Cleveland Advertising

American Copywriter in Cleveland

2010-01-14T16:05:00.001-05:00

John January and Tug McTighe are coming to Cleveland to speak via the local AAF Ad Club. For years now, I've been a big fan of their American Copywriter content, which currently includes Luke Sullivan, sweet infographics and The Muppets:

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Danish Stamps 1962

2009-12-22T09:46:00.001-05:00

Very interesting details from the brilliant Grain Edit about these sweet Danish stamps: "In the early 1900s, a Danish postal clerk came up with the idea of selling Christmas seals to raise money for children with tuberculosis. Over 100 years later, these “cinderella” (unofficial postage) stamps have become a worldwide holiday tradition. In 1962, Erik Petersen designed this sheet of Christmas seals, depicting the gamle håndværk (”old trades”) of Denmark."

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Urban Forest Architecture

2009-12-21T10:55:00.000-05:00

Great concept / design featured on Deezine: "Beijing architects MAD have designed a skyscraper for Chongqing, China, with gardens at each level." Thanks Alex.

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James Lipton's Beard

2009-12-01T19:53:00.001-05:00

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Pilgrim Potluck Poster

2009-11-18T11:28:00.001-05:00

Proposed poster for a thanksgiving potluck lunch at work.

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Neighborhood Marketing Award

2009-11-15T17:42:00.005-05:00

Received this award last week, on behalf of the planning committee for Larchmere Porchfest. We did a good deal of social media promotions as well as posters and flyers in the neighborhood. LiveCleveland!, who awarded this honor, does a nice job marketing local neighborhoods individually.

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Local Holiday Shopping

2009-11-12T10:31:00.000-05:00

The brilliant environmental and graphic designers at Studio Graphique have compiled an excellent list of local shops for great creative works. Including the Bazaar Bizarre and Room Service. Definitely worth a look-see and cheers for supporting local businesses. Especially the creatives.

Michael Bierut This Friday

2009-11-11T10:55:00.001-05:00

Totally recommend this event at the CIA on Friday. Michael Bierut (of Pentagram) is a design legend / library and is featured in the film Helvetica. I've heard him speak a few times. He's great and this topic couldn't be awesomer.

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Social Media Luncheon

2009-11-11T10:42:00.001-05:00

The Cleveland Ad Club (AAF) put on a great luncheon today about brands & marketers using social media. Featuring Shawn Morton of Nationwide Insurance and David Alston of Radian6.

Think of social media less like media and more like a phone call. It's a 2-way conversation. If they haven't already, brands should hook up their phone, answer it, "Hi, how can we help you," then listen and participate in the conversation; solving problems based on public expressions. All these conversations EQUALS the brand.

Less about the 4 P's
Place: Doesn't matter much any more. Promotion: No one wants to hear brands spouting about how great they are. That one-way fluff is bad. Product: More about user experience and being remarkable. Price: More about relevance and again, user experience. Target Market: Mass marketing angers 99%.

More about the 5 C's
Content: of value, strive to be an experience innovator. For example, Nationwide sponsors Nascar, OSU sports and Tavis Smiley. And using social media, they are able to offer exclusive and relevant content to their online audience, often in real time. Whether it's autographs of Nascar drivers or an interactive game where you can dot the "i" of the OSU band script "Ohio." Valuable information can also be collected, especially offering sweepstakes, etc. Community: Includes those of similar interest. Brands must cross the barrier to live with consumers, and turn negatives into appreciative closure if not a positive. Conversation: Builds relationships, community and content, all of which add value. Collaberation: Run with bulls, not corral the cows. For example, "80% of people agree to not text while driving. What do you think?" Feedback is all relevant to the Nationwide audience. Connections: Ambient relationships grow.

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2010 Olympic Medals

2009-10-17T09:07:00.001-05:00

Lovely design of these Winter Olympic medals and they are made from recycled bronze, silver and gold. From Fast Company: "the Olympic committee is saving perfectly good gold, silver, and bronze from ending up in landfills. Because it makes no sense to mine for new gold when a single junked PC has more of the stuff in it than 17 tons of ore."

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Timberland TV Spot

2009-09-30T13:01:00.000-05:00

According to Ad Sneeze (thanks to Dougy for sharing), "This tv commercial is based on the real story of the Tyler Abrams." Very interesting and well done:

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Charles & Ray Eames

2009-08-20T10:02:00.001-05:00

Broadcast on the NBC television network in 1956:

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Bill Bernbach

2009-07-30T08:06:00.004-05:00

I was just taken by a few quotes from advertising legend Bill Bernbach. Here's an excerpt from an AgAge article: "In those days, copywriters tended to look down on art directors, but Bernbach didn't know that. When he met legendary designer Paul Rand, the agency's art director, the young copywriter was profoundly impressed. They would visit art galleries and museums during lunch breaks, and talk about art and copy working in harmony. Bernbach understood how such collaborations could liberate agency creative work."

Highly recommend his quotes which are very relevant for today's advertisers. A few favorites:

A great ad campaign will make a bad product fail faster. It will get more people to know it's bad.

In this very real world, good doesn't drive out evil. Evil doesn't drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.

No matter how skillful you are, you can't invent a product advantage that doesn't exist. And if you do, and it's just a gimmick, it's going to fall apart anyway.

Properly practiced creativity can make one ad do the work of ten.

The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.

Steel Valley: Meltdown

2009-07-28T08:19:00.002-05:00

This trailer looks really nice. It's a locally produced documentary about Youngstown.

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Agency Survival Tips

2009-07-27T14:32:00.005-05:00

Good agency survival tips from Business Week & Doner's executive creative, including: "So your client doesn’t have the money for that big campaign? Bring ideas they can afford and bring lots of them. When the economy comes back, they’ll remember that you were the one that didn’t just tighten your belt, but used a smarter belt." Read them all here.

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Muppets + La Choy

2009-06-19T20:36:00.001-05:00

From 1966, this apparently is a pitch for La Choy brand of food products. Jim Henson is a genius.

Following Stimulus Funds

2009-06-11T10:59:00.004-05:00

I heard a story on NPR about recovery.org, which has a better, more thorough analysis of the federal funding across the country. But recovery.gov has a better logo. It's visually navigated with maps and extremely detailed, down to the municipality. Here's what's happening in Cuyahoga County. Speaking of sweet informational graphics, check out this graphic of funds from the Washington Post.

How To Be A Great Client

2009-06-09T08:50:00.005-05:00

Great advice for clients (and their agency people) from The Denver Egotist.

GM Owes The Ad Industry $$$

2009-06-02T10:06:00.002-05:00

The huge specific amounts of money that GM owes several large ad agencies is covered by Media Bistro. This tv spot talks about "getting down to business" and beginning at "chapter one" which seems a decade too late. Michael Moore has really interesting suggestions for the future of GM, from The Huffington Post.

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In Defense of Food : Michael Pollan

2009-05-30T12:10:00.002-05:00

Really enjoyed this book as well as The Omnivore's Dilemma. From The Colbert Report, here's Michael Pollan with some excellent, healthy tips for the American diet:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Michael Pollan

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Keyboard Cat

Co-Branded Ads from HBO

2009-05-26T12:24:00.009-05:00

True Blood is a good vampire show on HBO. To promote the upcoming season, they've teamed up with a few brands. I think these special products and co-branded ads are extremely interesting. Read more from USA Today. See examples from Harley-Davidson, above; and also from Mini.

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25 Must-Have iPhone Apps

2009-05-18T07:31:00.002-05:00

iPhone apps are very intriguing, especially when it comes to commerce. Of course there are fun games and ways to communicate with friends. But how do companies with products to sell get involved. Target is a good example, offering gift guides, special deals etc. It's #19 on Fast Companies list. And a list of money-saving apps here.

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Cleveland Ideas

2009-05-13T09:04:00.002-05:00

Cleveland Ideas is great example of making the world (Cleveland) a better place through collective brainstorming online. This open source method of sharing creativity / information has potential to develop some serious ideas. As you are voting on your favorite ideas, you find out the genius behind it: DigiKnow is an interactive agency in Cleveland who have developed this as a self promotional device. Well done!
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MVP LeBron James

2009-05-07T13:17:00.005-05:00

New Devo Song & Video

2009-05-05T13:25:00.003-05:00

NIN iPhone App

2009-04-07T19:41:00.005-05:00

Cleveland's own Trent Reznor and his band Nine Inch Nails have always had a rich & creative digital presence, in addition to their studio releases. As usual, their photos, websites and videos are well done and often showcase hardware and software from Apple. Now they are embracing the iPhone with an app. Details from the creators and Wired:

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25 Ads From Sci-Fi Movies

2009-04-06T12:05:00.004-05:00

A nifty collection from Den of Geek. Also today's Very Short List feature.

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Holographic or 3D Promotions

2009-03-27T15:06:00.009-05:00

These things are amazing. They look like computer generated holograms that show up the image from a video camera hooked to your pc. This wind power advertisement from GE (for whom I used to do work) is awesome. Very fun to play with.

And this Topps (baseball card) promo is more like a game where you interact with the players. Very cool, tactile + technology viral consumer marketing.

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Social Media Applications

2009-03-25T15:19:00.006-05:00

Just read an article on Adweek about recently released software which keeps tabs on all the major social networks for you. Pretty great idea, and get this: ad agencies are behind it. Fallon has a very nice looking app called Skimmer which I'm looking forward to test driving. Also, Big Spaceship, an amazing creative boutique shop, came up with Qapture. Here's to the future of our business...

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What Makes a Good Creative Director

2009-03-19T09:19:00.006-05:00

From my friend Joseph Hughes and "The Denver Egotist," this great post describes qualities of a good CD. Just excellent advice for those managing creatives. Links to: Part One & Part Two

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The Designers Accord

2009-02-05T09:18:00.006-05:00

Valerie Casey started the Designers Accord which is an open resource for designers of all kinds to produce sustainable products and business practices. This is then translated to educating clients and developing their own business plans. Check out this interesting interview with Val about the inception. Here's to good design!

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The great society : LBJ

2009-01-27T11:19:00.000-05:00

Companies spend more on marketing, sacrificing quality in their products. And over-marketing tends to desensitize (and sometimes annoy) the consumer. It's a lose-lose. While doing research about the marketing industry, I ran across this quote:

"The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. … It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. … It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods."

Lyndon B. Johnson

Logo Evolution

2009-01-25T12:00:00.003-05:00

This is a cool study of recognizable brands and the evolution of their identity. Including GE, whose robust brand standards I've worked with these last few years:

We Think

2009-01-07T16:17:00.001-05:00

Policy for Green CLE

2008-12-31T15:00:00.008-05:00

Out of the housing crisis comes an opportunity to design a greener, cleaner Cleveland. These brilliant plans for a more sustainable Cleveland including using the available land in smart ecological ways that will help the environment and strengthen our communities. With the number of foreclosures still rising, the land creates green opportunities other than real estate.

Neighborhood Process is the organization responsible for this 36 page "Sustainable Cleveland" document. The mission statement sounds great: "The Cleveland of the future will be a smaller, greener and healthier city with bigger parks, cleaner watersheds and a growing agricultural sector."

Ohio Tax Credit for Film Industry

2008-12-31T10:40:00.005-05:00

You may recognize some of the buildings in Spider-Man 3, from Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. Governor Strickland and the Ohio Senate vetoed a brilliant tax credit for filming in Ohio. This is potentially big business for Cleveland. Advertisers and movie studios love to film here because costs are lower with no shortage of amenities. I wrote about my experience in the industry while asking the Governor to reconsider this policy. You too can write Strickland. Video of our policy-makers is supposed to be available here, but it's the most useless site ever.

Coal Industry : Advertising vs Research

2008-12-29T10:43:00.004-05:00

Highly recommend subscribing to the newsletter from Environmental Leader. They had an article about the coal industry and how much money is pumped into lobbying and advertising rather than science and research. Many industries resort to such a lopsided budget in this regard. What if it were equal parts, R&D and marketing?

Nice Work From Local Entrepreneurs

2008-12-12T17:03:00.006-05:00

This fantastic local company has a great campaign message: "No One Can Do Everything. Everyone Can Do Something." Local entrepreneurs (a mother / daughter team) sell these t-shirts with great design. Great xmas gifts, no?

Walmart Selling a $99 iPhone

2008-12-09T09:03:00.002-05:00

Looks like Apple wants to move more merch. Good thing the price is so low, because I wonder if Walmart shoppers would normally afford such a high end product. Remember when Walmart tried to sell high end design clothes and it bombed? Read more at AdAge.

Super Crunchers by Ian Ayres

2008-11-21T09:29:00.007-05:00

If you enjoyed the book Freakonomics, then you'll enjoy Super Crunchers, by Ian Ayres. It's subtitle is "Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart." There are many occasions when randomized testing improve the world we live in. There are millions of applications for this type of testing and research. The results of everything can and should be tested. Often the only resistance is from the experts who previously could make the most informed decisions. By crunching the numbers of a huge number of events the results are most often more accurate and predictable than what experts produce on their own. We should all benefit from this technology.

Look Up : Hunter Fan Campaign

2008-11-11T14:22:00.005-05:00

Produced for Hunter Fan, this campaign educates consumers about saving money, year 'round, by using their ceiling fan. Mikey Burton designed the logo and I extended the brand look to the advertising. See two animated banners here on discovery.com.

Letterpress Printing

2008-11-06T08:29:00.005-05:00

Currently working on an edit of Mike Burton printing a letterpress poster. Vimeo looks better than youtube and supports a lovely wide format. Here's a sample:

Letterpress Test Wide from josh gerken on Vimeo.

Victory Gardens

2008-11-04T10:07:00.004-05:00

Our food travels 1500 miles from field to fork. It's getting more expensive to grow and ship. Not to mention the over-processing. Grow a victory garden for delicious and nutritious food. There's a rich history of the white house gardens. And the initiative is one of several recommendations for the president On Day One. What a cool idea to get the public opinion up to the chief executive.

Vintage Match Collection

2008-11-03T19:06:00.003-05:00

This is a collection of old matches. Once again, excellent vintage design and fabrication. Saw it on Coudal just now.

David Byrne in Cleveland

2008-10-29T08:55:00.004-05:00

From David Byrne's journal, this is a very embarrassing story for Cleveland and an idiot driving a cab in town. So sorry, Mr. Byrne. We love you! Here's an excerpt, and it escalates after this:

"We arrive and the fare is a little over $18, so I pull out my per diems from my pants pocket and give him $100 and two singles and ask him for $80 in change. He takes just the 100-dollar bill and puts it near his crotch and begins to fumble with his change purse. After a bit of this, I remind him that he doesn’t have to make change — just give me $80. He then says to me that I never gave him the $100. I say I did, and he points to the remains of my per diem in my other hand and says, “There’s your hundred right there, this one is mine.” I say, “No, I definitely gave you the $100.” He repeats, “That’s your hundred in your other hand.” Oh, man."

American Chemistry

2008-10-27T20:13:00.001-05:00

I like the idea of industries coming together to share information. This is a good one. Hopefully this will help kids in America get more excited about science and technology. We need to focus on these areas where we have slipped. Good policy will help too.

Reese's Ads Are Amazing

2008-10-25T23:55:00.004-05:00

Their recent halloween spot is great and this may be the best :15 second spot ever:

Ministry of Culture

2008-10-14T15:31:00.007-05:00

David Art Wales founded Ministry of Culture in 2000. (Watch: Who We Are.)

Prudent Boozers

Other Groups around 1850 which prohibition also disbanded:
Sons of Temperance
About Abstinence
Order of the Oddfellows
Tolpuddle Martyrs

An old social group called Prudent Boozers promoted responsible drinking in the mid 19th century. The Ministry took this old brand over and revived it in a very interesting and historically accurate way. Rich content with a good message. Not preachy. Historical. Could have a logo on products, like the heart association.

Drink Responsibly gets dismissed. Solution for young people: Prudent Losers: The "Role Models" of today's youth: Britney and Paris et al...

Big Spaceship

2008-10-13T14:32:00.007-05:00

Crafting an ethos of innovation by Michael Lebowitz, CEO / Founder of Big Spaceship.

Greatest number of FWA's.But didn't show any work. He changed presentation at the last minute, saying if you'd like to see the work, just visit our site.

Encouraging non-digital internal projects creates a culture of excellence and desire to innovate. The energy created by internal projects is used for client work. Such as a low-fi stop motion animation using a still camera and paper.

The shop is not a web design firm, that's reductive. Not full service, because you have to be good at something. Not advertising, because they utilize earned media, and not a production company.

A digital creative agency, they are innovating where brands meet consumers with good will as they actively engage.

Everyone is creative! No such thing as creatives. Passion: bring something to the table. Everyone works together in a parallel. "If not, you can't work here."Partnership, fun and comfort are mandatory. Don't hire assholes, no matter how talented. Hire to be the dumbest person in the room. Give autonomy. Stay small. Manage by exception.

Four autonomous teams (little companies) which rarely need intervention. Only with major red flags. This enables the teams with great ownership and entrepreneurial opportunities.

It's a big open space where the teams are in the aisles. Teams sit together. Teams are seven people including producers, creatives, developers, strategists and quality control.They all work together through each step of the way.

Focus on culture! Fun begets passion. Passion begets quality. With creative, you cannot telecommute. Working together and correcting mistakes in real time is how it works best.All together throughout projects:

Strategy
Production
Design
Development

Stay flat. No more process than is necessary. RFP process is flawed (again).

Swiss Miss covers this presentation:here

Think is BigSpaceships blog and this is about the Click NY:

Next was a panel on education:

Poke

2008-10-10T15:25:00.006-05:00

Poke is an 18 month old shop with 20 employees in NYC and 50+ in London.

Create a meaningful relationship between brands and consumers.

The RFP process doesn't make sense these days. Clients should submit problems, not needs. We can then help come up with the best way to solve the problem. There is no formula.

Fuji had a budget of $2.5 million and wanted to develop a photo sharing site! The world doesn't need another photo sharing site.com was the response from Poke. They suggested spending that budget inventing a way to use the existing successful sites, like Flickr, snapfish, shutterfly, photobucket or google. Or in partnerships with them. Or new technologies like tagging images, etc.

Goodthingsshouldneverend.com had 500,000 visits with a few minutes average per view. 60,000 in one day. People shared and media covered it. Poke doesn't create advertising. They create things that advertise.

Uber collaberative. (Illustration.) Advertising doesn't add value. Interactions do. "We aim to only execute only that which makes the web a better place to be."

For KY, the consumer tells us what is sexy. Not the other way around. This is a $20,000 site. It generates search content for google advertising campaigns. The research was sole to Cosmo.

In a shop of 20, there are no titles and no divisions.

The global rich list.

Tea Buddy

Synch Step

The coverage of Swiss Miss

The Brooklyn Brothers

2008-10-09T15:36:00.017-05:00

Paul Parton, a self-proclaimed "red coat bastard with bad teeth," is a partner at The Brooklyn Brothers.

"The Barbarians Are Coming!" Billboard for The History Channel with thousands of real arrows shot into it.

An online state of mind. There are thousands of analog to digital converters out there. Less broadcast, where there's no interaction. Must engage with consumers. Invite them. The idea is the medium. Advertising is disposable.

Fat Pig Chocolate is an organic product developed by the agency. Consumers upload photographs of them with product. Very analog, delicious chocolate.

Reuters campaign: Terrorist or Freedom Fighter?

stoplandmines.org was to bring the issue to America, but was denied by the media.

Send a beating card from Versus. Upload a photo, punch face and send.

Bobby Granger for the NY Rangers hockey team.

Idea is the medium. Rangers sucked so they built it up from the fans side. Bobby Granger was over the top spokes dude and was in reality, the biggest Rangers fan. He was at events with a megaphone. Was blogged about, "Who is this guy?!" then embraced: "He's a real fan!" Chants were created around the character.

Advertising is disposable! Utilize $2000 websites and videos rather than $200,000 TV spots.

The user defines what the big idea is. Fuse film: 400,000 hits on youtube in one week. Got $95,000 worth of media with a $75,000 total production budget. Cheap one was most popular.

Think entrepreneurially. Creating own brands and partnering with clients create a personal stake / ownership. Value-based pricing rather that time-based.

Agencies are bloated and wasteful. They are sad and / or need therapy. Larger organizations with executives and large overhead make it more difficult. "That machine has to be fed." Small shops outsource production.

Have had no resistance from clients regarding disposable advertising. Doing 20 small (experimental) things instead on one big (precious) thing.

Product Placement

2008-10-08T13:15:00.001-05:00

Thirty seconds of David Lynch on product placement in movies.

Over the top / early product placement in the Waynes World movie.

Another Anomoly: Good is Good

2008-10-08T10:49:00.009-05:00

Another Anomoly, Award-winning Executive Creative Director, James Cooper

Check out Why They Exist.

Started with Wall Street clip.
Greed is Good. / Green is Good. / Good is Good.

Don't shoot for awards. Aim for greater good.

Effie Award winning "Keep a child alive" campaign.

Spike Lee and Anomoly crew enter Apple Store.

EOS Shave Cream is a good product that doesn't rust in the shower. "That's all that's required. It's an efficient use of money and makes sense."

Converse produced music video with musicians from several genres:

Partner with clients. You aren't an asshole with your wife so don't be with your clients.Partnerships create a stake in the work and create work efficiently, honestly and transparently. Consumers like useful things.

Avec Eric is a brand with online blogs, video demonstrations and good products.

Test Theories, don't chase awards. Be on the consumers side. Good is different / Different is good. Help out the industry. Have partners, not clients.Less fees, more ownership.

Click NY Conference

2008-10-02T12:47:00.003-05:00

I was at this great conference yesterday. Great advice from the professionals. Here are links to their stuff:

Wind Farm in Lake Erie

2008-10-02T07:51:00.003-05:00

Harnessing the power of the Lake's wind: Studies are proving favorable for wind turbines to produce power in Lake Erie, offshore from Cleveland. Each turbne would produce enough power for 4500 homes. Read the whole story here.

Cleveland Old Photo Archive

2008-09-19T14:50:00.003-05:00

The Cleveland Memory Project and Cleveland State University have put together a great reference for old photos all from Cleveland. Pretty interesting, time machine style...

Marketing in Cleveland at the Race for the Cure

2008-09-13T11:21:00.008-05:00

I wish I had brought my camera to document these tents and tactics. Some were quite well done, mostly the national sponsors of the race who spent the money to market effectively. Here are a few specific observations:

Ford Cares: Ford had a huge display including two large trailers / trucks. The designs were quite well done and it was interesting. They were giving away bandannas with this branding on it. And a guy was on a microphone explaining that all the proceeds from their merch sales would go toward fighting cancer here in NE Ohio. Very well done. (And well funded.)

Quilted Northern also had a large pink tent. They were giving away what may have been toilet paper. Kinda funny. Fuze and Yoplait also had sizable setups and were giving away product. Energizer had a large truck specifically designed for the race for the cure. It looked great. They were doing nails and giving massages at that truck reinforcing their "recharge" messaging. According to the list of national sponsors, there were other major sponsors present. But I didn't notice any others than who I've mentioned.

Some of the local sponsors include Caribou Coffee. (Delicious! I had a free one.) They weren't branded for the race at all. Neither was University Hospitals, who just had a black tent and black T-shirts with the UH Ireland Cancer Center branding on it. They were just standing under the tent. (Well, it WAS raining.) They weren't doing anything special, which was kind of odd. Just standing around. There are probably some effective & creative things that could be done at these events. Things that wouldn't require huge budgets. Starting to think that cheap, disposable marketing could be really cool...

ISO50 : Very Cool Designs

2008-09-11T09:37:00.003-05:00

Awesome work by Scott Hansen in San Francisco. Including interesting details about the process of creating a Barack Obama poster. Check out these T-shirts and other sweet design:

Brazilian Artists : Flags / Graphs

2008-09-10T09:31:00.004-05:00

Very cool graphic information through real flags.

No Product, More Productive

2007-12-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

America works too hard, compared to the rest of the world. The numbers are astounding. I'm a big fan of efficiency, and especially those who do their job very well. There's no better way to be successful as a nation. However, this commonplace over-working corporate culture is unhealthy for Americans. This TV spot after the Browns victory today, featured no product, just bemoreproductive.com. Intrigued by this marketing, I looked it up to find the advertiser. It was a teaser type of thing where later they added the big sponsored by Southwest logo. I'm still confused about the strategy of the creative concept. Is it really easy and saves time to fly Southwest? It's a bit of a stretch...

Successful Viral Campaigns

2007-12-04T13:25:00.000-05:00

Creating successful viral marketing content is a challenge for creative professionals. A trend seems to be interactivity... literally. This usually involves a personal picture, uploaded and used in a branded animation, website, etc. A great example is the victory dance choreographer for Coke Zero. Their intro has amazing graphics.

Consumers seem to enjoy inserting themselves into online worlds that are fully branded and promotional. These microsites will offer entertainment value by way of games, music, video clips, etc. All the while, people are fully immersed in the branded environment. In my case, Coke's marketing often appreciated very much. But I never consume their product.

There have been some wildly successful campaigns lately. Apparently CP+B has outdone their subservient chicken records. According to Adweek, "More than 5.1 million Simpsons avatars have been created at Simpsonmovie.com. Burger King's Simpsonizeme.com has outpaced the Subservient Chicken in terms of page views. It had 77 million views between July 16 and Aug. 31."

Networks Streaming $120 Million Worth Online

2007-11-29T14:48:00.000-05:00

The major networks stand to receive $120 Million for streaming content which is the reason their writers are striking. The future will have even fewer shows broadcast with more available on demand from the web. Also there will be less differentiation between show content and branded content. No reason the writers shouldn't be compensated as well.

NBC's 30 Rock promotes Verizon

2007-11-29T14:38:00.000-05:00

NBC's' 30 Rock inserts blatant Verizon Wireless product placement. I've blogged before about the seamless product integration, but this time it's as obvious (tongue in cheek) as possible. Tina Fey is way ahead of her time with great writing and honestly joking about the state of her industry with regard to advertising.

Feed The Pig : Debt & Spending Awareness

2007-11-29T10:36:00.000-05:00

Americans spend money without control. This causes more debt than they can possibly pay off. The credit card companies and banks give no advice regarding personal well being. They would like you spend without regard. This site is a public service by the ad council to promote awareness on the subject. It offers tips and calculators to help and educate the population. It's a good idea, making the world a better place...

The Best Designs

2007-11-16T14:59:00.000-05:00

These are great web designs. An excellent resource for sweet web design:

Nike: Spends on New Media, Less Traditional Media

2007-10-22T08:48:00.000-05:00

"...many large marketers are taking huge chunks of money out of their budgets for traditional media and using the funds to develop new, more direct interactions with consumers — not only on the Internet, but also through in-person events." Read Whole Article

Nike is always setting advertising trends with it's brilliant brand. They are continuing by spending less on traditional media and more on events and new media, like this:

Jerry Seinfeld and Bee Movie on NBC

2007-10-11T21:33:00.001-05:00

I've admired the marketing on NBC lately. The product placement during shows even mention attributes and don't skip a beat. (Including an oven from GE with microwave and convection technology featured by Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock, a very funny show by Tina Fey.) But tonight during their top-notch Thursday night line-up, they were airing these Bee Movie promos featuring Jerry Seinfeld that were terrible. Just awful. They didn't even get a marketing message across. I'm assuming the programmers and crew from the movie were involved since they were so prominently displayed in the content. Hopefully the movie that Seinfeld co-wrote isn't as bad. Bad, bad, bad.

The Darjeeling Limited Free Screening

2007-09-29T10:18:00.000-05:00

Hotel Chevalier is the 13 minute, Part I of the upcoming feature film from Wes Anderson. It's explicit for some language and because of a nude bottom half of Natalie Portman. It's a free download from iTunes. Anderson consistently delivers excellent dialog, music soundtracks and cinematography (with Director of Photography Robert Yeoman). Check out this free screening of The Darjeeling Limited at the Cedar Lee theater in Cleveland on Oct. 17th. (Scroll down and click top of the left column: "Attend a free screening.")

Paul Matthaeus : Digital Kitchen

2007-09-26T09:18:00.000-05:00

Paul Matthaeus, Founder and Chief Creative at Digital Kitchen, came to Cleveland to speak at an AIGA event. It was an inspiring presentation including lots of work from DK in the last few years. The Six Feet Under main titles, Dexter titles and very graphic Budweiser ads to name a few. He spoke about working like a prolific creative genius. Einstein, Michelangelo, Edison and Mozart produced much mediocre work, and a some amazing stuff which greatly influenced the world. The key is to constantly be producing, thinking, working, drawing, writing, etc.

Mark Mothersbaugh

2007-09-24T15:14:00.001-05:00

Akron native, Mark Mothersbaugh composes and records music for countless commercial and cinematic soundtracks. He is one of the best. Wes Anderson has had every one of his movies scored by Mothersbaugh.

John Gerard: Famous in 31 Days

2007-09-19T20:30:00.000-05:00

John Gerard has 1.5 days left in his quest to be famous in 31 days. It's an interesting experiment involving online marketing, optimized online PR, social media, blogs and internet buzz.

In Cleveland, he talks to people about how the legendary rock band, Rush, isn't in the Rock Hall yet. Tourism in Cleveland is pretty much based on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (I know because I worked on the marketing end of Cleveland Plus. Or Cleveland+ as the logo says.)

Adobe Suite Research

2007-09-17T22:32:00.000-05:00

Designing for mobile.

Adobe Indesign secrets.

And finally Adobe Illustrator.

Geico TV Ad : Cabbage Patch Kid

2007-09-12T19:28:00.000-05:00

This ad is funny and immediately effective with my generation who owned these toys. The ad is a child actor type story with a cabbage patch kid. Looking forward to the Cavemen show from Geico's ad agency. Did you know that Geico stands for Government Employees Insurance Company? And they populate a a corporate blog which works well.

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Movie Title Sequences

2007-09-11T14:26:00.000-05:00

Excellent title graphics in movies.

Animation of Falling Water : FLLW

2007-09-11T10:59:00.000-05:00

Design Sponge reported this great animation of Falling Water, masterpiece of the architectural genius, Frank Lloyd Wright. The foundation growing from the river bed is fascinating. I recommend watching with the sound off and playing your own music.

Is Your Toilet Running?

2007-09-10T05:56:00.000-05:00

So effective are guerrilla marketing stunts that are entertaining, unexpected and simple. This Denver Water PSA involved a toilet which ran across the football field before getting tackled by security.

Seach Engine Optimization

2007-09-04T08:24:00.000-05:00

The future of our business is online and more specifically in search engine optimization. Consumers search google for what they want, and to be in the top 5 results is huge. Optimizing keywords and meta data in the right places on your website is necessary. Online PR Guy combines this necessary technology with PR and other social media to round out an effective campaign. And this site has the basics.

Alex Bogusky Interview

2007-08-23T11:18:00.000-05:00

"I think I just don't respect advertising. That doesn't mean I don't respect the people in this industry or the agencies. But I'm somewhat angry with the form in which advertising exists, imposing itself, lacking quality, being self-important and so forth. That's why I like to mess with it. And that upsets people sometimes because they like it the way it is. But I stopped being so aggressive about this. I paid a hefty price for becoming the poster boy of the “new school of advertising”. There are a lot of Crispin haters out there." -Alex Bogusky of CP+B

This is an excerpt from the interview, regarding the ad industry. I agree with Mr. Bogusky and wish to subscribe to his newsletter.I think entertaining, unexpected and slightly disruptive marketing messaging is much more effective with the consumer of today.

Creative Work Takes Time

2007-08-07T14:30:00.000-05:00

"When times are busy, you might work every day for a few weeks. When times are slow, I have no problem with my staff using that time to refuel the tanks, come in at 11:00 AM, leave early, or take a long weekend."

This quote is taken from an interview with David Lubars which is great. The professional culture in the U.S. is so stressful and we work much more than those in other countries. In the creative process, time is a very important factor. Time to create work and then time to recharge in between jobs. It seems like the one day turn-around is the standard these days, which is a creative killer. Even if there are tons of jobs going on in a day, it would be best to sleep on it and return to it with fresh eyes the next day. This is a necessary step to ensure the best creative work.

File under: If I even run my own shop.

Right Brain Pros Have Abundant Future

2007-07-30T07:57:00.000-05:00

The keynote speaker at this years HOW Conference, Daniel Pink, spoke about the future of designers in America. Here's a full interview. It's a very interesting theory in these days of diminishing jobs and booming product sales.

"Mad Men" Thursdays on AMC

2007-07-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

This ad from 1960 is hilarious. Which makes this new show, "Mad Men" seem even classier in contrast. It's about an ad agency on Madison Avenue (thus the "Mad") in 1960. It's shot in film and the creator was a writer on Sopranos. Read about it. Or check out this preview:

Bobbing for Glasses

2007-07-17T15:17:00.000-05:00

This bobbing for Ran-Bans video is pretty sweet. I wonder if these guys are actually doing this or if it's composited somehow.

Ride to Work Day is July 18

2007-07-15T19:12:00.000-05:00

Old Ads

2007-07-05T09:42:00.000-05:00

It's amazing what a relatively short time ago these ads were created. What a drastically different culture we had back then, as demonstrated by this old print advertising.

Cans of beer actually open this easily?!

This one about VD is super funny.

Fag = Cigarette.

Doctors smoking is a great sales tool.

Eating lard makes you happy. This ad is hilarious!

Local Sustainable Food in CLE

2007-06-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

City Fresh
Sustainable, local fresh foods in Cleveland!

Manufactured Landscapes

2007-06-08T11:18:00.000-05:00

These images are very beautiful and disturbing at the same time. They tell the story of the human imapct on our environment without words.

Olympic Logo Hatred and Seizures

2007-06-06T12:52:00.000-05:00

Despite a few design issues, I think this logo design (attitude) works for the younger generations. It probably doesn't appeal to the masses. But when the video gives eight people seizures – well that is a whole other issue. Apparently they new the video could cause seizures and even had a warning.

It's crap compared to the Torino Winter Olympic graphics.

My Spider-Man Photo on Variety

2007-06-05T19:23:00.000-05:00

Variety has a story about the Cleveland Film Commission and their support / incentives for the second unit filming in Cleveland in April 2007. On this page, Variety.com posted a photo I took of the crew filming Spider-Man sledding on a car door down Euclid Ave.

A More Sustainable Office

2007-06-05T13:22:00.000-05:00

A few environmentally sustainable things at the office.

GreenDisk - Responsible disposal of cell phones, toner cartriged, cds and more.

TreeHugger - Top Ten effective ways to go greener.

Forest Stewardship Council - This certification ensures that every step, from paper manufacturers to printers is sustainable.

The Green Office - A place to purchase environmental supplies, etc.

Cleveland+

2007-05-07T12:08:00.000-05:00

The Cleveland+ website and campaign was recently unveiled. I had a hand in some of the advertising as part of the creative team at Doner Advertising. It's a strong campaign to bring tourism and business to the entire region.

The Cleveland+ Business Website has lots of great information about the region. Especially for site selectors who scout locations for businesses.

TravelCleveland.com has a very similar site focused more on attacting tourists to our great region.

Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us

2007-04-29T08:31:00.000-05:00

Here is an excellent presentation about the evolution of text and links on the web. Originally from lost in a fog.

Cleveland Shots in Spider-Man 3

2007-03-06T13:27:00.000-05:00

Yep, Spider-Man is in Cleveland! As seen in the Spider-Man 3 trailer.

Having worked in the Halle Building on Euclid Avenue at the time, I shot some video footage of the second unit film crew filming stunt scenes in Cleveland. I put together this little highlight reel video. See my whole blog diary from the filming, years ago. And you can see a couple of the downtown Cleveland shots in the trailer.

Screen shot from the trailer: this is also Cleveland!

Ohio Lottery piece in Dave Chappelle's movie

2007-03-02T16:08:00.000-05:00

This point-of-purchase piece I designed for the Ohio Lottery ended up in Dave Chappelle's Block Party movie. It's also in the trailer for a brief moment. I edited it to highlight my printed piece, which was hanging in a Dayton convenience store during filming.

Books From Murphy Design

2007-02-28T15:31:00.000-05:00

Mark Murphy is a talented designer originally from Cleveland. He is promoting some art books that look very cool.

Major Companies in Ohio

2007-02-27T13:40:00.000-05:00

Fortune 500 companies in Ohio: Turns out I've done work for 8 of them. So far.

Weatherhead 100 companies are those of notable growth and entrepreneurialism. Quite an impressive list of local business. (2006 winners listed here.)

TravelCleveland.com has some good Cleveland population / economic info on their website.

Washington Post & Interactive Technologies

2007-02-27T11:01:00.000-05:00

Apple did a feature on the Washington Post and how they are integrating new multi media vehicles to transmit information. I think this is a particularly excellent use of video, especially for a newspaper. They won an Emmy for the OnBeing video features. Very well done.

The Art and Design of Alberto Ceriteño

2007-02-27T10:02:00.000-05:00

Though this is a generally a blog about design, advertising and business in Cleveland, here is some excellent work from Alberto Ceriteño, a Mexican designer / artist in Portland.

The Twisted Films of PES

2007-02-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

These are really nice stop motion type commercials and shorts. Very cool.

The Great History of Euclid Avenue

2007-02-26T10:40:00.000-05:00

Here's a great slideshow with narration about the rich history Euclid Avenue. It's really nicely done as an online documentary.

A List To Look Into

2007-02-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

Here are some videos of major local Cleveland businesses and their managers. I wonder how many of them use local ad agencies for their advertising needs. More to come about all these and more! Stay tuned...