Category: Branded Content
An ad guy explains the election. Hillary: the packaged goods candidate
Hillary Clinton's campaign tactics, public statements and brand promise are all a lot more understandable than Donald Trump's, which I've previously written about. In fact, Hillary's campaign feel a lot like it could be for a packaged good's company than her competitor. After all, Proctor and Gamble's motto is "The…
The agency holiday card done differently
During my agency days, every year the creative department would "gang bang" on a "Christmas card." Which later became the holiday card. And then became the digital holiday card. And then the holiday video. (I can safely say that many agencies should have stuck with cards.) The idea is to…
Top 10 bad reasons to fire a client
We've all had bad clients. Some are just annoying and some are abusive and deserve to be fired. Here's a list that may help you tell the difference. 1) They're plain stupid. If they don't get it or don't understand what you're trying to explain to them maybe it's your…
Goodbye 2012. What a year it’s been.
2012 has been a pretty good year for me. Not without it's challenges but personally and professionally I have to say through hard work things going well. The industry as a whole doesn't seem a whole lot healthier anecdotally. Agencies are still seem slow to hire four plus years after…
Being a great creative won’t make you a great agency owner. Or 10 reasons why creative shops fail.
If I had a nickle for everytime a creative agency failed in this town. Then I wouldn't need to be in a creative business. But I am in the creative business and am currently on my third start up of my own and have also worked at two other start…
The truth about user generated content
I'm sure someone out there would argue that this blog is user generated content and thus proves that UGC is the wave of the future (actually I've been a professional writer for quite awhile). They may even go so far as to say UGC is all that people will be…
Bending the triangle. Great production quality in an unreasonable market.
In the agency world and production it's long been a trope that there's a triangle with three sides named good, fast and cheap. You can have any two sides but you can't have all three. Agency professionals understand this just as well as those of us on the production side.…
Earned media hype. Or are you being sold a bill of goods?
Do you want a substantial social media audience? One that can move the needle and advocate for your brand? Then you're going to have to pay for it. The recent craze for earned media I believe is misleading. Sure, a great deal of work can yield some decent results. But…
Video and search. Why it matters.
Do you know what the second largest search engine is? No, it's not Bing. Yahoo? Nah. It's YouTube. Yeah, really. Did you know that almost half of search results yeild video thumbnails? And as you might guess, those thumbnails tend to get clicked on. Is it time to get serious about…
Fluid Films Vision Part 3 – Collaboration Is The New Competition
Ok, so I stole the "collaboration is the new competition" hook from Alex Bogusky, a true sage of our industry. You can read about his interpretations of this phrase on his site, but let me take a moment to explain how it affects my business operationally and one way I…
