Posted by truecreek on March 16, 2009 under Opinions. Everyone has them. | 
Comcast has been a regional client of this agency for almost a year now. Our job has been to write, design and produce the stuff that sells things; DM, catalogs and the like. All of the brand work came from Goodby, where That’s Comcastic originated. We just follow their lead happily.
But the new campaign, dream big, is just great and the agency deserves a tremendous amount of credit for taking the client in this direction. The new campaign offers up some of the most visually interesting work I have seen in a long time. Some see it as bizarre, but for me, it does a wonderful job of humanizing the category…something that is tough to do with broadband accounts.
With this category, it’s all about the features and benefits of the three products, the speed of the network, the amount of channels you offer in high def, the price point and the like. To take all of that and turn it into a sort of Yellow Submarine meets Monopoly spectacle is just fascinating to watch. Not to mention the extremely creative music that just carries the spot to a whole new place.
It will be very interesting to see how the campaign unfolds over the next six months to a year. Does it have legs?
Posted by truecreek on March 10, 2009 under More Dam News |
Sites Stop Fighting Those Ubiquitous Direct-Response Ads as Publishers Reluctant to Forego Revenue
by Michael Learmonth
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The recession is having a slimming-down effect on media businesses, but it’s feeding the proliferation of pot bellies and muffin tops across the web.
The belly-fat ads may be unappealing and jarring on some of the higher-end sites that are running them, but they work, and can bring more revenue than a display ad sold on a cost-per-thousand-viewers basis.
The ubiquitous “belly fat” ads, placed by numerous direct-response marketers, including some of the web’s shadiest advertisers, are finding welcome homes across the web as publishers grow more reluctant to leave any available ad budgets on the table, even those attached to unappealing ads.
These ads, which typically link to sites with names such as Becky’s Weight Loss or Helen’s Weight Loss, often use the same exact creative — a before-and-after photo of a woman’s belly — and tout some secret to getting rid of a gut. Users, of course, have to click on the ad to find out more.
Online advertising start-up Rubicon Project estimates that different versions of the “belly fat” ads are now being served by half the ad networks in the U.S., sometimes accounting for as much as 30% of an ad network’s total revenue.
It’s all part of a larger shift toward direct-response advertising as brand dollars become harder to come by. The belly-fat ads may be unappealing and jarring on some of the higher-end sites that are running them, such as MSNBC.com, but they work, and can bring more revenue than a display ad sold on a cost-per-thousand-viewers basis.
“Ultimately, the economy is what it is, and ad networks are finding that it is easier for them to get direct-response ads right now than it is to get brand dollars,” said Rubicon VP J.T. Batson.
But here’s the bigger problem: The process of blocking belly-fat ads for publishers that don’t want them is proving particularly difficult for ad networks. The creative gets placed by numerous corporations using different tags, URLs and toll-free numbers, making them hard to track and stop automatically.
And when ad networks have unsold inventory, they’ll often tap another ad network to fill it, giving belly-fat ads another side door onto websites that might not want them.
New Jersey-based ad network AdBlade is placing some belly-fat ads, including smaller placements on MSNBC, but CEO Ash Nashed said he turns away about 60% of the belly-fat ads out there, including those with forced upsells in the fine print and those where a person doesn’t answer the toll-free number. “They do perform well; a lot of people click on those ads, quite frankly,” he said.
And it’s not just belly fat. Direct-response ads of all kinds, such as those for lowering bills, avoiding computer viruses and checking credit scores, are flooding into unsold ad inventory. Windows that open underneath a page — the so-called pop-unders of the late ’90s — are making a comeback, and ad execs say they’re seeing more in-text ads from the likes of Vibrant Media and Kontera as publishers attempt to squeeze incremental dollars from each page.
“It signifies a shortage of alternatives and a hunger for revenue,” said Andy Atherton, chief operating officer of Brand.net. “This isn’t a new issue, but in this climate it’s harder to say no to any ad if there is money attached to it.”
In their quest for hard-to-find ad dollars, publishers are paying more attention to their international traffic, which many used to ignore. A typical U.S. web property gets 30% of its traffic from overseas, but it’s difficult to sell ads against those visitors without doing a deal with an ad network based in, say, Germany, to sell to a much smaller German audience, or working with companies such as Adconion or AdGent 007, which can serve international ads to those visitors.
Posted by truecreek on March 5, 2009 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
Start by sticking your big toe in and continue until you are fully immersed in knowledge, insight and enlightenment of current affairs in advertising and marketing. It promises to be a very refreshing experience.
This is my MOM by the way.
Posted by truecreek on March 1, 2009 under More Dam News |
LOS ANGELES — Hollywood could get used to this recession thing.
While much of the economy is teetering between bust and bailout, the movie industry has been startled by a box-office surge that has little precedent in the modern era. Suddenly it seems as if everyone is going to the movies, with ticket sales this year up 17.5 percent, to $1.7 billion, according to Media by Numbers, a box-office tracking company.
And it is not just because ticket prices are higher. Attendance has also jumped, by nearly 16 percent. If that pace continues through the year, it would amount to the biggest box-office surge in at least two decades.
Americans, for the moment, just want to hide in a very dark place, said Martin Kaplan, the director of the Norman Lear Center for the study of entertainment and society at the University of Southern California.
“It’s not rocket science,” he said. “People want to forget their troubles, and they want to be with other people.”
Helping feed the surge is the mix of movies, which have been more audience-friendly in recent months as the studios have tried to adjust after the lackluster sales of more somber and serious films.
As she stood in line at the 18-screen Bridge theater complex here on Thursday to buy weekend tickets for “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience,” Angel Hernandez was not thinking much about escaping reality. Instead, Ms. Hernandez, a Los Angeles parking lot attendant and mother of four young girls, was focused on one very specific reality: her wallet.
Even with the movie carrying a premium price of $15 because of its 3-D effects — children’s tickets typically run $9 at the Bridge — Ms. Hernandez saw the experience as a bargain.
“Spending hundreds of dollars to take them to Disneyland is ridiculous right now,” she said. “For $60 and some candy money I can still be a good mom and give them a little fun.”
A lot of parents may have been thinking the same thing Friday, as “Jonas Brothers” sold out more than 800 theaters, according to MovieTickets.com, and was expected to sell a powerful $25 million or more in tickets.
Other movies kept up their blistering sales pace, too, including “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail,” about a gun-toting grandma. Even “Taken,” a relatively low-cost thriller starring Liam Neeson, is barreling past the $100 million mark this weekend.
Historically speaking, the old saw that movies do well in hard times is not precisely true. The last time Hollywood enjoyed a double-digit jump in attendance was 1989, when the unemployment rate was at a comfortable 5.4 percent and the Gothic tone of that year’s big hit, “Batman,” seemed mostly the stuff of fantasy. That year, the number of moviegoers shot up 16.4 percent, according to Box Office Mojo, a box-office reporting service.
In 1982, theater attendance jumped 10.1 percent to about 1.18 billion (the top seller was “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial”) as unemployment rose sharply past 10 percent. Then admissions fell nearly 12 percent, an unusually sharp drop, in 1985 (the “Back to the Future” year), as the economy picked up — suggesting that theater owners have sometimes found fortunes in times of distress, and distress in good times.
Academic research on the matter is scant. One often-quoted scholarly study by Michelle Pautz, of Elon University, was published by the journal Issues in Political Economy in 2002. Over all, it said, the portion of the American population that attended movies on a weekly basis dropped from around 65 percent in 1930 to about 10 percent in the 1960s, and pretty much stayed there.
The film industry appears to have had a hand in its recent good luck. Over the last year or two, studios have released movies that are happier, scarier or just less depressing than what came before. After poor results for a spate of serious dramas built around the Middle East (“The Kingdom,” “Lions for Lambs,” “Rendition”), Hollywood got back to comedies like “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” a review-proof lark about an overstuffed security guard.
“A bunch of movies have come along that don’t make you think too much,” said Marc Abraham, a producer whose next film is a remake of “The Thing.”
Certainly exhibitors are looking for a profit lift in the downturn. A new report from Global Media Intelligence on Friday predicted that the fortunes of movie theater operators like Regal Entertainment and Cinemark Holdings would be “increasingly favorable against a backdrop of highly negative economic news.”
Cinematic quality has little to do with it. The recent crop of Oscar nominees has fared poorly, for the most part, at the box office. Lighter fare has drawn the crowds.
“It would take a very generous person to call these pictures anything other than middle-of-the-road, at best,” said Roger Smith, the executive editor of Global Media Intelligence.
The box-office surge started just before Christmas with the comedy “Marley & Me,” in which Jennifer Aniston was upstaged by a dog. And it has continued, weekend by weekend, with little sign of let-up, analysts say.
“Watchmen,” a dark superhero film, opens March 6 and is expected to do megawatt business. It is to be followed by “Monsters vs. Aliens,” a 3-D behemoth from DreamWorks Animation that analysts expect to have the biggest March opening ever for a nonsequel.
Movie theaters are already adding 3 a.m. screenings for “Watchmen” next week, and advance sales by online ticket companies like Fandango and MovieTickets.com have been strong.
“Fandango is experiencing the best first quarter in its history for ticket sales,” said Rick Butler, its chief operating officer. “I see no signs of a drop-off.”
Posted by truecreek on February 18, 2009 under More Dam News |
By Emily Bryson York
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AdAge.com) — General Mills, one of the package-food industry’s top performers, laid out a number of recent marketing successes at the Consumer Analysts Group of New York conference this morning, and offered a preview of the rest of its fiscal year.
The company has staunchly supported consumer-marketing spending increases — 19% in the first half of fiscal 2009, which began in June — while competitors, including Kellogg and Kraft, have begun to scale back on the heady marketing outlays of 2008, instead preaching bundling and greater return on investment. General Mills estimates that its consumer-marketing spending will be up by “double digits” for the full fiscal year.
CEO Ken Powell has repeatedly said that it’s particularly important to support well-known brands during the current economy.
“We’re meeting here in Florida at a time of great economic uncertainty around the world,” Mr. Powell said. “General Mills has weathered the storm due in large part to the strength of our product categories and the strength of our brands.” He underscored that the company has a number of well-known 50-year-old brands, such as Cheerios and Pillsbury, as well as 30-year-old brands such as Yoplait and Nature Valley, that consumers trust.
Positive response
General Mills’ sales have responded well to increased marketing support as consumers are eating more at home. Sales grew 11% in the first half of fiscal 2009, to $7.5 billion. The company has raised guidance with each of the first two quarters. General Mills is doing so well that analysts had been expecting the company to raise its earnings guidance again this morning.
For the balance of 2009, the company said it is planning a broadcast blitz for its cereal brands. Ian Friendly, chief operating officer of U.S. retail operations, said he expects the ad program to generate the biggest bump in sales. The company’s Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Multigrain Cheerios and Lucky Charms have been faring particularly well. General Mills is launching Banana Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Chex, and Fiber One Frosted Shredded Wheat cereals in the coming months.
Some of these products are likely to be advertised to baby boomers, who Mr. Friendly noted will make up about half of the U.S. population by 2010. “When I started here in 1983, we didn’t do much advertising to baby boomers,” he said, adding that boomers are eating more cereal as they age. “We’re targeting them directly now.”
The company is also working harder to target Hispanics, with Progresso products such as Menudo being tested in Texas. Mr. Friendly said the company credits Hispanic-targeted advertising for Honey Nut Cheerios with a 35% increase in year-to-date sales with those consumers. Bromley Communications is General Mills’ Hispanic agency.
Online growth
But while the bulk of the company’s spend remains on TV, Mr. Friendly said in a conference with reporters that it has begun to see significantly higher return on digital investment. General Mills has been diverting funds online, driving traffic to recipe sites such as BettyCrocker.com. The company’s cooking sites had about 8 million visitors last month. General Mills also recently launched a free Betty Crocker iPhone application, which offers meal suggestions based on what’s in a consumer’s pantry.
“We are seeing very high returns from digital than broadcast,” Mr. Friendly said, declining to give the percentage of spending that’s moved online. “It’s not that our TV ads don’t work, but when you’re watching TV you’re doing it for a different reason. When you go to a website you have a very specific purpose.”
General Mills’ agencies include Saatchi & Saatchi and Cassanova.
Posted by wordwrangler on February 17, 2009 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
I borrowed the headline and premise for this article from the classic song, Wonderful World, recorded in the 1950s by the legendary Sam Cooke and later again by Herman’s Hermits and Art Garfunkel.
Don’t know much about history
Don’t know much biology
Don’t know much about a science book
Don’t know much about the French I took
The point of this article is that this virtual ad agency, True Creek, defies the convention of typical ad agencies that historically have a brick-and-mortar headquarters where all the employees work.
There’s a lot of overhead in brick and mortar. Overhead we don’t need and our clients don’t want to pay for. So True Creek has no traditional headquarters, just a bunch of smart people who put their heads together to successfully solve clients’ marketing needs.
Don’t know much about geography
Don’t know much trigonometry
Don’t know much about algebra
Don’t know what a slide rule is for
Which brings us to the subject of geography. Our staff can and does work from anywhere on God’s green earth—anywhere with an Internet connection, that is.
Our office intercom is comprised of cell phones and e-mails. (It’s interesting how employees in traditional offices communicate mainly by e-mail even when they are just steps away from one another.)
The bottom line is this: instead of building a brick-and-mortar headquarters, we think it is more impressive to simply build our clients’ sales, market share and business. So ambitious, forward-thinking clients: join us.
And by the way, just what the heck is a slide rule for?
###
Sam Cooke’s original recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNO72aCnVr0
Posted by truecreek on February 16, 2009 under More Dam News |
By Stephanie Clifford
Published: January 26, 2009
THE last two Saturday nights, CBS’s prime-time lineup included “Game Show in My Head,” “48 Hours Mystery” — and lots of infomercials.
The two-minute commercials, for a DVD set of “The World at War” and a CD of relaxing classical music, both from Time Life, ran during almost every show on the network’s recent Saturday nights.
It is a sign of just how bad the advertising market is: infomercials are running during network prime time, filling slots that automobiles and banks once owned.
“The economy is the No. 1 focus for everyone, and it affects the advertisers and the rates,” said Pat Boos, the senior vice president for broadcast, acquisition and marketing at Direct Holdings Americas, which licenses the Time Life brand.
“When someone pulls off the air, like a pharmaceutical or medical company or a sports company, the networks sometimes find themselves with last-minute dead space,” she said. “We can come in and say, we’ve got a tape ready, we’ve got the product ready.”
Ms. Boos said that Time Life was running double the number of prime-time spots that it did a year ago. Networks try to avoid infomercial advertisers, because they pay “a fraction of what general advertising costs,” said Nancy Duitch, the chief executive of Vertical Branding, which runs infomercials for its products like the Steam Buddy and the Nicer Dicer. Although her rates vary, she said she often paid as little as 5 percent of what a general advertiser would.
Posted by truecreek on February 12, 2009 under The Work |
When you’re thinking about starting a new company, don’t forget about the impact a great logo will have for your new brand. As we all know, your brand is much more than just a sweet logo, but it’s a great way to get things started.
From a creative standpoint, so much of what you will be doing in the future to communicate with your customers will flow right out of that design, so make the investment and be sure to get it right from the beginning.
Several years ago I met Pete, one of the designers in The Creekbed and owner of one of the finer design/brand studios here in DC. He’s one of the best in the business these days and I’m proud to say he’s part of the team. He’s produced award-winning logos for The Grammys, Rouge at the MGM Grand in Vegas, True Creek and so many more. Take a moment to look at some of his eye-catching work below.
Tags: Advertising, advertising agency in alexandria virginia, advertising agency in DC, advertising agency in northern VA, award-winning, brand, communicate, design, logo, Rouge, The Grammys
Posted by truecreek on February 10, 2009 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
Here’s a good start for your next creative brief.
Background/Overview: Why are we advertising?
Target audience: Who are we talking to?
Target audience: What do they currently think?
What is the objective, the purpose of the ad?
What do we want to say?
What distinguishes us from the competition?
What are the supporting rational and emotional ‘reasons to believe?
What type of relationship do we have with our customers, stated in human terms?
What have we done in the past that has been the most productive?
What do we need and when do we need it?
Posted by wordwrangler on February 2, 2009 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
Since you are reading this on the True Creek blog, you might assume it was written by the True Creek proprietor, Joseph Young. It was not.
Well, then, you might assume it was written by one of his creative staff. Nope, he has no staff. True Creek is today’s communication tool for businesses—an ‘on demand’ ad agency, to borrow a term from its many cable provider clients.
Just as blogging is a new form of communicating, True Creek is a new way of communicating with your customers and prospects.
Which brings us to the Hollywood director connection. A director doesn’t have a staff of actors and actresses. When it comes time, he (or she) handpicks the right ones for the production. His (or her) choices are unlimited.
Likewise, True Creek handpicks the right talent for your job, be it a brochure, ad, website, mailer or matchbook. Case in point: I am one of the writers that True Creek can tap on a spur-of-the-moment, per project basis. Just an hour ago, I was tapped to write this very blog.
So the next time you have an advertising project (or blog article) that requires the right talent and the right price right now, call upon True Creek, the new communication company that can call out for ‘Action!” as effectively as any Hollywood director with a megaphone.
But without the Hollywood ego.
Posted by truecreek on under More Dam News |
Always love the USA TODAY instant spot rankings from the Superbowl. Here are the top ten, with length , quarter played and score:
Doritos Crystal ball sees free Doritos. 30 1st 8.46
Budweiser Clydesdale’s romance with circus horse. 60 2nd 8.42
Budweiser Clydesdale can fetch. 30 2nd 8.26
Bridgestone Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head take a drive. 30 2nd 7.83
Doritos Superpowers of Doritos’ crunch. 30 2nd 7.79
Cars.com Overachiever needs help buying a car. 60 2nd 7.78
Pedigree Dog is better pet than an ostrich or rhino. 30 2nd 7.71
Pepsi Mix of Forever Young with Bob Dylan and Will.i.am. 60 1st 7.65
Castrol Grease monkeys and Castrol Edge keep car running. 30 2nd 7.56
Bud Light No Bud Light at meetings to cut budget. 30 1st 7.49
Posted by truecreek on February 1, 2009 under The Work |
Posted by truecreek on January 31, 2009 under More Dam News |
By DINESH RAMDE
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Watch an advertisement on a video screen in a mall, health club or grocery store and there’s a slim – but growing – chance the ad is watching you too.
Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer’s gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity – and can change the ads accordingly.
That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens.
And even if the ads don’t shift based on which people are watching, the technology’s ability to determine the viewers’ demographics is golden for advertisers who want to know how effectively they’re reaching their target audience.
While the technology remains in limited use for now, advertising industry analysts say it is finally beginning to live up to its promise. The manufacturers say their systems can accurately determine gender 85 to 90 percent of the time, while accuracy for the other measures continues to be refined.
The concept is reminiscent of the science-fiction movie “Minority Report,” in which Tom Cruise’s character enters a mall and finds that retinal scanners identify him and prompt personalized ads that greet him by name.
But this technology doesn’t go nearly that far. It doesn’t identify people individually – it simply categorizes them by outward appearances.
So a video screen might show a motorcycle ad for a group of men, but switch to a minivan ad when women and children join them, said Vicki Rabenou, the chief measurement officer of Tampa, Fla.-based TruMedia Technologies Inc., one of the leaders in developing the technology.
“This is proactive merchandising,” Rabenou said. “You’re targeting people with smart ads.”
Posted by truecreek on January 28, 2009 under The Work |
We spent the better part of October working on a real nice 16 page catalog for our client, Comcast. Below are two of the inside spreads.
Tags: Advertising, advertising agency in alexandria virginia, advertising agency in DC, advertising agency in northern VA, advertising agency in Northern Virginia, artwork, brand, Comcast, consumer-marketing, Creative, Four Color Collateral, strategy
Posted by truecreek on under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
Thanks to Cindy Perman for a great article about the supposed “King” of TV sales.
How long is this recession going to last? That’s the $6 million question.
Well, look no further than your television for the answer.
Infomercial guru Billy Mays, known for his signature yelling and, um, beard, used to hawk the Ding King, the “body-shop secret” that would help you bang out the dents in your vehicle like a pro.
Then everybody stopped buying cars.
Mays pitched the miracle of Oxiclean: This 2 ½-pound tub will do 75 loads of laundry!
Then everybody lost their jobs and suddenly, no one gave a $#!+ about the red-wine stain on their shirt.
Then, this summer, the clouds rolled in and the Billy Mays indicator seemed to hit rock bottom: There he was on TV, trying to sell me low-cost health insurance.
I was never completely comfortable with Mays’s transition from my tub to my doctor’s office.
That was right before the bottom fell out of the market and the economy started hemorrhaging jobs at the rate of half a million per month.
But, wait! Don’t answer yet.
You also get—not one—
Not two—
But THREE cans of hope!
Check him now: Mays is hawking Mighty Mend It, a fabric glue that can hem your pants, reaffix the pocket on your jeans … even repair your torn American flag!
“Just apply. Gently touch … and mend it!” Mays cheers as the flag is restored just before the big finish: Mays and the flag in a wind tunnel.
“It has the strength to withstand storm-force winds!” Mays brags of Mighty Mend It, but we all know what he really means: the economy. Mays will help us hold it together until the storm passes.
And the economy’s red glare!
The flag rippling in air!
Gave proof on this infomercial
That our economy is still there
Oh say does tha-at star spangled pro-du-uct ye-et wa-ave …
O’er the la-and of the free
And all for just $19.95.
Call now. And when Billy starts offering you things you don’t need again, you’ll know the economy is back on track.
Posted by truecreek on under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
If you have a cool $3 or $4 million, you can pick up one of the remaining 3 or 4 Super Bowl spots out there. I can’t remember the last time that the Super Bowl wasn’t sold out so close to the game….that being said, NBC will still probably set a record for total cash brought in by the spots.
Posted by truecreek on under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
A MarketSense study during the 1989-91 recession demonstrated that brands such as Jif Peanut Butter and Kraft Salad Dressing increased their advertising and experienced sales growth of 57% to 70%. During this same period, most of the beer industry made cuts to their ad budgets, but Coors Light and Bud Light increased their budgets and saw sales jump 15% to 16%. Among fast food companies, Pizza Hut sales rose 61% and Taco Bell’s 40% due to strong advertising support, reducing McDonald’s sales by as much as 28%. MarketSense concluded the study by reporting. “The best strategy for coping with a recession is balanced exploitation of ad spending for long-term consumer motivation, plus promotion for short term sales boosts.”
Strategies to help your business thrive in this economy.
• Don’t cut your ad budget, increase it. Let your competition cut their budgets. When you increase your spending, you increase your share of voice. If your competitors cut back, your message grows even stronger.
• Have a strategic marketing plan that is well thought out, so you don’t waste money advertising the wrong message in the wrong place to the wrong audience.
• Keep your loyal customers by keeping in touch with them and letting them know what you have to offer.
• Maintain your brand awareness. Advertising works cumulatively so you have to remind people frequently about your brand or they’ll forget you.
• Achieve greater media efficiency by taking advantage of more negotiable rates and special promotions.
• Don’t degrade your advertising by trying to save a few dollars on creative or production costs. Your customers will notice and will perceive lower quality not just in your advertising, but in your products and services.
This is one time to stress quality—and value. “All great enterprises move forward in a recession, and the weaklings move backward. The dumbbells cut back on advertising. The smart people don’t.” -Ed McCabe, founding partner of Scali, McCabe, Stoves advertising agency, a legendary Madison Avenue agency of years past.
