126 posts between 27 April, 2006 and 06 July, 2009 (this one included) and it's time to move on. 126 posts in over three years doesn't seem like a lot. But going over older posts today makes it seem like the blog almost has a life of its own. From hastily scribbled posts from a naive college kid with a strange fetish for advertising, to jaded posts from a jaded college kid dealing with post-internship grappling-with-reality issues, to a bit-of-everything from a sometimes-naive-sometimes-jaded copy kid, this blog has seen it all. That said, sometimes things just don't work out. For instance:
Just the thought of another advertising blog that starts with "Ad" is so bleh now. And like a lot of posts on this blog, it embarrasses me almost as much my childhood. This, as we know, is not a nice thing.
Blogger's functionality was beginning to piss me off. I needed my space around my images, the obsessive-compulsive in me needed perfect alignment and I wasn't getting any of this.
The maximum number of hits on my blog were via Google on the "Campaign for Beauty" post. This would've been fine if it was a really insightful post but it's actually just some depraved men who inadvertently land here after keying in "curvy women" in their serach bar. And as much as we've grown up to believing sex sells in advertising, I really didn't need that to apply to my blog.
So if you are part of the statistic that was directed here in your quest for voluptuous women, you're probably not interested in my new blog. For the other four, I'm now on Wordpress with Between the Briefs. The name actually came up (after much deliberation) as the tagline of the newsletter of the agency that I work for. But when the CD decided to go another way, I kept it for myself. Not as the tagline, but as the name.
On Between the Biefs I plan to be less lazy, more honest and slightly more useful. That's until I can think of something better to offer.
P.S.: All good goodbye posts should come with a post script. Here I would like to add that Leaving it Be will remain on Blogger for the time being. After toying with the idea of deleting it at least twice in the past week, I have decided to leave it be for now. It's fate remains undecided.
Log in to mail at work early Friday morning and everyone's GTalk status messages are mourning Michael Jackson's death. A few hours in, and people at work are discussing it. Could already predict the topic of the day for tweets and other status messgaes everywhere else. Some were appalled when I say I never was a big fan of him in the first place.
But whether you liked his music or not, you can't escape some things. Like I couldn't escape this post by Bob Giraldi narrating his experience working with Jackson on " The Pepsi Generation" campaign. The characteristic drama and high of creating a historic advertising campaign with a legend of his time and creating a culture out of it is something we haven't seen in quite some time where celebrity endoresements are concerned.
I crossed paths with Michael Jackson at an important time in his career, and at an important time in mine.
"Beat It," which climbed to the top of record charts in 1983 -- and later become one of the best-selling singles of all time -- was the very first music video I ever directed. A couple of months later, Paul McCartney asked me to direct the video for "Say Say Say," the song he co-wrote with Michael. When Pepsi's ad agency BBDO hired me to shoot "The Pepsi Generation" campaign, it marked my third encounter with the rising pop star.
Watershed Moment for Advertising
I still remember vividly being at a party to celebrate the announcement of Pepsi and BBDO forging a landmark endorsement relationship with Michael and his brothers, the Jackson Five. It was a nighttime event, and Michael appeared wearing dark sunglasses (like he often did throughout his life) -- it was quite jarring to everyone at the time. I've always thought it was Michael's way of maintaining some distance, like he was saying "I might be ready to sign the biggest contract ever with an advertiser, but I'm not ready to let you look me in the eye just yet."
Michael Jackson's Pepsi commercial shoot is unforgettable, and with good reason. It was the first product endorsement by a superstar of his magnitude in history. People remember it mainly for the last day of the shoot, because, it was -- as the late Phil Dusenberry indicated in the title of his book -- the day we set his hair on fire. But in actuality, the campaign was shot in a span of three days.
The first was devoted to what we called the "Street" spot. Michael and his brothers danced through the streets to rock-and-roll beats and lyrics crafted by BBDO to talk about the soda. The scene is etched in our memories: a group of kids are led by a marvelous young dancer, Alfonso Ribeiro, as he imitates the moonwalk of his idol only to bump into the real Michael Jackson. Michael made it magical.
The Infamous Incident
On day two, we headed to downtown Los Angeles to an auditorium to film the second spot, "Concert." We were prepping for the last take, in which we planned for big special effects. Suddenly, came screaming from backstage: The King of Pop had accidently dropped his sequined white glove into a sea of urine while on a toilet break. His brothers and I ran to the bathroom and Michael howled for one of us "to get it out of the bowl!!" We did. One crisis averted. Until ...
We're rolling tape again, and I was backstage standing amid nervous clients. Michael stands at the top of the steps, the explosion behind him grand and loud, the crowd cheering. As I scanned all five monitors, something seemed out of whack. I leaned into my producer, Antony Payne, and whispered: "He's out of sync ... Michael's never out of sync." The next thing we know, the star is struggling to rip off his fabled red jacket, thinking it was the jacket on fire, not his hair—and then pandemonium. The audience is in shock, some running to the stage, some trying to get out. Everyone comes forth from backstage rushing around him, comforting him. Emotions were high.
Through it all, Michael was brave. As he lay badly burned on a stretcher being carried out to the ambulance, he raised a shaky arm. Holding the dirty white glove, he wiggled it a bit, as if to signal to the world that everything was going to be all right -- and let his fans know he'll be back. I wish that was the case now.
Mr. Giraldi is also known for a series of commercials for Miller Brewing Co. and directing music videos for musicians like Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar and Will Smith. Today Bob Giraldi is director at GiraldiMedia, a New York-based media company.
Here's the "Street" spot being referred to in his post. This is from the year in which I was born.
This ad's been on air for sometime now. I honestly don't know how to respond to it. While the little sketchy thing was niceish, I just don't get the transfer of... erm...fluids taking place.
I'd recently come across an interesting tweet by Jacob Cass which said, "You know the times are-a-changing when you're asked to put a Twitter address on a letterhead."
I'd also written a post on Twitter some time back and said it didn't do justice to what Twitter really is about and how you can use it. This post covers some interesting reads about tweeting for brands, whether you should do it and how.
Going back to Cass's tweet, you'd think the first question is really pointless since Twitter became such a huge deal in such little time. Which means every brand worth its salt really should be on Twitter. But does a trend always translate into great results?
For instance, a BBC news report threw up some stats which might want to make you rethink the reach Twitter's got. For instance, it'll tell you how even though Twitter's the fastest growing social networking site today (with well over 10 million users), just "10% of Twitters users generate more than 90% of the content". Add the following stats to this and it really makes you doubt Twitter's status of being a "broadcast medium". The Harvard conducted study also found that:
Over 50% of Twitter users tweet only once in 74 hours
Most people tweet just once - they try the service out out of curiosity but rarely return
And while very few tweet regularly, few also listen consistently - this rules out the chances of Twitter being effective for brands even if they were to survive solely on the silent spectator's basis
This brings me back to a time when I'd read an interesting interview in Brand Equity some months back. I can't seem to find the stoy anywhere now but I do remember reading, "New media don't build scale; traditional media can do that." And it seems very true now.
Given the drawbacks of Twitter, which are huge as they are, it becomes that much more important to Tweet right if you do decide to tweet for your brand or tweet on behalf of a brand. Some observations about tweeting for a brand:
Don't Just Use it to Tell People You've Posted a New Story on Your Company's Blog/Website - Twitter's more than just a convenient RSS feed. The reason it's called "conversational" is because you can make it personal. Follow people with similar interests, get them to follow you and actually talk to them. Yes, Twitter is not chat but it is about spreading information people really want to know. Some of the biggest brands, including Amazon and Hewllet Packard haven't managed to get this right.
Invest Time - It's called social "media" for a reason. If you're just going to start a Twitter account and use a couple of swanky widgets that link to your website and whatnot, you're better off not being on Twitter (or any other social networking site, for that matter). But if you do decide to advertise using the social media, treat it as seriously as you would any other media. Set aside time for it and twet often enough to makeyour presence felt. Engage.
Invest People - Before you do this, decide who should speak for you. It's like this. The advertising agency I work for is startup, but an offshoot of a slightly older branding & design firm. Either way, we're not the stalwarts of our field. In which case, it makes sense for our company to be the face of our company. However, if we were larger than that, then it would make sense for one person to tweet for us. I am more likely to read tweets written personally by Prasoon Joshi than read faceless tweets by McCann Erickson. It's all part of making you feel connected with people you think you couldn't know - celebrities, gurus or whoever. If you do decide to get one of your people to tweet for you, make sure it is that person who's tweeeting for you. No one wants to know that they've been fooled into believing they've been listening to Oprah or Ambani when they've actually just been listening to someone in charge of their PR.
Invest Money - If you can't exploit someone's persona for the brand, don't. And if you can't invest time yourself, get someone to do it for you. Just because the social media is easily accessible, doesn't mean you can't get it done by professionals. Again, it is a medium. Just like you wouldn't draw squiggly lines yourself and send out an ad for print or pick up a handycam and shoot your own TVC, don't tweet for your brand yourself if you're clueless or don't have someone to write interesting, results-oriented, 140-your characters-or-less lines. Also, it wouldn't hurt to make sure your Twitter page looks "you". Think of it as a mini-website. Extend your brand's linguistic and visual identity elements here. Get help if you can't do this yourself. You can also get your Twitter database organised and tracked by a third-party. Simply put, do whatever it takes to make sure you get the results you need through Twitter and don't let it get lost amongst a million other Twitter pages. Seek value-add. Fire your agency if you must if they don't do this well.
Research - If you are the agency tweeting for the company, research. Look for brands in the same playing field as your client's, see what they're doing right, what they're doing wrong, what they're not doing that you could do and then make sure you do it. Find people who would follow you religiously and retweet loyally.
Give Incentives - It's great if you're giving your brand's/client's brand's followers information they wouldn't nomally get but sometimes it helps if you could give them something else as well. Give them a reason to follow you. Use Twitter to tie-in with your other promotional and advertising activities.
Know Your Technology - Manage your Twitter account effectively by picking tools that make it more efficient to track and collate. I'm partial to TweetDeck. Read more about essential Twitter tools for company accounts.
Once you're all set, go back and check and how you're doing. If you're not getting the kind of followers you are looking for, you can now "buy" more followers.
Everything that you could possibly need to use Twitter well if already there somewhere. All you have to do is put it all together.
P.S.: The title of this post was inspired by Brian Clark's tweet - "Bird-of-mouth (noun): The spreading of news or information via Twitter".
"Everyone in the business world knows the importance of posters and ads in advertising for specific products. Posters are an integral part of advertising. An eye-catching, attractive poster that conveys a professional, compelling message about a product, service or event will invariably hold the user’s attention.
In this article, we have collected a mixture of Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials related to posters and advertisements. You will find some are intermediate and some are very advanced, but they’ll all give you a lot of direction with photo composition, illustration, coloring processing, typography techniques, pen tool tricks, shapes processing and much more."
Agency: JWT Sydney Associative Creative Director: John Lam Senior Writer: Simon Armour Art Director: Blair Kimber Animation: Collider Director: Andrew Van der Westhuyzen
