Kingsford Charcoal Winter Ad Brings The Laughs

Posted by ryan as Advertising, Humor

Here is a good ad that has the timing right. A funny way to appeal to all of us who have cabin fever. Bring on spring and summer, I am ready.

Little Brother Does Dorittos

Posted by ryan as Advertising, Fun & Games, Humor

My friend Little Brother does a commercial for Dorittos that is very funny. Check it out here.

http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/video/5099

Not Forgotten

Posted by ryan as Advertising, Art, Career, Design, Designer, Interweb, Life Path

So I’ve been neglecting this site recently. I have not forgotten about this site and plan to start posting often again real soon. I have some things in the works and when the time is right I will make it known publicly. Long story short I’ve moved on from my previous employer and opportunity is knocking. Good times people.

CP+B Wake Up

Posted by ryan as Advertising, Humor

Remember when CP+B made commercials that had humor in them? Mocking previous burger commercials with lines like meat and cheese and meat and cheese. That to me was classic. They went on to create a few commercials in this series that are gold.

CP+B + Zune = Fail

Posted by ryan as Advertising, Bummer

I got to tell you this latest campaign that Crispin Porter + Bogusky has put together for Microsoft is just all around bad. Its almost hard to believe that a creative firm like CP+B would even want to even try to rep such an unreal slant on Microsoft versus Apple products. I’m willing to bet that they don’t use M products themselves. But lets give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they just really like the challenge of trying to trick the world into believing that getting a Microsoft product instead of Apple is a great deal and you will be happy. That may even prove true, as long as you never look into to Apple products and really compare them. That’s what they should add to this campaign. “Hey you, don’t use Apple products, they cost too much. Don’t worry your pretty little head about this one, Microsoft has you taken care of. Just please quickly leave that Apple store and come with me down to Best Buy and lets spend $1500 bucks on a machine that you can patch every month or so. Its one hell of a bargain.”

As far as this Zune commercial is concerned, this is ridiculous. I just got to say the whole $15.00 a month or your music player is worthless over the get a music player that you can fill with music the way the rest of the world gets music is just dumb. How dumb are potential Zune buyers? Apparently CP+B thinks they are real dumb. You find it, you can keep it!

A.A. Boos Website Launch

Posted by ryan as Advertising, Career, Design, Interweb, Portfolio, Web Devlopment

We recently launched a new site for a local contractor. To quote the actual website

“A. A. Boos & Sons, Inc. is a full service Union General Contractor with our own combined skilled labor force, 150 field employees, consisting of bricklayers, cement finishers, ironworkers, operating engineers, laborers; servicing our clients in Ohio, Michigan and other states.”

Its a great site with a smooth vibe. I am happy with the direction this project was lucky to go in.

Ad Content As Content

Posted by ryan as Advertising, Bummer

Oh yeah, ad conent woven into the story line and product placement is what I call must see tv. I don’t want to have to wait until the commercials to see a commercial, give me that right in the show I am tuning on to view. Ad Age has an article Subway Places More Than Just Product in NBC’s ‘Chuck’ and they tout the new greatness of advertisers to get into the show’s story line. Yeah, they not only have the logo prominetly placed in the show but he also says the tag line, how glorious! (sarcasm) Wasn’t this tried in the 70’s with limited success? Do they really believe that a generation that is far more sceptical of advertising messages to really buy into having this kind of blantant product endorsement written right into their show? Give me a break. And that’s exactly what they will get from their audience. Sure they will solve the problem of people down loading their content, only problem is they will have no audience watching the show either. The model must adapt, but this isn’t going to be the successful solution. Its an easy call from my seat.

Clean Coal Commercial

Posted by ryan as Advertising, Environment, Humor, News

Have you seen the latest clean coal commercials airing right now? I love the line, clean coal is supported by the coal industry, the most trusted name in coal. Good stuff. The award winning Coen brothers worked on this commercial for The Reality Coalition, which  is a project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the League of Conservation Voters, and tells the truth about coal today — it isn’t clean.

Read the LA Times article Coen brothers’ TV ad ridicules ‘clean coal’ for more on this story.

Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites

Posted by ryan as Advertising, Bummer, Career, Design, Designer, Interweb, Web Devlopment

Smashing Magazine is a great website. Anyone who is a frequent reader knows that. They recently wrote a great article “10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites”. It is spot on for so many points.

#7 especially hits home for me as I feel this one often. (7. You’re Not Getting Value From Your Web Team)

Whether they have an in-house Web team or use an external agency, many organizations fail to get the most from their Web designers. Web designers are much more than pixel pushers. They have a wealth of knowledge about the Web and how users interact with it. They also understand design techniques, including grid systems, white space, color theory and much more.

Treating designers as pixel pushers wastes their design experience: post from Twitter complaining about being a pixel pusher

It is therefore wasteful to micro-manage by asking them to “make the logo bigger” or to “move that 3 pixels to the left.” By doing so, you are reducing their role to that of a software operator and wasting the wealth of experience they bring.

If you want to get the maximum return on your Web team, present it with problems, not solutions. For example, if you’re targeting your website at teenage girls, and the designer goes for corporate blue, suggest that your audience might not respond well to that color. Do not tell him or her to change it to pink. This way, the designer has the freedom to find a solution that may even be better than your choice. You allow your designer to solve the problem you have presented.

> Continue reading 10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites

Super Bowl VLIII TV Ads

Posted by ryan as Advertising, News

I work in advertising and so it goes without saying that I pay attention to the ads. The thing is, I was not that impressed with the ads this year. I like clever, I did not get much clever. I did however get to see my friend Preston in a Bud Light Lime commercial. Preston is always a good time and can make a party so this commercial isn’t a far stretch from reality. The only other commercial that is memorable to me is the Pepsi one with all of the licensed footage. That one had to cost a pretty penny.

Final outcome, Steelers 27 | Cardinals 23