Agency Antics

The other day I lazily turned around at my desk to find 10 photos of this woman I don't know creepily smiling and staring at me through the window of the shared wall behind me. I gave a little yelp of surprise and half jumped out of my chair, much to the amusement of my neighbor on the other side of that window. Granted, she was not the culprit, but she'd been waiting to see how long it would take me to realize they were there. Far too long. Apparently, I am not very aware.

Such is the life in the creative department—sometimes you turn around to find a mango on your bookshelf smiling (yes, smiling) down at you. Other times you may be hit in the head with a wad of paper by another neighbor, shot with a Nerf gun or come in to work to find a crime scene drawn around a toy on your desk.

Even with all the antics, somewhere in the middle of it all, we do get our work done. Promise.

The Power of the Blog

Let me share a random short story with you:

A couple weeks ago, I bought a stick of my usual deodorant at a local retail store. I won't give the brand of the deodorant, or the name of the store from which I purchased it, because it's irrelevant to the story. When I opened the brand-new deodorant to use it a few days later, I found it was all dried out and crumbly. Unusable. And the expiration date listed said 2010.

I wanted to complain, so I filled out a contact form on the company's Web site. I filled in all my information and, at the very end of the form, was curious to find these three questions:

1. Are you a blogger?

2. How often do you participate in online forums/message boards?

3. How likely are you to recommend a brand/product based on your experience?

So is the company trying to gauge how much of a stink (no pun intended) I'm going to raise if they don't satisfy my inquiry to my liking? Don't you find it interesting that they're interested in knowing if I'm a blogger? Does my affirmative blogging status give this company the impression that I have a supreme power of influence (and if so, should I stop letting this go to my head)?

Too Targeted? Absolut Pulls Ad

On Sunday, Absolut Vodka pulled an ad they had running exclusively in Mexico. Yet, even running just in Mexico, the ad quickly spread across the border to the US and had Americans up in arms. With immigration the issue that it is in the US, Absolut probably should have thought twice about running an ad suggesting half of the US belonging to Mexico would 'hearken to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal.' Hmm...

Absolut states that the ad was not meant to reflect immigration issues or anti-American sentiment, but how could it not? Especially when they're saying it's meant to bring back thoughts of a better time for Mexico by focusing on an old map that shows a large part of the US as Mexican. I realize that Absolut is a playful company and generally I'm a big fan of their ads, but they had to realize the underlying message in that ad—intended or not. It was just sloppy.

While I'm not particularly offended by this ad, I can definitely see how it might get some Americans upset. To use a sensitive issue to both the US and Mexico to market vodka wasn't Absolut's finest hour. Absolut says the ad wasn't intended for the US market, but in the Internet day and age they were very naive to think it would never be seen here.

R.I.P.

I've been on a bit of a killing spree lately. First, my little office goldfish, Ipsum, and now my little clover. Well, it probably didn't help that I forgot to water the clover since I last posted about it...

Indexed is a Top Blog

Indexed was cited as one of Time.com's top 25 blogs. We love it. We blogged about it. Go and vote for it here.

Truth in Advertising #44

Seemingly "fun" pro bono work has a knack for getting in the way of work for paying clients.

Must be the circle of (agency) life.

How Aware are You?

Our ACD came across this spot yesterday on iClickNation, a blog about the latest viral marketing tactics. It's a PSA from the UK that uses a very clever way to get its message across. So clever, in fact, that the spot's gone viral.

Watch it and you'll see--you'll want to forward it to all your friends, too.


Who would have thought a moonwalking bear could be used to help keep cyclists safe?

It Keeps Growing

I have yet to kill it, so my little clover is still growing—reminding us that spring should be around the corner soon. It's a little late for St. Patty's, but cute none the less.

Two Commercials, Same Song?

Yesterday I posted about how much I disliked Taco Bell's commercial using Modern English's I Melt With You, so imagine my surprise when I suddenly heard a cover of the same song on TV last night. I turned around to see a much more appealing GMC commercial. Although the cover isn't as good as the original, it's fitting for the commercial and works well.

I wouldn't want to be a creative on either team though. The same song being used in two different commercials in two different industries but running at the same time? Not so good.

Love the Song, Hate the Commercial

I'm sorry, but Taco Bell's latest campaign is just awful. I'm generally not a fan of 99% of Taco Bell ads, but this last one really gets me since not only is it annoying, but it's managed to ruin a fabulous song for me too. Ugh.

So please, if you're going to make bad commercials, at least stay consistent and use bad music too. It'll be awhile before I can listen to this Modern English song again without gagging.