting salaries for rookies, among other things.  The NFL Players Association worries that adding two more games will put their health into jeopardy when there are already investigations going on about the safety of the game with the recent concussions.  To put it plain and simple, if the two sides cannot Continue reading →

Must See – Funny Spoof on Death of Ad Agencies

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Thanks to FITC for this clever but eerily relevant sci-fi scenario of the death of the last ad agency on earth. The thing is – they pretty much hit the nail on the head. Many “creative firms” are scared to actually get creative any more. And that, my friends, may be the death of them.

Why? Because consumers’ media habits and access to that media are changing rapidly. We’re not the same captive audience that we used to be. If you’re familiar with the acronyms TiVo and DVR, or you’ve ever been exposed to a YouTube video, then my point has been made.

Effective marketing today has got to be about not doing the same old stuff. It’s got to be about STANDING OUT. We’ve been saying it for a long, long time. Still not convinced? Watch this video! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, it’ll become a part of you.

Awesomely Bad Commercial #3: Martin Fine Furniture

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This Friday means it’s time for another post for an awesomely bad commercial!  Today’s gem comes from the wonderful state Indiana.  Martin Fine Furniture has been in business for over 150 years, four generations for this family owned business.  How long have they been pirates, we’ll that’s something I can’t answer.  Yes, I said Pirates, as you can see in their commercial below; they decided to go with a pirate theme.

With eye patches, a fake parrot, and plastic swords, Martin Fine Furniture has to be the first pirate themed furniture commercial.  I think my favorite part is the wooden plank placed on top of cinder blocks.  The sword fighting scenes are also quite captivating.  With Indiana being almost 1000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean I don’t really see where the pirate theme fits, but check it out.

2010 Brands with the Loudest Buzz

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As the year is wrapping up in the next few weeks we are seeing lots of “Best of 2010” lists for various topics.  One list that caught our eye on Ad Age was all about brands and the online buzz they created in 2010.

Zeta Interactive, a marketing agency out of New York City, released the list after mining through over 200 million posts, blogs, message boards, video sites, and mentions on social media sites. Talk about a lot of mining.

Their rankings not only look into how often Continue reading →

Awesomely Bad Commercial #2: Stinky Septic

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Going back to a post we did a few weeks ago, we’ve got another Awesomely Bad Commercial for you.  No squirrels in this one, now we’ve got a cartoon skunk, and he’s dressed like Mario.  Stinky Septic also put together a little tune to tell you all about their services.  I guess Mario was a plumber, so that does make a little bit of sense…but a skunk Mario? To me the cartoon animal appeals more towards kids, and I highly doubt kids are the ones making the call.  You’ve got to see this one for yourself.

What are your thoughts and do you have any suggestions of awesomely bad commercials we can feature in the blog?

If you didn’t see the first post with the commercial for Greenstein & Milbauer, LLP you can check it out here.

Awesomely Bad Commercials

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We’ve all seen them before, commercials that are so bad they actually catch your attention.  It may not be the best strategy or even a good one, but for some they are doing the best with what they’ve got.  It seems that lawyers, mortgage companies, and local doctors have a knack for the worst commercials out there.  At Asylum.com they’ve posted their top 10 worst lawyer commercials but the one for Greenstein & Milbauer, LLP seems to be at the top of the list.  Their practice targets victims from accidents and they figure what better way to represent this than an animated squirrel.   He seems to be popular enough that they’ve used him in several of their other commercials as well.

Let us know what you think.  What are some of the worst commercials that you’ve seen?

“There’s a Soldier in All of Us”

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call of dutyCall of Duty: Black Ops is one of the hottest video games coming out on the market just before the holiday season.  Wal-Mart, GameStop and other suppliers are opening at midnight tonight when the game will first be released to the public in the US. The game will be released for PS3, Xbox, and Wii and is widely known for the online play.

I’m not sure if you were watching any of the commercials during the football games yesterday but the commercial for Call of Duty: Black Ops was quite unique. This may have been the first ever Continue reading →

(Another Awesome) Video of the Week: Gillette – A Mayne and his razor

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OK, so we have two favorite videos this week. Hey, it’s our blog, we can post two videos if we want to! And this one has actually killed all the competition in views this week, topping the Ad Age charts with 2.5 million views.

I know we bashed Gillette’s last campaign – no need to remind anyone of “Mullet Nation” – but props for getting your stuff together this time, Gillette!

It’s the company’s newest viral – a spot featuring ESPN analyst Kenny Mayne. Mayne peps himself up with a little self-talk before the show, and although it’s a little on the dry side, we like it. This is one of a series of spots featuring other ESPN personalities in Gillette’s newest campaign. Instead of airing on ESPN itself, on Visible Measures’  distribution advice, the ads appeared on guy-oriented video sites like Break.com and DailyMotion’s Mag.ma.

Why advertisers can’t afford not to consider digital advertising

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So what’s the deal with digital? We all know, and by this point love, everything digital. Even if we don’t honestly know what the letters LCD stand for we know it’s a good thing. And when it comes to high definition, whether we’re fast forwarding through infomercials or yelling at a questionable sports call (trust me, the World Cup in HD is totally worth it every four years), as viewers we like what we see.

But consumers aren’t having ALL the fun. Why should advertisers be so excited about digital? Because digital signage advertising is one of the most effective and cost-efficient forms of advertising, way out performing the reach and results of television, online, print, and practically any other medium.

Why should advertisers take a hitch on the digital bandwagon? Studies found that consumers are three times more likely to successfully recall digital advertisements as compared to television, and four times more likely than television ads. Nearly two-thirds of consumers say that digital signage advertising catches their attention – the highest level reported across all media surveyed, including billboards, magazines, TV, the Internet, newspapers, radio, and mobile phone advertising.

If you’re looking for numbers, take these for a spin. It takes an average advertising investment of $21 to reach 1,000 people via television. So how does that compare to the ROI for digital? Continue reading →