Vertical Advertising

Good, Bad and Strange at the Super Bowl

2008-02-04T09:15:00.001-08:00

It's time to once again ignore the game itself and focus on the most important facet of the Super Bowl: the ads. This year presented a few hits, plenty of misses and an abundance of "what was that?" moments.

Return to Greatness
Let's start with the comeback kid of this year's bowl advertising: Doritos. You may remember their awful user generated effort from last year. This year they came out with two spots. The first was another gimmick, introducing Super Bowl viewers to the winner of an emerging artist contest. The reason this gambit succeeded is that the winning artist, Kina Grannis, is pretty good. But it was Dorito's second ad that made me laugh out loud. In it, a man baits a mousetrap with a Dorito and is then attacked by a giant mouse. Solid comedic gold.

Almost There
Two ads almost deserve to be inducted into the Super Bowl advertising hall of fame. In Bridgestone's second spot of the bowl, Bridgestone's tires enable a driver to avoid hitting a deer, Alice Cooper and then, after a moment of indecision on the part of the driver, Richard Simmons. In that moment of indecision, when I thought the driver would smash his car into Mr. Simmons, I was ready to stand up and cheer. But Bridgestone, or perhaps their agency, chickened out and swerved to avoid Richard along with the inevitable controversy that would ensue.

Budweiser's Clydesdale Training ad was an obvious parody of Rocky, and would have been epic if only the Clydesdale in question had ran up the steps of the Philadelphia courthouse. Without that, it was just OK.

What just Happened?
Several spots left me wondering what could have possibly convinced their parent companies that this was a good way to spend several million dollars. CareerBuilder.com's Follow Your Heart ad was definitely the winner in this category. Seeing an animated human heart rip itself out of a woman's chest and schlurp its way out of her office doesn't seem like the best way to build your brand, but it was certainly memorable.

The Funniest
It is a simple fact of life that if you are drinking soda and Will Ferrel comes on screen, you will snort that soda through your nose. Jackie Moon endorsing Bud Light was the funniest moment of the Super Bowl. If Bud Light doesn't put up billboards that say, "Bud Light, Refreshes the Palate and the Loins" and "Bud Light, Suck One" they've missed a golden opportunity. Sadly, the rest of the beermaker's offerings were disappointing.

Very Personal Favorites
There were two ads that I thought were brilliant, but I somehow doubt impacted the greater American audience. The first was Garmin's offering in which a very short Napoleon is able to navigate Paris with the help of his GPS device. The driving, the vehicle, and the conceit of Napoleon being short were brilliant, but how many football fans will be inspired by a short Frenchman to buy a GPS?

The second was Coke's ability to bring together James Carville and Bill Frist. Now, I'm a pretty hardcore political junkie, and it took me about half the commercial to remember who Bill Frist was. I loved the ad, but I'm afraid that the demographic of political junkies who love football might be a bit small for Coke's ad to have the impact they'd hope for. However, they made up for it in their other spot in which a giant Stewie baloon is defeated by Charlie Brown. Another personal favorite. I mean, Charlie Brown finally got something he wanted. And it was a Coke. Absolute brilliance.

The Best
My personal favorite of the game was Audi's introduction of their R8. I doubt there's anybody in the car world that doesn't respect Audi's engineering, but they're often cited for their lack of "soul". By suggesting that the new R8 cut the front off another luxury car and placed it in a wealthy man's bed, a'la The Godfather, Audi's perfectly imbued the model with "awesomeness". When it was over I wanted to stand up and cheer. What person with a beating heart and a spare $100K wouldn't want to buy one?

The Rest
To watch the rest of this year's ads, you can head over to Spike. And don't miss Seth Stevenson's insightful take on the subject.

The Tipping Point and Golden Retrievers

2008-01-30T12:11:00.000-08:00

A blog without updates is like a Golden-Retriever without a tail. Still functional, but somehow disheartening. We'll try and rectify that.

Fastcompany has a fairly excellent article up about how the ideas behind The Tipping Point may not be all they're cracked up to be.

The marketing application of The Tipping Point's philosophy is that there are certain consumers who are far more influential than others, and that advertisers should discover and target these consumers. It's an idea that feels correct; we all have people who we regularly emulate and ask for advice.

The Fastcompany article is about someone who took the time to scientifically study the idea of the Uber-Influencer, and found that there is no such thing. Therefore, there's no sense in targeting this mythical consumer. Something, as the article points out, that Madison Avenue is having a difficult time stomaching.

The Peculiar Brilliance of WillItBlend

2007-07-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

By Andrew
If you are of a somewhat geeky persuasion you’re likely already familiar with the WillItBlend series of videos. In each video, produced by high-end blender manufacturer BlendTec, something that in normal circumstances would not be blended is reduced to its essential elements in a BlendTec brand blender. The company’s latest piece in which an iPhone is reduced to dust continues a long series that featured iPods, an HD video camera, glow sticks, action figures, magnets, and just about anything else that sounds fun to put in a blender. In each instance the powerful blender performs its task with ease, and each time a huge amount of internet buzz is generated driving tons of traffic to BlendTec’s site.

What makes these videos so brilliant from an advertising standpoint is that each video is essentially a product demonstration of BlendTec’s blenders. While other companies have created internet sites designed to entertain, (for example Burger King’s delightful Subservient Chicken) few of them so directly trumpet the ability of the product they’re supporting. BlendTec’s videos are just a much better and more subtle version of the infomercial. The logic follows that if this blender can blend an iPod, it should have no trouble with strawberries.

With a relatively low production budget and almost no distribution costs BlendTec has managed to introduce millions of viewers to its product. Other companies should take note.

Is Primetime Perishing?

2007-05-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

By Andrew
Advertising Age ran an article that furthers our previous discussions on the evolution of television. The premise of Is Crucial Daypart Finally Past Its Prime is that soon, primetime will have no meaning. Tivo, Internet Television and other technologies mean that consumers watch what they want to watch, when they want to watch it.

While this seems like a scary proposition for advertisers, it needn’t be. Audi is already taking advantage of the concept with its ads based on tt-truth.com. The ads run so quickly that they can only be viewed by consumers who slow them down on their DVR, or go to Audi’s website to view a slower version. Kudos to Audi for taking advantage of new technology instead of trying to stop it like other, shall we say, more furtive organizations.

The article’s most hopeful quote comes from David B. Wertheimer. “"There will only be two kinds of television in the future: event television and on-demand television."” Sounds like a great future.

Free Music, Brought to you by...

2007-05-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

By Andrew
We7 is a strangely named music download service which promises free, DRM-free, ad-supported mp3 downloads. Cnet.co.uk claims that the service “absolutely, categorically will not succeed.” I agree with this assessment of the We7’s current business model, but with a few adaptations We7 – or at least its business model – could be the next big thing.

The Cnet article addresses the fact that consumers will be annoyed by having to listen to a 10-second commercial at the beginning of every mp3 they download from We7, and they’re absolutely right.

As Hayley’s article about free online TV-show streaming demonstrates, consumers do appreciate advertisers subsidizing products they enjoy, but this system only works when it’s done in a way that doesn’t ruin the product. 10 seconds of advertising at the beginning of every audio track on an album might well ruin the listening experience. I imagine that consumers would feel more animosity than appreciation towards the advertiser whose spot is played over and over again after every song on the mp3 player.

The other problem with We7’s current business model is that it would be quite simple for consumers to strip out the ads from their downloaded songs. It would be difficult to convince advertisers to sponsor songs when they know its likely their ads will never be heard.

A successful widely accepted method of inserting advertisements into music already exists: it’s called radio. Consumers don’t seem to have a problem with listening to ads between every five or ten songs on the radio. To be successful We7 will have to combine the flexibility, selection and portability of mp3 players with the advertising model of radio.

The answer is – as it often seems to be – a new technology. If mp3 players like the successful iPod and the not-quite-yet-so-successful Zune updated their software to allow the insertion of ads after every 5 or so ad-supported songs, We7’s business model would work well.

It’s unlikely that Microsoft or Apple will partner with a small startup like We7, but there’s nothing keeping the two giants from stealing the concept. Being able to advertise free music downloads might be the boost that a struggling mp3 player like the Zune needs.

Underneath It All

2007-05-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

By Andrew

In our previous guide to advertising blogs we omitted a great resource; the Ad Report Card column by Seth Stevenson on Slate.com tells the story behind famous and infamous advertisements.

Stevenson’s most recent column on the popular UPS “Whiteboard” campaign covers the history and impetus of the ads. Where else, (besides Wikipedia) could you learn that the “Whiteboard” campaign’s director is also its star? Or that the song used in the UPS ad is performed – ironically – by a band named The Postal Service?

Whether you agree with Stevenson’s assessment of an ads merits, it’s almost impossible to read one of his columns and not come away feeling like you’ve gained some insight into the world of advertising.

My favorite nugget of knowledge from Stevenson’s column? The fact that the copywriter for Bud Light’s “Ted Ferguson, Bud Light Daredevil” campaign is also its star. Ted Ferguson brings hope to copywriters everywhere.

It's been so long....

2007-04-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

By Andrew

Things have been busy around the office and the Vertical Blog has suffered. But now we’re back in full force.

We’ll start off with a little tooting of our own horn. This year Vertical did quite well at the Inland Empire ADDY awards. We were awarded two golds, four silver and one bronze award. In addition, one of our projects was forwarded to the regional level of the National ADDY awards and won a silver there - a first for our agency.

From Airwaves to the Interweb, Part II

2007-02-19T09:16:00.000-08:00

By Andrew

Last week we looked at the segmentation of the television marketplace and discussed its impact on local broadcasters and advertisers. This week we look at a solution.

What can a poor local affiliate and its advertisers do in a time like this? There are a couple of answers. The most obvious is developing an arrangement in which the networks sell shows to local affiliates at reduced rates. Because the networks make money from such a variety of sources, they aren’t dependant on dollars from the local affiliates that license their shows. Therefore, offering the local affiliates programming at reduced rates would give them an opportunity to recoup some of the losses created by segmentation without significantly impacting the network’s bottom line. While this model makes sense from the outside, I somehow doubt the networks will see the advantage in this arrangement. So it’s off to Plan B for the local affiliates: Enhanced Broadcast Quality.

All sources of television, apart from Over The Air Broadcast High Definition (OTA HD), have some form of compression applied to them. This means that between the studio and your television or computer monitor, the signal’s quality is somehow reduced. High Definition Cable and Satellite broadcasts are slightly compressed due to the bandwidth restrictions of the satellites they’re broadcast from and the cables they flow through. DVD’s are compressed from true HD resolutions to fit on their discs, though this could change when HDDVD and Blu-ray are fully adopted. Online downloads are compressed to get from the server to your computer quickly and affordably. This means that the best way to use the capabilities of your new 60” Plasma TV isn’t to pay $80 a month for cable or satellite, but to simply attach it to an antenna on your roof and enjoy free OTA HD broadcasts. The picture will be crisper than a DVD, Satellite Dish, or Cable channel ever could.

As the limitations of broadcasting HD over Cable and Satellite become more apparent, and more customers buy HDTV’s and expect HD content, I expect that local over-the-air broadcasters will see a resurgence of viewers. Along with that resurgence of viewers will come a resurgence of advertising dollars. Local advertisers may never be able to afford sponsoring a download of Desperate Housewives on ABC.com, but reaching large segments of local viewers on local HD broadcasts seems like an ideal solution.

Apparently Super Bowl Advertisements are a Big Deal

2007-02-06T13:37:00.000-08:00

By Andrew
Reactions to Super Bowl ads were mixed in the Vertical office. A few people thought the Doritos Advertisements were brilliant, others felt they were awful. A few of us, (myself included) fell for the Grand Theft Auto and Happiness Factory Coca Cola ads.

Seth Stevenson of Slate.com has a good rundown of the event's advertising. He wins our coveted "Snarkiest Comment" award by observing that the Frito-Lay advertisement commemorating Black History Month was "wholly fitting, given the vital role Tostitos played in the civil rights movement." Zing.

I felt the "Beware of Robert Goulet, for he will mess with your stuff once you fall asleep" ad was quite funny, but had no idea which particular brand of nuts it was advertising. In case you had the same question, the answer is Emerald Nuts. Somehow I'm not entirely sure that a 2.6 million dollar spot which leaves the audience guessing as to who paid for it can be labeled a success.

The salesgenie.com ad was unquestionably the worst advertisement of the night. It was not clever, it was not effective and it made me hate the protagonist. Are they serious, they really want me to believe that using salesgenie.com will let me drive a Ferrari and go out with the cute blond office girl? I feel vindicated that viewers on iFilm have given it the lowest rating possible.

Finally, pundit of the people John Stewart played his Super Bowl ad on last night's show. Money well spent.

From Airwaves to the Interweb

2007-01-31T14:49:00.000-08:00

By Andrew

Part 1

Hayley’s article on ABC’s streaming video service got me thinking about the changing landscape of television. This thinking turned into an article far too long for a single post, so I’ll break it up into a series over the next couple weeks.

There once was a time when television viewers could imagine that they were connected with hundreds of thousands of other viewers watching the same show at the same time. This is no longer true. As the number of delivery options available to consumers expand, the market is segmented into viewers watching the show on cable, satellite, broadcast television, online streaming, digital downloads, and DVD box sets. While this expansion brings choice to consumers, it also represents a battle between the networks and their local affiliates. To the networks, all revenue is the same, and there are plenty of ways to glean that revenue. Local affiliates are limited to revenue they receive from local advertisers.

Let’s take NBC’s The Office as our example. I was watching an episode the other week and noticed Kevin using a shredder with “Staples” prominently displayed on its front. In typical Kevin fashion he was using it to shred a salad. While NBC doesn’t disclose the amount that Staples paid for that product placement, I’m sure it amounts to a significant source of revenue for the network. NBC will also receive revenue from the sales of DVD sets which include the episode, and receive a cut of paid-for ad-free downloads from places like the iTunes store. Essentially, the broader the market, the more opportunities NBC has to make money off of The Office.

Local affiliates are far more limited in their ad revenue. From that same Office episode, the only money local affiliates made was what they could charge local advertisers for ad spots during the show. Local affiliates don’t get any of the money from Staples’ product placement, or DVD sales, or iTunes Downloads. In addition, more people watching shows in alternative mediums means fewer people watching on the local affiliate’s station, making it harder to justify advertising costs to local advertisers. Local stations already have to deal with the segmentation of viewers between over the air broadcasts, satellite TV, and cable. Now, they’re also losing viewers to online streaming, DVD sales, and digital downloads.

This seems to paint a pretty grim picture for local broadcasters and advertisers. Is there any hope? Stay tuned to find out… [To be continued]

Patrick Loves the iPhone

2007-01-25T11:52:00.000-08:00

By Patrick

Apple finally announced its long-awaited iPhone. Why mention it on our agency blog you ask? Because it's awesome that's why. As a connoisseur of everything Apple, whenever Steve Jobs has a product announcement to make, I listen. It's exciting to see how Apple can work its magic on a device that we all use on a regular basis. It's also great to see how designers, engineers and programmers can come together to make something artful, elegant, practical, and useful.

The other day I found a great article that dispels the top ten myths of the Apple iPhone.

A Very Thorough Survey

2007-01-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

By Hayley Raynes
In a completely unscientific study of online TV show watchers (myself), I have concluded that when it comes to commercials, less is most definitely more. When I say online TV shows, I am referring to the viewing fare available at abc.com. These shows, which include Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Lost, are offered with limited commercial interruption, because each viewing is sponsored by just one company (Remax Realty, Nissan, Disneyworld, Florida Orange Juice, etc.). There are only a few commercials throughout each show, and they play one at a time.
From the standpoint of the viewer, what’s not to like? During an hour long show, I would much rather watch two minutes of commercials than almost twenty minute’s worth. From the standpoint of the advertiser, this is also a great setup. ABC online offers exclusive sponsorship. This means that the advertiser’s message actually gets heard. There is no competition with other advertisers. There is no flipping to see if something else is on, and there is no Tivo-ing the commercials away. Plus, the commercials are interactive. The viewer is automatically directed to the commercial page for thirty seconds, and after the thirty seconds are up, it is up to the viewer whether or not to continue viewing the commercial or return to the show. To maintain interest, most advertisers offer games and puzzles, extended product information, more viewing material, etc. What I found interesting was that I ended up watching commercials that were longer than thirty seconds even though I didn’t have to.
As of right now, I like what ABC has done with their online content, and I am interested to see how it will evolve. I think that ABC has succeeded in creating an advertising forum that takes into account our ever shortening attention spans. What I wonder is, as online show viewing gains in popularity, will they continue to present in this format? Or will they kill the goose by adding more and more ad content? Only time will tell.

Brilliant, yes. Effective, perhaps not.

2007-01-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

By Andrew

I came across this European campaign for TELE2, an “alternative telecommunications company.” It is, doubtless, a brilliant attention-getting campaign. However, like so many other brilliant campaigns, I suspect that people will pay more attention to the funny idea than the company it represents.

Via TWENTY FOUR.

All the advertising "news" that's fit to blog

2006-12-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

By Andrew
Trying to learn about the advertising world, but having trouble getting started? Fear not. I’ll share the few places that keep me coming back every day, along with my completely subjective ratings.

Advertising Age

Advertising Age is the US News of the advertising world. It covers all the big industry stories; which agency got which huge contract, how economic trends influence advertising, and all that sort of business. Just the facts, along with a healthy dose of bias towards its advertisers.

Truth: 4/5
Beauty: 1/5
Humor: 1/5
Innuendo: 2/5

Twenty Four

Twenty Four is an excellent print advertising blog. It posts several new print advertisements from the big design houses every day. It’s perfect if you’re looking for inspiration, or trying to see the craziness that design students are coming up with.

Truth: 4/5
Beauty: 5/5
Humor: 2/5
Innuendo: 3/5

Adrants
Adrants is an often sarcastic, sometimes insightful blog that covers developments in the advertising world. More of a gossipy New York Post than a Times. A good place to get the dirt on the industry.

Truth: 3/5
Beauty: 2/5
Humor: 4/5
Innuendo: 5/5

Copyranter
Copyranter is a bitter, caustic, irreverent, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny blog by a copywriter who lives in New York and purports to hate the industry.

Truth: 3/5
Beauty: 1/5
Humor: 5/5
Innuendo: 5/5

AdVerbatims
Concerned that people in advertising might be just as susceptible to moments of idiocy as the rest of the world? Realize your fears with quotes from AdVerbatims. Proof that sometimes, we just don’t make sense.

Where else can you find truths like “Their eagle soars more than our eagle”?

Truth: 4/5
Beauty: 3/5
Humor: 5/5
Innuendo: 3/5

NotCot.org
NotCot.org is a user-generated design site. Its unique layout visually presents a list of recently discovered design-related products. Plus, if you find something that’s missing, you can add it yourself.

Truth: 3/5
Beauty: 5/5
Humor: 3/5
Innuendo: 2/5

There are doubtless hundreds of other useful advertising and design sites, but these are the few I check every day. Feel free to comment in with any beauties I may have missed.

Now, with 100% More Flickr!

2006-12-13T10:38:00.001-08:00

We had a particularly excellent photographer take our office holiday card photo. This is an outtake.

We thought that as long as we're utilizing the latest and most trendy interweb technologies, we might as well set ourselves up on Flickr. So, you can check out a gallery with some of our more photographic work here.

Welcome

2006-12-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Vertical Advertising Blog. We heard that this new blogging thing was all the rage, so we thought we'd better jump on the bandwagon.

Let us know if there's something you'd like to see here.