Good Day

Paul Harvey died this weekend. There are any number of finely worded obituaries you can read about the man whose "rest of the stories" and "good days" punctuated the breakfast tables of my childhood. What I think should be noted is that this 90-year old, who was often cited as the oldest living radio personality and one of the most effective pitchmen ever, was really quite progressive. It occurred to me as I thought back on his show that Paul Harvey was blogging before there were blogs. His daily news and comments with segues to commercial content, all packaged by his folksy delivery — you could have transcribed it and probably have had a great blog but you'd have missed the author's voice and unmistakable inflection. Plus he respected advertising, famously quipping, "I am fiercely loyal to those willing to put their money where my mouth is." Good day, indeed.

Photo credit by Tanki via Flickr

Anatomy of an Ad: Reality + Gestalt

Like the Reality Coalition needs any help from us — I think I saw this spot between every break last night. But here is our quick take on why it works. First, the ad is good. Every piece works — clever copy, art, and acting. The logo fits to a T, playing on the age-old metaphor of the canary in the coal mine. Simple yet striking in yellow and black. (The x-d out eyes are the cherry on the sundae.) But what really sets off this campaign is the Gestalt effect — the whole being more than the sum of its parts. That is the biggest takeaway. More than being a good spot, this has story appeal as the Coen Brothers directed it. Once that circulated, it gave added impact to the ad itself thus making the whole package — the story — more than the sum of its parts. People might have tuned in to a good commercial. But a good commercial with a memorable story (you have to see what the Coen Bros. would do with this) is clear winner.

8 Reasons Why Email Newsletters Work

Today Business Week had a great article on the success of the tried and true email newsletter. While definitely not the sexiest form of new media (nor the newest), many of our clients see continued success with email newsletters. Here are our 8 reasons why email marketing is an effective way for getting your brand in front of your customers.

Email Marketing Is ...

1. Personal — Email newsletters are delivered directly to customers' inboxes. When they sign up for your email program, they demonstrate their willingness as a consumer to enter into a very personal relationship with you.
2. Permission-based — As the Business Week article points out, it is much more personal to grant a company permission to send regular email updates than it is to click through and passively read a blog or fan a business on Facebook.
3. Relevant — The best commercial emails touch on timely issues that are relevant to customers. There is no bigger predictor of email success than relevance to the reader.
4. Targeted — You can be even more relevant to your readers by segmenting your list and delivering targeted messages.
5. Regular — After you set a scheduled pattern and provided you pay close attention to items 3 and 4, your emails will become an anticipated part of your customers' routines. It's the first Wednesday of the month, so I get my e-newsletter from ...
   
6. Trust-Building — Because of its personal nature, email marketing provides you with an opportunity to build trust. If this trust is abused you risk damaging the relationship — both online and off. There are many ways of losing a customer's trust via email such as mailing too much, using too hard a sell, not delivering relevant, targeted messages and more. Be careful.
   
7. Cost Effective — A less touchy-feely reason but it's true. Email can be as effective as direct mail without the cost of printing and postage.
   
8. Measurable — Again, a dollars-and-cents reason but few other forms of media can compete with email marketing on its level of insight and accountability. As a business, you get real-time results on opens, clicks, bounces, and opt-outs.
   

Finally, I'd like to say a quick note on sending permission-based email rather than blasting. I dislike this dated phrase mostly because it flies in the face of email marketing's elder cousin, direct mail. You don't blast something at some general population and hope for a response. You send a targeted message directly to a relevant audience. Oh, and you can measure it. Heck, that's direct marketing in a nutshell. Blasting uses junk mailer tactics to attack users' inboxes. In the end, that's where you end up when you abuse this special relationship — in spam folders wondering why you have more customers opting out of your program than you have opting in.

In times of economic hardship, many companies' sole direct marketing expenditure is email. Email is modern direct marketing. When used wisely, email is an incredibly effective tool for keeping your brand in front of customers on a consistent basis. When cultivated and maintained, your email list will become an invaluable asset to your business as your customers will eagerly await seeing your brand in their inboxes.

Photo credit: husin.sani via Flickr

Social Media Strategy for Personal Brands

A few weeks ago I changed my Twitter username from '@nickwestergaard' to '@westerad.' (If you would like step-by-step instructions on doing this check out Rick Butts' post here.) It all went very smoothly but I did have some ask me if the change meant that my Twitter voice would be changing. I was taken aback by this at first but in the end this prompts a larger discussion of what happens when a person becomes a brand and how this impacts the increasingly social and personal nature of online media.

Truthfully there was no greater thought to it other than this — I was going to a have a custom Twitter shirt made and I applied our old in-house style rule of trying not to require folks to spell out 'Westergaard' so I truncated my username to our URL de plume 'westerad.'

The question of where the person ends and the brand begins can often seem like a tricky one. How do I answer my business phone that is also my cell phone? "This is Nick." I thought that over waaaay too long. Questions like these are further exacerbated by social media where you have even more opportunities to expose your brand to the online community. However, most of these tools have either personal applications, professional applications, or some combination thereof. You need a strategy on how to tackle all of this and what voice to use. As a brand working through this as well, I will share our strategy with you on the off chance that it may help you define a strategy of your own:

Facebook — My profile is for me personally, not so much Business Nick. Same goes for our other team members that are on here. To have a calculated WA presence here, we have created a Facebook fan page.
MySpace — Nothing for WA here yet. I can't get a gauge on the on-going value of MySpace especially as it relates to business use and professional networking. For artists or bands, no contest. But business ...? Thoughts?
LinkedIn — Individual team members can create their own profiles with links from the bio pages of our website.
Twitter — Right now I straddle the line of tweeting both for our business and for me personally from the aforementioned @westerad account. I try to make it a mix of article forwards, insights, retweets, personal notes, etc.
YouTube — We have a WA channel showcasing our video, radio, and TV work.
Flickr — We have a WA photostream showcasing our branding, print, and online work.

I'm not saying this is cast in stone for us or even that this is a prescription for success for your personal brand. But rather, that defining your personal/professional brand's roles as they apply to social media is paramount to success in this new space.

P.S. Soon we're going to launch a redesigned WA website that better ties together all pieces of social media outlined above — including this blog. More later.

Photo credit Matt Hamm via Flickr

Ads That Move the Needle

This morning Advertising Age reported that the Miller High Life one-second Super Bowl ad has created a year-on-year sales bump for the brand affectionately referred to as "the champagne of beers." The real kicker is that NBC didn't even air the one-second ad in some larger markets including New York, Chicago, and LA as they didn't want to discourage marketers who "followed the rules" and bought traditional :30s and :60s like they were supposed to. "We definitely sold more beer," said the High Life brand manager. And isn't that the point? Forget what NBC and anyone in the establishment says they are supposed to do. Their job is to sell more beer and that ad did it. Compare the one-second Miller bought for High Life to the four and a half minutes Anheuser-Busch bought. Talk about ROI ...

Contrast this with all of the red carpet-like reviews ads are given during high profile events like the Super Bowl and the Oscars (even on this blog every now and then). Sure, it's a fun conversation to have but it's like like having a sports discussion about which team's uniforms are the most aesthetically pleasing. It's secondary. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, just as the ads that sell ultimately win.

We can talk endlessly about how the fan-created Doritos ad was voted as the most popular pick by USA Today and YouTube but I wonder if they sold more chips ... My own personal aside is that I think anyone can write a funny sketch with someone getting a ball to the crotch but I think it takes a professional to move the needle and sell some chips.

Moving the needle is what it's all about — not making clever, sexy ads. You need to sell more chips, beer, online job services, or whatever your particular widget may be. That's not to say that you can't be creative in the process but you can't simply be creative for the sake of being creative and hope by accident that some chips get sold. I also say moving the needle because results can come in lots of shapes and sizes — sales dollars, units sold, website traffic, etc.

Ultimately I think that's the difference between a professional sales and marketing strategy and writing a skit for the school talent show. Buying a one-second spot was a gutsy, creative move. It had people talking about it and anticipating it not to mention it was cost-effective, moved product and ultimately demonstrated ROI. It's not an easy thing to do but I think sometimes it can look easy. At a glance it's a funny guy shouting "High Life" that literally passes in the blink of an eye but in the boardroom post-mortem it is an objective achieved.

Photo credit: Rebecca.. via Flickr

Copywriter's Time Machine: Ted's Words

Our first client was/is a Cadillac dealership. On the wall of one of their conference rooms is a framed document with advertising copy in it. Yep, ad copy. A copywriter's dream come true — that their words would live on, framed inside conference rooms across the nation. But this is not just any pedestrian copy (I can say that as a copywriter myself). "The Penalty of Leadership" was a legendary Cadillac print ad that ran once in 1915 in the Saturday Evening Post. The words were crafted by Theodore MacManus and they never specifically mention Cadillac.

In 1967 Cadillac revived the campaign by sending scrolls of the copy to customers nationwide, including Elvis Presley. The King so identified with these words, he framed them and hung them up on the walls of Graceland where they still reside today.

Maybe I'm just being sentimental as I'm in the midst of reading The King of Madison Avenue, hearkening back to the long, descriptive, and often poetic ads of David Ogilvy, but copy like this is wonderful. It not only sings but it sells. And not just a car but a lifestyle — an ethos. It paints a picture so clear and vivid in a day where there the only tools for doing so were carefully scribed words on the printed page — long before the colored lights of television and all of the new media that has followed.

Here is the ad, in its entirety.

THE PENALTY OF LEADERSHIP

In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man's work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be mediocre, he will be left severely alone - if he achieves a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a-wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius. Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious, continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mounteback, long after the big would had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by. The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy - but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as human passions - envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains - the leader. Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live - lives.

Favorite Things: Helvetica & Viddler

In the video above I offer up some of our favorite things. Favorite branding things — not so much like Oprah favorite things (though I would love to give you a car). Here are some of the sites referred to:

• Brand New: Kraft Foods, Smiling at You
  
• Classic logos set in Helvetica
  
• Helvetica: A Documentary
• Viddler: Best video player ... ever
  

Cheers.

Tending Your Garden

Today I made an analogy about social media that I think might hold some water. I was outlining a comprehensive social media strategy and the client rightfully asked what all it would entail as far as time commitment, money, etc. As I walked through each new media channel I said that managing social media is like tending a garden.

It's true. Maybe you start with a plan or maybe you just plant some seeds here and there and eventually it leads to a full fledged garden. Either way you usually end up doing some heavy lifting up front planting your seeds (building your profile page, uploading photos, connecting with friends/fans). Early on you keep a very watchful eye on your seeds to make sure they have what they need to start growing. After awhile, they start shooting up (your first 100 friends, subscribers, etc.). Eventually, they take off and you are left with general watering and pruning (status updates, posting new video). And like a garden, you end up enjoying the fruits (or vegetables) of your labor.

Don't make fun! I like metaphors. How is your garden doing?

Photo credit steveocee via Flickr

Bridging the Generational Gap

Recently, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who works for a local social services non-profit that I am on the board of. I also do some ad-hoc marketing consultation for them as well. I was struck at the profundity of a simple statement that she made about their organization as we discussed a website revision and social media opportunities that could be leveraged. She said, "Our organization is led by baby-boomers, staffed by Gen X-ers, and caters largely to millennials. And that's not always easy to navigate." At first, I merely thought it was a striking analysis of their organization. Then I took a step back and realized that this paradigm could be applied quite broadly — to clients, communities, the government, and maybe even your business.

And yet later when I shared this with my frequent sounding board, Mike, he replied with an even more sobering analysis. In short, he said that the technical gulf that is growing between these groups is becoming wider by the day. As new media gains more and more traction with the younger demographic the other end of the spectrum complains of "getting it" less. It's not enough for folks to just "know how to do email" anymore. The internet is becoming — scratch that — already is the hub for connecting with friends, shopping, getting from point A to point B, etc. for a growing majority of the public.

It's a different form of revolution when compared with other emergent media through the years. With the advent of radio and TV you, if you could afford one, you got one and turned it on. It was a socioeconomic divide. No special skills or training were required. And while you think the same may hold true for new media — just login and manage your account — talk to the other end of the spectrum. They increasingly feel that they don't have the skills to understand how to do all of this. And granted, they don't have to as it's not at the epicenter of life for their generation as it is for those younger. But what if they own a business who's target market is a younger demographic? If so, then bridging this divide is critical.

There are promising signs, though. Facebook's fastest growing user segment is the 30+ set. Over 50% of self-identified Twitter users are between the ages of 30 and 49. The challenge to marketers now is to look for ways to bridge this gap. Create a presence for yourself/your business on the most prevalent social media sites (YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, etc.) because (1) it's free and (2) it speaks to one end of your pool of constituents. As for the other end — the Boomer+ folks who don't know what to make of the "SpaceTubeBook"? Help them out. Have a social media 101 mixer at your business. Get some snacks and work through new media together. Or simply do write ups on each type of media in your email newsletter.

If you do this right, you'll not only do them the service of educating them about new media. You'll also position your brand at or near the hub of their online networking.

Photo credit: akahodag

Staying in Touch

I don't always agree with my state senator Chuck Grassley. But for a couple of months I've been thinking that he does a very effective job of communicating with me via new media. As a constituent, this makes me feel — dare I say — close to my elected official. What is Senator Grassley doing that's so special? For starters he is an almost prolific user of Twitter. He updates just the perfect amount. Sometimes personal (We had 25 people at Christmas dinner at our New Hartford Farm) and sometimes professional (Came bk DC aftr holidays. Today meet w Gov Vilsack as new ag secy. His confirmation shld b easy) but never too much and the real kicker is I think it's really him Tweeting. Unlike others who farm out their Twitter stream I think the Senator is really writing these updates (either that or a very effective surrogate).

But it doesn't stop there. Yesterday he voted against the stimulus package then immediately Tweeted his vote and told his followers to check his YouTube channel for why he voted the way he did (see the image clip above). He also blogs, publishes an email newsletter, and has a MySpace page. So he gets several forms of online media and is effectively linking them together to communicate efficiently and effectively with his constituency.

Take this to another level and consider that Senator Grassley is 75 years old. Not necessary the high tech millennial that most people envision when they think of the the typical web 2.0 user. Consider this — we live in a world where the Pope has a YouTube channel and the White House blogs.

Online media is quickly overtaking other traditional forms of staying in touch with those who want to hear from you. One can't simply respond to email any longer and call that good enough for online communications. You need to harness all high-traffic online outposts (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) and feed them relevant updates. Not only will your audience listen more but they will also share your messaging more with others. Whether you are a politician, church, or small business, this is where the conversation is moving.

Your audience is listening. How are you staying in touch?

Wrap Your Customers in Your Brand

Do you have customers rabid enough to wear your brand? If so – even if it's only a small handful — let them. I'm a fan of Google and their various products — he says as he writes a post on his Blogger-powered blog that he tracks with Google Analytics all of this with Gmail up, about to create another Google AdWords campaign and so on. So the other day I Googled 'Google Apparel' and found the Google Store. Jackpot. As you can see, I ordered a shirt and coffee mug.

Why? They aren't a cool band or movie. It's not like it's designer gear. But wait – it's actually both. They have created a brand that has fans just as excited as a band or movie. And, in my opinion, it is impeccably designed. When a customer makes a choice to wear your brand and ultimately becomes a living, breathing, practically free billboard for you it creates a bond stronger than almost anything else. It sounds hokey but they have tactically bonded with you and are comfortable standing up for you.

Would your customers wear your brand? How can you make it easy for them to do that?

P.S. Fun fact – As I write this I am working on adding 'gear' to a client's website.
P.P.S. Don't forget your opportunity to score Twitter-branded gear from WA for yourself this Thursday at the Iowa City Twestival.

Taking Social Networking Offline

Westergaard Advertising is proud to be a sponsor of the Iowa City Twestival (Twitter + festival). This is a local "tweet-up" that is part of a global initiative harnessing the power of the Twitter community to raise money for Charity:Water — an organization working to bring clean drinking water to the 1.1 billion people without it. The Iowa City Twestival will be held in the North Room of the Iowa Memorial Union at 7 PM this Thursday, February 12th. More event details can be found here.

In addition to seeing what happens when you take social networking offline, you can purchase raffle tickets with a chance to win several cool prizes including a chance at a custom "Follow Me on Twitter" T-shirt from WA. However, we must give the appropriate props for this idea and the template to self-described creative superfreak Ted Murphy.

Hope to see you at the Twestival! I'll be wearing my shirt.

Selling Frozen Peas 101

Nick recently discovered an old favorite of ours was on YouTube (above). No, not a favorite TV show or movie, but a short recording of outtakes of Orson Welles recording commercials for a frozen food company. I’ve had a cassette recording of this for many years, and its good listening from time to time to help keep us agency types grounded.

It’s only four minutes, but it gives a great microcosm of an agency/talent relationship gone wrong. I don’t know the back story on this actual relationship, I doubt few people do. But there are some easy conclusions to be drawn, and lessons to be learned.

1. If you’re going to hire someone famous as your spokesperson, bring them into the circle. They may not want to be in the circle, but at least make that effort. Educate them about your product; even bring them into the creative process – again, if they wish. Then, when you step into the recording studio you’re all working toward the same goal.
2. Make sure they are at ease with the copy. This goes back to involving them in the process. Don’t put words or phrases in their mouth that they are not comfortable saying. My guess is that Mr. Welles saw this copy for the first time when he walked into the recording studio.
3. Don’t over-coach. Would you try to tell Mickey Mantle how to hit? If you’ve done your job on points 1 & 2 this is a no-brainer. You’ve hired Orson Welles. Put him in the little room, close the door, and turn on the microphone. And, if you offer any direction at all, you certainly don’t start telling Orson Welles how to inflect. This is where they truly showed the “depths of their ignorance.”
4. And, last but not least, remember it’s advertising – not Shakespeare. These guys looked upon their words as sacred poetry – which is why Mr. Welles so heartlessly reminds them that they’re talking about frozen food.

Follow that strategy and you might just get Orson to stay in the studio for the entire session. Was Orson Welles a bit temperamental and perhaps difficult to work with? Undoubtedly – but they knew that going in. This is great listening. Take four minutes and hear for yourself a creative director’s worst nightmare.

"There's a Fan!"

Sorry to get you excited. I have no cool way to tie Harry Caray into an advertising blog post. Don't get me wrong. I really think it could be done. Harry was on the mind as I was creating a Facebook Fan Page for Westergaard Advertising (Fan Page = an FB page for a brand to encourage user engagement with said brand). I found myself at the computer slurring in my best Will Ferrell/Harry voice, "There's a fan!" And besides, what can I say about Facebook that you don't already know? Some quick takeaways:

• Today there are more than 150 million active users.
• Though the under 30 bracket makes up the largest percentage of current users, the fastest growing segment are those over 30.
• The average user has 120 friends on the site.
• More than 3 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide).
• More than 15 million users update their statuses at least once each day.
• More than 3.5 million users become fans of pages each day.
• Facebook offers several levels of advanced targeting for marketers to utilize.
  
• It's another Web 2.0 touchpoint for your brand that features people having fun, catching up, and sharing — a very casual time to offer up a relevant message. (Please note, I said relevant.)
  

So if you are already on "the Face" we'd love you to be a fan. Just login and search for 'Westergaard Advertisng' or simply follow this link. Do you have a Fan Page for your organization? We'd love to know about it? What kind of conversations are your fans having? If you aren't on Facebook yet — give it a try now. You owe it to yourself to see what the buzz is about. It's Friday! Catching up on social media is 'research' anyway, right? Not a waste of time. Cheers.

Data source: Facebook Press Room

In the Words of Others - Try Something

Last week at the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet, former UI president David Skorton was asked how his love of jazz has influenced him. "You don't know what's going to happen but you have to improvise to find your way through it – like in the current economy. We don't know how it's going to end but we have to try something."

As a trained theatrical improviser myself (long story for another post) I can tell you that I have always felt that improvisational skills strangely translate to the business world. Being on stage without a script or sheet music to follow brings terror but also a certain calm if handled correctly. The secret, as Dr Skorton described, is that you have to jump in and keep an open mind. On stage the golden rule is to say 'yes' to others' ideas as it always keeps the story moving forward.

Now more than ever it seems that folks are being called on to improvise. In our world of careful analysis and review, many are shell-shocked because the playbook has been chucked out the window. Even the experts are flummoxed (see current debate over stimulus plan). What we need is action. Management guru Tom Peters is fond of saying that we need a "bias toward action." His "Ready - Fire - Aim!" philosophy asks us to throw something up on the wall and see what sticks. If it doesn't work, we know that much and can try something else. FYI - Tom didn't say this in response to the current economy. He said it 16 years ago.

Someone else with words of wisdom in dealing with a struggling economy was Franklin Delano Rooselvelt, who famously said: "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."

Finally, we should all heed the advice of Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher: "We have a strategic plan. It's called doing things." Amen, Herb. We can and will get through this. But we cannot be paralyzed by it. Above all, we must remember to try something.

Photo credits - foreverdigital (Skorton), Flanders DC (Peters), Public Domain (FDR), JC Howes (Kelleher)

Don't Forget About TIM

Recently at seminar on ROI (the one where I sat next to Dave Power), the speaker strongly advocated for holding true to the old Drucker axiom that's also one of my favs: you can't manage what you don't measure. At the same time he voiced concern over putting too much stock in "the myth of the last impression." This means that when customers are asked to identify what lead them into the store or to make their purchase, they often cite the last brand impression they experienced when, in reality, what moved them to action was actually several brand impressions working in concert.

As any good Lutheran would say, this is most certainly true. Branding is an experience that is a sum total of many parts; not a sequential and linear path where a sale only occurs after a set point. This is not to say that you should throw measurement out with the bathwater. Rather, you need to look for more holistic means of measurement. Instead of asking the ubiquitous how did you hear about us? with a list of media options where just one lucky winner is checked, perhaps the new customer should select which combination of media inspired them to act.

Years ago, Dean gave a speech that he called the "TIM Talk" at the National Office Machine Dealers Association convention. TIM is an acronym Dean developed that stands for Total Image Marketing. In his speech, he outlined a strategy for holistic branding that covers all touchpoints and can be applied to any media and any business. He's thinking of updating it and giving it again. I think that there's never been a better time for TIM.

Photo credit thegloaming

Touchpoints Revisited

One of the first posts I wrote in 2005 was about maximizing your brand's touchpoints. This continues to be favorite topic of mine. The above image from Twitter is a great example of maximizing a touchpoint at a very critical time in a brand relationship – the error message. Every now and then you see a business that puts a bit of time into writing interesting error message copy but rarely do you see an equally witty image accompanying it. They have several more of these as well (the owl that comes up saying 'Who goes there?' when there is an identity issue). As I mentioned earlier, this diffuses a potential moment of brand angst with humor. It actually makes you laugh off an error message or warning. In fact, it makes all other Error 404/File Not Found messages seem like you're getting hit in the face with a sock full of online doorknobs.

Well done Twitter. Especially when several online brands are rounding out points of interest in favor of Web 2.0 sleekness.

Post-Game Wrap Up

After careful consideration and watching, well, hours of ads — tweeting the whole time — we've come to some conclusions on the commercials featured in Super Bowl XLIII. There were some hits but largely this seemed like an off year. Whether this was due to the economy or not, the creative seemed off and some of the advertisers an odd fit. Overall, this blogger's choice for best of show was the above offering from Career Builder which will no doubt be earning heaps of adulation in the days and weeks ahead.

What was so special about it? Simply put, it was 1. funny (not an easy feat), 2. repetitious which also made it very 3. memorable and 4. it continued to communicate Career Builder as the premier job search site which, sadly, more folks are probably looking at these days, thus rendering their message incredibly relevant. Were I to narrow it down further, I would probably say that what made this spot effective was it's clever use of repetition. If you'll note, this is a 0:60-second spot. Dean always says that with a 0:60 you use the added time for what's often called a "teaching message" – or telling a longer story. Career Builder did something different. They started with a very basic story which they repeated probably half a dozen times, each time adding a more absurd manifestation of job frustration.

Some other standouts include:

• Most Saavy Use of Media: Miller High Life – a one-second spot?!? Laugh it off but it cost less than all the others but it also generated buzz and had folks checking out the outtakes that didn't make the cut on YouTube.
• Best Entertainment Ad: Hulu – a rare spot from my favorite free TV site. Plus Alec Baldwin as an alien who will scoop my brain out with a melon baller!
• Best Automotive: Hyundai – with their Genesis and Assurance program ads they staked ownership not so much via their ad creative but rather with their stacked up placements early on in the show.
  

And by the way — who else is sick of the stale Go Daddy and E*Trade spots?

Happy Super Bowl XLIII!

Half-Time Report

OK ... So I would say, at this point, that the ads from the first half of the Super Bowl have been lackluster at best. If pressed I would argue that the one from Avon (posted above) best captured and capitalized on the moment. Yep, Avon. I liked it because it spoke to real people right now as opposed to standard snow-globe-in-the-crotch (Dorito's) and obscurely risque (Go Daddy) spots. This ad emphasized a tried and true brand (who does not usual advertise at all much less in the Super Bowl) and strategically positioned it as an answer to these challenging times (I use it to pay my bills). Well done. More later. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter for the second half of the game for play-by-play ad analysis!