Is the new Cadillac ELR ad offensive?

I was browsing one of my favorite websites, Quora, and I saw this offensive or not ad discussion started by Kevin Baker.

I don't think it's offensive; I think it gives an otherwise mundane hybrid car an attitude.  After all, the Cadillac ELR is a Chevrolet Volt that's heavier and more luxurious.

Outspoken marketing is nothing new as Microsoft has done with "Bing it on" versus Google and T-Mobile has done that with "Un-carrier" versus AT&T.

Tom Wills

Hate politics. Always vote.

1 Vote by Neel Kumar.

It's pretty ignorant, but life is too short to get offended. Brainlessness is the norm in advertising anyway - always has been. Best to ignore this kind of thing and move on ... our time is too valuable. By giving it our attention, we give undeserved value to worthless things like this.

  

Answered in twenty minutes.

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25m ago

Dan Zhang

Computer Engineering PhD student at UT Austin

1 Vote by Kelly Good.

I think the ad is sorta offensive. Americans have indeed done great things, but we went to the moon on the talent of engineers and researchers, not douchebag "Alpha males" driving Cadillacs.

  

Answered in eighteen minutes.

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26m ago

Neel Kumar

Geek/Foodie/Traveler/Genealogist/Money Coach/Dr... (more) 

I am DEEPLY offended.  But not for the reasons you think.

I am offended that the ad company thinks that this crappy ad would make me even want to test drive this crappy car.  The shitty schtick of shitting on the French (freedom fries, anyone?) got old 20 years back.  If this is the best you can do, please give me your contact info so that I can make sure I do not bother to watch anything you make, EVER!

  

News Roundup

This guy has the coolest job in coding. Ge Wang is the co-founder and chief creative officer of Smule, the app developer responsible for the Ocarina and iPad violin and other things that started out as “crazy-ass ideas.” To date, Smule has accumulated more than 65 million downloads.

Dear loyal readers, 
Sorry for the gap in posting. A lot has been going on in my life. I got married. And freelance (front end dev, web design and UI design) work and job hunting has been busy.
David

• Congratulations to Lucia Matthews, CEO and co-founder of DIÁLOGO, for being named PR Professional of the Year by the Hispanic Public Relations Association for her agency’s outstanding work and commitment to clients. Mrs. Matthews was honored during the 28th Annual PRemio Awards Gala October 4, in Los Angeles.
• Elisabeth Hattemer has a resource for graphic design students.
• Brian Wilson, Nate Houghteling, Zach Blume and Kai Hasson of The creative studio, Portal A are featured in The San Francisco Chronicle. Their company is backed by hyper-connected Silicon Valley angel investor Ron Conway and San Francisco billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer.
• Shawn Fanning, co-founder of Airtime, just released a new video with a tweet.
• Médiamétrie has a new press release about Kids TV Report: Back to School, Back to TV (PDF)
• Rotem Hecht is a music composer and sound designer in Israel. Check out his work for Microsoft, Mercedes, et al.
• Red Pepper in Ekaterinburg, Russia made a new TV ad for Center for Family Psychology
  
  
  • Advertised brand: Center for Family Psychology
  • Advert title: The Bird
  • Advertising Agency: Red Pepper, Ekaterinburg, Russia
  • Agency website: http://redpr.ru
  • Creative Director: Danil Golovanov, Nikita Kharisov
  • Art Director: Irina Korotich
  • Copywriter: Ivan Sosnin
  • Production: How We Love
  • Post-production: Evgeny Kharchenko
  • Sound design: RIA Vladimir-Region
  • Published: 01.09.2012
  
  
• June Olsen designed an awesome infographic about famous college dropouts.
• Paul Kramer has a new advertising blog called Ad A Glance.

News Roundup

dENiZEN - Light Painting Video by LICHTFAKTOR

Some of these news updates are a couple months old due to my busy schedule of late.

• In 2011, children spent more time than ever in front of the TV. In France, children aged 4-14 spent an extra six minutes a day watching television, or 2h18min. Italian children meanwhile extended their lead as some of the biggest consumers of TV in Europe, with 2 hours 42 minutes a day spent in front of the small screen, three minutes more than in 2010.
  - press release from Media Metrie

• Peter Rosch has written a new book, My Dead Friend Sarah, that is in the top 100 of Amazon this week. More details to come in an upcoming post.
• Neiman, a public relations company, has re-launched Go Sunoco, a website dedicated to highlighting Sunoco's retail offerings.

• The face of education is changing, technology is king and we want to equip students with the knowledge to optimize their college experience from a technology standpoint.
  - Find out more at Hack College.

Portfolio Night 10 returning to Austin

I wrote about Portfolio Night before and I even asked Ignacio if he could expand to Austin. Well, it's back.

More info and $30 tickets are on sale now!

Sau Paulo says no thanks to billboards

In 2006, the mayor of São Paulo mayor banned the use of outdoor advertising, including billboards and transit. Initially, the business community was alarmed, and worried that there would be millions in lost revenue and tens of thousands of lost jobs. But a 2011 study showed that 70 percent of the city’s residents find the ban to be beneficial. The ban…

Via Populous

More pictures on tirafoto's flickr.

AMC's The Pitch

I stumbled upon AMC's new TV show about advertising after going to the FKM website. What a fascinating inside look in to pitching a client and the breakneck speed at creating campaigns. The first episode features WDWC vs McKinney pitching for Subway's business.

Note: Even though the video says preview, it is a full-length episode.

About the Show
AMC's new original series The Pitch offers viewers an intense, gripping, never-before-seen glimpse inside America’s top ad agencies. Each week watch two agencies as they compete to win a new client the only way they can: by going head-to-head in a cut-throat, winner-takes-all showdown, a presentation known as The Pitch. With only seven days to prepare, the pressure to perform is intense. The whining, the brainstorming, the blue-sky thinking: it’s all here as the teams work around the clock and pray for the moment of inspiration that will win them the job and keep their companies alive. The drama is real, the stakes are high, and the clock is ticking. From the producers of Undercover Boss.

Witness the pressure…The passion…The Pitch. Premieres Monday, April 30 9/8c on AMC

Edit: The New York Times gave a breakdown of all agencies participating in the show:

...Fifteen agencies agreed to appear, all of them small or midsize independent shops. (One, the Ad Store, competes in two episodes, so the total is 15 rather than 16.) Many larger, better-known agencies declined, worried about revealing the ingredients in their secret sauces; among them were BBDO, Leo Burnett, DDB, DraftFCB, JWT, McCann Erickson, Ogilvy & Mather and TBWA/Chiat/Day.

The Grey Group, a unit of WPP, said no because “the story is not about us,” said James R. Heekin, chairman and chief executive, but rather “it’s about building our clients’ brands first.”

“We don’t have anything against anyone doing a reality show,” he added, “but it’s not our style.”

Another well-known giant courted by “The Pitch” was Deutsch. Although “we love the premise,” said Val DiFebo, chief executive of the New York office of Deutsch, owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies, “our ‘reality’ precluded us from participating.”

“We’re eager to see the goods and explore if there is a competitive advantage for us to participate,” she added.

The agencies in “The Pitch” are: the Ad Store, Bandujo Advertising and Design, BooneOakley, Bozell, Conversation, DiMassimo Goldstein (a k a DiGo), FKM, the Hive, Jones Advertising, Kovel/Fuller, McKinney, Muse Communications, SK&G, WDCW LA (the Culver City, Calif., office of Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener) and Womenkind...

No big egos please and pick up the phone

These are two sage articles about professional communication. My boss sent me the link about calling people rather than e-mailing. Now that I think about it, these guidelines also apply to personal life.

Ninety–four (94) percent said working on teams in a collaborative manner was essential. They specifically related this to the creative sector where the give and take on ideas can make the difference. This means the ability to work with others in tandem is a necessary requirement to fully explore solutions and the success of projects. There is little room for egos or proprietary attitudes.

source: 4 Reasons to work well and play well with others

The next time you experience an issue over email, ask yourself if it is something that would be better served by a real conversation. Then have the courage to stop emailing and pick up the phone. Or even better: have a meeting.

source: Don't Send That Email. Pick up the Phone!

News Roundup

Brand Reversions by Graham Smith

• Check out the case study for Rally.org.


• Ryan Steely from SOA32 has a new illustration to be donated to Grind for Life for fundraising. Grind for Life is an organization that provides financial assistance to cancer patients and their families when traveling long distances to doctors and hospitals.


• Adfortel launches unique mobile advertising service with Yesss! in Austria and is a unique combination of Adfortel’s two services: VoiceAds and TuneAds.


• The F-Factor influences your purchase decisions the most. From May 2011 Trendwatching.com


• Congrats to Orel Bitan and Jessica Kalkberman for winning the Cannes Lions "YouTube GoodWork" 2011 contest!
  
  

  The "Love146" viral video was created independently and with 0 budget (the actress is my little sister, the room belongs to my nephew) and still managed to make a buzz proving that good ideas are stronger than anything. It even succeeded to reach the media, and was broadcast (2 times before winning+1 after winning) on "Channel 10", the second most viewed news channel on Israeli TV: http://youtu.be/KLxb6eRl5zE
  
  The creative:
  The video seems to be a video which sells toys BUT when you roll over the girl in the video, you discover she also has a price + a link which leads to a ‘LOVE146’ video with the massage:
  Two children are sold every minute - End child sex slavery & exploitation.

  
  
  Advertised brand: Social& Charity
  Advert title(s): LOVE146.
  Advertising Agency: Independent, Tel Aviv, Israel
  Art Director: Jessica kalbermann, Orel Bitan
  Copywriter: Orel Bitan
  Published: May, 2011

Facebook is your life

Via Adfreak

Digital Agencies.

Interesting benchmark on how we're doing on digital. These agencies I love, but we need to get on the boat and remember we are in the business of speaking in behalf of our brands no matter what the media is. The message and the experience tied to consumer-product relevance.

Which makes me think. Souldn't our first brand be our own agencies?

Thoughts?

Free Book Giveaway of The Creative Process Illustrated

It's been a month since the last post (job hunting is tough in this economy) so I thought I'd make it worthwhile. Former UT Advertising teachers Glenn Griffin and Deb Morrison have written a groundbreaking book about the creative process.

To win a signed copy of The Creative Process Illustrated: How Advertising's Big Ideas Are Born by W. Glenn Griffin and Deborah Morrison, 1) please leave a comment saying why you like this blog. 2) Be a facebook fan of The Ranch Blog. The winner will be randomly picked by me.

How did you choose whom to profile?
We collected nearly 80 of these drawings over a period of several years. When we found a publisher for the book, we worked with our editor to choose 30 that we thought were most representative of the varied and interesting submissions we’d received. It was a tough cut to make – so tough that the editor permitted us to include a few more as we started writing the manuscript. We really learned so much from every drawing.

What was the inspiration behind the title?
Our publisher actually proposed the title of the book! We’d always called the project “Pure Process” because it represented a study of personal creative thinking as opposed to the partner- or team-driven process that’s typical in advertising. The folks at HOW Books thought The Creative Process Illustrated would be more descriptive of the book’s content and make it more appealing to potential readers. We still love “Pure Process” (you can’t beat that alliteration!) but we like the new title, too. “Pure Process” lives on as the title of our website, so it’s still out there.



Both of you have extensive teaching experience about advertising and creativity and you have touched the lives of so many students. Why write a book now?
Wish we had some brilliant master plan to share with you (!), but the book just sort of happened in the right spot for both of us. Deborah had just finished a book called Idea Industry with Brett Robbs, a great colleague of ours at the University of Colorado – Boulder when we decided to write a new book proposal based on these process drawings we’d been collecting for the past several years and the insights we’d derived from them. We got a book contract in the Spring of 2009 and the rest is history!




Part of the Pure Process mantra is "...also about good stewardship of that process: doing good work, being responsible and revealing the industry as the force for positive change it is and can be." What are your thoughts about the post about a consumer who is appalled by advertising? '
That letter has made the rounds and a lot of people are talking about it, but why? Is there anything we didn’t already know in that letter? Of course there’s advertising out there that’s dumb. Of course some of it annoys people. And (of course) there are some cranky folks out there who won’t ever be happy with anything we do. We are big believers, however, that advertising CAN be smart, CAN engage people and actually do positive things for the world. Nope, we can’t tell you what went wrong with that sausage campaign, sir. But we do know that there are terrific people in our business who know about the “Brians” out there and don’t want to invite more criticism of the industry by doing bad work. Instead, they want to show people what advertising can do when it’s done well. We see lots of examples (thank goodness) of great work out there that gets lots of love from consumers for all the right reasons. That’s the kind of work we want to keep pushing our students to do.



How much sweat equity (hours spent writing, researching and interviewing) is in this book?
Hmmmm. Enough to make us ask two questions: (1) Why the hell did we sign up for this? (2) Okay, what’s the next book going to be about?
We figure that’s about right.

News Roundup

Thanks to Naveed's Weekly Digest for all the links below.

• Tan Le demonstrates a headset that reads its user's brainwaves.


• Hello HTML5. Goodbye Flash.


• Some ground breaking news about the new health care reform bill: Children strongly oppose one aspect of it.


• Naveed gave a presentation about the effectiveness of the Old Spice campaign to a packed house.


• There are three types of happiness. Which one are you?

An Open Letter To All Of Advertising And Marketing

Click on image to enlarge.

I am not sure if this is written by a real consumer or someone posing as an every day joe. Either way, it really makes you think about where and what advertising and marketing people are coming up with these days.

Via PSFK

Recap of Portfolio Night 8 - Austin

Note about the illustration:
Austin is famous for having N. America's largest colony of Mexican free-tailed bats underneath the S. Congress Bridge(750,000).

Portfolio Night is a thirty-five city event where aspiring junior creatives and advertising students show their portfolios to seasoned and highly regarded art directors (such as Ignacio the founder of Portfolio Night), copywriters and creative directors. This year on May 20, Austin was included in the creative host cities for the first time.

READ MORE...

Two ways to make your brand really stand out

I enjoy reading the Brandchannel e-mail newsletters as they do a good job of keeping up and reporting on the latest branding news. Below are two brands they recently featured.



KIND snacks differentiates their brand by doing cause marketing using social media, random acts of kindness and other methods.

READ MORE...

Happy Fathers Day 2010

Via The Ranch (from last year) and Fatherhood.gov

Cannes Young Lions Competition - entry 2

The Cannes Young Lions Competition is underway with 8 days left to vote. Below is the entry, and a brief Q & A, of Jessica kalbermann and Orel Bitan of BBDO (Israel).





How did you come up with the idea?

So... Jessica and I started to compeer the live of those poor children to the reach lives of world leaders (that is how we matched each glass to each leader's country).

We asked our selves how come when world leaders encounter a general problem they will find many rezones to disregard it. But when the problem affects their own lives they will somehow find a fast solution.

READ MORE...

Cannes Young Lions Competition - entry 1

The Cannes Young Lions Competition is underway with 8 days left to vote. Below is the entry, and a brief Q & A, of Wojciech Kowalik of the London College of Communication.




How did you come up with the idea?

As the brief was centered not on the sanitation and water crisis in poor countries, but on the summit that will try to tackle it, I thought it could be
a good idea to use peoples' natural skepticism towards the world leaders.

Really, just a few people are naive enough to think that those big guys really consider Millennium Development Goals more than just a PR. Public isn't stupid.

READ MORE...

A non-profit agency doing non-profit work

In this economy running a non-profit is difficult. Soliciting donors while balancing high stress on a shoestring budget is not fun. On top of that, most non-profits are most lacking in marketing and IT help.

This is why Serve Marketing + Advertising, a non-profit agency, is so remarkable.

One of their recent campaigns, Close The Gap, targets salary disparities between men and women while another campaign was for the American Diabetes Association.

Here in Texas, two agencies come to mind when thinking about social causes. Sherry Matthews Advocacy Marketing in Austin is known for positive social change and IS7 in Dallas focuses on interactive work for non-profits.

Very clever-sneaky-advertising

This is very clever advertising from Marlboro.

Via Graphicology.

Imagine yourself as a major sponsor of the biggest and most successful Formula One racing team. Your identity and brand is intertwined with the race team and to some extent Formula One itself. You are in negotiations to financially sponsor this race team for the next five years and are willing to pay about $1 billion to do so. Unfortunately for you, the European Union is set to pass a ban on cigarette advertising and your company manufactures and globally markets cigarettes.

The law goes something like this: The Tobacco Advertising Directive: Passed by the European Parliament and Council in 2003 (see:IP/02/1788), the Directive bans tobacco advertising in the print media, on radio and over the internet. It also prohibits tobacco sponsorship of cross-border cultural and sporting events. The best I can tell is that this went into effect in 2005. Right around the same time as your contract negotiations.