(To get the full flavor of this post, check out  Really? With Seth & Amy SNL).  Really?  You’re concerned about Facebook sharing your crush on Dillon from English class?  Or that rad post about you and your Starbucks order? Really?  Or how about letting the world know just how “into” Justin Bieber you really are?  Really?  It’s just now coming as a surprise to you that EVERYTHING you do on-line is public?  Like forever public?  Yes, when you venture out of your virtual little house, out there in the wide world of the world wide web, you no longer have privacy.  No one promised it to you and no one is going to provide it to you.  How do you think the big meanies at Facebook actually intended on making money while their promise is to forever keep their service free?  Really?  I mean c’mon by now you must know the name of the game – it’s called “mass”.  Once you have mass – millions of users and their associated eyeballs and wallets – you now have something that you can monetize.  Advertisers will pay for access to the mass.  Brands will pay for access to the mass. Really!  Do you know who won’t pay? The government, rapists and murders, terrorists or religious organizations.  All those that you think will be monitoring your every online move, Mr. Conspiracy Theory, won’t pay.  Really?  Really.  Did you ever stop to think about what this big breach of alleged privacy is really designed to do?  Really?  Well, mostly the users of this information are trying to commit that greatest of cardinal sins – they’re trying to sell you something. Yep, those evil minds at Taco Bell are trying to personalize their sites, their messages, their ads to – wait for it – You!  Lucky you!  This way iTunes won’t be pushing heavy metal at you upon every visit, but rather more American Idol-esque knock outs like Kelly Clarkson’s greatest hit.  Really.  Maybe Toyota will push a Lexus ad at your doctor (also a HUGE Facebook fan), a Toyota Camary ad at your mom (you know she’s watching….oh yeah, she’s watching) and to you my little digital era knucklehead, yes, you get a Scion ad. Really.  Now is that all that bad?  Really?  Load up on to the busses and get down to Washington D.C. to give ‘em hell about Facebook, because it’s this kind of distraction that our inept legislature needs right now.  Go.  Go on.  Go. Really!

Pick up the freakin’ phone.  That’s it. Pretty simple actually.  It’s a habit that we’ve all fallen out of and we need to get back into.  I’ve caught myself typing out emails that are so detailed and long that it could have easily been replaced by a quick phone call.  Would have saved me and the recipient a bunch of time and effort.  I spend easily half my day on emails totalling on average in the hundreds.  Where did we go wrong on all this?  Some pundits say that we’re the most connected and communicable society ever thanks to email, text, Twitter and the rest.  I beg to differ.  Sure I think we’re the most connected, but I think we’ve lost the art of communication. I’d even suggest that early man was a better communicator than we are today.  He was more efficient and communicated more efficiently because he had to or it probably meant certain death.  He didn’t draw a bear on a piece of bark (in 140 strokes or less!), walk over and hand it to his fellow hunter just before the bear attacked him.  No, he just yelled “Bear!” and that saved his friend.

I think it’s time we all picked up the old cup’n’string again and had a good old fashioned conversation, even if it is only to yell “Bear!”.  I just had this chat with a longstanding client who we both agreed summed it up best:  A phone call is worth a thousand emails.

Thanks Allan.

Flo TV's new logo

Well, sort of.  In tomorrow’s Super Bowl ad circus, you’ll see two spots from former client FLO TV, a division of Qualcomm.  No, we didn’t produce the spots, in fact the first of the two goes directly against the strategic direction we provided to them, but ce la vie!  However we did provide FLO TV with the strategy and development of their new & improved identity.  The FLO TV logo was developed by Motor in a successful partnership between client and agency.

FLO TV hired our team to create the lasting, permanent identification for the FLO TV brand. Our client wanted to have the idea of “TV” without actually showing a TV in the logo like their first Tivo-esque iteration. They wanted something clean and simple, yet progressive, modern and…wait for it….fun! That’s a tall order but after our standard market snapshot and further client analysis, we were able to solidify which attributes were most important and develop to incorporate those.  In the end, you have this dimensional, colorful mark that incorporates a vision for live TV in your hand and is current but with the ability to stand the test of time.  Or something like that.  It’s a logo for Pete’s sake (my sake that is) and it appropriately fits the brand.  Touchdown! Motor wins in overtime!

WordPress is our blog software of choice – easy to use, simple to maintain and has great funtionality. To improve this functionality, we also use plugins (tools that do a specific task in your blog). The plugins we recommend are:

• Akismet – The amazingly powerful spam blocker! Protects us against all the garbage that the spammers send through and rarely makes a mistake.
• All in One SEO Pack – Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog. Easy to update and allows you to create seo friendly titles and keywords for each post.
• BackType Connect – Show related conversations (from other blogs, Twitter, Digg, FriendFeed and more) inline with your own comments.
• CommentLuv – Plugin to show a link to the last post from the commenters blog when they leave a comment. Rewards your readers and encourage more comments.
• FD Feedburner Plugin – Redirects all feeds to a Feedburner feed. Enables easy tracking through Google.
• Google Analytics for WordPress – It automatically adds Google Analytics with extra search engines and automatic clickout and download tracking to your  blog.
• Google XML Sitemaps – Creates a new sitemap every time your blog is updated which is compatible with  Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO.
• Gurken Subscribe to Comments – Allows readers to subscribe to comments so they can follow a conversation.
• WordTwit – Posts updates to Twitter about entries automatically. Includes many configuarble options, statistics and more.

We use these because they have been successful for us, and are easy to use. Which plugins do use use and recommend?

Well, I’m embarrassed again. Embarrassed for our industry and fearful of where it’s headed. The recent work done by Ford has to be the epitome of either poor staff or just downright laziness on both the agency and client sides. Ready for this? Drum-roll please……Ford. Drive one. Really? That’s it? That’s the best you could come up with? I can picture my fifth cousin rolling over in his grave – Yes, I’m related to Henry Ford although we’re not getting a heck of a lot of work out of the deal! Anyway back to their new tagline. I can almost see it in the creative session – wait this has to be the client’s doing. So they’re in the conference room and the marketing staff is standing ready to work on the “new” Ford. The line of thinking goes a little like this:

Williams: “Well what is it we’re trying to get them – the audience – to do?”

Johnson: “Buy a car, sir?”

Williams: “Yes of course we want them to do that, Johnson, don’t be foolish! It’s got to be something more, something bigger, something emotional.”

Johnson: “We want them to, um, ahhh, drive one, sir?”

Williams: “Johnson, you’re brilliant! That’s it. Ford. Drive one!”

Johnson: “Wait! We need to instill a sense of urgency. How about: Ford. Drive one today!”

Williams: “Johnson. You’re an idiot.”

Or something to that effect. I can’t possibly imagine the agency coming in for their next big pitch with a whole bunch of research and strategy around “Drive one” and living to tell about it. I know I couldn’t pitch that. I think the US Big 3 car companies need to take a better look at who their competition is and how they’ve continued to be successful. As in a previous post, they’ve never taken the time to establish a brand in the first place so falling flat on their face with “Drive one” really doesn’t hurt them any more than they’ve already hurt themselves. But maybe they should peer across the pond at what success looks like. Ooops, I’m late for my next meeting. Need to hop in the Ultimate driving machine and step on it. I have to pitch a new tag line to a consumer electronics account of ours. Ready? [Brand of TV]. Buy one.

It’s on? Really?

That’s the best Southwest Airlines could come up with. What does it even mean? What’s on? The plane? I hope so. Flight attendant attitude? Oh yeah, it’s on.

Regardless of what their thinking is behind this new slogan and because it’s so obscure, you’d think they would develop an spot – backed up with some heavy media dollars – to establish the new line or what we presume is a new campaign. But the first time I saw the line, the commercial was about your bags flying free. The spot, allegedly created by GSD&M Idea City, isn’t all that compelling for an offer that is. It shows a Southwest baggage handler driving around the tarmac from the perspective of the front of the tractor he’s driving; we watch him mindlessly drive in circles while we listen to some trite VO about the offer. Our star comes into play at the end of the spot with the line “Grab your bag. It’s on.” Huh?

Do you walk to school or carry your lunch? Let’s not forget that we the Southwest Airlines flying public aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. If you’re going to use popular catch phrases, try picking ones that are relevant – relevant to your company, relevant to your product offering, relevant to your audience. This phrase is going to last as long as chest bump greetings and skinny jeans. Go back to the drawing board client and agency and don’t leave it until you’ve come up with something intelligent and relative. Or how about this? Just go back to “Wanna get away?” and continue to close with the familiar seatbelt “ding” and “You are now free to move about the country.”

I don’t get it.  I go to a lot of events, many in sports.  From hockey, to football, soccer (the other football), even baseball and I love racing.  But it always kills me at how much sponsorship dollars cost, how rare they are to come by, and then to see how little consumer brands do with their sponsorships.  From what I see, it should be easier to get sponsorship dollars because all the sponsors do is provide a logo and a check and they’re done.  Event sponsored.  To coin a gross and old expression, they’re leaving a lot of meat on the bone.

Let’s use a racing example.  Take a look at the 7-Eleven sponsored Indy Racing League car driven by Tony Kanaan.  7-Eleven actually has it figured out: they only pony up a modest amount of cash for their primary sponsorship and they off-load the balance to some of the larger brands they carry in-store, like Kraft.  At the recent event I was at as a guest of the IRL, Kraft had the car sponsorship for that particular event.  It was still well-branded 7-Eleven, but the car also adorned a handful of Kraft logos prominently placed.  Not cheap by any means.  I asked one of the marketing reps for the IRL who deals with sponsorships, what Kraft was doing a the event.  He replied, “What do you mean?”.  “I mean, where else is Kraft at this event,” I said. “Surely they must have some on-track advertising, or at the very least please tell me they have promo-girls working the 100,000+ crowd of Kraft-consuming consumers with samples and coupons for their new cheesy, zesty whatever.  Where’s the Kraft RV?  Hospitality tent and suite for customers?”  Nothing. Not a person.  Not a rep. Not a slice of cheese.  Just a big check for a logo on the car for one event.  Not even a representative from the brand was present.  What if Tony won?

This is such an easy yet constantly overlooked part of marketing and only a few brands really do it right. But you might be saying, “Well, we’re just a B2B medical device company.  This doesn’t really apply to us.” Really?  You sponsored your last tradeshow by attending with a big booth, 100 sales reps, 50 corporate folks, etc.  What else did you do at the event? What in-show marketing did you deploy?  What “sampling” did you do?  How did you maximize your sponsorship dollars at the event?  You didn’t, did you?  You just showed up.  Well look at this way, you’re not alone, you’re actually in good company with big brands like Kraft.  Cheese anyone?

When I think about a bank, I want security first and foremost. I want to know my money is safe and that my bank will be there when I need it. With the problems in the economy, and the failure of many of the big banks, the last thing that someone is thinking about when it comes to their bank is luxury, extravagance and arrogance.  Apparently Chase has either forgotten this, or just chosen to ignore it.

After the buyout of Washington Mutual by Chase, their marketing team needed to come up with a powerful way to introduce themselves to the California market. Instead of crafting a genuine commercial talking about the security of the bank, all the services it can offer you, the changes they are making to improve banking in general and why you should bank with them, they crafted this:

Really? This is supposed to make me feel safe with you as my bank? This is supposed to lower the concern for what is happening to my money and my accounts. Yep, people in a diner, the dude on the surfboard and the hot air balloons scream security to me too! And what about those of us who aren’t Wamu/Chase members? How does this advertisement invite me in to learn more? What about this ad tells me that I should trust Chase to be my bank and manage my money? Leading your audience with a nonsensical video montage and a track that has nothing to do with anything (We all shine on???)  is not the way to win our trust or our money. It is a great way to embarrass yourself and your marketing team, though.

On top of their television ads, Chase has crafted a new slogan: “Chase What Matters”. Depending on which side of the coin you’re looking at, it is either insinuating that you should chase what matters to you (and they’ll give you the money for whatever you want) or they are telling you that Chase is what matters. Isn’t this how we got in this whole mess in the first place?  Don’t have the money to buy that boat you’ve always wanted? No problem, we’re a big established bank so you can trust us to give you the money to go and get what matters to you – whether you can afford it or not.  And the big financial institutions’ arrogance through this whole process!  Don’t regulate us, we know what we’re doing.  And now Chase is what matters.  Right.

What matters is that we don’t like you and we’re taking our money elsewhere.

What can $120 million media buy get you?

Hopefully a new brand. But if you’re Brinks Home Security, you might as well have set that money on fire.

On July 1st, Brinks Home Security revealed that they would be separating themselves from the red trucks and armored guards we all associate with security and would be renaming their home security brand to Broadview Home Security.  Huh?

They started their campaign with a collection of new ads run on an aggressive media push:

Did you catch why they changed their name? Me either. They’ve poured money into ads that explain nothing. They’ve grabbed your attention just like they used to, and terrified you about home invasions. But all of a sudden the name is different without any explanation…that’s a little terrifying too.

How could the campaign be improved and be more effective at both selling the service while establishing the brand transition? Easy. How about answering the questions that you know everyone is going to be asking when the ad ends instead of just showing a new logo?

Let’s start with: Why are you changing the name in the first place? People know Brinks. They know what it means. They know the brand. Brinks is serious security – trucks, guns, tough black suits. You know your money is protected with Brinks, why not extend that to the home as they’ve done in the past? Clearly there’s a business decision behind this but c’mon, we’re adults we can take, go ahead and tell us the reasoning behind the decision to change the name and let us embrace you as smart business people serious about security, not awful marketers.

Once we’ve established the reason for the change, then we can move on to: What’s Broadview and why did you choose it? What new services are you offering? Are you better, stronger or more secure now? Did you improve my services in anyway?  Create and establish a believeable, marketable strategy for the name so that existing customers feel secure with the change and potential customers establish an understanding for the brand and the company behind the brand.

Those are the tough questions these ads should be answering, otherwise they are just pouring the $120mil down the drain.  What their competition should do now is to run a switch campaign to capitalize on the uneasy feeling existing Brinks customers will have with this sudden shift.  Most consumers don’t realize that you can switch your service provider anytime you like.  Just because you have Brinks branded security panels in your home  doesn’t mean that you have to use them for monitoring and you can just as easily use ADT or another provider, which at this point seems like a pretty good idea.

This all seems pretty shaky to me.  If your brand is all about security, you don’t want your customers thinking your company isn’t secure, do you?

Smart. Funny. Really well produced.
In today’s over-produced, frat-boy beer commercial world, isn’t it nice to see a standout every once in a while?  Dos XX is certainly the current model for breaking the mold and trying something different, like being smart.  Like ‘em or hate ‘em (seems to be the trend), the Dos XX broadcast spots are as refreshing as the product on a hot summer day in Cabo.  From superb creative concept work all the way through painstakingly detailed production, the story of “The Most Interesting Man in the World” is remarkable.  And the timing,  I can’t help but believe, is purposeful seeing the continued slide of Corona sales from a brand who has lost their way.  Can Dos XX unseat Corona?  That remains to be seen, but they’re certainly well on their way to garnering a huge portion of their share of voice.

So what makes this campaign so great?  I think it’s twofold – One, a great concept executed with impeccable attention to detail and two is having a client who’s ready to take a creative risk and put their trust in their agency partners.  How can I tell they trusted the agency?  Do you think for a minute that Anheuser Busch would have allowed the only line The Most Interesting Man in the World to say is, “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos XX”?  Are you kidding?  The Bud Boys would have insisted that what makes him the most interesting man in the world is that beer is ALL he drinks and not just any beer, Budweiser Beer!  No, instead the brand team continued their attention to detail by arguing that because he is who he is, he follows no rules and does the unexpected, but when he determines it’s time for a beer, he doesn’t insist it’s Dos XX nor does he always drink Dos XX, he “prefers” it.  So strong, so strong.

As professional storytellers, we so rarely get the opportunity to really practice our craft in an unfettered manner; so many times a great story gets watered down with mandatory product claims and creative influence from the voting client team.  But with these spots, the team doesn’t get to tell just one exceptional story per spot, but rather several as each vignette is a different story all in itself.  The vignette with our guy motoring a dory – presumably out to his or someone’s mega yacht – places him a the tiller with 4 or 5 beautiful women aboard, but they’re not just a gaggle of hotties, they’re all wearing beauty competition sashes. There’s a story in there.  A group of dinner guests and our guy are carefully making their way down a craggily rock path at night with their way being lit by a torch-bearing man in a full military formal outfit and a nervous fez-wearing Indian fellow in a suit.  What the?  All the while the VO covers all those great, well written lines that provide the credentials for The Most Interesting Man in the World.  “His reputation is expanding faster than the universe.”  “He’s against cruelty to animals, but he isn’t afraid to issue a stern warning.”  “Whatever side of the tracks he is on is the right side. If he were to move to the other, it would still be the right side.”  “He’s one the same lifetime achievement award twice.” And on and on.  Combine all this with some non-trendy effects – mainly the grainy old film quality mixed with black & white and  color – and it comes together as truly intriguing, much like our hero.

Stay thirsty my friends.  Thirsty for great creative.