It's Mac Tonight!

Back when commercials were really good.

That is, before the obsession with dumb jokes and irrelevant comedy took over. Back then, there used to be spots like this.

If you don't know the story, it was originally done by an agency for the Southern California franchise group. So good, it went national.

They had to take it off the air when Bobby Darrin's family sued, claiming they copied his moves. The suit was later dropped.

Non-Millennials and social media - Larry says it better than I could

Read this. Be smarter.

Larry Mogelonsky (the smiling gentleman seated above) is what I call a Really Smart Guy when it comes to hotel marketing. 

I can't remember the last time I disagreed with what he wrote on his fabulous Hotels Magazine blog.

As the discussion of social media and boomers carries on, Larry weighed in yesterday with some really smart stuff. Which makes sense, him being a Really Smart Guy and all.

So rather than offer my own thoughts, and since he said it better that I could have, I give you "Gray is the new green part 12: social media differences."

Enjoy.

We're looking at some blue-sky ideation and an experiential process that can help us profile their emotional needs and head space

I have been doing this for more than 25 years and sometimes I just flat out get a headache when I hear the doublespeak and jargon and blah-blah-blahdiddy-blah that agency and design folk tend to spew.

English please.

That is all.

The Pepsi generation for . . .

Come alive!

When Karen first started in the ad business, she was in the creative department at Ehrlich Harris Manes, an ad agency in Bethesda, MD. One of the people she worked with was a production manager named Lyn Thompson.

Lyn was a pretty smart person and she said something one time about a commercial that stuck with me - and it seems to be true today: "That commercial is the Pepsi Generation for __________________." 

So true today.

For a creative business, we sure do a lot of lookalike work, don't we? On any given evening in front of the TV, you're going to see at least two or three "Pepsi Generation"-type spots. For beer, cars, liquor, wine - jeez for whatever. You could pretty much swap out the logos and nobody would notice. Everybody is young and good-looking and just having so much fun and it's just all so unbelievable, isn't it?

There are variations, like the one below, but they really are all pretty much the same, don't you think? Tired? Been there? Done that?

You have to wonder who is driving all this repetitive stuff. Is it a client who says "I want one of those?" Or a lazy agency who thinks everybody under 30 lives a fantasy life - like from "Friends"?

Two totally different, totally wonderful commercials

So here's a look at how good

advertising can actually be - if it wants to.