“When you say…”
George Tenne, a good friend and former co-worker, always has an interesting story to tell. George has been in the advertising business for a long time and shares a story here about his work with Budweiser. George is a recruiter and runs a virtual agency.
I originally saw this article from George in Pam Witzig‘s newsletter, first in a series of articles on a series of “Mad Men” that she is running, articles featuring real life stories from advertising men back when there were only three TV networks to advertise on. (George recruits for Pam’s employment agency.)
August Busch III had just told the agency that we needed to come up with the next major Budweiser ad campaign. The agency was hopping and we even cut back on our three Budweiser lunches. When you worked on Bud you didn’t have martini lunches. Some of the creatives even came in before 10AM. The word was out, if we didn’t nail it then it would be up for review. And when Mr. Busch said “jump!” …well, you know the saying.
4-sided snowflakes?
We really despise four-sided snowflakes. It shows a lack of…well a lack of a lot of things. Come on, a kindergartner can make a six-sided snowflake if you show them how. And that’s what we’ve done. We’ve made a little video for YouTube to show the simple process of cutting out a six-sided snowflake.
(No, not everything on this blog is about business and marketing.)
Elves Who Hold Their Knees
In the Ghosts of Christmas Past Department, this is a promotion the agency did years ago. It was a novelty back then, at the time not everyone had the capabilities to make their own CDs. Times change, don’t they? (Continue reading to hear the recordings.)
New FTC Guides affect what you can say in your ads
Today the Federal Trade Commission is adopting revised Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
The new guidelines talk about celebrity endorsements, blogging endorsements, use of testimonials in general (including non-celebrities), and sponsored testing.
On the FTC website is a pdf document that you can read about it (81 pages), see the link at the bottom of this article. I’ve pulled out and summarized some components here that I think are of interest to advertisers and ad creators.
Persistence
This post is about two things, persistence and persistence.
I got an email from one of our clients which made my day. Let’s call him Steve (because that’s his name.) We had just talked the day before about how he was having a hard time getting to talk to one of his prospects.
Ad Diner from Women Entrepreneur
Women Entrepreneur interviewed Cindy and myself for an article on their website. With the only problem in the article is they occasionally misspell the last name (we always tell people to get the “h” out of there), we otherwise thought it was a good article.
Holiday TV Commercial Using Motion Software
This is a commercial we created for the Ad Diner. It uses Motion software, where we can take photos and manipulate them in a 3-D space, and then add video on top of that.
This particular commercial is a “spec” piece, (the jewelry store in the ad is not real.) It can be sold to any business and is designed to be flexible enough to work for anyone from insurance agents to car dealers. If you are thinking of doing holiday advertising, check out the Ad Diner for other holiday spots from their “menu” section. (We also created some fun radio called Santa’s Workshop where the store owner talks to elves.)
Not to be antisocial, but…
The hype and the reality of social media
(Please note: this article is really written for the small business. For our larger clients, you may find it interesting, but there really is a different strategy for larger companies dealing with social media. Contact me and we can talk about those ideas.)
Everywhere you turn, it seems like people are telling business owners that they have to be working with social media. The latest buzz is all about Twitter and “tweeting”.
As a marketing person, I have a keen interest in anything that helps promote my customers’ business (or my business, too.) But with all of the hype, all of the articles, and all of the news, I have yet to see many concrete examples on how a typical small business can use social media such as Twitter as a marketing tool.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-social media. I just believe that there is quite a bit of hype and less substance when dealing with social media. There’s simply a lot of businesses that really can’t take advantage of Twitter and Facebook (other than placing ads on Facebook.)
UFOs in Wisconsin
We’re located on a bluff in the Wisconsin countryside, about halfway between the towns of Belleville and New Glarus, a couple miles south of Belleville, off of Highway 69.
About 25 years ago, there was a UFO sighting that received national press. It was the start of several sightings, and now the town of Belleville commemorates it with their UFO Day celebration.
Where was this sighting? The police officers that reported the UFO claimed it was on a bluff in the country, about halfway between the towns of Belleville and New Glarus, a couple miles south of Belleville, off of Highway 69…
Here’s a video where we interviewed author Noah Voss, who fills us in on the details.
Is traditional media dead?
When I talk to people, I hear all the time about how they don’t watch commercials. Then I ask them which Geico commercial they like best, “the money you could be saving”, the “cavemen”, or the “gecko”? Funny, they know exactly what I am talking about and have an opinion. They can name a lot of different versions of those commercials. How is that possible if they never watch TV?
Brian Banks, the owner of the upscale Lifestyles Furniture store based in Moline, Illinois, has seen a substantial increase in sales even during this down economy. He attributes it to an increase in advertising. His advice to other retailers?
“There’s a party going on, you’ve got to invite the guests.”