The latest, greatest Latincast podcast from Dieste Harmel & Partners is on the topic of Hispanic teens.
More and more we’re seeing the “Latin-ization” of pop culture as Hispanics begin to flex their cultural muscle here in the United States, and when it comes to raw culture-bending strength, nothing matches the power of a gaggle of teens.
This week’s podcast combines the two, delving into the minds of Hispanic teens in order to find out what’s cool, hot, hip and, uh, happening.
Obviously, I am not one of those things.
Have a listen– you can find it, cleverly titled “Hispanic Teen Podcast,” at the very bottom of the list of podcasts found at LATINCAST.net, our repository of all things pod-i-licious.
I’ve added a Kinky Friedman for Governor icon to the bottom of the sidebar. (And, yeah, I signed his petition and spent some time actually talking to the man.)
Like a thermometer, expect to see the icon rise up through the sidebar the closer we get to the election.
In Texas, politics is a full-contact sport, so I’m putting my cup on early.
Back home from getting Tuesday’s presentation on-track.
Jason was there when I arrived and had, along with a host of others from another group, worked his ass off in order to make sure tomorrow– Monday– is a little more bearable.
He’s a hardworking kid and others could learn a thing or two from his work ethic.
I won’t tell him that, of course, prefering to let him suffer under a manure pile of ironic/sarcastic scorn heaped upon his “mad ski11z” with the ladies.
I’m trying to cram two days of weekend into only one; my group was handed a new account this past Monday (new to the team, not to the agency), just in time for a big presentation planned for this coming Tuesday.
We’ll need to pull everything together tomorrow and Monday ahead of flying out to Columbus, Ohio on the 1st.
Happy-happy-joy-joy, and I’ll have more on that later once things settle down a little (and once I’ve had a chance to, oh I don’t know, maybe learn the client’s business).
In the meantime, and in honor of another client I’m putting time against on my timesheets, I found a commercial for Gatorade/Japan.
It’s sixty seconds of film with three seconds of branding (including a crazy screaming VO at the end of the spot). In other words, it would never fly in the U.S.
It’s interesting film– and a rather straight-ahead approach, at least by Japanese standards.
And from the looks of it, they used every famous Japanese sports star on the island doing what they do best– which is apparently listening to early 80’s throw-back hip-hop done Asian-style.
So here you go. The spot is called “Sports Mix”:
Nice VO, huh.
If, on the other hand, you want to see what my work for the brand looks like in comparison (sorry, no crazy, screaming announcers), you can watch “Skyscraper,” and “Chosen,” both from 2006.
Now I’m off to cram a few more hours into my Satursunday before I need to be back at the office tomorrow.
Excellent observer-captured film of the new Bravia shoot can be found here and here.
I loved the beauty of the first spot but, from the looks of it, the second one might be more original (check out the date on the linked film– to make no mention of where the original idea was filmed).
Many, many thanks to Diablogue who seems to be the only blog following the shooting of the new spot and the “borrowing” found in the first.
The server I host Adverb on flung its hard drive into a million little pieces roughly twenty-four hours ago.
Adverb’s back, but with a Soap Opera-esque coma gap lasting from last Thursday until, well, now.
If I wrote or did anything of any actual importance* here, I’d be upset, but we all know that just isn’t the case. So, as it is, I’m going to bed.
(*But just to recap the lost time for the future me, Integer entered “The Office” promo contest, we had to put Luci down, I wrote something far, far too long about Microsoft’s Zune, I lost a gallon of sweat at Guy Mezger’s martial arts studio and Omnicom beat The Street in 2nd quarter growth. That’s about it. Woot. Sleep.)
[Even this post had to be recreated following another OS reinstall; comments have been lost, sorry. –M.]
Omnicom Group Inc., the world’s largest advertising services company, Tuesday reported a better-than-expected rise in quarterly income, helped by new accounts and healthy spending by existing clients.
Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) today announced that net income for the second quarter of 2006 increased 8% to $244.1 million from $225.8 million in the second quarter of 2005.
Diluted earnings per share in the second quarter of 2006 increased 15% to $1.42 per share from $1.24 per share in the second quarter of 2005.
By discipline, traditional advertising revenue grew 5.7 percent, public relations revenue increased 8.9 percent and specialty marketing rose 10.8 percent. (Morningstar)
I’m sure my bonus is in the mail– or at least my dividends.
[This post was recreated after a server crash; hyperlinks have been lost, sorry. –M.]
Yesterday, we had an offsite meeting in order to be briefed on a big slate of upcoming Gatorade work. The briefing was held at Guy Mezger’s “Lion’s Den” Mixed Martial Arts academy. Mezger is a former Ultimate Fighting World Champion and has another, oh, thousand titles or so to his name.
In other words, he’s a true Billy Badass.
Not only were we there to have our briefing and hear Mezger speak about what it takes to be a world-class athlete, we were there so he could kick our butts.
And, boy, did he ever.
The plan, as envisioned by our Account Service team, was to have Mezger put us through a workout that would truly challenge us (in other words, possibly kill us) in order to crystallize in our minds what it feels like to push beyond our limits (hint: it hurts– it hurts a lot).
Mezger, being trained in the martial arts, put us through sixty minutes of fight simulation training.
The room was set up with a fighting “round” timer, so each sequence followed the rounds of a fight: a bell goes off and the timer begins counting down two and a half minutes. In the final thirty seconds, another bell goes off as a warning, then the final bell, then sixty seconds of “corner time” before the next bell signaled yet another two and a half minute “round.” In the final thirty seconds of each round, we were to redouble our efforts– pick up the tempo mimicking the furious final seconds of a fight before the bell.
And then our sixty seconds of “corner time?” Well, instead of resting on a stool, it was spent doing crunches, instead.
Our two and a half minute “rounds” were spent performing glove-to-glove and glove-to-heavy bag jab-cross-hook routines.
It was an hour of jab-cross-hooking, then really furious jab-cross-hooking followed by flopping onto the floor for a series of crunches. Step, repeat.
I was sweating almost 100% pure tequila and, from the way my arms felt at the end of our sixty minutes, I really thought I’d need to use a pencil clenched in my teeth to hit the keys needed to write this today.
But two hours spent with an icepack on my arm last night has me feeling like I'’m almost human today– almost.
One of the guys who went is having difficulty walking today.
Good times. Seriously, it was interesting and enjoyable (if only in a please-God-make-it-stop sort of way), and shows the lengths our Account Service team goes to in thinking outside the box (but not outside the boxing ring) for ways to get us energized for a new project– and something other agencies could probably take a lesson from.
[This post was recreated after a server crash; hyperlinks have been lost, sorry. –M.]
In a recent television interview, [Mexican Presidential Candidate] Lopéz Obrador called his opponents “fascists” and suggested that subliminal messages were inserted by his opponents in potato chip and juice advertisements. (Washington Post)
This is the man a large percentage of Mexican nationals want as their President?
Good luck, guys.
At least if Obrador’s installed as the winner of the election, he and Bush can get their crazy on together.
[This post was recreated after a server crash; hyperlinks have been lost, sorry. –M.]
By now you’ve heard the news that Microsoft is launching a new digital music player that’s set to compete with Apple’s iPod (and if you haven’t yet heard the news, let me be the first to welcome you to the show I like to call, “The Battle for Christmas Now Begins in July”).
Some people– and by “some people” I mean “the folks at Microsoft”– are calling the new device, named Zune, an “iPod killer” and it comes tumbling out of the box with a host of features: video-enabled, a larger screen and iPod-esque click wheel controls and– get this– pocket wi-fi, which will allow people to download and share music wirelessly in localized, self-formed, where-you-happen-to-be-standing, hotspots.
Is it an “iPod killer?” I don’t think so (iPod has an entrenched 75% share of the market), but I do believe Apple should be worried– and for reasons you might not have considered.
Before I go into my line of thinking, let me stop here for a second and lay out on the table the fact I use Macs, own several iPods and don’t possess a video game console. What I do know is marketing and advertising– strategy and tactics– and, while Mack Simpson the Consumer wishes no ill will towards Apple, Mack Simpson the Creative Director Ad Monkey would do everything in his power to slit the iPod’s throat if he worked on a competing brand.
What you’re about to read takes what the public knows about Zune, mixes in some of the things Microsoft is currently doing, throws in a dash of music industry wants and desires with just a pinch of speculation and then bakes it all up into a strategic and tactical dish of business model goodness.
Hopefully I won’t use too much salt.
Ok. So here are the three most important things we know about Zune (as I see it): it’s video-enabled, wireless-ready and it was designed by J Allard’s team, the brains at Microsoft behind the X-Box and all things X-Boxilicious (including the X-Box 360 and the X-Box Live Marketplace).
The X-Box 360 is, of course, a wireless-ready gaming console, coveted by millions of 18 to 24-year olds, and the X-Box Live Marketplace is an online community/shopping mall where content (games, video programming, etc.) may be purchased with the use of “Microsoft Points,” something that will become important later on. It’s not too much of a stretch to believe that, if J Allard designed Zune, the chances are pretty good it will integrate wirelessly, in some form or fashion, into the X-Box 360.
On the content side of the coin, we know the music industry is in a love/hate relationship with iTunes; they love the incremental volume and popularity of the distribution channel but they hate that Apple’s really the only game in town and can dictate both price and percentage. Remember, this is a group of publishing houses that are accustomed to printing money– however much they want– at every step along the chain; they’re being held over the Apple barrel and they’re not exactly comfortable with the situation.
For them, competition amongst distribution channels is a good thing and they’ll be willing to do whatever they can to facilitate future bidding wars for their content.
Likewise, movie and television production studios.
The next to last thing I can mention that’s noteworthy is the 800 lb. gorilla sitting in the room: the iPod itself. And it’s a massive fucking ape. This thing has 75% of the digital music player market, is easily mastered by grandmothers in Iowa and has nurtured an end-to-end-to-end product system (the iPod connects to iTunes which connects to the iTunes store which connects to the iPod) that would make Bethlehem Steel envious. (How are they doing, by the way?)
The last thing I know is Microsoft is the Borg. Show them a market and present them with an opportunity and they will swoop in and commoditize the hell out of it. They’ll process it just as fast, charge half as much and do it almost as well as whomever got there first.
And did I mention they’d charge half as much? Yeah, I think I did.
One of the rumors floating around is that Microsoft will buy their way into the market, allowing switchers to re-purchase their music bought through iTunes (and which can only be played on an iPod) for conversion to Zune at no charge.
That’s some major coin and, while I recognize Microsoft has very deep pockets, there’s a limit to their largesse.
So that’s what I know.
Now, how would I, a devious ad monkey, attack an opponent sitting behind a Maginot Line of high design, rounded edges and hipster, first-to-market cool?
Well, I’d go after a mass market– because you have to see who’s willing to bite and welcome them into the fold– but, beyond that, I’d use the X-Box, the console’s supremely advertiser friendly, 18-24 demographic, and the points– the Microsoft Points.
It seems to me the Zune, X-Box and the X-Box Live Marketplace are to Microsoft what the iPod, iTunes and the iTunes store are to Apple. Replace the X-Box with a computer accessing a particular website and you’re reaching a truly mass market, but for now, let’s stay focused on the X-Box.
The X-Box serves as the “master control” for Zune, ordering the playlists and whatnot and the X-Box Live Marketplace serves as the clearinghouse of music and multimedia products for purchase– all communicating wirelessly between devices.
In any case– X-Box or PC-meets-web scenario (depending on your demographic)– you have a readymade end-to-end-to-end distribution channel that competes favorably with Apple.
But how do you get people to put down their iPods in favor of the Zune?
First, you focus in on the early-adopting 18 to 24-year olds who are sitting around playing their X-Box. You hit them and you hit them hard, making Apple’s iPod advertising look like a pharmaceutical company pushing pills to senior citizens. Then you follow through on the rumor and you pay people to switch– you make it insanely inexpensive (possibly even free) for them to port their iTunes-purchased music over to Zune, and here’s how you do it on the cheap: You insert advertising into the mix.
The cogs within the X-Box Live Marketplace are oiled by Microsoft Points, a stand-in for dollars, which can be purchased or given away to end users for participating in promotional activities. Those users then, in turn, use them to purchase content.
So here I am, a male aged somewhere between 18 and 24, and I walk into a Starbucks. Suddenly my Zune lights up, receiving a wireless feed from the T-Mobile hotspot inside, asking me if I’d be interested in learning about their wireless Internet rates while I’m drinking my coffee. If I agree to watch a 30-second add, streamed to my video-enabled device, I’ll earn 50 points. Oh, and by the way, would I also like to see another 30-second spot touting T-Mobile’s latest rollover minute plan? Another 50 points. And how about another 30-second spot extolling the virtues of Nokia’s latest clamshell offering? Bingo. Another 50 points.
Let’s wrap it up with a 30-second spot branding Starbucks while we’re at it and I, a member of that demographic so sought out by advertisers, could easily rack up several hundred “points” to be used for the purpose of purchasing music for playback on my new Zune.
Throw in the fact that the music publishing companies would probably be willing to take a hit on converting people over to the Zune just for the potential long-term payoff and that Microsoft would likely subsidize a little more in addition to what paid advertising just purchased for me, and I could easily use my points from my one grande latte pit stop for the purchase of a complete album to replace my iTunes songs (or to get something completely new). (And at a fraction of the cost to Microsoft of what it would have been if opt-in advertising for the purpose of earning points hadn’t been employed.)
Suddenly we’ve demonstrated a couple of things: one, people are willing to migrate over to Zune– even if slowly– and, two, we’ve demonstrated that the Zune handheld device is a legitimate media vehicle for reaching a highly desirable target demographic.
Advertisers will beat a path to Microsoft’s doorstep and the users will gladly watch their ads, all for the sake of collecting ethereal “points” used for the purpose of purchasing digital content.
Now Microsoft has a revenue stream above and beyond Apple’s iPod, and that means, because of the additional revenue, Microsoft is now capable of charging only 79-cents per song and offering the music publishing houses 20% of the take instead of just fifteen– and still make money on the deal.
Before you know it, because of the favorable terms, Microsoft is getting sweetheart deals on new releases and exclusive access to hot artists and albums– and movies and television shows, remember– and is forcing the iPod into the territory of being that quaint device that people over the age of fifty use to store their 1950’s Buddy Holly collection.
All because of Zune’s ability to reach a desirable target with opt-in advertising.
I would SO murder iPod.
So will this come to pass? Who knows, but if it does you read it here first.
And if it doesn’t, at the very least I’m looking forward to seeing the advertising death match between two West Coast heavyweights: Apple’s advertising agency, Chiat/Day, and Microsoft’s Wieden+Kennedy.
They’ll have to get started soon because the battle for Christmas now begins in July.
[This post was recreated after a server crash; hyperlinks have been lost, sorry. –M.]
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you’re tired of my exaltation of the greatest football club on the planet, but you’ll just have to get over it.
Sean, over at Diablogue, has pointed the way to an excellent retrospective on Dennis Bergkamp’s career at Arsenal. Bergkamp, who’s hanging up his boots today, helped to literally change the way the world looks at The Gunners, so run over to Diablogue, press play on the video and prepare to see some amazing ball control.
[This post was recreated after a server crash; hyperlinks have been lost, sorry. –M.]
I know an AE over at Integer/Dallas by the name of Chad Costas. Chad’s a cool guy– and by cool I mean he’s prone to wearing bowties, so I guess that mean’s he’s cool in a “I may be a Suit, but I’m still letting my Account Service freak flag fly” sort of way.
But seriously, he’s a cool guy.
Chad just sent me a couple of files. It turns out NBC is running a YouTube contest (the dreaded user-generated content monster rears its ugly head) looking for new promos for their imported British comedy show “The Office,” and Integer/Dallas has a couple of entries in the mix.
It also turns out that, all the time I’ve known him, Chad was saying he was a “thespian” when what I was hearing was “I’m a lesbian,” which makes him very much less interesting in my book. Lesbian make out scenes or no, the clips are still pretty good (especially if you’re an Office fan).
Check them out– Chad’s the guy mooching lunch off of the countertop:
Integer/Dallas - The Office Promo - “It’s a Rule” - :20
Integer/Dallas - The Office Promo -”Where Are My Keys” - :20
[This post was recreated after a server crash; the files & comments have been lost, sorry. –M.]
I spent Friday at the studio working on another radio spot for 7-Eleven.
I’ve mentioned it before, but our voice talent, Bill Vogel, is a machine. The number of takes required to get what we needed in the can: four. As in fewer than five.
It took longer for our AE on the account to make her way to the studio than it did for us to set up, record, edit and mix the spot. I love that.
It’s a little-known fact to ad industry outsiders that most of the names you hear in television and radio spots (and read in print for that matter) are names of either clients or people associated with the agencies that produced the work.
The reason for this is pretty simple: If I use someone’s name in a spot– anyone’s name– and I associate them with a particular location, I have to perform research into whether or not someone living in that location carries the name I used. If I use “John Doe from Kalamazoo, Michigan,” and a John Doe really lives there, I then have to approach Mr. Doe, make sure he’s cool with me using his name, and then negotiate for the rights to use his persona or likeness in a commercial advertisement.
In other words, it’s a pain in the ass, adds a multiple to the time required for getting a spot in the can and might cost our clients a little extra money to boot.
We get around that by using the names of people we know– and then having them sign a release for the use of their name (either for free or for a nominal fee– like one dollar, or so).
This causes a never ending supply of inside jokes as we constantly work the names of our friends and clients into various roles, from dogs to wailing children to– well, to pansies who throw like a girl.
For today’s spot, I chose to pick on my internjunior Senior Art Director, Jason Tisser.
Jason hasn’t been blessed with an overabundance of talent, but I keep him around because when he’s not being funny in an oh-my-that’s-really-sad sort of way, he’s funny in an almost-nailed-it-let’s-give-him-another-chance sort of way.
He also loves sports (he’s a University of Texas alum) despite the fact he possesses the athletic ability of a six year old who’s been kept in a cage for most of its life. (Likewise, his skills with the ladies.)
So I thought this spot for 7-Eleven’s Slurpee was perfect for adding his name as the cherry on top:
Jason’s on vacation in New York this week, so he hasn’t had a chance to sign his waiver, but I know he will. Oh yes, I know he will– there’s no way he’d make us go in and change the name to, oh, Juan Daniel.
Because, if he did…
So what do you do when you blow through your session in four takes? You listen to the wonderful treats the nice folks at Reel F/X have created for you since your last visit.
I present to you, “The Suck.” Enjoy, and have a good weekend, everyone.
EMT-Man: makethelogobigger isn't really correct. The protocol changes every year based on your level of certification, and whether you are working on...
michel: Glad to hear you, know you have been busy!!! Enjoy the Pubs and see ya when you get back!!!
