TragicComix: Awesome Advertising Adventures

My earlier doodle felt like an unfinished canvas, so...



N.B: No brand gurus, creative mavens, sensitive egos or other animals were hurt during the making of this 'TragicComix'. You may enjoy it - in moderation - with a clear conscience.

I ran into stupid today...

I saw it, yet I ran square into it.

My bad.

The Sheeple Are Rising...

Well, at least we now have an artistic impression of the occasion...

The Myth of Talent

This morning, I read an article on forbes.com titled, "Is Advertising Better Today Than During The 'Mad Men' Era?"

In other words, has the profession of Advertising, or creative marketing, progressed at all in the nearly-half-a-century since the 60s? (Yes, it's 40-odd years since bell-bottom trousers.)

The article by Avi Dan, a marketing consultant and advertising insider with 30 years on Madison Avenue, says, "Today the business is perhaps more complicated and demanding than it was in the 1960′s, but it doesn’t seem that the ideas are better."

So minus the politeness, the answer is, "No!"

The probable reasons are many,

It could be that the recession has forced everybody, clients and agencies alike, to play it safe and be risk averse.

Or, it could be that the business is simply different today. It is no longer about creativity but rather the quarterly earnings of publicly held agencies.

But in his opinion...

I think that what really has changed is that the advertising business has stopped producing Don Drapers: inspirational creative leaders that clients could trust and listen to.

And he's right too...

Outstanding creative leaders don’t just inspire an agency toward uncompromising creative standards; they actually create a culture of excellence and innovation. Great creative agencies catch bad ideas before they get out the door. And they know when the work starts slipping even before their clients tell them.

So Creative Directors today aren't as innately 'talented' as the "drenched in an alcoholic haze and cigarette smoke", Don Draper!

Then in the evening I came across an interesting video by the Internet-based Philosopher, Stefan Molyneux, called "Screw Talent". (Seriously, if you'd like your mind turned inside-out and handed to you on a platter along with the remains of your comfortable world-view, read his free books.)

Stefan puts forward the discomforting opinion - as Philosophers are wont to do - that there is nothing called 'talent'. All ability comes from hard work and practise.

I buy Stefan's rationale.

Because it means that I could be just as "drenched in an alcoholic haze and cigarette smoke" - and 'talented' - as the fictional Don Draper... except that I don't get nearly as much practise as he got in single-mindedly pursuing mind-blowing creatives (and women)!



See more Stefan Molyneux videos.

Don't stink up social networks

Honestly, there's no right or wrong way in Advertising. There are only right and wrong results.

So when it comes to something as esoteric as marketing using human interest networks - I guess, the best guides we have are mistakes - our own and others'.

However, one sure sign of impending disaster is to start out without a clear objective... And a gaffe on a social network may have uncontrollable and scathing results.

Judge executed?

Judge Andrew Napolitano's show 'FreedomWatch' has been cancelled by FOX Business Network, although the Judge (he is a former Superior Court Judge) "...will continue his role on both FOX Business and FOX News, providing key legal insights surrounding the growing intersection between Washington and Wall Street."

Hmm, I wonder why?

This is the Judge in the final episode of 'FreedomWatch'...

Presidential Lessons in Marketing

US presidential campaigns are among the best planned, resourced, funded, and executed marketing campaigns of their times. And given how result-oriented the exercise is, they are usually willing to go the extra mile-and-half in terms of being innovative, experimental or unorthodox.

In short, it represents the 'ideal' for any marketing campaign.

If you are in Advertising or Marketing, follow US presidential campaigns keenly, and you might even spot what could be the next industry-formula for success.

In the mid-90s and early 2000s, George Bush Jr.'s gubernatorial and presidential media campaigns were based on traditional print and direct marketing techniques.

In 2008, Barack Obama ran with a slick intergated marketing campaign relying on a brilliant mix of branding, print, TV, and heavy use of the Internet.

Both those campaigns were overly media-centred and expensive - and successful. Times have changed, and I suppose, budgets have too.

In 2012, Dr. Ron Paul's presidential campaign seems to be more cost-conscious - and seemingly based on a simple, intelligent strategy: Forget the bling, focus on the end result

It is also different in that it is low on exuberance and high on specifics. It is less reliant on medium, and more on message; less on online social networks, and more on real communities.

It does not promise instant gratification, but a future (long-term) payoff. It is not addressing the lowest common denominator - but exactly those who 'get it'.

In my opinion, this is a really strong formula - and if it is successful (we'll know in Nov 2012), it would an invaluble lesson for all brand managers and advertising professionals.



P.S: The Ron Paul 2012 campaign is also a superb example of how to game a system that is already gamed!