Social Media Skepticism

Several months ago I wrote a guest post for Copyblogger called, "A Cranky, Skeptical Loudmouth Looks at Social Media Marketing." I re-read it the other day and liked it, so I thought I'd reproduce it here with a few edits. Also, it's Friday and I'm a lazy bastard.I stand naked before you with the intent of committing heresy (okay, I’m not really naked, but I’m still pretty unsettling to look at.)

Only In Berkeley

Berkeley is a non-stop chucklefest. Here's the latest.It seems that the Berkeley Public Library is in violation of the city's Nuclear Free Ordinance. No, they're not enriching uranium down in the basement or stashing H-bombs in the comparative lit stacks.So what's the problem? Well, it seems they have these 5 scanners for checking out library books. The only company that services these scanners

Never Speak The Truth

We are a culture of hypocrites.We scream about the lack of honesty in public discourse -- the dreadful language of obfuscation that politicians use, the awful words-without-meaning of corporate America.But as soon as someone dares to say something without measuring it five ways, we jump down his throat.Take the case of the poor PR guy from Ketchum. He was Twitter-ing from Memphis where he had

How Advertising Works - Part 5: The Final Principle

In parts one and two of this series I observed that most ad people and most agencies do not have unifying principles for how and why they create advertising. In parts three and four I discussed the first and second principles of what I call Performance-Based Advertising (PBA). Today, I'll talk about the third and final principle.Principle #3: We don’t get them to try our product by convincing

The Other Thing Advertising Does

Seth Godin had a very interesting post a few weeks ago called Do Ads Work?His point (if he'll allow me to paraphrase) was that if advertising works -- i.e., if it brings in more money than it costs -- why not spend everything you have on advertising? If you can trade one dollar for two, why not do it with all your dollars? The way Seth put it was this:So, why, precisely, do you have an ad budget?

New Poll Results

First, thanks to those of you who took my poll last week. For those who are interested, here's what you do:Work in an ad agency46.6% Work in marketing 16.4% Work in advertising, but not in an agency7.3% Freelance7.3% Student7.3% Don't work in marketing, but make marketing decisions5.0% Work for a media company4.6% Work, but not in marketing

We're All Creative. Yeah, Right.

We're in one of those awful business cycles during which every ad agency manager is required to stand up and rally the troops. It's the law.One of the highlights of the obligatory pep talk occurs when the agency manager solemnly states that old slice of baloney that "we're all creative."Well, I've got bad news. We're not all creative.As a matter of fact, hardly any of us are. Even those of us who

The Mystery Of Success

Here's a mystery.Those of us who have worked at global ad agencies know how screwed up most of them are. Those of us who see the output of these agencies know how lousy much of it is.And yet big, successful companies keep hiring the same 4 agency networks over and over while much smarter, smaller agencies have to fight over scraps.Why is this?The most obvious reason is that people like to work

How Advertising Works - Part 4: The Second Principle

In parts one and two of this series I observed that most ad people and most agencies do not have unifying principles for how and why they create advertising. In part three, I discussed the first principle of what I call Performance-Based Advertising. Today, I'll talk about the second principle.Principle #2: Advertising messages should be created for, and directed at, the heavy-using, high-yield

I Got Your Stimulus Package Right Here

One of the strange things about being the head of an ad agency is that people think you know stuff.It's not unusual for clients to ask me what I think about the economy or when I think the recession will end. Asking a copywriter about economics is like asking a cat about chemistry.Nonetheless, when asked, I have to answer. So here's what my answers have been.1. This "recession" is not a recession

Fire Your Account Planners

Okay, you no longer need planners. You can fire them all and save lots of money.All the mind-numbing planning bullshit you'll ever need is encapsulated in this unbearable video from Leo Burnett. I dare you to watch the whole thing.If it were a put-on, it would be hilarious. Unfortunately, it's not.

Who Are You?

A few days ago, somebody asked me "who reads your blog?" This was done in the snidest possible fashion, as if to say, "what kind of freaking moron reads your blog?"Once I got over the hurt, I realized that, for the most part, I have no idea what kind of freaking moron reads my blog.I don't want your name or your email address (come to think of it, though, your Visa card number would be nice to

Annals Of Branding

With all the bullshit that marketers generate about branding, you'd think they could at least get something right about a brand.TAC was driving in San Jose, CA a few weeks ago. We passed by Extended Stay Deluxe. According to their website, there are more than 680 Extended Stay places in the US and Canada.Apparently, however, Extended Stay Deluxe is such an idiotic name, they have to put a big red

I Knew It!

According to an article at Space. com..."The universe appears to be lopsided..."I knew something was wrong.

How Advertising Works - Part 3: The First Principle

In parts one and two of this series I observed that most ad people do not have unifying principles for how and why they create advertising. I promised I would give you some, and today we begin with the first principle.Principle #1: Advertising is most productive when it is focused on changing behaviors, not attitudes.If you listen to advertising people talk, you'll think the most important thing

7 Things You Really Don't Want To Know About Me

There is an insidious pyramid thing going around in which bloggers are being asked to reveal 7 things about themselves in their blogs.I would normally ignore it but I was tagged by the wonderful Ad Broad. Nobody with any sense defies the Ad Broad.So, here are 7 things you’ll wish you didn’t know about me.1. I like people who don’t like people.2. I have never seen American Idol, Desperate

How Advertising Works - Part 2: Overview

(Most of this series, "How Advertising Works," comes from my book The Ad Contrarian which will be available here free as an ebook as soon as I can get my lazy ass into gear.)Ask the average ad agency executive what the fundamental principles are behind the advertising she does and you will likely get stunned silence.When she recovers, you will probably hear a series of buzzwords rather than

We're Number One

BusinessWeek magazine has a website called "Business Exchange" in which it features articles on topics of interest to business people. One of the topics it has been covering is "Advertising In A Recession."There are almost 400 articles on this topic which BusinessWeek has identified. The most read article on this topic appeared here in TAC, and was written by guest blogger Sharon Krinsky. The

More Self-Congratulation

Last month, in a post entitled "Will The Recession Help TV?" guest blogger Susan Bandura wrote..."... most pundits are saying that TV advertising is more vulnerable than ever – that companies are going to cut their TV advertising budgets, that DVR penetration is going to help put the nail in the coffin.But what’s really going to happen to TV viewing in the near future?Let’s see … everybody has a

How Advertising Works - Part 1: The Problem

Admit it, you're confused. You don't know how advertising works.Like everyone in advertising and marketing, you pretend you do. But you don't.You believe that ads that win awards are superior to mundane, slice-of-life ads. But why do you believe that? Because you've seen proof, or because everyone else in advertising believes it?You believe that ads that touch an emotion are more powerful than

New And Unimproved

Welcome to the new and unimproved Ad Contrarian '09.After a year and a half, the staff here at TAC Worldwide feel the need to make some changes. And just like most organizations, we're changing for one reason and one reason only -- because it's much easier than improving.So, here's the deal. We're not going to be posting every day. It may be once a week or twice a week or whenever the hell we