Ego Disguised As Advertising

I did a little experiment the other day. I went back and watched Super Bowl spots out of context. In other words, I watched them two weeks after The Big Event.

My hypothesis was this -- in order to get a true perspective on the merits of these spots required me to view them out of the context of hysteria in which they ran.

Because the Super Bowl is such A Big Deal it's easy to lose perspective

Self-Hating Grown-Ups

If there is one thing that truly makes me sick, it's mature people fawning over youth.

I think it started in the 1960's when youth culture became an obsession. Condescending clergymen, misguided commencement speakers, and pandering magazine covers proclaimed the arrival of a new species of human. They were young, caring, involved, and committed. They were going to change the world.

They changed

Intro To My New Book

I recently spent several weeks away from this blog trying to finish up a new book I've been working on called 101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising. Here is the intro to the book.

Introduction

The title of this book is 101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising. But, as you'll see, there are actually 105. You paid for 101, but you're getting 105. Consequently, you owe me four contrarian ideas.

Slow Company

For some reason, Fast Company has taken it upon itself to publish some of the dumbest articles about advertising I've ever read.

The latest one is called Could 2012 Super Bowl Spots Double Their Impact As iAds?

The article's premise is based on a piece of junk research done by Nielsen (on Apple's behalf) that purports to demonstrate that...
"...Apple's iAds appear to be twice as effective as a

It's Better To Be Employed Than Right

Recently I wrote about the book The Big Short, and how it applies to the current online ad bubble. The Big Short is about the crash of the financial system in 2008 and the people who saw it coming.

There is a lesson I learned from the book that is important to ad contras -- being right often doesn't matter.

One of the heroes of the book -- who had a remarkable record of investment acumen -- had

Unequivocal Proof That No One Has Ever Clicked On A Web Ad

Here at Ad Contrarian Global Headquarters, we sometimes enjoy role playing. Not the French maid kind of role playing, the business kind. Not that we have anything against French maids...

Today, I am going to role play. I am going to pretend I am a web data analyst and use the mathematics and logic of web analysis to prove to you that no one has ever clicked on a web ad intentionally. Sound like

Gravity And The Web

Today's post is being published in Adweek's online edition. It's called Gravity and the Web. It includes ideas from a post I wrote earlier this year plus some new stuff. Click here and leave nice comments.

Ads That Look Like Super Bowl Ads

It's time to admit it. The era of the Super Bowl ad is over.

This has been going on for years. We haven't recognized it because of Culture Lag -- the period of time it takes to realize that a cultural phenomenon is dead. Sometimes it takes years.  Sometimes decades. The Super Bowl spot is dead but it's going to take a while for us to catch on.

The advertising industry seems no longer capable of

Obligatory Super Bowl Post (#4)

My fourth year of random thoughts on the Super Bowl:
Most Notes Ever Sung Torturing The Star Spangled Banner: Christina Aguilera

No Wonder They Skipped It Last Year: Pepsi

It Wouldn't Be The Super Bowl Without Monkeys: CareerBuilder

Action Movie Trailer That Looked Like Every Other Action Movie Trailer: All of 'em

Longest Run For The Shortest Slide: Audi; Kia Optima; Motorola Xoom

Why The Social Media Bubble Won't Burst

During my recent well-deserved sabbatical from blogging, I read a book about the financial meltdown of 2008 called The Big Short, by Michael Lewis.

The book is about the Wall Street morons and hustlers -- oops, I mean experts -- who, to an alarming degree, control our economy. Anyone who believes in the preposterous "wisdom of crowds" needs to read this book.

For those who don't know much

Sex And The Super Bowl

For a hack copywriter, nothing gets your blood pumping like the prospect of writing a spot for the Super Bowl. (Well, that and being introduced to an impressionable young account coordinator. But that's another story...)

I had my chance at Super Bowl glory.

In 1998, my agency had an account called Vivus. Vivus had developed a product called Muse. Muse was the first of the "new-age" erectile