Post Advertising

In this age of flashy television commercials and celebrity endorsements, lost is the art of testimonials and product demonstrations. How many times have you watched a Nike ad, featuring a runner, football player or boxer, and wondered (perhaps aloud to your colleague or friend), "Yeah, but how does it work?" In this regard, it was so refreshing to see a campaign like the one for Hoverhound Power Wheelchairs. Give it a look:

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My colleague/distant cousin/pusherman Bob Garfield of Ad Age has recently exposed several disgraceful advertising improprieties—disgusting, unethical and irresponsible practices. First Snickers, for their homophobic "get some nuts" campaign (seen here), and, most recently, ESPN, for running an adultery dating site ad. This got me thinking: Shouldn't there be a guide or a list of rules which all advertisers follow? It would be an easy way to see if we are behaving as we ought to be, kind of how the Ten Commandments acts as a barometer for those guys in the movie of the same name. This is the beginning of an ongoing list. Any ideas/additions are welcome.

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The self-appointed industry bible conducted this survey of barely relevant marketing players' salaries. Not to be outdone, Tom Heathcliff and PostAdvertising.com proudly present the first public survey of associate salaries. What do these all important cogs make?

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As another heat wave hits New York, I thought this might be a good time to cool everyone off with a wintertime ad that gives me the shivers everytime I watch it, and, trust me, I've watched it quite a few times. In 30 seconds or less, the best ads can capture what a feature film often cannot in two hours. Sometimes all it takes is a single scene to create that quintessential romance, but these ads are rare diamonds (you will get my pun in a minute). Only the finest advertising filmmakers can craft a scene that has the weight of A Farewell to Arms or It Happened One Night behind it. Leave it to De Beers to come up with perhaps the most elegant, heartwarming TV ad...ever. Get your hankies out, folks:

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Advertising Age recently published its annual report of "Women to Watch," featuring the industry’s most influential female execs. Congrats to them. But I’m a champion of the little guy (or girl, as the case may be)—underpaid, undervalued people who really make all the difference. So I did some research and looked under every agency stone across America to honor an esteemed group of unsung heroes and to put them in the pantheon of...

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In the spirit of July 4, I've chosen to make a fireworks show of my own with a couple of ads that excite, provoke and engage. Everyone knows about my fondness for small town, local American advertising—to me, it represents wholesome values and a lost world, one where people cared about their products and the folks to whom they sold them. Call it nostalgia if you must, but I wish all marketers were this authentic.

The first ad is for Chubby's Mattress in Corpus Christi, TX:

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Fellini. Dali. Brakhage. And now, a director who simply goes by the name Coyote. He is the mad genius who may have fundamentally changed the way we look at advertising through deft use of metaphor, symbolism and experimental techniques. 

To truly appreciate the spot for Tylenol PM, titled More Than a Pillow, you must understand how drab advertising has been in the sleep-medicine category. We've all seen 'em: A cranky man twists and turns in bed, complaining to his wife that he can't sleep—dull enough to put us into a level-3 snooze. Tylenol, and its adventurous director Coyote, throws a Mazel Tov cocktail at this convention and creates something that's less of a 30-second ad and more a 30-second experimental film.

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Legendary adman David Ogilvy said he was in favor of sex in advertising as long as it was relevant to the product. If the ol' Scot were still around, he'd certainly have a thing or two to say about the dreary romantic landscape in today's commercials—99% of the time it's all too obvious the actors couldn't care less about each other. But I have a feeling he'd like the new one for Subaru, which provides much needed warmth in this otherwise frigid creative tundra.

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Kyle Korver—sharp-shooting forward for the Utah Jazz—is teaming up with Converse and Eastbay to bring Chuck Taylor–loving sneaker–design enthusiasts (and there are lots of them) the chance to win the "ultimate" prize, according to their press release.  The challenge: Design your own version of Chuck Taylor sneaks, the iconic Converse brand.  The prize: Have the company produce your design and sell it at Eastbay.  All love aside—and there is love here—I didn't realize that the ultimate prize was working for free.

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