Agency Spy

Saatchi S is the new sustainable arm of the agency. They bought it. They bought a sustainable second arm via the agency Act Now. Adam Werbach, who was the youngest head of the Sieraa Club and CEO of Act Now, is still CEO over at the death star. So, Saatchi is actually trying to offer some truly green programs for clients. Sweet.

Currently, we hear they are looking for someone to be the Director of the New York office. The distilled version of the agency’s mission:

“Effective immediately, Act Now will be part of the new Saatchi & Saatchi S network, a revolutionary market offering designed to activate corporate and consumer action on a mass scale to address environmental and economic sustainability.”

Any takers? The description above comes from Da Man, Kevin Roberts, over at Saatchikevin.com. Seriously… No, seriously? His own URL? If that little bit of folie de grandeur turns you off from applying, check out the video of the charming Werbach above. It might just change your mind.

The Ethical Reputation Index has added UK creative and media agencies to the list of  companies, which they track. ERI sent out 140 invitations to agency CEOs on the 8th of January with results due back by the 21st. We hear that responses are already coming in. The results of the ERI Green Agency survey will be published in Marketing magazine ” to help clients and advertisers to choose their agencies based on a similar footing.”

Considering that 50% of consumers consider the green cred of a brand before purchasing, it goes to assume that some CMOs will also consider the index number of those agencies participating in an account review.

Snickers had a little trouble with their Super Bowl commercial this year, which featured two guys getting it on. In reaction to the negative feedback, the brand’s latest commercials (created by TBWA/Chiat Day) feature all sorts of very masculine and very straight behavior: throwing trash cans, driving erratically, hard rock and a road trip theme. The characters involved in this new campaign titled Feast include a pilgrim, a Viking, a Polynesian, a Roman and a King. You can follow the groups adventures across the country on the Snickers website.

After watching the spot above (scroll past the opening Boise ads), we were prepared to disregard the spot as “trying to hard”, but then we went to the micro-site and changed our negative view point to one of passability. In gaming, there are two are basic camps squabbling over what makes titles like Halo or Gears Of War so wildly popular - the narrative (”Narratologists”) or the interface of the game and the ability of the gamer within game play (”Ludologists”). We’d argue that you need both to create popular, profit generating games. With the recent surge of broadcast being paired with interactive, we feel like agencies need to take a cue from the gaming industry. In the case of the Snickers campaign, TBWA has managed to creat a firm narrative - 5 random, historical males on a road trip. They interact with each other, joke, laugh and viewers can get to know their personalities a bit. We would have liked to see more additional material through, which visitors can connect and interact with the characters. As a viewer, you are trapped in the audience role. If Snickers had made it so that say, you could ask the characters questions; compete to have them visit your town; create a road trip mix for them; pick their route, etc. the whole campaign might be a bit more compelling.

As it stands, we’re going to say it’s cute, but not much more. You know… we did love TBWA’s Skittles spots. No additional support came with these via the web, which made sense. They had just the right amount of realism paired with just the right amount of fantasy to really capture your heart.

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Alliance for Climate Protection, the organization formed last year by Al Gore, is basically in account review. The Alliance is looking to make sustainability a high level priority for Americans. Four agencies — Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the Martin Agency and Y&R — are getting ready to present their plans to the former vice president himself early next month. It’s a three-to-five-year, multimedia global campaign with a media spend somewhere around $100 million a year.

AdAge has some editorial about how advertising agencies are no longer afraid to get involved in “hot button” issues. Is the environment a hot button issue? Think not. Chris Becker, chairman-chief creative officer of DraftFCB’s New York office, said “blowback from less-than-eco-friendly marketers is unlikely. ‘It’s such a loud issue and so accepted that no one can get away with that,” he said. “There’s already such a broad platform for agencies.’” We agree.

We are all for companies “going green” for the sake of the environment and for their bottom line, but let us be very clear - execution is everything. Case in point - the staff at PSFK recently went to Moscow via Delta Airlines and was treated to a green giftbag, which left the marketing specialists stunned. They point out quite a few inconsistencies from the fact that the darn thing is made of paper to it being packed full of non-green products. See the whole list and imagery here. Delta, who just came out of bankruptcy in April of this year, should be paying closer attention to the details. The airline has had great success taking user feedback/usability stats to boost it’s website sales and so we say, “Delta? Learn a lesson and listen up….” Read the rest of this entry »

Brand Strategy made us aware of a service called ‘CheatNetural’, which claims to offset infidelity for consumers. From their website: Cheatneutral is about offsetting infidelity. We’re the only people doing it, and Cheatneutral is a joke. Carbon offsetting is about paying for the right to carry on emitting carbon. The Carbon offset industry sold £60 million of offsets last year, and is rapidly growing. Carbon offsetting is also a joke.

We’ve been hearing a lot of grumbling from staunch eco-groups that carbon offsetting is a red herring. When sculpting your client’s Read the rest of this entry »

Considering that Live Earth was a bit of flop, Snore Bore Gore (who we are starting to like actually) has decided to create a user generated ad contest for dear ol’ Mother Earth. Gore believes that best way to reach public hearts and minds is through the time-tested medium of advertising. Damn straight! Gore is also trying to get the agencies involved by sending out invites to submit 15-, 30- and 60-second “ecospots” explaining the global warming phenomenon and urging action to address it. Could be a bit of good PR for you old foggies. Grey? We’re looking at you. How much you want to bet though that the winning vid is created by a regular old Joe? See the details for entry here or just watch the video above.

Of course, “famous” eco-warriors like Cameron Diaz and George Clooney will narrow down the field with the American public selecting the ultimate winner. Hey! We in the ad biz know a little celebrity never hurt a campaign. Several entries will be broadcast and a Toyota Highlander hybrid S.U.V. will be awarded for the best spot along with major bragging rights. Greg Stern, chief executive of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (an agency we dig) applauded the user-generated bit, but added: “It’s unfortunate that the prize in the end is an automobile, even if it’s a hybrid.” True, true…

More: Get In Now: MediaDefender
Or, Applause: The Benz Is Back Baby!

Check out this billboard for the World Wildlife Fund campaign that uses the sun to fight global warming. It’s great work. Some agency or in-house marketer must be very please. The video above shows the ad across the time span of a day.

Everyone brace themselves. We’re about to use McDonald’s as an example of how best to go green… In the UK, McDonald’s announced that it will start using its own waste cooking oil to make biodiesel, which will then be used to fuel its truck fleet of 155 vehicles. Matthew Howe, senior vice president has even suggested to Reuters that the company may be able to sell the excess biodiesel to others opening up a whole new revenue stream for the chain. Plus, by using the fuel, McDonald’s will save 1,675 tonnes of carbon per year, the company said.

This is how you do it. Help your clients go green by first figuring out how to help their business on the revenue side. Worry less about what consumer’s are going to think. Promise. They’ll love whatever you cook up whether its directed at them or not. If you need some help, look here. Secondly, going green to fast is improbable for most business. Start slow. Remember: Agencies and brands need to be very careful about greenwashing. It’s a fast way to destroying credibility in this new world that is very rightly concerned with all things eco. Look at poor Starbucks or the not so poor, Shell Oil.

Via Autoblog Green

More: Enough doom and gloom. Do something fun - Take A Peak At Some Agency Interiors

As everyone should be well aware, every brand in the nation wants to go green. Kudos to them. However, going green is a bigger challenge then many brands actually anticipate. The days of simply saying you’re green — and then ripping out trees, throwing away massive tons of waste and using harmful chemicals in your products — are like, so way over. Here to help you ad execs save the world from greenwashing, is the Sustainable Advertising Partnership (the site is to be launched in a few days) and the Institute for Sustainable Communication. Read the rest of this entry »