Insights

Nike Loses Advertising Award

Peter · September 17, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Big News: Nike Loses Advertising Award

‘Nike Loses Advertising Award’ is a much more unexpected (and click-bait) headline than ‘Nike Wins Advertising Award’. I thought of this switcharoo when I woke up to the following ‘expected’ headline from Media Week:

Nike’s ‘You Can’t Stop Us’ From W+K Wins Outstanding Commercial Emmy.”

Switcheroo? Media trope? Let’s start with this definition from Wikipedia:

The phrase man bites dog is a shortened version of an aphorism in journalism that describes how an unusual, infrequent event (such as a man biting a dog) is more likely to be reported as news than an ordinary, everyday occurrence with similar consequences, such as a dog biting a man.

The article, about who won the Emmy Awards for outstanding television commercials makes me think that these huge awards only go to the rich and famous. Why do Nike and W+K win again? And, again? Yes, this is a wonderful TV commercial, and W+K rocks. But other agencies and other advertisers make great ads. Even agencies in North Carolina.

Are Nike and W+K that much better than other advertising agency and client pairs? Over and over? While these guys do great advertising (note that Nike was a long-term client of mine when I had an agency in Portland and W+K was hard to ignore), I have to think that the judges do not, must not look at a whole lot of advertising from the universe of poor and infamous advertisers. There are dozens of advertisers and there has to be a reason that Nike is repeatedly listed as the winner.

Yes, there is more. Who were the (surprising – LOL) other finalists?

Nike Loses Advertising Award (Not) And Now, Even More, More Rich and Famous

As Media Post points out – Nike is in good company. An obvious band of rich and famous advertisers:

“The other nominees in the category included spots for Apple AirPods and Apple Watch Series 6, a separate Nike spot, and ads for Amazon Alexa and Beats By Dre.”

Apple, Apple (twice), Nike (again), Amazon, and Beats By Dre… Really? My take is that The Emmy’s just got lazy – and too obvious.

Obvious? Let’s remember that The Emmy’s is about TV bucks, and mega brands and big spenders like Nike, Apple, and Amazon are, well, way into the world of TV bucks.

OK, OK.

Need more words on advertising awards and what ones y’all should enter? Go read this: Top Advertising And Design Awards

2022 Emmy’s – Oh, Oh… Oikos

Here is my vote for a TV commercial for the next award show. Oikos Yogurt and karaoke.

How I Discovered The Internet After Saatchi

Peter · September 9, 2021 · 4 Comments

I Discovered The Internet – Kinda True

This is my 800th blog post. So why not get personal? Here is my story about how I discovered the Internet and left advertising in 1995 to become an Internet start-up CEO. I think that it might be instructive to the people leaving the advertising industry today. Don’t take my word for it, people are leaving – read Avi Dan’s Forbes article, “People Are Fleeing The Ad Industry Because Of Burnout And Wanting To Work From Home.”

By the way, that is a picture of the explorer Robert Peary.

When I Discovered The Internet and The End Of My Advertising Agency Career

After my three years working at the Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Worldwide London office as European Director running business development and the J&J and Sara Lee Europe accounts, my family and I returned to Summit, New Jersey in the winter of 1994. Our welcome was a brutally iced in house. So iced that we had to hire some off-duty firemen to chop out the ice so we could use the front and back doors.

After leaving Charlotte Street, I now worked at the big black iconic (Darth Vader) Saatchi & Saatchi building on NYC’s Hudson Street. My large 18th-floor office had a wide-angle view and very cool furniture inherited from a recently exited executive creative director. Due to a failed New York office culture, talented colleagues were starting to exit the building.

My job was running Saatchi’s North American business development group. The job was nearly impossible as poor management had trashed Saatchi’s New York reputation and the global brand itself was in decline. The Saatchi brothers had finally overreached when they tried to buy a UK bank. These advertising guys’ “want to buy a bank” hubris was not warmly received by the public markets. Saatchi’s had gone from being the “world’s favorite” advertising agency to a company that no longer got the type of new business incoming and responses I had become accustomed to. Like, I wasn’t getting returned calls from prospective clients. This was a new experience. However, I was getting weekly calls from the trade press asking me for comments about people fleeing the New York office. Not the kind of trade media calls a business development director wants to receive.

I Discovered The Internet

While all of this office and career shit was going down, I had discovered the Internet and its insane growth curve. Yes, I discovered the Internet. Well, this happened because I returned to the USA from the Luddite UK and got the wake-up call.

I immediately fell in love with digital platforms like CD-ROMs, Netscape Navigator (the first commercial graphical browser launched in October 1994), and, of course, America Online and CompuServe. I was also seeing the exponential growth of Internet usage – as shown in the chart. How could this not be a gold rush? This was around the time that Jeff Bezos became enamored with the dramatic hockey puck growth of Internet uptake and you see where that got him. Side note, I had had my first early taste of digital when I briefly ran the Western Union Easylink email account a long time before I moved to the UK. Easylink was the first commercial email service – or as we called it, Instant Mail. Um, yes, a good idea but a bit early. Understatement.

In 1995, one did not have to be a genius to see that the digital universe would become a serious advertising platform. I tried to get Saatchi management interested but they were so consumed by the Saatchi death spiral that, like small children, I could not get them to focus on the new opportunity that was right in front of them. We could have been a contenda.

A Life Switch – “Get The Fuck Out Of Advertising”

Two things soon happened that would change my life.

First, thanks to my prescient friend Mike Donahue, who was the digital lead at the American Association of Advertising Agencies, I found out about Redgate Communications. The leading, and one of the few, digital ad agencies. [Read more…] about How I Discovered The Internet After Saatchi

Neil Patel On Advertising Agency Mistakes

Peter · September 5, 2021 · Leave a Comment

I am a regular listener of Neil Patel and Eric Siu’s The Marketing School podcast. As of today, these digital marketers and prolific audio publishers are up to 1,848 episodes (WOW!) that cover many of the tactics and strategies that have made their agencies successful.

Each daily show is delivered at wake up and is approximately 3 minutes long. Bite-sized advice. A recent episode “Mistakes That Neil and Eric Made While Growing Their Agencies” (#1842) is worth a listen (link below). Hey, maybe your agency should produce bite-sized vs. those hour-long podcasts. Like my loooong, but entertaining 40 podcast series – Advertising Stories.

Below is my take on their Neil and Eric’stake.

The podcast transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Eric Siu On Leadership and Work Habits:

“… when I first took over (the agency), one of the big mistakes that I made was taking a book too literally called “Let My People Go Surfing”. So some of you might’ve heard this story already, but it’s from the Patagonia co-founder, it’s a great book. And it talks about letting your people go surfing. He lets his people go surfing during lunch, right. Basically, it’s saying people don’t want to be micromanaged, and they don’t. And I went a little too extreme with it and I stopped showing up to the office. So I learned that it’s important, especially in the very beginning, especially when you’re trying to save something, to trust, but verify and also be there in person and be there in the trenches showing that, hey, you’re there and you have some type of vision for the company as well.”

My take. I grew up during the always be in the office days. I was usually the first in when I worked at Saatchi & Saatchi New York and London, definitely when I was the CEO of two digital startups and when I owned my own agency. It was critical that I demonstrated interest and energy – and its good news for me that I have always been a morning person. Sure I know all about the idea of work-life balance, especially when I had two offices in outdoor , fresh-air driven Oregon. But, running an advertising agency, or any business, requires real leadership and dedication. I demonstrated this dedication by showing up. Showing up is especially requiered for client focussed businesses.

Now, how to exhibit this style of leadership in a WFH environment is a bit up for grabs these days. We’ll see where this goes. That said, the last thing I’d do as a leader today is to pump out 6:35 AM emails that ask for an immediate response. That is not effective leadership.

“The other thing is I made a lot of kind of rash decisions without consulting people. And I learned that building actual relationships and building rapport with people and not coming from an arrogant perspective that just because I came from tech I thought that I kind of walked on water, which I didn’t, right. I just thought I was super amazing when really – it takes a village to build something amazing. So that’s what I would say. Don’t take things too literally, build relationships with people and make decisions that are… If they’re reversible, act on them quickly, but if they’re not reversible, you’d probably want to deliberate on them a little more.”

My take: There are a couple of points here. First, yes your agency will work better in a team environment. Even if you are the smartest or most experienced person in the room, don’t act like an ass. If you stop and listen to other people you will generally come out ahead. LOL, most of the time.

Second, it is OK to fail. But, try to do it too too fast and own up to mistakes. That said, repeted faliures are not a good thing.

Neil Patel On Client Concentration:

Quit Advertising Today

Peter · August 9, 2021 · 6 Comments

OK, I Do Not Want You To Quit Advertising. I Just Want You To Move To Mexico.

I quit advertising twice. First when I left my global job at Saatchi & Saatchi to do the Internet startup CEO thing. Then again a few years later when I sold my Portland advertising agency Citrus to become an advertising agency consultant. I did the digital nomad thing for a year and then moved to Mexico. I can work from anywhere but like living in Mexico.

And you? Now that you to can move around, it just might be time to move your gig to a groovier place than Boise.

Hola Gringos.

Every week gringos (the definition: “in Spanish-speaking countries and contexts, chiefly in the Americas – a person, especially an American, who is not Hispanic or Latino”), ask me “How did you move to Mexico? Why Mexico? What is life like in Mexico?” Recent travel to New York and Naples, FL. have coalesced my thoughts on the right answers.

Plus, one of my very own USA ad agency clients has decided to move to my town San Miguel de Allende (SMA). Why choose San Miguel? Other than my piquing his interest over time, he knows that SMA is one of the most beautiful towns in the world. Just ask Travel & Leisure. Plus, he can now work from anywhere. Just like you.

OK, why move to Mexico? Or, better yet, my town, San Miguel de Allende.

Big reason #1: You can actually live and work from Mexico. We have the Internet.

#2. You can actually make it happen. Most Americans, ya know the ones that think the world loves us, are surprised to find that very few countries will accept their full-time residence. Mexico does and getting an official residence is easy. This is a rather critical point as, I am sorry, but Italy and New Zealand do not want you. I am not even sure that Canada wants you.

Mexico is in the middle of the USA times zones. Plus it is close. I can get to Dallas or California in 2 hours. Your clients don’t care where you are and if you need to be in the HQ ‘office’ tomorrow you can make that happen.

Mexico has mucho international flights. There are two International airports within a short drive from SMA and Mexico City’s mega airport is about four hours away by a lux bus or private vans. I have a car but I don’t drive to crazy Mexico City. It would be like my Bozeman Montana relatives trying to cross from Manhattan to Brooklyn in their Ford-150 during rush hour.

Mexican cost of living is rather groovy. According to the cost-of-living website NUMBEO,…

“Consumer Prices in United States are 92.73% higher than in Mexico (without rent)” and “Consumer Prices Including Rent in the United States are 120.51% higher than in Mexico”.

Back to Boise: “Local Purchasing Power in Boise, ID is 155.92% higher than in Mexico City”

My house in SMA is easily 30% of what it would go for in Portland, OR, or Denver or Dallas. New York? Forgetaboudit. My daily croissant and coffee in New York’s East Village cost me $11.00 in May. Here – $4.00. I was just in Naples (a city they tell me has more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the USA) and the cost of every meal was mind-blowing. A trip to Whole Foods or Publix to feed my 5-person family seemed to always come in at around $300. OK, I do like wine.

Note: Living costs vary greatly. San Miguel is on the high side compared to other towns. Living by the beach in Puerto Vallarta is on the high side. However, if you do your homework and pick the right neighborhood, Mexico makes the inflationary USA housing market look like 1984.

The USA, OK except for my home town NYC, is BLAND. Lots of nice roads leading to the next mall or strip mall leading to the next strip mall, gas station, and fast food Meca. If you think driving by Midas Muffler stores is cool, then, yup good luck. Mexico has texture.

Mexico has real soul. Cool nice people. Music in the streets. Grandmas. Passionate. Sweet kids. OK, it is occasionally loud. And, yes, it can get funky vs. your Louis Vuitton store. But, it is a special funk – like a mellow funk based on life, not commerce. By the way, did I mention that SMA is one of the most beautiful towns in the world? (While I write this, I am sitting in the main square listening to the bells from the world-famous Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel and watching young girls in white dresses heading inside for their rite of First Communion.)

Mexicans. Mexico just simply feels much more friendly. Everyone says buenos dias, bueos tardes and buenos noches. It is a polite acknowledgment that we are all in this together. Family life rules here. Large families hang out. Advice: do not wear your MAGA hat.

Here is what my neighbors look like… La Gente photographs.

Mexico is a large country. There isn’t one Mexico. Do you want beach towns? We got it. World-class cities, we got it. Places for Gen Xers to get drunk? Sure. Mountains? Yes. Places for you to eat up culture, yup. Big regional differences? Yes. Street tacos at 3 AM? Si.

San Miguel, in particular, is known for its art center, dozens of art galleries, and culture. Outdoor art movies; world-class musicians; theater and roof bars.

Want to party? We’ve got lots of roof bars and late-night clubs. But if you want to be hammered 24/7, head to Tulum.

An advantage of having a large number of expats in Mexico is that you have been preceded by decades of USA expat experts – many like me quit advertising in the states. One of my Saatchi ECDs enticed me to move here four years ago. Note that one does not have to only hang with expats. But the local information and advice is a big benefit.

Do you like eating? SMA is known as being a ‘gourmet’ foodie town. Same for Mexico City and… Oaxaca. Otherwise, you know what good Mexican food tastes like (it is better here). Wine? Head to Baja’s Napa quality wines. Beer? Head to the local cantina or corner store. Plus, in a town like SMA where gringos like to eat and cook we have large local food markets and new places like the somewhat insane City Market.

SMA sits at 6,000 feet. As I watch the USA melting in summer 2021, my weather today (in August, is a high of 76 to a low of 58). From the Internet… “The best time to visit San Miguel de Allende is November through April. Though San Miguel’s climate doesn’t vary too much throughout the year (average high temperatures hover between 73 and 88 degrees Fahrenheit no matter the season), November through April experiences less rainfall than the summer months.” Every day is generally clear with no humidity. Yes, it is very different from coastal, occasionally humid, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo, or Tulum. Which are also good places to hang out and settle. I suggest that you explore YouTube and Instagram and check out these towns plus Mexico City, Oaxaca, Queretaro, Chipas, and Guadalajara. There is much more to Mexico than the been-there-done-it Cancun & Cabo scenes.

OK. The crime thing. “Is it safe?” is one of the usual-suspect questions. Answer = most of Mexico is as safe as anywhere in the USA. I never worry here. Yes, I do pay attention and do not hang in the wrong places at the wrong time. Just as I would in New Orleans. However, there is a major cartel/narco problem that deserves the news.

It is very important to realize that these very crazy guys kill each other. Each other. Just like the Corleones and the Barzinis. Not you gringo. Why is this happening? Well, American’s have an insatiable hunger for illegal drugs, the ‘War on Drugs’, a massive billion-dollar and societal failure, only made drug dealing (illegal drugs, not your legal Zanax) rather lucrative. And yup, you know this was coming, our gun manufacturers will sell anyone guns and love doing it. As of this week, the Mexican government sued USA gun manufacturers for dumping weapons into Mexico. Mucho gracias.

Back to my statement – quit advertising.

Try Not To Weep When You Read ADWEAK

Peter · August 8, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Try Not To Weep When You Read ADWEAK.

6 Years Later: My 2021 take on my 2015 ADWEAK take

I thought that I’d update my 2015 (yes, 2015) blog post about the wonderfully endearing but way too insightful and painful ADWEAK take on the advertising industry. I’m re-upping my extremely positive perspective on ADWEAK because they have begun to up their use of LinkedIn so I see them daily.

And, because they talk about themselves like this – like humans:

What began as a fun parody Twitter account has become a full-blown creative studio. @Adweak has grown organically to over 75k followers with an average of over 3 million impressions a month. But snarky tweets don’t pay the bills. Our real job is working with brands and agencies on a wide variety of creative projects. You name it, we’ve done it. We have a shit-ton of experience with agencies (TBWA\Chiat Day, BBDO, Deutsch, DDB and more) and brands (PlayStation, HBO, Dr. Pepper, Energizer and the list goes on).

We’re good, we’re fast and we’re not A-holes.

ADWEAK – Attitude Is Good

Hey, most advertising agencies have little to no attitude & point of difference. They kinda all use the same lingo and would never say ‘shit‘ or ‘A-hole’ in their descriptor copy. There is little attempt to break out of the crowd. I am talking about having a strong and competitive positioning; established expertise and a smart messaging system that makes them unignorable.

Too bad. But, wait, there’s more. Here are some of the painful but all-too-true ADWEAK posts that blast out to their 81,000 Twitter followers. To put that number in perspective, 20-year-old Digitas North America has 66,000 Twitter followers.

Current favs… cause they are all too spot on.

BREAKING: VMLY&R Considers Adding More Letters To Name

BREAKING: After Several Rounds Of Presentations, New Business Client Informs Agencies They’re Going To Hold Off Making Decision Until Early Next Year

BREAKING: Agency Forced To Revise Schedule To One Day For Creative Development, Three Weeks For Client Approvals

BREAKING: Charmin Toilet Paper Challenges Agency To Make Them A “Lifestyle” Brand (LOL< I actually think that Charmin is a daily lifestyle brand…)

OK, I’ll stop. But first. If you are a client looking for different and unignorable, give these guys a shout: adweakeditor@gmail.com

Back to my 2015 Post

ADWEAK joined Twitter in 2008 as @adweak. In case you are speed reading this is not… Adweek, the advertising news magazine [Read more…] about Try Not To Weep When You Read ADWEAK