Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

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SmarterChild Beat ChatGPT by 22 Years

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ChatGPTAs BuzzFeed Said About SmarterChild… (way before ChatGPT)

From BuzzFeed 2013: “50 Things That Look Just Like Your Childhood” – “A chat with an online robot”

Did you play with SmarterChild? I was one of the founders and CEO. Was nice to be part of the Internet’s childhood.Who knew then that ChatGPT was coming?

Here is a start-up video … 2000… (Microsoft eventually bought us – ActiveBuddy. And, now they own a chunk of ChatGPT) Yes, that’s me.

Moving To Mexico

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Moving To Mexico – Perfecto

Move to MexicoA 2022 Update – (Six years later): The Moving To Mexico post below was written when I achieved my 2016 goal of moving to Mexico from Portland, Oregon. I’ll maintain the original post detail intact to keep Google’s indexing happy. But, here is an update.

I live in San Miguel de Allende which Conde Nast Traveller named  – get this – “the best small city in the world” – not bad. SMA is in the middle of the country, is known for its culture, old-world architecture, music, art, gourmet to street food, wonderful people, and has two international airports each one hour away. Plus, the great Mexico City is less than four hours away.

To date, this blog post has been read over 5,000 times. I know I am not alone in thinking of moving to Mexico.

Interesting side note. My consultancy works with advertising agencies. In the past couple of years, three of my clients have decided to either move to Mexico full-time or to buy a second home.

Why move to Mexico? Sevens reasons.

  1. The cost of living is 50% of, say, Chicago.
  2. Remote work — works here.
  3. You can get a permanent visa.
  4. The right time zone (vs. say Bali or Portugal.)
  5. Easy flights to the USA and beyond.
  6. The weather.
  7. Your neighbor does not have a MAGA flag in their front yard.
  8. Nice culture.

Moving To Mexico Was a Good Idea

My wife and I are now five-plus years in and live here full-time. Four years ago we built a house across from the neighborhood church in the Guadalupe neighborhood that is known for its murals (that’s our house in the picture). Well, it’s our old house – we just sold it for a nice profit. We now live in a very modern house up the hill that has an amazing view. it is a ten-minute walk to Centro.

I am maintaining my global advertising agency consultancy (it helps to be able to work digitally from any location) and am way into a major multi-year global photography project which I started when I arrived in Mexico. After San Miguel de Allende, I have photographed communities in L.A., Selma, and worked across India in January 2020. When I get past this Covid stuff, I’ll go to Ghana (I think) to add Africa to my white sheet and Widelux film camera series.

I am convinced that I made the right move. San Miguel de Allende is endearing, culturally rich, and very visually stimulating. The people are wonderful and welcome gringos like me. Plus, our town has been named the best city in the world by Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveller. Yes, it earned its “best“, but one does have to wonder who paid off the magazines for us to get signaled out.

By the way, check out my two-year San Miguel de Allende photography series, La Gente. Please pass it on, especially to Americans.

Side note: People ask me all the time about why and how I moved to Mexico. No, it is not just baby boomers – incoming comes from all sizes. It seems that a lot of folks want to get to either a “next” experience or sadly, just want to get the hell out of today’s USA. The work from home shift has made moving and living in Mexico easier for 30 – 40-year-olds, and we are seeing more young families come down.

NOTE: We did not move for political reasons. But, hey, living somewhere where lots of people smile every day and are not addicted to FOX, MNNBC, Google News, and Twitter is a ‘good thing’. LOL, sure we have news and social media addicts here. But, at least we do not have to see red political hats when we go to the tienda to buy a mango.

Side-side note: if you are interested in moving to Mexico, give me a shout. I’ll give you my perspective. I get a few calls a year.

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The Original 2016 Blog Post About the Why and How Moving To Mexico is a Good Idea

Why Mexico? 

This post explains why I moved to Mexico, the where, how, and provides some details should you want to follow me.

The move has been a two-year process for my wife and me to decide to make the move and then choose where to live. We selected San Miguel de Allende (for its culture and high-altitude weather) over Puerto Vallarta (too beachy); Baja (too close to California); the Yucatan (way too humid); Oaxaca (a close second); Mexico City (too crazy); or Lake Chapala (boring – though near Guadalajara).

I like moving to new places and do so about every 7 years. The upside is living an adventure and having to creatively deal with unknowns. The downside is leaving friends behind. But, some visit and Skype plus Facetime keeps everyone face-to-face.

In addition to pure wanderlust, there are other factors that seem to make me move. Here is a new one. I recently read the Wall Street Journal article, Nature or Nurture? What Makes You an Expat? Is a lust for travel, adventure and new surroundings built into your DNA? The article covers the idea that moving and living in a foreign country might be, partially, a function of your DNA. My kids are in their twenties and they now live in Buenos Aires and Budapest. Is the Levitan DNA responsible? Who knows. But, this is an interesting concept to digest.

OK, so why am I moving to Mexico?

I grew up in New York City. Went to college in Boston and San Francisco. Then moved back to New York, to Minneapolis, to New Jersey when we had kids, to London and back. And, 15 years ago my family split from post 9/11 New York metro to go to Bend and then Portland, Oregon. Was it genes? Wanderlust? Career building? I think all of the above.

Why Mexico?

san-miguel-de-allende-mexico_87359_990x742We love Mexico and Mexicans. And, I can run my consultancy from anywhere, so why not head south.

We are not alone. Mexico has the highest number of American expats. The actual numbers are a bit flaky but the U.S. government estimates the number at over 1 million. These include people working in Mexico, folks just hanging out, Mexican Americans and a very large number of American retirees.

But, hey, this blog post is about me.

My reasons…

  • Numero uno: Adventure (life is short.) See David Bowie for inspiration. ‘”Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strange) Turn and face the strain. Ch-ch-Changes”
  • Our new home is San Miguel de Allende which is in the middle of the country. That’s one of its most famous scenes in the picture. SMA is one of the coolest towns in the world (yes, the world.) Here is what Huffington Post says.
  • If you don’t mind skipping heat and humidity, San Miguel de Allende’s weather is perfect (high desert at over 6,000 feet.) See the map at the bottom for its location.
  • The people in San Miguel are always smiling.
  • It’s safe. Please stop the silly ‘gringo’ question… “Is it safe?” Get this: most of Mexico is safer than New Orleans and Detroit. And, you know that if Americans stopped doing tons of coke, meth and heroin, we’d help to solve the cartel problem. The key is that you don’t go hang out where the bad guys do business because that is where the crime is.
  • Mexican culture combines indigenous and Spanish cultural influences. There are endless street, art and music festivals and a very vibrant art scene.
  • The cost of living is about 60% or less than living in the USA. In our first ‘test’ year, we are renting a fully furnished 4 bedroom house with 3 days of housekeeper service and a gardener for $2,000 per month (this is considered on the high end). At over 18 pesos per dollar, the dollar is as high as it has been in years.
  • San Miguel has the second-best restaurant scene in the country. It has become a major weekend destination for people living in Mexico City.
  • Surrounding towns deliver sweet day trips to visit hot springs, local ice cream meccas and university towns. And… truly exciting things like a Costco and the largest shopping mall in Latin America. I haven’t been there yet but will avoid a Chili’s if they have one.
  • I can easily fly nonstop to L.A., Dallas, and Houston out of two local airports and internationally from Mexico City.
  • Getting a long-term visa is easy. Try living long-term in the U.K. or France or Thailand. Not going to happen.
  • I’ll try to avoid CNN and FOX and MSNBC.
  • Oh, and I can work from anywhere I have a laptop and WIFI. Plus, my town is conveniently in the central time zone.

Have you considered living in Mexico?

googleA recent research study I did testing Google Consumer Research focused on where Americans want to retire. My findings show that 13% (13%!) of Americans between 45 and 65 “have considered retiring in Mexico”. By the way, you do use easy-to-use-super fast Google Research in your business development program, right?

Who will thrive in Mexico? [Read more…] about Moving To Mexico

How I Discovered The Internet After Saatchi

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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

Quit Advertising Today

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

quit advertisingI 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.

quit advertisingOK. 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.

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Top Advertising And Design Awards

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A Lovely List Of The Top Advertising Awards

top advertising and design awardsPut yourself in a marketing client’s shoes. They want to find and select a new advertising, digital or design firm. How to do that? They ask friends; take hours searching the Internet; maybe your agency got its account-based marketing down and the client now knows about the agency; the client hires an agency search consultant or… maybe they look at the top advertising and design awards to find an agency that a third party loves. A third party that gave the agency an award and big kisses. In a world of over 4 trillion ad and digital agencies, a client needs some help.

This list provides a list of the top advertising and design awards plus: deep thoughts on why you should even bother doing the advertising award game. This game is costly and time-consuming.

Across my global and regional advertising career, I’ve won big creative awards like the One Show, EFFIES and regional ad awards. There is a system to winning… Here are my views on advertising awards objectives and strategies. It is mindblowing how many advertising agencies do not know how to enter an award show — to win.

Note: This advertising awards list gets updated. Let me know if I am missing an award.

Another note: This is obvious but is worth mentioning. Even if you do not want to send out an award entry, these websites will point you to a great place to steal ‘winning’ ideas.

Advertising Awards Are Good… But, Maybe Start Here: Why Enter Award Shows? Do You Have A Strategy?

Winning the right advertising awards is good for business and agency and client morale. Just make sure you know why you are entering. Too many agencies don’t approach the award process with a plan or objectives beyond the search for ego fulfillment. This can make the whole effort a bit too C R A Z Y. But, you know that. Or, do you? Go here to hear an advertising award judge on his less than optimal experience reading agency entries.

I have a memory about the power of awards from my first day at Saatchi & Saatchi London way back in the 1990s. I walked through the creative floor and noticed a tall glass case randomly stuffed with lots of creative trophies. This haphazard display delivered two messages: 1) Saatchi wins lots of awards and 2) they don’t take these too seriously. Of course, the second point was bull shit. Saatchi was always about looking like a winner and the award case proved that point in a cheeky manner. It worked better than the usual and obvious shelf of awards that sit behind the ad agency receptionist’s head.

I have always had mixed feelings about advertising awards. On one hand, they are, like winning an Academy Award, i.e. ridiculous. No one ad, digital program or actor is the “best.” On the other hand (the one with the wallet), they are way expensive. As an agency owner, I often cringed when a creative director came to me with his hand out asking us to spend hundreds on award entries.

However money aside, advertising awards have some very big advantages for agencies, clients, and creative-class workers:

The awards celebrate creativity itself. Creative strategies, art, copy and the media platforms that deliver the work.

They help our most talented people get noticed.

They help smart well-designed agencies get noticed by occasionally confused clients who need second party confirmation when selecting an agency. To me, this is a very important point and one that makes writing those increasingly expensive entry checks worth the cost. Awards should be a big part of an agency’s business development program – not just an ego stroker.

To put all of this go-for-it into context, I wrote about the Portland agency Pollinate a few years back that has done very well (!) by hammering Advertising Age’s Small Agency awards show. The blog post, “How To Win The Ad Age Small Agency Award? Twice?” is a demonstration of the value of entering and winning an award that has meaning for prospective clients because it is delivered via an industry-leading publication. Check it out.

Last point before the list. Award judges have told me that around 30% of agencies do not know how to create an entry that is designed to win. Poor copy, poor strategy, even typos. Many agencies rush through the process at the very last minute. Do you? Do you have an annual award plan? Who is in charge?

My 20 Favorite Advertising & Marketing Awards

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