Maybe I’m a bit predisposed to focus on anything remotely related to advertising (studied it in college, spent my entire career in the biz in some way, shape or form), but I had to laugh when I caught a recent Simpsons rerun (“My Fair Laddy”). While the main story line was Lisa’s science project to make Willie (the school gardener) into a proper gentleman (a la My Fair Lady, Pygmalion, etc.), Homer’s grassroots marketing campaign was center stage in the subplot. Continue reading →
A Salute to Alan M. Pottasch, Pepsi’s “Generation” Adman
While not many people would recognize the name Alan M. Pottasch, there aren’t too many of us over 25 who aren’t familiar with his world-famous campaigns for Pepsi. As the cola company’s Sr. VP for Advertising from 1972 – 1991, he was the instrumental in the development of both the “Pepsi Generation” and “Pepsi. The choice of a new generation.” ad campaigns (along with agency BBDO). While I only vaguely remember the first campaign (grade school fell in there somewhere) , I have to admit I was proud to associate myself with the new (hip) generation. I may even have spent hours trying to master Michael Jackson’s and “mini Mike’s” dance moves….
And so it is with a bit of nostalgia and sadness that we must mark the passing of a “generation” and advertising legend. As you may have heard/read/seen on tv, Alan Pottasch passed away on Friday. With heavy hearts, we mourn the loss of an advertising legend who blazed new branding trails. And yet, there’s comfort in knowing that the work he started continues to be honored and laid a groundwork for the rest of us to follow.
Carat merges online, offline advertising agencies
I just read an Adweek interview with David Verklin, CEO of Carat Americas, discussing the recent merger of Carat USA (traditional media agency) with Carat Fusion (its digital agency). The result is an agency set up to manage both online and offline activities for its clients. While this is “revolutionary” and “trendsetting” in the industry, I have to wonder why it took so long! I appreciate Verklin’s explanation that the marketplace is just now in a place where agencies don’t necessarily need a stand-alone digital shop to be taken seriously. But let’s be honest here….do any of us really think consumers care whether or not a campaign was crafted in a traditional or digital studio? For that matter, does anyone actually believe consumers separate web ads from radio ads from the TV ad they forgot to skip past using their DVR, when all of these ads are for the same brand. Of course not. From a consumer’s point of view, these are all messages for one company regardless of the method of delivery. Which means marketers and their agencies need to make sure that each touchpoint a customer has with a brand reinforces the others — magazine, radio, TV, online, out-of-home, etc. Otherwise, you miss the opportunity to build message synergies, or, even worse, you create confusion.
TechCrunch9 was a 10!
Well, Dave Hunegnaw (founder & head of business development), Jon Myers (founder & head of user interface/design), Todd Cameron (founder & CEO) and myself spent Friday evening meeting, greeting and mostly being blown away. What can I say?!? TechCrunch 9 was an amazing event!! A big thank you to TechCrunch, Jeanne Logozzo, August Capital, and everyone else involved in putting on such a first-class party. We couldn’t have asked for a better forum to introduce DOmedia to the world. The food, the drinks, the music (courtesy of Pandora, which we all highly recommend!), and the 500+ attendees definitely made for one hell of a Friday night party!
We had a chance to share the DOmedia vision with tech innovators, VCs, members of the press, and a whole host of really interesting people. (Keep an eye out for Todd’s podcast interview with TechCrunch Head Honcho himself, Michael Arrington via TalkCrunch; it should be available soon. ) The best part for us was that once people got a chance to see what we were all about, they were pretty jazzed about it. It was fun going down the stream of imagination with people as they started coming up with their own innovative uses of everyday objects for advertising campaigns. Which is, of course, the backbone of the community section — members sharing cool ideas, best practices and improving the industry as a whole.
We also had a chance to check out the other companies doing their own demos. Todd and I both got ‘streamed, thanks to Chris Yeh and his Ustream network, which gave us a great opportunity to present our concept and answer questions from viewers. “Not Justin” from Justin TV was also there capturing the action, and our own Dave Hunegnaw. I got to give a big shout out to Kyte, and get a sweet orange t-shirt in the process. What can I say….I’m a sucker for cool schwag!
Anyway, check out TechCrunch’s event wrap up for all of the details and see more of our photos on our Flickr page.
DOmedia Hits TechCrunch Meetup 9
With a lot of work, a few haircuts and a new pair of shoes, we’re ready to unveil our alternative media marketplace to the who’s who of the tech world. Journalists, investors, and industry insiders are all here to meet, greet and check out what could be the next great wave in the web 2.0 (possibly 3.0?) world. We have a great story to tell and we can’t wait to get started. Stay tuned for more…
