As we imagine it is at other agencies, our job application process here at Door Number 3 is pretty rigorous.
We don’t just hire anybody.
But Mike McKay, the executive creative director of Saatchi and Saatchi LA, had lost his patience with such methods. He offered a $70k copywriting position for the funniest tweet. “It’s much easier to write long form,” McKay said. “It’s much harder to get someone interested in something in 140 characters.”
Well congratulations, Jonathon Pelleg, our fellow Austinite. It takes most people a cover letter, resume, portfolio, airline tickets, a series of awkward interview questions and the latest technology in stalking equipment to even be considered for a job. You did it in 21 words, all of which were talking about male genitalia. It’s an impressive feat.
While most are touched, people in the industry are annoyed. But they don’t hate you because you don’t deserve it. They hate you because it was just too easy. Besides, there were some pretty worthy contenders – click here to check them out.
Here at Door Number 3, we salute you and hope you prove the critics wrong. But that doesn’t mean we’ll let our prospective employees forgo the hot-coal walking anytime soon.
Advertising is truly an art and science rolled into one. It takes real genius to inject life and personality into a once inanimate brand, thus creating need and desire. That, paired with an inspiring product is the recipe for greatness.
With this in mind, we present a gift from the gods of advertising: The Candwich.
This “new and innovative product for grab-and-go convenience” practically markets itself. It is easy to pack on the go, can be sold in a vending machine and is good for up to a year without refrigeration.
Mark Kirkland has dedicated a decade of his life to the cause. “So think about it,” Kirkland explained. “You’re a mom running your kids between school, piano lessons, soccer. Stopping at a fast-food restaurant takes time. This is something that literally could roll around the car for a few months. … “
Here’s to those products that not only give us faith in advertising, but in mankind.
Zuckerbug told Diane Sawyer that he he would consider making a dislike button. But before you start the listing the things you should immediately disassociate with, know that Zuckerberg was just trying to shut everybody up.
Even though there are 3.2 million people in a Facebook group advocating the dislike button, Facebook simply cannot afford to damage their relationship with companies. If people can see the thousands of users that adamantly dislike a brand, it quickly becomes a bad use of their ad dollars. Yeah, companies want to empower us as consumers. Sounded better theoretically, huh? That’s why Zuck just wants to hold hands and sing Kumbaya.
But not to worry you spiteful, self-loathing Facebookers who alleviate all that pent-up hate and agression via interweb. You wouldn’t have nearly as much fun or feel nearly as original if everybody’s busy disliking things.
Isn’t it more gratifying to like the status that says “I wrecked my car today!!” Or to join the group “I don’t care how comfortable Crocs are, you look like a dumbass”? Disliking the happy tidbits just seems so… passive. And boring. You’ll need to find another channel for contempt and hostility. Make Facebook wish they gave you the option of simply “disliking” something.
Until then, let’s focus on more productive matters. Like making “Bromance” a relationship status option.
You can turn off your car radio, you can refuse to read a billboard, but if you’re behind another car in California, you might not be able to avoid advertisements for much longer.
California is kicking around the idea of placing digital ads on license plates. The plates will look normal when the car is moving, but cars that stop for four seconds or longer will treat the motorists behind them to an ad. Invasive? Perhaps. Ingenious? Ohhh yeah. Here are a few brands that may want to get in on the action:
Smith & Wesson firearms.: Perfect solution to LA road rage.
Tom Tom: Maybe GPS can help find routes with the least amount of Activia ads.
JBL Audio: A pair of subwoofers would surely drown out the car next to you blasting Taylor Swift.
Match.com: If there’s nobody in the passenger seat…
Starbucks: Chances are, there’s at least one Starbucks at that very intersection.
Advertising at the World Cup ain’t exactly cheap. So, if your company doesn’t quite have the capital, just round up 36 of your hottest hotties, put them in short mini dresses and let the PR do the work for you.
Bavaria, a Dutch brewery, couldn’t afford to shell out millions of dollars for a World Cup sponsorship, so they sent a slew of women in revealing orange mini dresses to the game. Seemed like a good idea, and nobody seemed to care - except FIFA’s “anti-ambush marketing” experts, who exist solely to prevent free, guerilla tactics from taking place on the World Cup’s dime.
And to further prove their point, FIFA threw two of the conspiring women in the slammer. But does FIFA realize that arresting the girls and making a scene completely backfired? Bavaria has received more media attention than if the stunt had simply played itself out.
So what can we learn from this? Well, two things: #1 If you’re going to advertise at the World Cup, it’ll cost ya. And #2 If you can’t cough up the cash, at least make sure you have enough money for bail.
Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images
It seems there’s something in the water in Germany. Actor Christoph Waltz proclaimed he was going to give back his Academy award and dedicate his life to Austrian folklore. Actress Helen Mirren declared herself Queen of England. Tom Cruise ordered a high chair just like Suri’s so that he can see over the table.
Okay, what’s going on here, Germany?
The explanation begins with BIC being the number-one selling pen everywhere in the world – except Germany. So BIC’s Berlin agency, Jung von Matt/Spree, declared “with a BIC, you sign everything.”
And so it began. With a camera crew in tow, BIC sent undercover actors armed with BIC pens to get autographs from celebrities. Knowing stars will thoughtlessly scribble their John Hancock on just about anything an adoring fan hands them, BIC fooled unsuspecting celebrities into signing ridiculous documents. Then, they posted short videos of the scams on YouTube starting with a man who tricked the beautiful actress, Eva Habermann, into signing a marriage certificate.
BIC is getting free publicity at the expense of the rich and famous. Is this the new face of celebrity endorsements? Instead of negotiating an enormous sum of money to have a star flaunt their flawless appearance (oh, and give your product the nod of approval), BIC puts their $0.21 pen into action. Besides, there is nothing the public loves more than to watch untouchable celebrities become victims of their own stardom.
So maybe it’s not the water after all; it’s just a cheap pen and an even cheaper celebrity endorsement.
James Ready beer isn’t curing any diseases, providing medical supplies for third-world countries, or doing anything particularly “green” to establish goodwill among consumers. Their contribution to society is simply making beer more affordable.
Bless you, James Ready. Bless you.
Leo Burnett Toronto, James Ready’s ad agency, created coupons on billboards for local businesses: dry cleaners, drugs stores, salons, gardening centers. The idea is that if consumers can save a little money on basic necessities, they’ll have more money for more beer. Specifically, James Ready beer. And considering that industry sales are down 4%, there’s never been a better time for a stunt like this.
Are the giant coupons hard to clip? Yes. Impossible, in fact. Luckily, consumers can redeem the coupons by taking a picture on their camera phone and bringing it into the corresponding business. What’s more, the beer company is helping promote local businesses during a recession. Nicely played, James Ready.
The billboards aren’t exactly saving the world, but they are creating goodwill by speaking to a very basic desire; they are enabling you, a possible victim of this economic downturn, to afford more beer and enjoy a better quality of life – and in some cases, a less hairy back.
Google has had its share of mischievous pranks and hoaxes (see: Topeka) So when the Google Translate for Animals app was unveiled at the start of the month, many people naturally assumed it was an April Fools’ Day joke.
And they naturally assumed wrong.
Why do we say this? Well, after taking the app for a test run at the Austin Humane Society, the results we found were undeniable. We didn’t just discover cats and dogs talking; we found them quipping, philandering and, yes, even gangsta rapping.
Needless to say, we caught all of this on tape. The following videos, which are already going viral, are proof that there’s nothing foolish about listening to an animal.
