Ad execs and their celebrity doppelgangers

Genealogy is probably as titillating a hobby as, say, stamp collecting. But genealogy website MyHeritage.com has lent itself a little more sex appeal by tapping into our obsession with celebrities. A free program allows users (after free registration) to upload their own photos and find what star they most resemble. It is amusing, confusing and definitely not to be taken seriously. (Race, gender and age do not apply here, so the results are hit-or-miss.) In the interest of time-suckage, I decided to run a few of the ad industry’s more famous faces through the database and my results were, um, interesting. For example, Alex Bogusky and actor Johnny Depp appeared to have been separated at birth and Paul Woolmington did bear an odd resemblence to James Earl Jones. Lee Clow registered as most closely resembling Tom Waits. Donny Deutsch, despite being on TV, must not be included in the database of 3,200 celebrities, because his portrait brought up a photo of Christian Bale. Some results were even farther afield. The software paired Jeff Goodby (ponytail, glasses) with Winston Churchill (bald, jowels). Even less flattering: Ann Hayden’s funky glasses earned her comparisons to Peter Sellers and Elvis Costello. Linda Kaplan Thaler most resembles hip-hopping Eminem, according to the computer, although hip-swiveler Shakira was a close second. And, not to be left out, a pic of Marian Salzman brought up Gilmore Girls' Alexis Bledel and Sarah Jessica Parker.

—Posted by Deanna Zammit

Published on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Memos fly at IPG but don’t quite add up

[This item updates an earlier post, which frankly we had to rewrite, given ongoing developments.] It seems that AdFreak has become AdLeak over the past few days. It all started with Adweek.com’s story about a possible merger of Draft and Foote Cone & Belding. In response to that story, IPG CEO Michael Roth (shown here) tossed off a memo admonishing the troops for leaking information to the press—a memo that was, of course, itself immediately leaked to the press. FCB CEO Steve Blamer and Draft CEO Howard Draft issued memos of their own to their staffs, which were also immediately handed over to our colleagues at Adweek. (You can read all three memos by clicking on the thumbmail images at the very bottom this post.) Let’s have a closer look. 1. ROTH: “During the past week or so, we’ve taken a real step back and lost our discipline—on matters ranging from Interpublic strategies to the very future of the group.” Since when has there been discipline over at IPG? The McCann boys can’t even count. 2. ROTH CONTINUES: “There will be no ‘takeover’ of any of our companies by another company.” OK, except the Adweek.com story didn’t use the word takeover. Getting the facts right may be as tough as balancing the books over there. 3. BLAMER: “Please understand that if we are to do anything of this sort it will be a merger of equals.” DRAFT: “We are firmly in control of our destiny.” Certainly sounds like Draft is going to end up on top. Some merger of equals. 4. ROTH: “We must stop talking out of school and putting individual agendas ahead of the common good.” If you don’t want something leaked, here’s a hint: You can start by not e-mailing it all over the company.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (6)

Your dog could be the next Old Navy pooch

Old Navy wants to know, “Does your dog have what it takes to be Old Navy’s next star?” The budget retail chain is asking dog owners to submit photos and “personality profiles”of their canines online. The winning pooch will replace Magic, Old Navy's last spokes-mutt, who appeared with the bespectacled “style icon” Carrie Donovan, actress Morgan Fairchild, and others in bizarre and campy Old Navy ads since 1995. His last commercial was in 2001, the company said, and his current whereabouts are unexplained. Is he picking through that big sale rack in the sky or just opting to "spend more time with family?" Either way, I wonder who could bear to enter their own beloved pet in this competition? Even if I still had my now-deceased Valentine—a tiny, white French Coton de Tulear—she would not be caught dead (pardon the expression, darling) hawking cheap-ass Old Navy clothing. Perhaps she would front D&G or Dior, but not a place that sells denim jackets and 6 for $10 cotton undies. Then again, Valentine was the most pampered dog ever. How else to explain why she lived until the ripe old age of 21?

—Posted by Celeste Ward

Published on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (9)

You say mobisode, I say mobizine ...

One sign that digital media is hot again has to be the increasing frequency with which we see people coming up with cutesy new nouns to describe new media forms. Thus, it’s time to discuss what differentiates a “mobizine” from a “mobisode”, and what, if anything, either has to do with the Mafia, or for that matter, this guy. Anyway, earlier this week, we, and our sister pub, Adweek, covered the new “mobisodes” for the Honda Fit. Just now on business.com’s advertising and marketing news page, we see a reference to “mobizines” being offered in the U.K. to promote the Sony Ericcson Walkman phone. In Sony's case, the company is referring to a mobile music magazine. So what’s the difference? We’re going to jump right in and speculate that a "mobisode" contains episodic video, while a mobizine doesn't ... necessarily ... maybe. As for what a better authority—Wikipedia—thinks, the site says the term “mobisode” has actually been trademarked by Fox “for a broadcast television episode specially made for viewing on a mobile telephone screen” while no one has yet had the urge to define “mobizine.” The world—or some of it—is waiting, for anyone caring to take the plunge.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Monopoly evicting Boardwalk, Atlantic City fights back

You know Atlantic City has an image problem when Hasbro is taking suggestions on how to replace high-rent property “Boardwalk,” in its Monopoly game, via an online poll. Sure, it's only a special edition “Here & Now” version, but doesn’t that in itself suggest A.C. isn’t the prime draw it was at the turn of the last century? The Borgata Casino aside, anyone who has been to A.C. is sure to have noticed that the place is looking pretty tattered. The beachside gambling strip is surrounded by pawn shops and desperate-looking A.C. residents and the casinos themselves are clogged with cigarette smoke and white sneakered, sweatshirt-wearing day-trippers. Not to mention that the city’s slogan—"Always Turned On"—evokes a bus station pervert, not a glamorous, up-all-night party town. Getting kicked off the Monopoly board might be A.C.’s rock bottom, but with a lot of hard work, it might just claw its way back to the status of say, Baltic Avenue.

—Posted by Deanna Zammit

Published on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Apple advertising alert: man your TV sets

Some of our fellow blogs are reporting that we can expect an advertising blitz from Apple starting next week. CEO Steve Jobs mentioned the new campaign—but in typical Apple fashion declined to discuss details—at the company’s annual meeting. One can easily speculate that the new campaign will be the principal marketing push for Macs that—horrors!—use the Intel chip. At any rate, since Apple ads tend to stir up interest, if not controversy, we’ll be keeping an eye out. Also, since the "iPod + iTunes" advertising has come to represent the Apple brand in general recently, we’ll be interested to see if there’s any carryover in this new campaign now that Apple seems it’s getting back to advertising computers again.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Subliminal advertising: not total crap?

Maybe all the fear about the nefarious effects of subliminal advertising decades ago wasn’t paranoia after all. Researchers at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands believe there may be something to it. They asked 61 volunteers to perform a nonsense task of counting a string of letter B’s on a screen as a 23-millisecond message flashed. One group was shown the words Lipton Ice; the other was shown the meaningless words Nipeic Tol. After the test, among those who said they were thirsty, the majority of the people in the Lipton Ice group chose that drink over the popular local bottled water, Spa Rood. The majority of those who saw the jumbled letters chose bottled water. Eeen-teresting. Just when you thought it was safe to watch TV again.

—Posted by Jim Lovel

Published on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Broadway marked with number of the beast

Sidewalk-graffiti marketing is off-putting in the best of times, and is often illegal. It’s even worse when it references Lucifer. We spotted these beastly stencilings on lower Broadway yesterday, close to AdFreak HQ. Is it part of the campaign for the remake of The Omen? Does it have something to do with spaceship Jesus? Does it actually read “999” and thus is nothing to worry about? Tough questions—ones that the city’s vandalism police may be asking as we speak.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Photo: Manuela Oprea

Published on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sorrell bashes ‘wounded animal’ IPG

True to his chosen profession, WPP CEO Martin Sorrell knows how to turn a colorful phrase. Take his comments Thursday morning at the International Advertising Association New York chapter’s Global Marketing Summit. Asked about other advertising holding companies, he described Interpublic Group as a company that has taken to making “irrational acts of a wounded animal.” The comment came a day after word surfaced that IPG was in talks to combine its Draft and Foot Cone & Belding agencies. Sir Martin did not specifically cite which IPG acts he was referring to. But others have questioned the logic of the Draft/ FCB move, with one ad exec calling it “desperate.” Sorrell also had a response to recent public criticism of him by a person he didn’t name but who was obviously Euro RSCG CEO Ron Berger. Earlier this month at the 4A’s management conference, Berger, the outgoing chairman of the organization, accused Sorrell of being more concerned with his company’s bottom line and less concerned with the value of his agency brands and their service to clients. The criticism, said Sorrell, was made with “no research” and “no insight.” So back it up next time, Ron. Meanwhile, Joe Uva, worldwide CEO of OMD, was the lunchtime speaker at the IAA event Thursday and had the crowd roaring with his heartfelt appreciation for being invited to speak. But the thank-you was simply a setup for yet another slam on Sorrell. “It’s not so often I get to be the tallest,” Uva quipped.

—Posted by Steve McClellan

Photo: Jim Winslet

Published on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Martin Sorrell

Campbell's picks new mama's boys

Am I out of the loop in never having heard about the Campbell’s Chunky Soup “Mama’s Boys” campaign? And I would think that, as the mother of an 8-year-old boy, I might be in the demo. But no matter, the campaign continues, with (can it be a coincidence?), the quarterbacks of the two Super Bowl teams being picked as the “boys.”—Ben Roethlisberger of the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, and Matt Hasselbeck of the Seattle Seahawks. Alongside, of course, their mothers, Brenda and Betsy. According to this release, the campaign has been around for awhile. The Eagles’ Donovan McNabb, and his mother, Wilma, will be appearing in the campaign for the sixth year in a row. Actually, if you bother to read the fine print of the release, you'll  notice that the campaign isn't targeted towards mothers, but to grown men whose talents in the kitchen go only as far as opening cans of soup.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Things get worse for ‘Silent Hill’ poster girl

Graffiti artists apparently cannot resist the luring lacuna in the Silent Hill movie posters, which show a creepy, terrified girl with a blank space where her mouth should be. According to Shoolery Design in Hollywood, which designed the poster for Sony’s TriStar Pictures, New York City artists are painting fangs, buck teeth, “clown-like pie-holes” and Hitler mustaches on the poor girl. But as the agency sees it, that’s OK. “We are thrilled that our Silent Hill design has triggered such a wave of attention,” says Mark Shoolery. “As artists ourselves, we always get a kick out of other artists who feel they have images to contribute that can embellish our concept.” Shoolery, no foolery, called it a “grassroots response.” No wonder they didn’t widely use any of the public’s Silent Hill posters.

—Posted by Gregory Solman

Published on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

California teachers’ ads right on schedule

California’s notoriously powerful public-employee unions are nothing if not well coordinated, with everyone at least getting talking-points memos out of the billions of dollars they squander yearly. This morning on KABC radio in L.A., Democratic strategist Bob Mulholland, interviewed by Doug McIntyre on McIntyre in the Morning, was asked by the then-exasperated host exactly how much more money should be thrown at the state’s miserably failed public schools. Mulholland stammered and ducked but finally came up with the inanity that what California schools really need is thousands more “counselors”—to advise kids who can’t do high-school work that they should consider college. No sooner had the segment ended than a commercial came on from the California Teachers Association, led by Barbara Kerr (the irony of the begging for more tax funding for schools via big-money ad campaigns noted). There’s an election coming up, and the CTA has to start spending our tax money to subtly push for its choice for governor, Phil Angelides. So what does Kerr call for? More funding for more counselors. In Washington, that’s known as being “on message.”

—Posted by Gregory Solman

Published on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Bobbleheads: the promotion that won’t die

I guess I thought bobblehead dolls were on their way out—not dead, but definitely in decline. But today I came across a baseball site called Three True Outcomes, whose bloggers have wasted innumerable hours compiling a list of all the bobblehead giveaways scheduled by major and minor league baseball teams this season. It adds up to more than 220 separate bobblehead nights—67 of them at major league parks. (The Pittsburgh Pirates alone are hosting 11 different bobblehead nights.) This may be less than in past years, but it’s still a hell of a lot. Half of the players on my fantasy team have their own doll, and most of them don’t deserve it, I can assure you. Among major league teams, the Washington Nationals may have the best giveaway: a Screech doll for kids 12 and under (Aug. 13). (OK, Screech is actually the Nationals’ 6-foot-2 eagle mascot.) Meanwhile, the Charleston RiverDogs are giving away a Nancy O’Dell bobblehead doll (July 28). Yes, that Nancy O’Dell. The co-host of Access Hollywood. Via Deadspin.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

George Clooney doesn’t want to do terrible ads for crappy companies

It’s very, very important not to do very, very lowbrow and stupid TV commercials, according to the proud and virtuous George Clooney. He tells the British press: “You don’t want to do ones that aren’t classy. That’s the truth. That’s the secret to it. You want to have a product you are proud of and not embarrassed by.” Whether or not that applies to Budweiser and Nescafé, both of which Clooney has pitched outside the U.S., it’s hard to say. But this U.K. commercial for Martini seems to fit the bill. It involves Clooney running out of gas on his very classy boat and having to choose between a classy, beautiful woman and a case of Martini. (“George Clooney makes a poor decision,” reads the caption in the ’boards screening room, where the ad is posted, but you judge for yourself.) Of course, there’s always the chance that Clooney chooses commercial projects based less on the products than on the women involved. He did meet Lisa Snowdon on the set of a Martini ad in 2001, and ended up dating her for four years. Will Clooney ever direct a very classy TV spot of his own? “Well, I’ve never directed a commercial,” he tells ITV, “but I think it seems to be a lot harder to do a commercial than a film because [in a film] you have time to set the story.” Words to live by, copywriters, when you just can’t seem to nail that fart joke.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (6)

GM uses online game to promote ethanol

It’s amazing how quickly public sentiment, and the messages from marketers, can change in the wake of gas prices of more than $3/gallon. Thus, we found this morning that GM is promoting a new online game, the Stalk Car Race, in which consumers can race an ethanol-powered car through a corn field. It’s not much of a game, but we suppose it does help embed the message that some of the company’s vehicles, including the maligned Chevy Tahoe, will run on E85, an ethanol and gas mingled blend.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

TBWA releases second brilliant AIDS film

This amazing animated short film, promoting AIDS awareness, rightly earned a gold Lion for TBWA France at Cannes last year. Now, the agency and director Wilfrid Brimo are back with an encore, this time a gay version. Both films have not-safe-for-work scenes, but it’s all pretty dreamlike and cartoony. Plus, it’s hard to imagine you’ll get fired for watching a PSA. The tagline for both films is, “Live long enough to find the right one. AIDS. Protect yourself.” And the music in each (“Baby, Baby” by the Vibrators in the first ad; “Sugar Baby Love” by the Rubbets in the second) is fantastic. Commercials in general, never mind PSAs, don’t get much more soulful or joyful than this. A complete triumph for TBWA. Via ’boards.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Golden Palace drives its advertising off a cliff

Devoting a precious post to the advertising antics of online casino goldenpalace.com always makes us feel just the slightest bit icky, but every now and then, something the company is doing catches our wary eye. It paid $2550 on eBay for the privilege of having its logo placed on a 1997 Dodge Neon that is to be driven off a cliff in Missouri by one Will Stuckenberg this Saturday. The company now is so enamored with the idea that it has expanded the event to include 10 more cars, with Stuckenberg vowing, “All of these are going to go off the cliff full throttle.” What struck us though, was Golden Palace’s reasoning for participating in the stunt: “We're pretty sure the next guy who decides to auction off space on his car and drive it off a cliff will not receive nearly as much attention," said company spokesperson Jeff Kay. Yeah, we hear that pretty soon auctioning off space on cars and driving them off cliffs will be all the rage.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

It’s! The! Brand! New! Honda! Fit!!!

It sounds like RPA’s launch campaign for the Honda Fit will involve lots of cool interactive stuff: cartoon characters with their own Web sites, sponsorship of music portals, an episodic Web series about office cubicle makeovers. The works. But looking at the print ads, it’s clear this campaign has something else, too: lots and lots and lots and lots of exclamation points. Practically every line of copy ends with an exclamation point. Check out the copy bubbles to the right (click the image to see a more readable version), which we’ve clipped from the spread that portrays the hatchback style as a kind of übermullet. That’s 13 sentences there—and 13 exclamation points. It definitely lends the ads a distinct flavor. But at some point you end up wanting to catch your breath.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Greenpeace declares war on Ted Kennedy

And you thought Ted Kennedy was a liberal. Seems there’s been a lot of consternation lately over the senator’s protest against a plan to build a clean-energy windmill farm in the seas off of the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport. Now, Greenpeace has put together a rather low-rent ad about Kennedy’s opposition, depicting Ted as a larger-than-life, suit-wearing sea-creature out in Cape Cod Bay trying to destroy the windmills. Kudos to Greenpeace for the attention-getting graphic, but we expected the organization to pick better talent than whoever is voicing Ted in the ad. It carries some inscrutable accent—south Jersey maybe?—instead of the painfully easy to imitate Boston accent. Repeat after us: Stah Mahket, Stah Mahket, Stah Mahket. Was that so hard?

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Get this man an endorsement deal!

When Julio Franco homered last week to help his New York Mets beat the San Diego Padres, he became the oldest player in big-league history to hit a round-tripper. If that doesn’t make him a hero to sports-minded aging baby boomers, I don’t know what would. Franco, now 47 years old, has played for half the teams in creation during his long career (including, as you can see here, the Atlanta Braves), which also means that fans all over the country will have rooted for him at some point. Just don’t expect him to tout a junk-food brand, as this guy is a seriously healthy eater. No rush, by the way: He plans to play until he’s 50.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Photo: MLB

Published on April 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wes Anderson films goofy AmEx spot

I never saw The Life Aquatic, so I guess I’m a lapsed fan, but Wes Anderson’s new commercial for American Express is really enjoyable. Anderson prowls around a movie set, talking directly to the camera about how to make a good film while humorously directing his hapless cast and crew. (“Cut! Cut! Not enough smoke, and the snow is too loud.”) It’s nice to see that Anderson can poke fun at his own quirks and reputation for obsessiveness. Anderson’s current film project, by the way, is apparently a stop-motion animated version of Fantastic Mr. Fox, the children’s book by Roald Dahl. But that project was announced in 2004, and there have been few updates since then. If and when that movie is released, will it feature a Mr. Fox brand of clothing? Via AdJab.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under AmEx, Nudd, Wes Anderson

Gap to spend the summer on a magic bus

Baby boomers have another reason to mourn. Just as Zane Kesey is beginning to restore his father’s old school bus, the one that trundled around the country in a haze in the ’60s, dispensing happy drinks, Gap has announced its own G-rated psychedelic school-bus journey. The clothing company will take its very own “late ’60s-styled school bus” on tour this summer, dispensing T-shirts, hoodies, flip-flops and beach hats, as part of Gap’s “Rock color” summer marketing initiative. They’ve taken out the seats of the bus, built in shelves and, most painfully, installed a cash register near the driver’s seat. That’s the spirit. The campaign, by Gap’s creative agency, Laird + Partners, will also include an in-store promotion and online microsite (which goes live May 1) offering a chance to win summer concert tickets. The “color explosion” will extend to print ads and in-store marketing. Gap apparently has been listening to Zane Kesey. “People think of a bus as transportation,” he said recently. “No. It’s a platform, a way to get your messages across.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (7)

Sony Canada hosts another ‘Ladies Night’

Until now, I thought the concept of “ladies night” was limited to bars that women would otherwise avoid without serious drink specials. But no. Here is Sony Canada with its very own “Ladies Night Out” promotion—the third annual, in fact. Last Thursday evening, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., the fairer sex was invited to visit any Sony Canada store to learn about electronics “and how it all fits together with style—without the male influences in their lives dragging them over to look at their favorite Sony toys,” according to the company. (The half-witted male influences, no doubt, were celebrating their own freedom that night by watching sports and drinking each other under the table.) This kind of promotion makes sense, though. According to a Sony rep, recent research indicates that women today account for some 70 percent of consumer-electronics buying decisions. (And by the way—no, this poster isn’t from Sony. It’s for a whole other ladies night entirely.)

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

No wonder that Carl’s Jr. burger cost $6

Advertisers know that sex sells, but it also helps things sell for more than they otherwise might. Researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium conducted a study that examined how hard men would bargain in a game that involved splitting up some money. According to a summary of the findings at the nature.com Web site (hat tip to the Arts & Letters Daily site for pointing it out to us), “High testosterone men drove the hardest bargain—unless they had previously viewed pictures of bikini-clad models, in which case they were more likely to accept a poorer deal.” Indeed, “even handling a bra was enough to sap their resolve.” (Isn’t it nice that academic researchers are racking their brains for ways to add to the storehouse of human knowledge?) Thus, dishy women in ads do more than just attract male attention. Perhaps advertisers use “sultry sirens” to sell their wares, the researchers speculate, because “men faced with an attractive woman just don’t strive so hard for a good deal.”

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on April 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Not enough black beauty on billboards?

An Atlanta company that believes there aren’t enough positive, sexy ads featuring black men has put up a billboard in town to showcase just that. The company, Rundu (warning: artful nudity, may not be safe for work), argues that there is intense focus on sexy ads for Calvin Klein and Abercrombie & Fitch, but “what about sensual images of the black male?” The company’s owner, photographer Rundu Staggers, says that sexy, provocative photos of black men cause fear and are met with resistance, while white sensuality runs rampant and no one freaks out. The “Are you grown?” tagline is still a bit of a mystery, though.

—Posted by Celeste Ward

Published on April 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)