by Next Wave Team | Feb 23, 2006 | Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Design, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns, Marketing & the Web, Viral Marketing, Web strategy
I recently read a post by someone in advertising (who probably shouldn’t be in advertising) saying “I think this is too long and it’s failure to have a climax disappoints, but it’s an interesting idea” about an amazing spot by UK Honda which you can view here: http://www.honda.co.uk/civic/ click watch civic once it’s loaded.
While the flash movie loads- they ask “when was the last time you felt a connection with your car?”
And what does this spot do? It elevates the regular noises a car makes- to a musical experience. It makes a suggestion that the sounds of the road are music to your ears. Something that would normally be done by a luxury brand- but here, it’s for the bottom of the line Honda Civic.
By the same token- when was the last time you cared about the roof of your car?
Go take a look at this brilliant use of Flash (a technology that is often misused by ad agencies who don’t understand search) in the creation of a design your own roof site for, who else, Mini. This may be one of Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s last efforts on the brand, but it’s a brilliant one. Now, you aren’t just buying a Mini- but making a personalized statement- even if you never actually get the vinyl printed and put on your roof. I’m sure the Roof Studio will gain some viral exposure.
Even the language in the sign-up that is required to “Post” your roof follows in the brand voice.
My only question is if someone is censoring submissions?
These are two examples of making you feel closer to a mass produced product, without screaming the lame-o features, advantages, benefits type laundry list that most marketers insist on.
We’ve got our mantra here at The Next Wave- our own definition of marketing- “Create Lust • Evoke Trust” TM that we feel better describes what we do than the words “ad agency.”
What do you think?
Thanks, as always to friends for pointing me to these things: Dan Obrovac of Lakota Archery sent me the Honda spot- and former Next Wave superstar creative talent Carl DeCaire for the Roof Studio.
by Next Wave Team | Feb 12, 2006 | Advertising, Design, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns
the 2006 ADDY awards garnered one bronze for the Guerrilla marketing campaign at the guerrilla marketing seminar which was placed in the Agency Self Promotion category. The ADDY awards don’t have a category for Gurrilla campaigns- so it got lumped into the high dollar “look at what I can do with an unlimited budget for myself category.”
And we won silver for the Zen Windows “Never spend more than 5 minutes with a window salesman” in the highly competitive direct mail category - where we were also competing with super high dollar direct marketing pieces for Teradata, Lexis Nexis, Reynolds and Reynolds etc. Again- when you consider this ad was placed in JB Dollar Stretcher (a regional monthly coupon book) and not a big budget targeted direct mail piece- it became a bit unfair. If it had been competing in the consumer magazine category- (which the client couldn’t afford) it would have won. We’re advancing it to the regionals in the hopes that other judges will see it for what it is- exceptional advertising in a typically mundane category.
The Dayton Daily News had no mention of the ADDY’s or coverage- but did have a column by the editor about how we should support local businesses like Malone Camera or Dingleberry’s (both family owned businesses that are closing a location). The Dayton Ad Club has posted the list of winners.
I was really happy to see The Agency Group win for their banners on “The Merc” - showcasing how great promotion can add value to Real Estate development- and that Wilson Advertising Group won the “Best ads that didn’t make it” category this year- since 2 years ago they won a bunch of awards that had to be stripped away for submitting work that wasn’t placed.
by Next Wave Team | Feb 6, 2006 | Advertising, BMW Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of TV, Guerrilla Campaigns, Viral Marketing, Web strategy
The 2006 Superbowl wasn’t a very exciting game- and from an advertising standpoint- well, the game did make a bunch of mediocre spots more interesting.
I’m not going to review the spots- you can read someone like Ad Age’s Bob Garfield for his commentary (may require subscription) http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=47764
I’ll stick to maximizing your ad budget effectiveness- if you’re going to spend 2.5 million dollars to run a spot- shouldn’t you do your best to turn it into a viral marketing effort?
Viral marketing is what gave us www.subservientchicken.com for Burger King. A low budget effort to launch BK’s tendercrisp chicken sandwich- that you can have your way. So, to have your way with the chicken on the site- you tell it what to do- ala web porn (the chicken is wearing stockings and a garter belt). For less than $30 thousand dollars, BK was reeling in millions of viewers, all telling the chicken to do the macerena.
Back to the Superbowl spots- we’ve said over and over- post all your ads on your site, be they print, radio, outdoor or especially TV. If you give the ads to your customers, they may distribute them for you. Nike and Apple get this- as apparently does Budweiser this year- with a complete page of ads for you to view- and even download into your iPod. (more…)
by Next Wave Team | Feb 5, 2006 | Advertising, Design, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of TV
When you take two old school media companies, throw them into a partnership to pilot a sinking ship, and then throw a self-indulgent brand name on top- with an uninspired logo- you can start counting the days. Never mind that television as we know it will die off to IPTV faster than Henry Ford made buggy whips obsolete.
CBS and Warner Brothers decided to pull the plug on UPN and the WB networks and combine the cream into the lamely named CW television network. To demonstrate how lame the ideation on this name project was:
The CBS chief explained that the name of the new net is an amalgamation of the first initials of CBS and Warner Bros. “We couldn’t call it the WC for obvious reasons,” Moonves joked. (Brandweek)
The true joke is that most of their target audience wouldn’t even know what a “Water Closet” is.
Naming a brand isn’t something to joke about- much less use as little creative thought as what must have went into this project- even the mark is so off target as to be embarrassing. Can you see kids wearing this logo?
Let’s look at the success of MTV as a brand reaching the youth market for starters, or Virgin. The days of call signs and station numbers meaning anything are long over, the key is brand voice and image. If this new network has any hopes of building an audience/community, they should hurry back to the drawing board.
I wonder if CBS chief Moonves has any idea that CW stands for “Country Western” or for even better yet “continuous wave” radio- using morse code- yet another buggy whip.
There are tons of branding agencies out there, including The Next Wave- my advice is hire one quickly and kill this brand, before it kills itself.
What do you think?
other links: MSNBC: CBS, Warner Brothers forming a new TV network
by Next Wave Team | Jan 28, 2006 | Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns, Marketing & the Web, Web strategy
Maybe you should reconsider using them. After all, if they are in charge of your marketing- and people searching for your business end up at your competitor’s site, they aren’t doing a very good job for you, are they?
Every month, our web stats show the same thing- lots of people looking for our competition and ending up here. There is a reason for that- yes, we’re smart.
We understand that people searching for answers on the web don’t always know what they are looking for- at least until they’ve found it. Sometimes they just can’t get the right terms in the search box- or know what will get them the right answer.
That’s why content always beats pretty pictures.
It’s probably what got you here reading this.
So, if you were searching for Graphica in Dayton OH, or Buchanan and Associates in Columbus, or Sunrise Advertising in Cincinnati, the question is are you still sure they were who you were searching for?
Here are 134 agency search phrases that brought people here in Jan 2006 instead of to the agency they thought they wanted:
1-earth
1-earth dayton
ad ventures
ad ventures dayton
associates buchanan ohio
axis media and marketing dayton ohio
axis media dayton ohio
axis tricom miami
b/r/c marketing in dayton ohio
bagby & company
bagby branding
barefoot advertising
barefoot advertising cincinnati
barefoot advertising inc. cincinnati
barefoot design in cincinnati ohio
bingdesign
bluedog advertising dayton ohio
buchanan & associates advertising
buchanan & associates advertising and marketing
buchanan & associates and advertising
buchanan & associates and ohio
buchanan & associates columbus ohio
buchanan & associates dublin oh
buchanan & associates ohio
buchanan and associates
buchanan and associates advertising
buchanan and associates columbus
buchanan and associates design
buchanan and associates dublin oh
buchanan and associates dublin ohio
buchanan and associates ohio
buchanan associates
buchanan associates columbus advertising
buchanan associates columbus ohio public relations
buchanan associates columbus public relations
buchanan associates google
catalyst creative group dayton oh
centerville ohio eastpoint
cloonan and associates
cloonan associates
cloonan dayton ohio
conrad phillips vutech
conrad phillips vutech in columbus ohio
creative department sycamore street design cincinnati
crispin porter columbus oh
frank phillips advertising agency ohio toledo
gee jeffrey & partners. cincinnati
gee jeffrey and partners ad agency
gjp ad agency
gjp advertising agency
graphic impact
graphic impact dayton
graphic impact kettering ohio
graphica dayton
graphica dayton oh
graphica dayton ohio
graphica design dayton ohio
graphica miamisburg ohio
graphica ohio
hafenbrack dayton ohio
krienik & assoc
libby perszyk kathman - lpk inc. cincinnati oh 45202
lightborne inc. cincinnati ohio\
lpk cincinnati
lpk design cincinnati
lunne marketing
lunne marketing dayton oh
lunne marketing group
market 2 performance dayton
mcdougall marketing communications
mcdougall marketing service
mckinney silver viral
merkley and partners bad
method columbus ohio advertising firms
neo communications
northlich
novinity
novinity columbus ohio
novinity inc
pelican advertising cincinnati
penny ohlman
powers agency in cincinnati ohio
real art design
real art design dayton
real art design group
real art design group dayton ohio
resource interactive
sabatino ad agency dayton ohio
sabatino and day
sabatino day
salon tv spots
selke & associates
selke and associates
stephens advertising
stephens advertising dayton
stephens advertising inc kettering ohio
stephens advertising kettering ohio
sunrise advertising
sunrise advertising cincinnati
tdh mktg. & communications dayton
ten united 375 north front st
ten united advertising ohio
tenunited columbus
the concept company
the creative department ad agency cincinnati sycamore street
the rivets advertising
turner marketing 137 n. main street dayton oh
turner marketing and ohio
turner marketing dayton
turner marketing dayton ohio
turner marketing inc. dayton ohio
visual marketing associates
vutech and associates columbus ohio
wch marketing communications dayton oh
weber geiger & kalat
weber geiger kalat dayton
website for wch marketing communications dayton oh
willow creative group
willow creative group cincinnati
willow creative group in cincinnati
wilson advertising dayton ohio
wilson advertising ohio
wilson advertising ohio blog
wilson advertising ohio dayton
wilson agency advertising miamisburg ohio
wilsonadv
www.behrdesign
www.tdh marketing & communications inc.com
yeck yes t-shirt
young isaac advertising columbus ohio
ze design
ze design dayton ohio
zero base advertising columbus ohio
If you still feel you need to work with any of the above- the contact information you are seeking is here:
Agencies that aren’t The Next Wave.
Place a bet- we can help you build a better site than they can.
What do you think?
For a free consultation on how to cruise to the top of search- call us, 937.228.4433
We’re called The Next Wave for a reason.
by Next Wave Team | Jan 26, 2006 | Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns
We won’t know if we’ve won silver or gold (the infamous head) until Feb 11 2006, but we’ve at least won bronze for 2 of the 3 entries we submitted this year.
We still haven’t hung the awards from 2003 or 2004 since we’ve run out of wall space in the bathroom, so we’ve cut down on entries this year.
Typically about 90% of what we enter gets in- and most of it wins silver (the gold is a best of category).
This year the Zen Windows direct mail ad is in the running- as is our guerrilla campaign at the ad club “guerrilla marketing” seminar.
You can see the work by following these two links:
Zen Windows: http://thenextwave.biz/zenwin-ad.html
Guerrilla: http://thenextwave.biz/tnw/index.php?s=guerrilla+seminar
what do you think?
