the world according to schmogel.

I love advertising- almost too much. I love figuring out how a brand can fit into an experience vs. around it, or even worse, bastardizing it. I understand and respect the need for old school push advertising to tell people what they need to know (in those cases, I hope the messaging and standalone experience are good).  I have also seen how the inability to approach things differently and fall back on old ways can destroy what the people love and engage with.

It is the reason why, I love this story – from TheWeek.com:  Irony Alert: Mad Men Delayed until 2012… over advertising dispute.

It’s not just advertising, it cuts deeper. It is a case of integrity of the show/vision/concept hit head-on by the revenue police/turnip squeezers.  And in my opinion, very short-sighted turnip squeezers. The big asks, that appear to be the sticking point:

– Remove 2 minutes of show so more ads can be jammed in

– More product placement (they already do quite a bit)

– Cut 2 cast members to keep costs down

Where is a mediator when you need one. There has to be a solution that makes the writers and the (cable) network happy while still offering brands meaningful ways to wide the wave of success Mad Men has. Or it’s a case of old school thinking- convention tells AMC that it’s one of the longest running cable shows out there and the numbers say the run is almost over, now is the time to squeeze as much money as we can, consumer/viewer experience be damned.   I hope they figure this out without losing a writer or characters (until the time is right in the story).

My advice to networks (who are still a very important part of experiences and will be until they become too easy to side-step): Stop forcing appointment viewing, stop shoving more noise into the mix, and stop trying to squeeze the life out of everything so early.

(thank you @ghammy for sharing).

I hate everything (every little thing) about the pretentious, over-priced, self-indulging campaign for Fage yogurt.  It actually makes me angry when it comes on. I may stop watching Food Network until the campaign ends. Watch it first, but be warned it may invoke unexpected anger, and then I will explain the 5 reasons I hate it.

Now, simmer down. And see if you agree with my rationale.

1. It is pronounced fa-yeh. As obnoxious as that is, fine, it’s a 50 year old brand that isn’t changing its name now. But it’s new to the US. One would think the agency and brand manager would seek a campaign that educated consumers about the brand, the name, the product. How does one know how to pronounce the name? not from the video, not from the missing URL in the video (see #2), and not from conversations they hope to have started- if there are people who like the brand (despite the campaign) and are talking about it, odds are they are pronouncing it incorrectly.

2. A classic case of creative developed by a self-proclaimed visionary stuck in an agency that wishes they were doing something else with their lives (like making movies most people won’t get). It’s 2011 and somehow a brand was convinced to spend a lot of money on a video they were told was visually stunning, broke through the clutter, elevated the brand to a premium level, made yogurt art… whatever load of bullshit they bought, the place in which the client was misled (and in my opinion the agency failed) was when they convinced the client that you don’t need to make it easy to get more information. Someone lied to the brand/client and told them that people would seek them out after such strong and compelling copy coupled with the visuals. A cow shaking its head in milk + the plain manifesto = a consumer jumping online to find out what this amazing commercial is for.  The problem, you can barely read the name on the label, there is no URL, no Facebook URL, no way of even knowing that it’s yogurt. Hey, old school creatives- get over yourself, and thinking that adding Facebook, URLs and the like are beneath you. Which brings me to #3

3. It’s Greek Yogurt. Not just yogurt, not sour cream, not ice cream, not anything else that a consumer is forced into guessing. I like Greek yogurt. It is becoming a trend in the US. Why, for the love of everything holy, is Fage wasting money running :60 second spots that don’t mention it is Greek yogurt (or even a yogurt), the reasons why you should care, the benefits of it (there are health and taste benefits), the fact it was born in Athens, where to find it, that it is a 50 year old brand…or at least where you can go to get that information?

4. The copy & casting. I have written before about the importance of casting the right people, in this case it is about casting the right voice. Go to the website (I’ll give you the link, since the video and YouTube page don’t tell you how to get there – FageUSA.com – the site and the Facebook content are so stereotypically created for “the grocery shopping mom with 2.5 kids and/or the single yoga enthusiast.”  The plain manifesto (as I am calling it) is read by a man with a tone that enrages me. I don’t know why, but it does. Maybe because it sounds like a Levi’s rip-off and I love that spot. And the copy is unrelatable and misguided. Hey Fage, you are yogurt. You are not changing the world., saving the children or creating a movement to make the world a happier place to live- bring it down a notch.

5. And finally, I hate this because of the :60 second spots, the over-priced video, the campaign the brand manager purchased. It makes me mad when brands spend their money in foolish ways – and furious when agencies convince them to.

Note: When I wrote this, I didn’t know what agency did this campaign, I refused to google it. But I have since googled it. It makes me even more upset. They know better and have done better. [disclaimer: i work in advertising. at an agency. not at the agency that did this campaign.]

Confession time. I follow Boy Meets World on Facebook (yes, they do have a Facebook page). Who doesn’t love reliving tender moments between Topanga and Cory?  You could imagine my excitement when I saw the announcement that season 5 was coming out on DVD (she types sarcastically). A few facts…

1. Boy Meets World had 7 seasons.
2. Boy Meets World debuted in 1993
3. Boy Meets World ended in 1999
4. People who are in High School today were not born yet
5. To buy season 1-4 new it will cost you $20. Used $10.

Someone explain the DVD ecosystem to me? Why are shows like this wasting time on physical DVDs? Why wouldn’t ABC go down the path of upping the streaming content available on their site? Distribute it to other sites? Negotiate a deal with streaming site? Sell it on iTunes? Someone please show me research in which consumers are asking for physical DVDs of old shows and I will listen, but for now I am not buying that this is a good business decision or want from consumers. They may want and watch the content, but not as a DVD.

Although, I did hear Netflix is looking for content.

Look at these solution orientated students…  Think about how much toilet paper/paper towel will be saved by not taking the extra piece to open the door. Not to mention, all the germs floating around in the petri dish we call public restrooms. http://www.toepener.com/

Yep. It’s true, I went to Costa Rica last week and came back with a notch in my bookmark. My bookmark which doesn’t get much action. If you know me, you know I get bored reading books. I like blogs, magazines, books with pop-ups and pictures and, at times, books on tape. Perhaps it’s because I am a slow reader, or that my attention span is hard to please, or that Oprah won’t tell me what to like, or that books ruin movies. Whatever the reason, there are only a few things will trick me into reading and the stars need to align. Usually it happens when I am on vacation with other people who enjoy reading and ignore me while doing so. Books that have the honor of having me read them:

– Some industry books (although to be fair, many have pictures)

– Dan Brown tricked me with his short chapters and multiple story lines

– P.S. I love you crept up on me, and made me cry (i’m still pissed)

– Chelsea Handler, three times.

– and the latest book, the one this post is about: The Girls of Summer (fair warning, don’t google it, just follow this link). Before I get into what makes this a great book, I will tell you who should read this book: If you are a woman athlete, the father of a daughter, a soccer fan, and/or watched in awe in 1999 when Brandi Chastain ripped off her shirt and made the black sports bra infamous, you should read this book. Yes, it is old, but the contents are still relevant today.

The book is 1 part reliving the day in 1999 that 90,000+ filled the rose bowl to watch the women’s national team defeat china in a shootout after 120 minutes of soccer played in 100+ degree weather, 1 part history of women in sports, 1 part human stories of those involved and 1 part a look behind the political nonsense of near-sighted decision makers.

It is amazing how far women’s involvement in sports has come in such a short period of time (read: the last 30 years). Global involvement in the olympics, the fact that in some countries fathers can’t watch their daughters play sports that must be played indoors, women’s soccer games were almost 80 minutes long because 90 minutes would be too much, or that before the 1980s there were no women’s distance races in the Olympics because organizers considered the races too strenuous for women (until 1960, no race over 200 meters existed for women).

I’m a feminist, and even I was surprised that I unknowingly took for granted that I was able to play competitive sports growing up, that were funded in high school and got me a scholarship for college. This book weaves the stories of players with history brilliantly. In the same chapter you relive the game while learning about when and where women got involved in sports.

The full title of the book is:  The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed the World. If you read this book, you will agree with Jere Longman’s bold assertion. Now it’s back to reruns of How I Met Your Mother and Angry Birds.

This is where I refer to that part in the disclaimer that my opinions are mine.

Sarah Palin sent me a letter… Sort of. In my defense, 2E and 2F look very similar. If you couple that with the obvious confusion and shock I felt when seeing that Sarah Palin sent me a ‘personal’ letter, no one can blame me for tearing into said letter immediately.

Half way through the ridiculousness, I realized, it was not for me (something I knew from the beginning). So, seeing how I have already accidently broken the law, I’ll finish this post by documenting my experience for you.

First, I will say that if I wasn’t scared to death that there are millions of susceptible people out there, this would be hilarious and if read aloud on SNL it might save the show.

Onto the letter. It came in a nice envelope marked PERSONAL & NON PROFIT and apparently, Ms. Palin does not need a return address, her name is enough.

The letter is a 2-paged request for money (but if you could use your own first class stamp, so the RNC can save the funds, that would be super) and to take the “Victory 2010 Survey” My answers (or the neighbor in 2E that I will now judge) will “directly shape Republican strategy in my Congressional voting area.”

I should have stopped at this sentence: “If you think Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are doing a good job running America, then put this down. This Victory 2010 Survey isn’t for you.” However, curiosity destroyed this cat.

All of this rhetoric ended with the aforementioned VICTORY 2010 SURVEY. I needed to know, just what type of questions “commonsense conservatives” who “want a new brand of Reagan conservatism” (sweet name dropping) would be answering.

I was amazed… Again, if it wasn’t for real, I would be looking over my shoulder for a sprinting Ashton yelling “America, you’ve been Punk’d! Sarah Palin is my masterpiece!!” I’ll let the 3 of you who read my blog draw your own conclusion.

On to the absurdly loaded and self-fulfilling questions. There are only 5, and remember they will shape the Republican strategy:

1. Do you think President Obama’s goal of “fundamentally transforming America” by redistributing the wealth of hard working families and small businesses to the government’s chosen winner will lead our country to financial ruin?

[]Yes        []No         []Undecided

2. Do you expect your children and grandchildren to pay for President Obama’s, Nancy Pelosi’s or Harry Reid’s record deficit and government run health care takeover?

[]Yes        []No         []Undecided

3. Do you think it is wrong for Barack Obama as President of the United States to continually bow and apologize to foreign leaders?

[]Yes        []No         []Undecided

4. Are you in favor of cracking down on illegal immigrants and fully funding a border fence with Mexico?

[]Yes        []No         []Undecided

5. Will you make a contribution today to RNC Victory 2010…

a. [] Yes, Sarah! You betcha (I added the you betcha part) I agree we need strong conservative leadership at the national, state and local levels who will fight the Democrats’ leftist agenda…

b. [] No, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have our country on the right track.

I’ve been inspired and have taken the liberty to write a few of my own questions. I used the same logic they used and I hope they will consider using them in their next survey:

1.  Do you think Sarah Palin is as crazy as a shithouse rat and that our soldiers are brave?

[]Yes          []No

2.  Do you think this country would be better off without Sarah Palin, drug cartels, cancer, dirty drinking water, pollution, the Taliban and Crocs?

[]Yes          []No

3.  Do you agree that no child should starve to death and that Sarah Palin hates gays, minorities, your grandmother and reason?

[]Yes          []No

4.  Do you think that baby seals, puppies and kittens are cute and agree that Sarah Palin, under the RNC, likes to rewrite history, take advantage of people, incite bullying and bigotry, watches Fox News and is an idiot?

[]Yes          []No

5.  Left or Right aside, are you scared to death that there are people out there who believe in what the Palin and O’Donnell are selling?

[]Yes

Happy Friday. And no, of course I didn’t answer the survey for 2E. That wouldn’t be right (or leftist) of me. [said with a trademarked Sarah Palin wink]

Here are a few pictures.

Kimberly Clark launches ‘Smart Flush Bags’ with Scotts Natural toilet paper. The concept is simple (admirable even), flush less water and save the earth. What isn’t simple, trying to figure out who approved the ad…

client to agency: we have a product you place in your toilet’s tank, it helps you save water. we are pairing it with our scotts natural toilet paper line. those recyclers will love it.

agency to client: great, we will pull people in by showing them that using your product is easy and when you couple that with recycling aluminum cans, you are better than others, a super hero–saving the earth. Oh, and we will use as much water as many will save by using your product in the ad… haphazardly dumping it out of an over-sized leather bag, as if mocking their style. and in the end, we will fill up 50+ fish bowls with more water in an attempt to … make them picture the ocean and fish swimming freely??? in too small to move fish bowls???

client: Sounds great… here’s some money, we do like flushing things down the toilet… [and scene] everyone drives away in their range rovers.

Watch the ad by clicking here (sweet lack of share button… fail numero dos)

I am pretty sure there are better ways to illustrate the water saved other than wasting water… but, hey, what do I know?

The new BK commercials are annoying and fun. Which got me thinking… where have I seen that formula before? Oh right, from the other lovable curly-haired singing nerd. Ads are very similar. Different category, same concept.

First BK:

Compared to:

However, BK, this ad is still less annoying than the McDonald’s coffee guy. I hate him the most.

Recently, I have been have discussing timeless content. Often it is in the context of online, print, and the new world that opens up when print moves to easy-to-read digital versions. I am loving referring it is as: The Budget Travel Theory.

The reason is simple. I have a stack of Budget Travel magazines sitting in a corner in my living room. I can’t bring myself to throw them out, they each have cities, restaurants, tips, ideas for places I want to travel (or might travel). The articles are still relevant 9+ months later, even if they were originally meant to have the shelf life of one month.

Enter digital… it is now easy to link to ‘old’ content. Websites have been doing this for years. They offer links on the side under ‘similar stories.’ What puts digital magazines in a unique differentiating position is the fact that when they offer relevant links (or even re-serve ‘old’ content as main stories) the rabbit hole that internet users love to go down is self-contained within the walled content of the magazine. Keeping users within the ‘pages’ of the magazine equals longer engagement and providing more (enjoyable) value to readers (and marketers alike). One thing that is true about the corner of my living room- the content is timeless, the ads are old and irrelevant. Imagine being able to change out the ads by the content, offering deals, videos, updated reviews while I am reading the stories.

As digital magazines gain scale and marketers (and publishers) put time and resources into linking content and creating a 3rd dimension to previously flat content, this will only benefit readers and give magazines and newspapers new life. This works when you know your content. When you have all of your content in a CMS that is tagged, sorted, easily found- and when a human can access it and link it in times a computer can’t. At times, you need to react quickly and pay attention to what is being talked about (many times trends are things you can’t prepare for or predict) and deliver it.

One very timely example of the potential of this came tonight – on opening night of the 2010-11 NFL season from America’s Finest News Source (The Onion).

The facts:

1. People will be watching the NFL tonight – Saints vs. Vikings will draw a crowd

2. DMB band is playing the pregame (and if you know me at all, you know this does not make me happy. I am not a DMB fan).

3. NFL, Vikings, Saints will trend on Twitter

4. The Onion has mocked DMB throughout the years.

Tonight, during the pregame, while DMB was playing The Onion tweeted an article from 2005. One that is still funny and relevant today with the hashtags: #NFL, #SAINTS, #VIKINGS: Dave Matthews Not That Into Himself Anymore

In part 2 of this post, I will introduce the notion of a Content Trustee. By definition a trustee is a person (or institution) to whom property is entrusted to use for another’s benefit. Imagine what that means for a brand and/or agency that has a lot of content. Someone to not only put the right content in the right place, but also reuse the same content in previously unrealized places or heaven forbid, breathing new life into content that already exists instead of always creating new content.

Now, back to the game… I have the Saints Defense starting tonight.

but, on your android—- that is a whole different story.

Let’s file this one under: When you say something, it lives forever online. Your hypocrisy  and/or selling out to the highest bidder is there, one search away.

Travel back with me to April 2010… not that long ago.

Hey, James Cameron what do you think about watching movies on portable devices?

James Cameron thinks it’s dumb to watch movies on your iphone… he went to explain his dislike of watching movies on a small screen

Really? James, tell us how you really fell… “”Now if you’re playing the movie on a telephone, you will never in a trillion years experience the film. You’ll think you have experienced it, but you’ll be cheated. It’s such a sadness that you think you’ve seen a film on your f—ing telephone. Get real!”

Now, watch this commercial I just saw or visit this website

You know what I think is dumb… having to use smoke and mirrors (read: 3D) to mask a terrible script that took ten years to bring to the big screen and/or al bundy-ing it and trying to recreate your polk high football days (read: terminator and titanic)

Enjoy you money, James.