Mountain Dew recently dropped this controversial ad that featured a battered waitress trying to pick her assailant from a lineup of black suspects and a goat.

One could be forgiven these days for turning to the astrology section of their local paper, or a curious nod to the evening sky to see whether a full moon was in effect. Everything just seems more random, lacking any ability to forecast or predict.

Today’s front page of The New York Times reports that the level of carbon dioxide has passed a long-feared milestone. Gas concentration in our atmosphere has not been this high in at least three million years, before humans even evolved. There’s no longer any question whether carbon emissions are contributing to a rise in sea level and climate change.

If there’s a sense of the end being near, it certainly is not being helped by the progressively bizarre wave of advertising that seems to have taken root.

Trying to Be Hip and Edgy, Ads Become Offensive

According to Stuart Elliott, advertising is increasingly offensive — mostly because agencies are under so much pressure to break through the clutter, but there are also other considerations that are pushing agencies to take these risks on behalf of their clients.

The past decade has ushered in a whole new era of stranger-than-fiction concepts. Much of this is driven by the massive number of outlets and channels, the overwhelming amount of corporate brand messages being blasted from every corner, every second of our lives. But according to Tor Myhren, chief creative officer at Grey New York, it’s also intended to find ways to resonate with Millennials — who grew up in a world of digital media and random, sometimes bizarre, images.

Bob Garfield, an advertising critic and author of the book, “Can’t Buy Me Like,” says that the situation is propelled by a “no holds barred” Internet culture on which Millennials seem to gravitate and respond. “There’s a sense of permissiveness that is subsequently allowing poor decisions by agencies, marketers and corporate brand managers,” says Garfield.

Nancy Hill, President and Chief Executive at the 4A’s, says that the “race to retweet and to click thumbs up” overwhelms the impulse to take a step back and make sure the ad is crafted exactly the way you want it to be received.

How effective are these advertising campaigns, and what is the risk to companies that don’t entirely think through the expression of their brands? I invite your opinion on this Blog or through email. Send me a note and share your thoughts at dflinchum@iridiumgroup.com.

http://weburbanist.com/2010/11/08/15-cool-crazy-controversial-advertisements/

Tags: advertising, agencies, branding, campaigns, digital, marketing, media
Posted in Advertising, Brand Image, Business, Customer Experience, Marketing | 1 Comment »

Photo from the website of Defense Distributed, a nonprofit group founded by Cody Wilson. The group intends to release CAD files this week for a gun that can be downloaded, completed printed in 3D plastic and assembled to actually discharge as a lethal weapon. A positive use of technology?

Media and communications are in the midst of most sweeping revolution in history, with so many innovations, so rapidly deployed. Significant technological advancements like Google Glass are being being launched with such frequency that no executive could honestly profess to know how to manage it all, much less where it’s all headed. Just twenty-five years ago, blue chip giants like Kodak and Polaroid had been untouchable, unflappable bastions of American business for many decades. Now, Kodak is fighting to emerge from bankruptcy this summer, a fragile shell of its former value. “Digital” truly leveled the playing field. It’s also created a kind of chaos, with the distribution of power to so many people with such different values, and from such different cultures.

Most of the new devices and platforms are innocuous. No one seems to have discovered anything all that harmful to do in the world of friends, fans, and likes. However, if we consider the news lately we might see a different, somewhat threatening picture unfold — one full of many new kinds of risks.

*     *     *

The Dow may have passed 15,000 for the first time on Friday, but on April 23 there were plenty of investors and analysts in major firms and institutions scratching their heads.

The index fell 150 points in minutes after a hoax on Twitter stated that President Obama had been injured in an explosion at the White House. It took less than 140 characters to put global markets on the precipice of spiraling panic. The speed and accessibility of communication — in this case from hackers getting into the Associated Press — could have sent entire economies in developed nations into months of recovery.

What will the future hold when we combine high frequency trading — billions of dollars moving across markets in milliseconds — with broadly dispatched, erroneous information? Hacking appears to be the new sporting pastime of governments. Now, it isn’t just bombs and hijackers we must worry about; we can also start our days weary of misinformation being fed into Bloomberg terminals.

Twitter Speaks, Markets Listen, and Fears Rise

Forbes reported that the world’s first gun, digitally printed from a 3D printer, is about to be made available. Think of the many ways this could be abused: Go online, download the CAD files, print and assemble your own firearm — one that can potentially pass through the most advanced screening devices and airport metal detectors.

As Andy Greenberg writes, Cody Wilson, founder of the non-profit group, Defense Distributed, has remained committed to the cause. Next week, the 25 year-old University of Texas law student plans to release the 3D-printable CAD documents for a gun he calls “the Liberator.” On Friday, Congressman Steve Israel offered a press release, saying “Security checkpoints, background checks, and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print plastic firearms at home and bring those firearms through metal detectors with no one the wiser.”

This Is The World’s First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun

http://defcad.org/

Finally, think about the Boston Marathon bombings. How did they get the plans to make the bombs? Online, of course. The Tsarnaev brothers apparently sourced the insight to construct sophisticated weapons through the English edition website of Inspire, supposedly published by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. According to Wiki, Inspire is an important brand-building tool, designed to spread the key messages and goals of AQAP. That sounds like so many nonprofit organizations I have helped. Only, in this case, the content is published with the intent of inspiring homegrown terrorism against the U.S and other Western interests.

It’s all within the last few weeks that these concerns — massive abuses of information and communication — have been newsworthy. And they all relied on emerging channels of media enabled by technology.

The cold reality is that this genie back can never be put back into its bottle. We live in an increasingly volatile, unpredictable time. For every benefit and constructive use of emerging technologies, there will surely be those inventive and malicious enough to find equally destructive applications.

Technology may be our friend, but knowledge accessed so freely across international borders is certain to yield at least a few dark results.

Tags: 3-D printable guns, abuse of technology, Bloomberg Twitter, Dow Jones, internet crime, terrorism social media, Twitter Wall Street
Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Media, Social Media | No Comments »

Through IridiumGroup and now, OrgCentric, I’ve spent nearly 20 years leading efforts to create brands, increase awareness for mission-based organizations, and assist with creative ideas to fundraise.

Traditionally, my nonprofit partners and client-side managers have taken a passive, even humble, approach to their marketing efforts. In fact, many of our clients working in private philanthropy don’t even refer to their efforts as ‘marketing.’ Their world is one of ‘communications’ — of outreach, of educating target audiences about their goals and achievements. Historically, for organizations we have worked with such as MacArthur Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts and others, they often have no use for consumer marketing tactics to build an organizational brand. It can even be frowned on in certain cases.

Increasingly, cause-based nonprofits are leading the charge with more aggressive tactics, emulating their corporate counterparts in daring advertising campaigns. As reported by Stuart Elliott in The New York Times, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has launched a controversial campaign that boldly declares that a cure to cancer is very close.

In These Ads, ‘Someday’ Is More Than a Wish

ADWEEK: Leukemia and Lymphoma Society New Campaign

Aiming for pure shock value, the theme of the campaign, “Someday is today,” features consumers and headlines reading “Cancer Cured!” in newspapers and other media venues. The PSAs are extensive in reach, with applications in broadcast, print, and across multiple digital channels in six large markets.

Citing a need to be more proactive and less traditional, Lisa Stockmon, SVP of Marketing at LLS explained, “We wanted to be less sort of guilt. We wanted to be less trite. We want to be more part of, ‘You know what? The money that you invest in us…makes an impact and we have been able to change the face of cancer from the work that we do.’”

We’re seeing this approach in corporate advertising as well as the most progressive, action-minded nonprofits. It’s been called ‘disruptive,’ and it appears to be very effective in every instance. My personal view is that this type of approach can work very well to differentiate an organization and generate a level of engagement, but also, it seems increasingly necessary to break through the overwhelming amount of clutter across a dizzying assortment of media channels. The idea is a smart, show stopping punch — designed to arrest consumers’ attention even just briefly and create a memorable impression that deeply connects, that resonates.

This breakaway campaign will no doubt be very effective at building brand recognition and image for LLS, and in time I am certain that other public charities will follow with similar tactics and advertising campaigns. If you could see the desired outcome, the result of your gift, wouldn’t you be willing to chip into the cause?

Orgcentric.net

IridiumGroup.com

Tags: cause based, fundraising, marketing, nonprofit advertising, nonprofit brands, nonprofit marketing
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David Ogilvy is one of my heroes.

Of course, I cannot profess to having achieved one millionth of what he accomplished, but I always identified with his writings and in some ways, we have similar backgrounds. His mother was reportedly Irish; so was mine. His father was a Scotsman; my father’s side was Scot-Irish. His career followed a circuitous path, once having earned a living as a farmer; farming was my heritage.

Over the course of 15 years, Ogilvy went from obscure tobacco farmer in Pennsylvania to presiding over one of the most impressive advertising agencies in the world, with annual revenues of $55 million (in 1963 dollars, at that).

In 1963, he published a gem of a business book that defined his beliefs about advertising, titled, “Confessions of an Advertising Man.” You would think that his assessments might be outdated; to the contrary, they could not ring more true today — 50 years later.

How appropriate to celebrate this sustainable advice in an industry that has since revolutionized several times over? Also, how fitting on the weekend when a new season of MadMen begins, to honor one of the truly original legends of Madison Avenue?

Below is select list of direct quotations or lessons he shared. I invite your own opinions. Ogilvy may have been referring to his experiences in the 1950’s and 1960’s, but for the life of me I can’t tell. It is a timeless, fascinating compendium of his personal convictions.

1. “Search all the parks in your cities; you’ll find no statues of committees.”

2. “It pays to study your product before writing your advertisements.”

3. “Creating successful advertising is a craft, part inspiration, but mostly know-how and hard work. If you have a modicum of talent, and know which techniques work at the cash register, you will go a long way.”

4. “The key to success is to promise the consumer a benefit — like a better flavor, whiter wash, more miles per gallon, a better complexion.”

5. “Don’t let men write advertising for products which are bought by women.”

6. “Good campaigns can run for many years without losing their selling power.”

7. “Editors of magazines are better communicators than advertising people. Copy their techniques.”

8. “Most campaigns are too complicated. By attempting to cover too many things, they achieve nothing.”

9. “Don’t bunt. Aim out of the park. Aim for the company of immortals.”

10. “I admire people with gentle manners who treat other people as human beings.”

11. “I try to be fair and firm, to make unpopular decisions without cowardice, to create an atmosphere of stability, and to listen more than I talk.”

12. “Running an agency takes vitality, and sufficient resilience to pick oneself up after defeats.”

13. “The function of advertising is not to persuade people to try your product, but to persuade them to use it more often than other brands in their repertoire.”

14. “Test everything.”

15. “We sell — or else.”

Tags: advertising agency, Confessions of an Advertising Man, David Ogilvy, MadMen, successful advertising
Posted in Advertising, Brand Identity, Brand Image, Business, Customer Experience, Marketing | No Comments »