advergirl

Hey U. U R A QT.

Two great opportunities to relive a little well-spent youth out this week. First up, local ad-guy Dave O reported the splendid news that the Fraggles are coming to iTunes.

And, Marti Post sent over this grown-up cootie catcher of a site from Sprint: The TXT Romantifier. Lots of salacious little abbreviations to txt to your sweetie this valentines season.

What I really think: A delightful idea. And, come on, the addition of Isaac Hayes? He practically owns romance. But the execution is a little wonky. Either the server is overwhelmed (unlikely I think) or the app is really heavy and slow to move. Plus, the browse nav isn't super intuitive. B-

Avoiding Purple Gorillas: 5 Principles of Installation Advertising

Dimensional buzz builders.

Installation advertising.

Once limited to inflatable purple gorillas bouncing atop regional auto dealerships, it's now a medium that more and more clients are demanding. A way to make a big statement about your brand in an environment that is anything but corporate.

In the spirit of avoiding purple gorillas, a few guiding principles on what installation advertising 'should be' to discuss:

1. Integral to the space: Be a part of the space you're in. Interact with it. Make fun of it. Complement it. This isn't a mass market billboard, it has to make use of the space you're in. Like, for example, Saatchi's paper dolls peeing on trees in Central Park.
   
   
2. Relevant to the brand: To be effective, installation advertising has to deliver on your brand - not just be shocking for the sake of being shocking. Think, for example, giant Nike shoes taking off in rush hour traffic after a run-away soccer ball.


3. Personal to an individual: Sometimes scale is in the number of little touches. The unexpected treat that you couldn't believe happened until you talked to your girlfriend and she got one, too. And, suddenly it's all you can talk about ... the sheer weird, unexpected Thing. Despite news out this week that SunFlower Market isn't going to make it, they surely started out successfully with hundreds of potted sunflowers "lawnvertising" in the front yards of their surprised neighbors.


4. Fresh and unexpected: Probably goes without saying: It's usually best to be first. I'm not saying strap a bunch of gamers to a semi truck with duct tape to make your point, but...


5. Extendable to wider audiences: I should maybe say, "and sometimes 5." Sometimes the one-off, news-making installation does all the heavy-lifting for you. But, in an experience economy made egalitarian by technology, there's a lot to be said for biting the budget bullet and rolling the experience to where your customers are.

One recent set of installations that over delivered on all of these from BBDO New York and Havaianas:

From I Believe in Advertising:

(top) Limited-edition welcome mats were produced and distributed by BBDO New York as a unique way for people to store their Havaianas. When leaving for the day, people simply slid their feet in and stepped out of the mat. When returning home, the flip-flops were popped back in. Because Havaianas are impervious to bad weather, the mat can be kept either inside or outside. Keeping the mat inside further solidifies Havaianas’ connection to nature by essentially “welcoming” people to the outdoors when they leave for the day.

(bottom) In an effort to push Havaianas’ floral-print flip-flops, flower-bed installations were planted in locations where they were sold. They also served to remind people of Havaianas’ unique aesthetic of color, design, and the brand’s connection to nature and the outdoors.

Web strategy for your best copy line

Cautionary SEO tale for agencies:

Perhaps Citi's most memorable line in the last few years has been 'dividends are a girl's best friend.' It's the foundation of a particularly savvy advertising strategy that seamlessly blends media planning and creative. (See my further pontification)

The challenge is twofold: (1) The headline is infinitely more memorable than the brand. And, (2) Google.

Searchers enter the headline and net a list of blogs, news articles and sundry non-brand content that may or may not even be about the campaign.

When a line is that memorable, it deserves a Web plan that targets the way pre-shoppers and ambient thinkers search, buy and share online.

New business cards and a better embarrassing moment

Update from the desk with 3,000 shiny new business cards: New pond. Bigger fish. But, I'm still swimming.

Which is all to say, today was my first day at Ologie:

First up, if you are used to a whoever-wins-the-fight-wins-the-strategy, kinda guys-guy environ, it is incredibly, surprisingly difficult to chill out and fit into a collaborative culture. I feel like I'm punching people when I use my nice voice.

Second, I'm in a cube. (You know, a really cool agency version of a cube that's like a tented pod, but, still). Which I knew was going to happen. And, yet, still find myself completely thrown by. I feel like every sniffle, sigh and paper shuffle must sound like the aggravating blare of a bullhorn to my neighbors. And, I have no idea how people have a phone conversation / think / create in such wilds ... but, I'm sure I will learn and my monster ego will be so much the better for it.

Finally, and most importantly. I so definitely missed an opportunity at the All Staff meeting. I was asked to share an embarrassing moment or something no one knows about me. I quickly avoided the embarrassing moment route. Not because I have any particularly mortifying secrets, but, really because I don't have any good mortifying anecdotes. They all seem to require so much back story that by the time I get to the punch line, the response in the room is something like, so, wait, you played the flute?

Anyway, I went to something no one knows.

My actual answer: I spent the first few days of my first big agency job in Chicago wearing a hair net and working with a spatula, and I've been haunted by the smell of pumpkin pie and spray glue ever since*. (true)

My total missed opportunity answer: The Rev Jimmy Bakker's cell mate taught me how to skydive (also true)

Back to the usual Advergirl tomorrow. Now, out to debrief over drinks!

*Rest of the story: The agency represented American Heart and American Lung of Illinois right around the time of the first big multi-state tobacco settlement. Their goal was to convince lawmakers to reserve half the settlement amount ("half the pie") for cessation programs. So, PR idea was to create hundreds of pie tins that included half a seasonally-appropriate pumpkin pie, a press release and a graphic of the desired budget division. And, being handy in the kitchen (it does take some precision to slice a pie in two and flawlessly move half of it to a new tin with no crust cracking), I somehow got drafted into assembly...

"I don't have to grow up" - gen

For every thoughtful discussion I've had about the cultural consumer, the green citizen, the attention economy, I've had a party / conversation / meeting completely derailed by a group of mainstream 30-somethings playing or talking-about-playing video games. Even as I type this, my copy of RenGen is sitting under my PS3 controller on the coffee table.

We - the fabled, if aging GenXers - are a damn playful bunch. Our marathons are as likely to be a Saturday of Project Runway reruns as 20-sweaty miles across the city. We've passed on scrapbooks for passing around digital cameras packed with thousands of hammed-up snaps. We can cook but would rather collect memories of childhood munchies - from an EasyBake oven to the Snoopy Sno Cone machine complete with grape syrup.

So, if I can put down my classic wooden yo-yo for just a minute, I'd like to congratulate three advertisers for really getting the spirit of grown-up play:

#1 Dominos pizza for the inventiveness of friends
#2 Toyota Tacoma for the joy of the game
#3 Tostitos for the creativity in every roll of duct tape (and best random :5 seconds of moose)

Here are the smile-out-loud spots:

Dogears: Good stuff I pre-read for my favorite readers

They're the little elves that could
How to Market to the Modern Mom
Best of Ads, Worst of Ads: In pitching this past year, gorilla worked, guerrilla didn't
Mac Attack
Paul Williams: Pave Your Brand Roadmap
7 Tips for Boosting Web Form Conversions
Stop fondling on the hammer, focus on the house
Best Internet Marketing Posts of 2007
Online consumer-generated reviews have big impact on offline purchases
Generation Google: Not so much

The Myth of ElfYourself.com

Ok, I can't take it anymore. What is it with these office supply companies and their ability to create marketing juggernauts that every other client in America wants emulated? The next Easy Button, the next ElfYourself, the next...

Wait. That last one. ElfYourself. Let's look at that.

First, credit where credit is due: The site has been rightly equated with a pop culture phenomenon:

• The hottest holiday greeting Web site two years in a row
• Roughly 100 million visitors created elves. (Including my DAD!)
• And, the site helped OfficeMax win nearly half of the December traffic to consumer goods sites.

No question, the site has been a runaway success for OfficeMax and agency creators Toy and EVB. But that's not the full story:

• First up, this was not just a random great idea from some creatives loopy on spray glue fumes. It was a the winner of a very well-funded test of over 20 holiday sites - each of which was intended to be viral. (That level of upfront investment would make most marketers cringe!) A few examples of the OfficeMax sites you may not have heard of:
  
  • Reindeer Arm Wrestling
  • Roast A Turkey
  • Greetings from the North Pole
  • Shake the Globe
  • Yes I'm Working
  • Save the Snowman
  • Faux Charity Donation Generator
  • North Pole Dancing


• Second, it didn't magically go viral. OfficeMax (and/or Toy) has a strong understanding of how to pounce on an opportunity. They took early adopter posts on Flickr, Digg and Facebook and leveraged them into a PR pitch that landed spokespeople on Letterman, The Today Show and others. From there, they juggernaut ... well, juggered.  Mainstream media coverage included USA Today, ABC World News Now, CNN American Morning, CBS Early Morning, and US Weekly's "Buzz-O-Meter." Online, nearly half a million pages reference the site.


• Finally, let's wait and see the results. Buzz is OfficeMax had a tough fourth quarter. Despite 120 million ElfYourself.com visitors having spent the equivalent of more than 1,500 years with the brand.

Advice for starting out at an advertising agency

I find that I don't have a lot of general advice for the world. Sure, I go on here with my critiques and proclamations. All in good fun. But, when it comes to one-size-fits-all advice, I have a mere three tenets:

1. When planning a wedding reception, always ask the caterer to include a doggie-bag for the bride and groom. 95%* of newlyweds leave the reception smeared with lipstick kiss marks and starving (*actual made-up statistic)


2. If you're buying a house in the Columbus, OH area, call Ric DeVore. He and Molly will take care of everything


3. When gossiping (come on, we all do it), try not to

But, as those of you who are following the series may have noticed, I do have seemingly endless advice for young ad folks. These are my top two that agency newbies seem to universally miss on:

1. Find a mentor. Seriously, it makes all the difference in the world. You need someone who can share advice, encouragement and a good example. You need an advocate. And, in the fast-paced world of agency life, you can't assume that you're going to be taken under a wing by chance. A good mentor is the difference between frustrations eating at you and improving you.
   


2. It does matter what you wear. Sure, it's exciting to hear that there's no dress code. You can keep schlepping about in the same duds you donned in college. The unspoken caveat is: you'll be thought of like someone wandering about campus instead of like the ladder climber you might really be. You've heard the cliche dress for the job you want. How about just leaving the shredded jeans and stretched-out sweaters at home and dressing like you have a job. Any job.
3. And one to grow on: Read this fantastic post called 'What I Wish My New Employee Knew' by Todd Defren over at PR-squared.

Would people really do that?

I have a number of stories I tell about myself. Anecdotes meant to simplify the typical personal evolution into some easily digestible 'whys.' A great example is why I didn't become a journalist after investing four (or however-many) years in J-school. Reason: I never know the answer to the first question people ask. I could tell a 15 minute story in glorious detail and no matter the first question asked, I don't know the answer. I didn't ask it.

But, I do know the answers to 100 other questions that I think are more telling. So, this is my idea of the moment: not all questions are created equal. And, we can answer the question by changing it.

For example: Perhaps the single most common objection I hear in new media presentations is would people really do that? That being, of course, blog, read blogs, go to social network sites, pass ideas to friends, review products, etc. 

It's easy to just answer: Yes! They would. They are. They do.

But maybe instead of answering the question, we should change it: How do we get them to interact with your brand instead of another brand?

Or, a much tougher question: Are the people who would do that already so overwhelmed with information and feeds and friends and early-adopter noise that they aren't even capable of truly adopting a new brand / idea / relationship? Would the kind of people who do that devote enough time to my brand / idea to make it worthwhile?

So, that's my challenge to you and me this month. Answer the first questions, but ask and answer the much harder ones, too. Out loud.

Mail on Sunday: Lessons in the viral spoof

Great forward from local copywriter Steve Post:

Couple of great reminders in this ad:

• Cliches work famously in viral marketing - especially when they add a fresh twist (the remote control cars were a delight when paired with the lap dogs)


• As a culture we are perpetually uncomfortable with the too serious. It's why Saturday Night Live has survived longer than many of my readers have been alive - we like to make fun of war movies and awkward family events and coming-of-age boys earnestly playing guitar in the basement and ... it's a simple formula that can be executed very well (and, of course, very badly)
  


• I think this particular video has the strong possibility of breaking into the 'email forward' set. Those folks who don't read blogs, but will forward pictures of adorable dogs, warnings about the latest credit scam and 101 Ways to Know You're from Boston. If I can be a bit irreverent (and potentially outright inappropriate) for just a moment ... to crack the code of the emailers, you've got to make them laugh or make them pray. And this is a great laugh.
  

Finally, British humor I actually get.