Nothing to see about advertising here, folks. Just move along, now.

Funny thing happens when you become Vice President of the United States.

Suddenly, you're a buffoon.

Well, you know what? Whether you're fer it or agin' it, the health care bill is a big fucking deal. So why is Joe Biden the butt of so many jokes for using a word (under his breath) that just about everybody uses? Same way Dick Cheney was roundly criticized for telling someone go (well, you know) himself.

Quick, everybody who's never said "fuck" raise your left hand.

I thought so.

It was sort of like the big deal that comes up whenever a politician does, does not, or does not know whether he can or cannot admit to smoking pot in his, her or its youth.

Jeeze. I'm 62 years old and would have to think really hard about trusting anybody my age who didn't smoke pot in their youth.

I mean, fuck. You know?

Not new, but very timely.

I love this headline by my long-distance friend, ace Colorado copywriter Larry Hinkle.

It's been on his web site for a while, but since it's almost baseball season - even in D.C. - I decided to share it.

So simple, so perfect.

Seriously. Whats not to love about Jimmy Durante?

Enjoy

This picture is supposed to illustrate "juxstaposition"

Because in an online Hotel Marketing newsletter I got the other day, the positioning of two articles sort of struck me somehow for some reason.

The lead story was "Death of travel brochure as travelers opt for online reviews."

Just below it was an announcement of Expedia's new television campaign.

I think it's interesting that the new media that is supposed to replace so much traditional media uses traditional media to advertising itself. Or, as my friend Alan Reisberg of Capital Media says in his blog, (third post down) Hulu advertised on the Super Bowl.

Just in case you were wondering why we like having a client in Key West

You just don't run into this sort of thing anywhere else.

Yanked from the Key West Bar Card's fan page on Facebook.

Yeah, I've put it up before, but only one of 'em.

But for my money, the first spot here is one of the greatest lottery commercials ever.

The second one isn't quite as touching, but still, it's way better than most see-how-funny-and-outrageous-we-can-be lottery commercials everywhere.

The most interesting man in the world . . .

. . . and the most ridiculous ad campaign on the planet.


"Stay thirsty my friends" -- are you f***ing kidding me?

Nice to see the folks at Peta are still dropping acid

Maybe that's an overstatement, but it came to me and I liked it and I'm writing this so deal with it.

But I think you have to admit that this Pamela Anderson spot for non-fur, no-leather, etc. is a bit odd. Andy Dick even makes an appearance.

I don't know if this is over the top or not (or if it's just an attempt by the former Baywatch babe to be relevant) , but I suspect a whole lot of horny teenage boys and their hormones are Peta converts now . . .

I like this. My dogs like this. My neighbor's dogs like this. I'll bet your cat even likes this.

Found this on copyranter today.

It's for the 10th annual Bark in the Park, sponsored by Purina. In Auckland, New Zealand.

Seems to be a lot of cool stuff coming out of New Zealand lately. Did you know there are more sheep than people in New Zealand?

Maybe that has something to do with it.

By Ogilvy New Zealand.

I don't care if you ARE the most carbon conscious paper company on earth, I still don't want to see this

Found this today on I Believe in Advertising, and I don't like it.

For one thing, I think it's a bit of a stretch. At first glance, I thought the point was that using Neenah paper somehow saves the animals. Then I looked at the copy and it seems to be telling me that the animals die only from old age, because thank God for Neenah paper whatever bad things the non-carbon conscious paper companies do didn't kill them.

Or something.

I think these are powerful images, but could be better applied to do something other than selling paper.

But that's just me, and as we've discussed before (we have discussed this before, haven't we?) I'm an idiot.

. . and back and forth and back and forth

"What's your budget?"

"We don't have a budget."

"You don't have a budget?"

"Well, it's very small."

"But your product is very expensive and your sales goals are pretty high."

"But we don't have any money to spend on advertising or marketing communications."

"How should we price this?"

"Just give us the best price you can. We love your work and really want to work with you. You guys are great. And keep in mind, if we grow our sales and are making more money, we will be able to spend more down the road. And you'll make more."

"If you can grow your sales and make more money with a very small budget, why on earth should you ever spend any more?"

"We just will."

"Well, what should we work with? What's your budget? It would really help us figure out a plan of attack if we knew how much money you had to spend."

"We don't have a budget. But if we did, it would be very small."

Really, no kidding, I am SO sorry about the language in this . . .

But I think this is funny as hell.

For reasons best known only to myself I clicked a link to "Bad Idea T-Shirts Dot Com" and along with all the predictable, dumb "I'm only here for the BEER"-type of shirts, I came across this gem.

Which is not only funny, but true. Of course, my logic is then that we need to keep guns away from crazy (fill in the blank)ers. But sadly, the country seems to be headed in the other direction.

Anyway . . .

Something cool from the JITD tipline . . .

A reader sent me a link to this very cool IKEA promotion. Don't know your name, but if you're a reader, I'm going to assume that you are fairly bright, clever and extremely good-looking. Thanks for the tip.

I think it's brilliant. It's an installation in the Paris subway. I mean, what better way to show off your product than to, well, show off your product?

More pictures and comments on the Freshhome Interior and Architecture blog.

If you read French and what I think is Japanese, you will understand all of the comments too.

Maybe it's because we just started working with a health club

But I like this.

Found it on I Believe in Advertising. By Inkognito, Denmark.

Nice and simple. Don't tell anybody you saw it; maybe we can steal it.

I don't know who does the production art on this

But they do it every week.

These things have been running in the Post for years. Just think, at one point, somebody did this with an Exacto knife, wax and tweezers.

Somebody has the patience of Job.

At first blush, I'd say this is a waste of money, but I'll bet there is a loyal following of this store that studies these things every week looking for deals.

A few words on whores and sluts

If you're in the business of selling yourself (and your skills and talents) for money, in a certain sense, I guess you're a whore.

Not that I think there's anything wrong with that.

On the other hand, if you give it away, you're pretty much of a slut.

Now, while sluts may be easier on the pocketbook, whores are probably a better role model. They certainly have the better business model.

Unfortunately, there are those who partake of the services of advertising and other creative firms who think we're all sluts.

If you're in the business, how many times has someone asked you to show them what you'd do for them before they will consider you? For that matter, how often do the big agency pitches involve spec creative or how many times have we all seen the account go to the agency in the run for it that gave something away first?

Or how often does an existing client want to talk to you about a problem they have and want you to think about how'd you solve it - on your own time, of course?

Seems to me that starting or continuing a relationship by asking for something (even if you're "asking" with a wink and a nod) is disrespectful. In all sorts of ways.

A whore might negotiate, but she's not giving it away. A slut on the other hand, well, sometimes you get what you pay for.

While I'd prefer that clients and prospects think of us all as talented professionals who sell a valuable service that can help them achieve success, if it has to be one or the other, I'd rather be thought of as a whore than a slut.

After all, a whore probably drives a better car.

Some of this and some of that. Observations Edition.

1.
We responded to an RFP a while back from someone who made it clear they were hot to get things moving and they wanted an agency that could move fast and have it all up and running in 30 days. We -- and everybody else who responded -- had about a week and a half to do it.

It's been almost seven weeks and they still haven't decided on next steps.

2.
Now and then someone says that as soon as business picks up and they have more money to spend, they want to talk about increasing their advertising. Until then, they usually say, they will stick with (pick one) the agency they say they hate, in-house, do-it-yourself, nothing at all.

Every time, I want to remind them that if they can build their business with (pick one) the agency they say they hate, in-house, do-it-yourself, nothing at all, why the hell would they spend more on advertising?