Just a second ago, we mentioned that GSD&M has partnered with Metaversatility to begin taking survey and acquiring data in virtual worlds. See it here. We decided to take our own suggestion and ask Greg Verdino, CEO of crayon, what he thought about this new journey for Idea City.
“Strange indeed.
Virtual ethnography isn’t a terrible idea – there are other companies walking down the same path and I think it’s a path worth walking — but I’m not clear on what any of this has to do with GSD&M. I know they’ve done some work in Second Life but they hardly seem to be at the epicenter of the virtual worlds movement. In theory, I’d think Metaversatility could have done this on their own – no?
Plus, I wonder if ‘lack of data’ isn’t a red herring. I’ve never had a client tell me that they won’t experiment with virtual worlds due to lack of data; lots of them shy away due to lack of scale, especially with worlds like Second Life and There.com. The real virtual world action seems to have shifted to youth-oriented worlds like Webkinz and Club Penguin and into worlds that seem to be more marketer-friendly like virtualMTV or inherently brand-focused like Virtual Magic Kingdom.”
Full disclosure: GSD&M was a crayon client – but hasn’t been for a while now.
“I’m A Fan Of Steve Biegel!”
March 28, 2008
AdAge has located the Steve Biegel has Facebook fan club.
It’s mission is to support “Steve Biegel who stands up against sexual pressure of the toughest kind. And has the stamina and courage to sue the Fattest Japanese Ad Agency.”
Biegel, as we all know, is turning into a bit of a sordid legend for his sexual harassment and anti-semitic based lawsuit against advertising firm Dentsu. Harry Van Dam, the groups creator, has thrown his support behind Stever due to the fact that he was “man enough to say no to a hooker and no the man who was going to pay for it all.”
R.I.P Herb Peterson
March 27, 2008
5 Blogs points us to the death of Herb Peterson, 89, the man credited with inventing the Egg McMuffin has died. He began his career at McDonald’s as vice president of the company’s advertising firm, D’Arcy Advertising, in Chicago. He wrote McDonald’s first national advertising slogan, “Where Quality Starts Fresh Every Day.” Peterson is survived by his wife, son and three daughters.
The Egg McMuffin is so good, it really does hurt.
Donny Deutsch Sounds Off On Race In America
March 26, 2008
Donny Deutsch sounded off on the LeBron James and Gisele controversial cover shoot for Vogue this morning on The Today Show. Donny shrugs his shoulders at the whole “gorilla thing,” because he is a self described “dumb white guy.” Meanwhile, Nancy Jiles keeps it a little more real being a Black women and all.
Why the Today Show didn’t bring on a Black man to talk about this instead of Donny? Well, there aren’t that man bigwig Black ad guys out there. So sad. Race relations in this country are still so messed up. Sigh.
R.I.P Hal Riney
March 25, 2008
Hal Riney, advertising legend and founder of a namesake agency, has passed away from cancer yesterday. He was 75. Riney was named number 30 on the Advertising Age 100 people of the 20th century. He was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2001. AdAge, who broke the news, has a comprehensive obituary.
“Riney’s unique body of work celebrates, implicitly if not flat-out, the American spirit and voice — often his own, deep honey-coated voice-over. For Saturn cars, Crocker Bank, Alamo car rentals, Henry Weinhard beers, Gallo (with front-porch stars Bartles & Jaymes) and “Morning in America” for Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign, Riney’s words and pictures conveyed sincerity, warmth and credibility. He was recruited from Botsford Ketchum by David Ogilvy and opened O&M’s San Francisco office in 1976. In 1986, he took over the office, renaming it Hal Riney & Partners, and went on to mastermind GM’s Saturn introduction with dazzling success. Often imitated, never surpassed, Riney’s work achieved larger-than-life levels of creative excellence.”
Art Directors Gone Wild: Steven Rood
March 24, 2008
Remember when we were looking for art directors gone wild? We got a bit sidetracked, but we’re bringing the series back and in full effect. Steven Rood is a freelance senior art director at Chiat LA where he’s been on hand to help with their creative since 2002. Rood also happens to be a fine art photographer. Some of his shots are kind of like a photo version of an Andrew Wyeth painting, no? Anyway, catch this - part of his sales go to various conservation groups.
Here’s Rood’s story of breaking out of art director hell and into the wild:
“I quit my full time staff job as an Associate Creative Director back in 99 to spend more time wandering the wild places. When I’m not freelancing for Chiat or Team One or Ground Zero of course. Luckily with many years of faking it in advertising under my belt, I’ve gathered a large group of friends whom I can count on to buy my work and keep me from having to give up champagne for Pabst Blue Ribbon. Thus my work is well collected. From worldwide creative directors (pssst - Lee Clow) to agency producers to creatives to production companies and actors, my work hangs on some pretty cool walls. Take a gander at my Bio and you’ll see what I mean. I’ve had several solo and group shows. I’ve won awards. I’ve been published. And people call me by my first name at Samy’s camera.
Yes children, there is a life outside of 14 hour days and working weekends. A place where you can create and make money and nobody tells you to make the logo bigger.”
Are You An Account Planner?
March 17, 2008
If you are an account planner, it’s that time again. Go make your voice be heard!
“Welcome to the 4th annual Planner Survey. Please only fill out this survey if you are working as an account/brand/strategic planner. If you’re a student or a recruiter please do not take the survey, just use the second link to enter your email address to see the results. But if your are in fact working in some type of planner role please do participate no matter where you work - it could be in an agency, a consultancy, on your own, or on the client side. There is a second link that you must visit to leave your email in order to receive the results. This also keeps all responses anonymous. Thank you for participating!”
To get the results, enter your email address here.
The survey is run by Heather LeFevre, a planner turned cognitive anthropologist who works at CP+B. You can find out more about Heather by reading her interview with Sam Karp, but below, find out why she started this massive undertaking in the first place.
“I started the survey because it was time for my annual review and I had no idea if I was being compensated fairly. There are so many articles about women being paid 72 cents on the dollar compared to men and that women tend to take the raises and salary offers for new jobs that they are given rather
than negotiating for more. But there isn’t a good source of information on planners - TalentZoo and AdAge don’t go into the detail that I wanted. I also wanted to know how consistent title levels (junior vs planner vs senior etc) were with years of experience. I was pleased to find that women seem to be making the same as men, though a larger sample will confirm this as time goes on. I was most surprised to find that geography doesn’t seem to have a big impact on salary - i.e. It’s at least twice as expensive to live in NY as smaller markets, but New York planners are not making twice as much smaller market planners. They are all basically making the same, so in essence you as an employee “pay” a premium to work in NY.”
Don’t you love when advertising folks get off their butts and make the business a better place?
iCrossing’s Pruitt Rides Again
March 17, 2008
Interactive agency iCrossing’s executive vice president, corporate partnerships, Jeffrey Pruitt, has been elected as president of SEMPO. For those of you who aren’t on the digital side, that’s the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization. SEMPO is the largest global non-profit organization serving the search engine marketing industry, which many agencies have been dipping their toes in to. This is Pruitt’s second year in a row serving as prez. From the press release:
“SEMPO could not have selected a better advocate for search than Jeff,” said Jeffrey Herzog, founder and CEO of iCrossing.
Um, Herzog is the CEO of iCrossing. What else is he gonna say - “wish it had been me?” Is there no one else to put a blurb on the release to make it seem, y’know, even slightly objective? Considering Pruitt’s has apparently done a good job for the association, it shouldn’t have been to hard. Lazy PR folks. Tsk. Tsk.
The Problem With Selling Your Name By Sir Terence Conran
March 17, 2008
Aren’t you so glad it’s Monday? We’re so psyched. Last week was a nightmare and well, starting tomorrow, it’s going to be a total crap shoot all over again, but today… it’s sweet peace. Well, not for Havas. You see, Sir Terence Conran (ye-of-noble-blood) the designer and entrepreneur, has taken a swing at Havas, which is headed up by the infamous Vincent Bolloré.
Havas owns Terence’s design firm, Conran Design Group (after the break up of his Storehouse Group) and have announced plans to expand the small shop and how. The build out would include offices in many locations worldwide and a huge PR push. Currently, there is only one shop nestled outside of London. Here’s the quote from Conran:
“[Havas's plan is] crazy and I think it is wrong. Clients are being sold something they believe to be ‘Conran Design’ that actually has nothing to do with me or the work of anyone I have worked with for the last decade and half.
“Havas and [subsidiary] Euro RSCG are building a house on sand, and many of their clients will invest in a business that doesn’t in fact have the brand equity they want - we have it. Their expansion plans are a cynical and outrageous attempt to use a legal technicality to hijack the Conran brand [which are] implicitly deceitful and the type of behaviour that a multinational media group like Havas would never recommend to its clients.”
He continued: “It beggars belief… that a group of the scale and scope of Havas does not have a design brand of its own that it believes in.”
Oh. He’s pissed, yeah? He’s all over the place with anger. Here’s the thing though - Havas bought the brand with Conran’s name attached. They can do as they like including blowing it out worldwide. Um, Terence? The company bought your brand, because they probably didn’t have a design brand that filled your niche. So, sorry dude. You just gotta deal.
[source]
Can You Do Us A Favor?
March 11, 2008
We know a super talented art director who is looking for a new gig. We also got three emails in the last week from AD’s looking for a better job, a fresh place to show their talents off or (we’ll be honest) more cash.
Can you guys who head up HR at agencies, headhunters or folks who are just in-the-know send us some listings for the NO WUKKAS section of the site?
In lieu of the recent AdWeak article regarding designers being in demand, this should be easy, right? Right, AdWeak?
Please email us at agencyspy at mediabistro dot com. Merci.
