what were you doing on sunday night?

Sure, the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts.

But, more importantly, advertisers can celebrate. The 2010 Super Bowl is the highest viewed event in television history. Reports are saying 106.5 million Americans watched this intense game and, surprisingly, a lot of the ads did very well.

The top three ads everyone has been talking about are:

1) Snickers and Betty White playing football

2) Denny’s and the screaming chickens/free grand slam breakfast this Tuesday morning

3) Doritos

I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I feel like for some reason this year people paid a lot more attention to the commercials than they usually do. I was with a lot of my friends at their apartment and every time commercials came on – everyone went quiet and actively watched each of them. It kind of made me proud as an Advertising major.

Another interesting fact: The Doritos ad with the guy and the dog was created by Joshua Svoboda. He had some friends help him film it and used a friend’s dog, and, amazingly, only spent $200 making the entire commercial. The outcome? He made $600,000 dollars. Pretty cool.

To watch all of the Super Bowl ads go to:http://msn.foxsports.com/video/shows/2010_super_bowl_commercials?vid=420e0e67-1ee6-4850-b195-458820b5e2c0&from=foxsports_SuperBowlAds

Some of my favorites include:

1) Megan Fox for Motorola

2) Bud Light a- Stranded on island

3) E*Trade upgrade – baby on plane

4) Google – Search On (Paris love story)

5) Doritos – Watch yourself

Watch to find out what your favorites are and enjoy!

word-of-mouth and schemas in advertising

Consider all of the daily activities you do that don’t require thinking.

Odd, but you actually really do a lot throughout the day without putting much thought into it. Driving your car, shampooing your hair, swiping your UGA ID on the Athens Transit buses. Small things like these are called schemas. The more you think about these kinds of small things, the more likely you are to mess them up.

Schemas are essentially mental structures that we put in place to make the world work. They are pre-conceived notions we have about ideas or activities, so we do not have to stop what we are doing and really think about our next step in getting something done.

Steve Knox for Advertising Age wrote an article on this subject today and it caught my attention because I never really made the connection between schemas and advertising. Probably because, surprise, I wasn’t really thinking about it .

Knox makes the point that our brains are not designed to really think, except in the case of an emergency that requires quick action.  For most of the day, our brain is in somewhat of a “static state” and it uses schemas to organize information to help us get through the day.  However, when someone or something disrupts our schema it throws us off and jolts our brains out of this static state for a little bit.

Knox gave the example of driving in the United States. You automatically just assume that you will drive on the right side of the road and the person coming at you from the opposite way will be on his or her right side of the road.  But when you travel over to the United Kingdom, you are caught off-guard seeing people driving on the left side of the road.

Good advertising involves schema disruption because when consumers brains have to stop and think about what an advertisement is saying- they talk about it. Spreading awareness: the beginning of a good advertising campaign.

A lot of brands can fail in disrupting schemas if they simply throw off people’s mental models, but don’t reinforce the brand name to keep it in the back of people’s minds.  Even in this day and age of social media at its (so far) finest, word-of-mouth has still survived as a strong advertising method for centuries.  Advertisers should use this cognitive science to their advantage to get word out about a brand and not just create something that will be mildly funny once, and ultimately, forgetful.

The next time you see an ad that ruptures your neutral mental state – stop and consider the message. It could be a brand worth thinking about.

the creative circus at uga

Earlier this evening UGA AdClub welcomed Executive Director David Haan, Director of Admissions Shannon Cobourn, Advertising Program Head Dan Balser, and one of their current students (a Grady alum!) from The Creative Circus in Atlanta.

First, Shannon gave a bit of information about the admissions process. Most importantly, she stressed that the creative field is not for everyone – it’s a tough course, but if it’s what you want to do then go for it. The admissions process involves an interview and submission of a portfolio. To find out more information on applying or just general information about the school, please visit: http://www.creativecircus.edu/request_info.php

Dan Balser emphasized that undergrad prepares you for the [advertising] industry; portfolio school prepares you for the creative side. And for those who think they are not creative- if you are posting Facebook statuses and choosing your words – you are creative. We think and execute creative ideas all of the time without even realizing it.

A few main points Dan wanted to highlight:

1) Use Twitter – look at feeds from interesting designers and interesting brands to help you get a better idea of what is going on in the advertising world.

2) Read Fast Company magazine – it is the cutting edge of marketing and branding. http://www.fastcompany.com/

3) Read Wired magazine. http://www.wired.com/

4) Check out http://ihaveanidea.org/home.php

5) Listen to his podcast: www.balserville.com

6) And most importantly: Remember you are in a really competitive field- whether it is media, production, creative, account management – you have to have a voice and a focus. Don’t be afraid to question. And don’t be afraid to fail. Collect something such as a blog or a few pieces of work to make yourself stand out. Show what you’ve done, try to fail: take risks and take chances.

David Haan also noted a couple of the programs such as the design program, programs in image photography, and the interactive development program. Creative Circus has one of the top photography programs in the country.

Creative Circus is run just like the real world – your first day is the first day of your career.

Some current student work:

david haan from the creative circus coming this tuesday, january 19

“The mission of The Creative Circus is to graduate the best-prepared, most avidly sought-after creatives in the industry.”

The Creative Circus is a two-year portfolio school in Atlanta, Georgia that helps students build a collection of distinguished work and better prepare them for creative work in the advertising industry.

UGA AdClub will host Executive Director David Haan and a few other representatives from The Creative Circus on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in the Miller Learning Center room 248. Please join us to hear advice, see some of the work that comes out of the school, and ask any questions you may have about the school or advertising in general.

The Creative Circus opened in 1955 in Atlanta, and since then has flourished with students that work hard and “land the best jobs in the field”. Advertising, photography, and design are noted as three of the top areas of study. The Creative Circus strives to prepare students for the transition of non-traditional media, such as the Internet, to traditional media and how to incorporate this change when designing creative work for marketing communications. Branding, product development, and interactive design are just a few of the concepts that students will learn about and apply to their own work.

Talk about a big-time advertising professional who has seen it all – and worked in a handful of top cities. David Haan has worked in Toronto, LA, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco- just to name a few. With a Master’s in Advertising from Michigan State, Mr. Haan has been in the advertising industry for over 30 years! Some of the top brands he has had the pleasure of working with include: Coors, General Mills, Visa, Clorox, S.C. Johnson, Nestle, and Sunkist.

Please come out this Tuesday to hear more about Mr. Haan’s experiences in advertising and to learn more about The Creative Circus.

For more information on the the school, please visit: http://www.creativecircus.edu/index.php

Jeff Tritt – Executive Vice President & Human Resource Director of Leo Burnett

The flavor & culture of Leo Burnette becomes more clear if you know who the man really is.  Leo is a remarkable man who has set a timeless tone of integrity within this agency.  

The mantras that have been flowing through the agency for the past 75 years have been expressed through certain symbols such as an apple, shooting stars and a pencil with no eraser.  These stand for togetherness, reaching for the stars and getting those ideas that may seem out of reach and not tearing things down.  

 Tritt explained to us that marketing needs to step up and save itself.  He said you have to challenge fundamentals.  The relationship between people and brands has forever changed because now it is the consumers, human beings, that control the product. 

What we need to being to the table is more simplicity.  As the desire for expertise across the board increases, so does the desire for generalists.  What does this mean for us?  It means that as we are busy trying to learn a little bit of everything, being a specialist in one thing is still very important.

Leo Burnett is shifting the speed  to further empower the individual.  ”Speed the shifting of our sensibilities,” as Tritt put it.  

So, what does marketing need to do to be heard again?  It needs to research and understand people at a deeper level.  

Behind every business problem and defining moment lies an opportunity and that is how Leo Burnette looks at the recession.

Now then, how do you change behavior with an advertisement in this new economy?  Here is how Leo Burnette does it.  

You change it with an ACT: something experimental and participatory that serves the interest of the people, not just the ambition of the marketer.  The goal is to make people’s lives better.  For example, Leo Burnette has undergone several types of product innovation that has created something more menaingful for the people that they serve.

If you are working with a somewhat boring product, it is important to develop a strategic idea and tell it in a simple way.  For example, the Norton Antivirus software.  Leo Burnett looked at the behavior and determined that most people are ignorant to apathetic to online threats.  Their new purpose became that digital freedom is essential to making people’s lives better (notice the trend: an agency that focuses on change for the good of its people).  

The goal when positioning is to put the purpose at the center of your brand.  But living that purpose day in and day out is important as having one.  The ingredients for successful engagement is:

1. People
2. Purpose 
3. Act 

And the process of thinking can be a messy process, but it is the beauty of creativity:

1. Explore the human journey
2. Inspire purpose
3. Develop an idea platform
4. Create acts, not just ads
5. Measure transformation

Jeff Tritt is the Human Resources Director and the things they look for when hiring are:

1. Eyes of a child – play, imagine and discover 
2. Heart of a champion — protect, defend and nurture ideas
3. Hands of a craftsman — try new things over and over and over again
4. Soul of a citizen — we are all in this business together and the more we unite, the better our ideas will be

Advertising Is the Price You Pay for Not Being Creative

“Survival of the fittest” is often attributed to Darwin. More accurately, however, Darwin was describing “survival of the flexible” when talking about species most rewarded with longevity.

In the midst of an economic crisis stacked on top of an environmental crisis, it is such agility that is quickly defining the business and community leaders of tomorrow.

Consumer Expectations

Understanding current financial limitations while remaining focused on the critical triple bottom line—people, planet, and profit—is the fundamental challenge for today’s organizations.

The current confluence of an environmental and economic crisis is the greatest opportunity of our times for culture change.

Companies and organizations that both understand and react to the latest in consumer expectations are well positioned to offer beneficial goods and services to customers as well as financial stability to their stakeholders.

New consumer expectations include the following.

Transparency over spectacle

Thanks to how quickly information can be accessed, modern consumers are willing and able to research the companies and organizations they support.

Just as Consumer Reports provides insight into product performance, blogs and nongovernmental organizations eagerly provide more information regarding a company’s social and environmental performance. In an era where everyone has a voice, most Google search results are user-generated content rather than corporate-sponsored communication. That is your advantage.

According to the Reputation Institute’s RepTrak tool, which measures corporate reputations worldwide, a 10% increase in corporate reputation translates into a 1.3% increase in bottom-line corporate value.

Reputation is a trust issue, and trust is achieved through transparency. Strive for transparency over spectacle. Report on it in your marketing and through standardized transparency reports (e.g., those based on the Global Reporting Initiative’s framework).

Dialogue over monologue

Social-networking sites have created a marketplace for conversation. Consumers are using online conversation, status notifications, and group affiliations (neo-tribes) in their social lives. Social networking is transcending the social and becoming a business requirement as well.

“What is Company XYZ doing right now?” Shell has launched Shell Dialogues to “explore the energy debate.” At the site, stakeholders can engage with Shell experts on a variety of topics. That can be viewed as a hijack of the strategy in question, but they are hijacking it for a reason.

Old-school marketing of broadcasting a single, unreturned message is a failed strategy. Today’s consumer wants to engage with the brands they support. They want to shape them in their own image, not the other way around.

Whenever possible, ask your customers questions. Then, of course, listen, engage, and react, and, finally, thank them.

“Fans” not customers

In the green space, there is still quite a bit of “badge wearing.” Modern consumers are looking for unique opportunities to walk their own talk. When they find a brand that supports their mission and furthers their own brand of environmentalism or social justice, they talk about that brand, service, or idea within their social networks.

Old research demonstrated that the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, or LOHAS, consumer disliked being “marketed to.” That is likely true of all consumer segments.

However, beneficial goods and services that reinforce personal brands have an amazing opportunity to create a fan base out of their customers. Method and Dansko are great examples of companies that have achieved that fan base.

Treat your customers like fans rather than like customers. Create moments and stories they can share with their friends.

Cultural value and immediate gratification

Your new fan base is hungry to support corporations that support their own cultural values. But they also want the perception of a fair price. They want transparency and value, and they want it now.

“Green” as a product attribute can be a powerful motivator, but it is rarely the only motivator. It is a new feature—in some cases, it’s that new-car smell. Don’t be confused into thinking that your product or service can live on green attributes alone. Make sure your fans know both the cultural and economic value of your product or service.

Play on the same field as your nongreen competitors and then spike the ball with extraordinary cultural value.

New Opportunities

As disposable income decreases, consumers will naturally be more fiscally conservative. But the smart ones with a little more expendable income will choose culturally aligned brands as their banks. They will choose wisely where they can get the most economic and cultural bang for their buck. They will deposit their money into companies they trust and with which they share values.

Build a brand to reinforce that. There are two strategies for building brands:

1. Earn them.
2. Buy them.

Both strategies work. One takes time. One takes money. Immediate return is what got us into this mess. So let’s choose enduring value over immediate return.

Cut your media buy, but engage your fan base in new ways:

* Invest in social media.
* Invest in public relations and blogger relationships.
* Create public events that do more than just promote your business.
* Promote those public events.
* Build a heroic brand.
* Develop deep economic and social relationships with mission-aligned nonprofits.

And then, if there’s money left over, buy an ad.

Smart marketing dollars spent during a down economy are far more powerful than money spent during boom years. Consider that each dollar represents a greater percentage of the overall marketing expenditure in your given industry.

We are at a unique place and time. The crossroads of environmental and economic crises provide agile companies with the ability to capture market share in a down market.

Beneficial corporations and startups have the advantage in this market. They are the future value chain for products and services. They offer more than product, more than status. They offer solutions to the crises of our time. People need that.

Companies with environmental and socially beneficial goods and services will manage through the current economic climate and build value for the sectors that they helped create. Modern consumers are looking for solutions, and perhaps even heroic companies, to support.

Given 75% of a respectable media budget, innovative marketing and stakeholder engagement can return far more value in the long run.

In the short run, however, advertising is just the price you will pay for not being creative.

(via MarketingProfs: http://bit.ly/4EIIhj)

Mike Schatz – Creative Director of Blue Sky Agency

Last Tuesday night, with the most delightful disposition, Mike Schatz, Creative Director at Blue Sky Agency, brought to UGA his thoughts on the future of advertising.   The most alarming questions in the Advertising world today is:

• Where is the creative world going?
• What the hell just happened?
• What am I going to do now? 
• And, it’s still about having a good idea…isn’t it?

Drum roll and answer please…………

IDEAS STILL MATTER!

Now, the means in which one gets their ideas out is the challenge.  That challenge consists of the proper research.

Mike has led the creative efforts for the Braves, Hawks, Thrashers and for Moe’s Southwest Grill.  

When he spoke to us about the future, he used the Thrashers account as his primary focus.

Mike came up with his first Thrashers campaign while taking a stand-up comedy class where he met MitchHedberg, who became the new muse and the new voice for the new “Hockey of Love” campaign.  

Radio spot that Mike said he could not even believe was allowed on air.  

Mike said the secret to the “Hockey of Love” campaigns was that they were approachable, honest about the product and improved the brand of the image.  

The next campaign was the “Blueland” Thrashers advertisements, but they were not as effective as “Hoeckey of Love” because they had a more narrow audience focus.  These ads were focused on the more serious hockey fans instead of the Atlanta population at large.

The third campaign focused on one audience, the Thrasher’s fans–”Become One.” 

The fourth, final and current campaign has the slogan, “That’s the Hockey Way” which is Mike’s idea based off The Untouchables intermixed with an Aqua Teen radio voice.  It is meant to give a rough and tumble, tough guy appeal.  The ads use a cardboard background and a special bulk font to enhance the intimidation effect.  

Mike attributed youtube, facebook and other user generated content mediums to the growth of this campaign.  

Although his speech was short, it encouraged the quest for finding ways to implement powerful ideas with solid research and to keep up with the never ending technological changes.

The “New” Normal – Chris Hall’s take

If you missed the Chris Hall’s enlightening speech last night, here is a little recap.

Last year was a period of adjustment.  Everyone was wondering how we could make it in the bad economy.  How could we fight it?  ”We can’t afford to be preparing to fight the old war because the old war is a race to the bottom,” said Chris Hall, CEO of BBDO. “What we need to do next is a restructuring, not a rebound.” He went on to say that those who are prepared for what is coming will be the winners.  This method of thinking is what Chris calls the “New Normal.”

First bullet point to the new normal is to recognize the new consumer mindset.  Consumers are in a transition period.  After the shock of the bad economy, it took consumers a long period of time to adjust to the changes they needed to make.  Now that the fear is beginning to cease, consumers are starting to buy, but with a different attitude.  ”We left the world of OZ and now we’re back in Kansas,” Hall joked.  

Hall walked us through the American Dream pinpointing American’s interpretation of it as a part of the problem.  The original American Dream is about the pursuit of happiness, but what constitutes happiness?  For many Americans, money became the  main fixation for happiness.  In the new dream that has come from this new economy, it becomes more about who people are besides what they have.

Hall compared many old lifestyles to new lifestyles:

• Huge, extravagant homes vs.  a family homestead and place of entertainment
• Entitled to things vs. the need to be self-reliant 
• Material possessions vs. meaningful possessions
• Carefree, spontaneous purchases vs. considered & researched buys
• Status of products vs. performance of products
• Products vs. the experience that products bring
• Win (for the seller) vs. win-win (seller & consumer)

Th pursuit has changed and so has people’s view of happiness.  It is now time for people to be working together.  For example, Hall referenced Hyundai as being very considerate of their consumers and this economy in their campaign–if you lose your job, you can return the car.

This is not the real commercial, but it is funny and gets the point across.

Second important bullet point of the new normal is to know that everything is media.  Everything, even requesting someone to go to a URL is a transaction.  It is no longer a one-to-one or one-to-some communication; it is one-to-many–all are equally important.  

Last point, brands should be about the consumer, not the status quo.  

Hall’s final words of wisdom began with a quote by Paul Romer, a Stanford Economist, “A crisis a terrible thing to waste.” It is our job to take advantage of it.

• Dare to be different! Explore all of the options and become familiar with new trends (Twitter, LinkedIn).  Being the first to do something is not as important as figuring out something new that works through research.
• Move from insight to consumer to inciting behavior in consumer.
• Engagement is like a vortex!

Chris Hall-President and CEO of BBDO Atlanta

Chris Hall will be our first guest speaker for AdClub

Tuesday, September 15 2009

MLC 213 at 7:30

About BBDO Atlanta:  

BBDO Atlanta, housing over 200+ employees, is a major creative agency that is part of BBDO Worldwide. The agency has many well renowned clients such as Cingular Wireless, Georgia Natural Gas, Georgia Lottery and Bayer Advanced. In May 2000, AD WEEK announced BBDO as the fastest-growing agency in the southeast while winning major awards for their work and creativity. BBDO Atlanta was established to “ help brands be the best they can be through communication” 

About Chris Hall:  

Chris Hall has been in the Advertising business for over 20 years. He previously worked at J. Walter Thompson as the Management Director and Director of Business Development before he was called upon to head up BBDO Atlanta. Hall has spoken at several universities, leading branding seminars and lecturing on brand equity and positioning. We are very honored and excited to be hosting Chris Hall at the University of Georgia. It will be beneficial to you and your future to take advantage of this opportunity and learn from such a knowledgeable man in this industry. 

The Work 

Mary J. Blige is ’shedding styles’!

Recent Georgia Lottery commercial.

This is a pretty cool video made by the 2008 BBDO interns.