Ad Fed Speaker

Last night me and two other co-workers went to hear Valerie Graves, Chief Creative Officer of Vigilante speak about pop culture and how it influences the general public. Her talk was interesting. She seems to be really big on consumer insight and advertising to urban audiences. She spoke about how urban youth influences the general public. Even if the product being advertised is targeted towards an older crowd, there still needs to be approval from the young, urban group.

That is a really thought-provoking idea for me. I've always assumed that the more narrowly targeted the product, the better (rifle vs. shotgun). I'm kind of liking the idea that teens somehow influence everyone else. It makes sense - people of all ages want to be cool. Teens are usually the ones that define what exactly cool is.

Sharapova Nike Ad

I love this new ad from Nike featuring Maria Sharapova. There is also a :60, but I like the :30 better. How happy is Nike that now there is a pretty tennis player that also happens to kick ass?

Forbes: How to Justify Male Inadequacy

Apparently Forbes has a problem with men marrying career women. This story proves just how ridiculous a well-respected publication can look when they choose to misinterpret statistical realtionships. Correlation and causation are two different things!

"...the more successful she is the more likely she is to grow dissatisfied with you."

Hmmm...call me crazy...but maybe this has something to do with the guy? I'll bet maybe she's dissatisfied with the husband because he can't adequately deal with her success.

Since I fit the authors' description of a "career girl," I am a terrible potential mate. Also, I will soon receive my masters degree, meaning that I am "1.75 more likely to have cheated than those with high school diplomas." Funny, I never cheated on any boyfriend in the past...but suddenly my completion of additional courses will make me more likely to cheat. I am also more likely to cheat simply because I have a job and statistically speaking, I am simply unable to control myself around my co-workers. Whether or not I decide to have children, I will be unhappy about that decision.

So guys, watch out! I will most likely be a crappy wife!

So the moral of the story is guys, stay away. Ya don't want to marry a "career girl" like myself. Go find an uneducated, unemployed bimbo to bake you cookies after work and pop out some babies. Your marriage will last, just say bye-bye to intelligent conversations!

weekend

Finally sat down and watched Miami Ink(TLC). Since I'm from Miami, I always felt a little bad for not watching the show...but for some reason, I didn't think I would enjoy it. Maybe because I think tattoos are trashy. Well, I watched and now I'm seriously considering getting one. I'd have to get it on my butt, I think. My parents would freak if they ever saw it and a booty tat would ensure that they never did ;)
But anyway, good show. I really liked it. I also watched Psych (USA) for the first time. Psych is about this guy Shawn (James Roday) who is ridiculously observant and solves crimes by being ridiculously observant. However, no one takes him seriously, so he creates his own fake psychic service called Psych (ha ha) so that people will believe him. His best friend Gus (Dule Hill) is his reluctant sidekick and I really love that a white guy and a black guy are best friends. Great show, really funny and the leading man, James Roday, is incredibly hot.

My favorite shows that are returning:
Prison Break (YAY! I Looove this show!) - returning August 21 on FOX @ 8pm
Gilmore Girls - returning September 26 on CW @ 8pm (I think)
Grey's Anatomy - returning September 21 on ABC @ 9pm

agency.com

Since my blog is titled, "My 2 Cents" it's now time for me to give mine in regards to the viral video that is agency.com's subway pitch. Everyone else seems to be talking about it!

The idea behind this pitch is really genius, I think. The video has had over 70k views. Obviously, agency.com is able to make a video go all viral on us. I'm not sure how many people saw the video that aren't in the ad (or otherwise related) industry or who exactly agency.com was hoping would see it. Anyway, I saw it and it was kinda cool.

However, as a pitch I'm not sure how Subway would respond. At one point, one of the creatives says that Subway "has a lot of potential." Um...yea...potential. Right now, in little old Tallahassee, Fl I can think of at least 7 Subways and I'm sure there are more. 4 of them are within a 1-mile radius of FSU. I'd say that Subway has gotten past the "having potential" phase of business.

Either way, the music was cool. The agency.com people had pretty good comedic timing. Their building was very ad-agency-ish. The creatives had weird piercings and were dressed way down. Overall, I think it's neat and different. Shows creativity - maybe not the greatest (or smartest) execution in the world. But I'd be surprised if they didn't get the account...

Mobile Advertising

In today's USAToday there is an article about advertising on mobile phones. It is predicted that mobile advertising revenue will jump from 2005's $45 million to $150 million for 2006. The argument for using this new medium is that traditional media sucks - TV ads are being "TiVo-d," satellite radio is becoming more popular, no one except my mom reads newspapers (and that's only to check out the coupons on Sunday)...and on and on...

The article claims that text message ads, wireless web ads (the ones that show up across the top or bottm of your cell screen when you check a web page from your phone), and ads for free stuff are the most acceptable. Question - what other type of mobile phone ads are there?

I'm also going to put this out there - I don't like mobile phone advertising. Not everyone has unlimited text messaging and most aren't going to pay money (even if it's only $.10) to view the ad. And if they are tricked into thinking the text is a personal message and then find out it isn't, they are going to be annoyed. Does anyone really want their brand to annoy people (don't answer, car dealers). For example, I received a text message last week. I assumed it was the guy I was dating (is this a new trend? Dating via text? Are guys too nervous to actually dial the number and would rather clumsily peck at the teeny tiny buttons - "U wanna go out 2nite"). But was it him? No. It was an ad from Cingular! What a disappointment. No date, no late night rendezvous, just an offer to download free games. They should have sent that to my guy!

Plus, the screen is only so big! Why cram our ad into such a tiny space? It doesn't look good (actually, it doesn't look good on my crappy phone - looks awesome on a Blackberry. But does everyone have a Blackberry? Not yet.).

If something free is offered, that's cool. But the free game download offered to me is a waste of a text message. I don't use my phone for gaming. In fact, I don't game. The last game I played was MarioKart on my brother's Nintendo64. So, I'd suggest opt-in is the only way to go for these mobile ads. Once I'm carrying around an awesome smartphone and I pay less a month for ad-supported service, send me ads all you want ;) But let's make them discreet, please...

VOD baby

It's finally happened - we've jumped on the Video on Demand bandwagon! I'm so excited because it really makes sense for the client (utility provider+ hurricane on demand + Florida = perfect). The content offers hurricane preparedness tips. Keeping my fingers crossed that it actually works. Even if no one views the content, at least it makes the client look good/concerned about the welfare of the community.

Just heard a funny radio spot from Diet Pepsi - Hip Hopera. And I've been hearing new Budweiser "Real Men of Genius" (or is it "real american heroes" - I can't recall) radio spots as well that are clever as always. One Bud ad talks about the "boneless buffalo wing inventor" (I'm pretty sure that I'm breaking some copyright law right now) and I agree wholeheartedly! Thank you boneless buffalo wing inventor :)

*Although my all-time favorite is the Homemade Pontoon Boat Maker - have you seen those things? awesome

My name looks so good in print

Cool story - my agency was the first in the US to have a client use RDS radio. RDS is a special display on some cars stereo systems that allows a short message to appear on the screen. NPR does it and so do many CDs (ex. the song name will come up when it's playing). Well, we were the first to have it come up when our client's radio spot played...pretty cool! And, we got some local coverage from the publication, "Business Matters."
Yours truly is quoted!

"With approximately 1 out of four cars on the road equipped with RDS, we were excited when this technology was presented to us by Cox," said Michelle Marts, Media Director for Kidd Group, "We are always seeking innovative and cost efficient ways to deliver our clients' messages."

We're always looking for more ways to distract people on their daily commute ;)