The power of the written word...

I was blog surfing last evening, and I came across this quirky little site. Typetalk is the brainchild and project thesis of Amy Papaelias. She is a typeface designer who has created four handwritten fonts that capture the psychological essence of their respective muse.

For example, Sugar and Spice is a very girly print. Just try to type something nasty like, "fuck off, asshole" and you get "go away dummy." The emotional context is the same for both phrases. One is just a lot nicer than the other.

The same can be said for Shy Slacker. This font is based from the point-of-view of a somewhat shy teenage guy. Enter, "Frankly, I don't give a damn" and you get "Frankly, like I don't give a damn, you know."

Amy has an interesting concept worth checking out.

The Great Doritos Social Marketing Experiment

Frito-Lay has taken the social marketing leap, and boy, did they do it in a big, big way! Last year they unveiled the "Crash the Superbowl" campaign that allowed Dorito enthusiasts to create their own :30 commerical to be aired during the big game. The creative was placed in the hands of the consumer. Accolades to Frito-Lay for such a bold social experiment.

I don't know many companies that would place a $2.6 million spot in the hands of the masses. Brave move! The folks at Frito-Lay were expecting somewhere in the range of 200-300 entries. They received well over a thousand. After much viewing, they were able to narrow the field to five. Then they took it a step further. They have allowed the general public to vote which ad gets aired. What an incredible concept!

This video is a compilation of the five final entries, as well as comments from Jason McDonell, Director of Marketing for Frito Lay. Each entry is pretty damn good. (Keep an eye out for the mouse.) What are you waiting for? Grab a bag of Doritos and enjoy!

Follow that Lemming!

Even though this little blog is less than a month old, I have decided to start a new blog. Follow that Lemming! will be my take on the wonderful world of advertising and creative.

While there is certainly a strong link between the worlds of advertising and marketing, I would like to keep the Tenacious Marketer focused on marketing issues. Running two blogs may be a task, but I enjoy a good challenge!

Apple 1984

This is easily one of the most celebrated ads ever produced. Brilliant concept. Visually stunning. Strong copy. Please enjoy.

It's about the channels...

You wouldn't dream of placing a full-page ad for Velveeta cheese in fashion mag Vogue. It simply isn't the proper channel. So why would the geniuses at Ogilvy & Mather think that launching a Dove campaign on YouTube would be a success? Wrong demographic. Wrong channel.

Think more along the lines of iVillage.

MarketingVox has more on this misstep.

Geico's mixed signals...

I don't know about you guys, but I'm a little confused. I have literally watched three different ad campaigns by Geico in a single evening. First, there was Geico's gecko being interviewed on his success as a spokesperson. Then there was the woman who related her sob story while Little Richard translated in celebrity-speak. Finally, there was the sensitive caveman waging a righteous fight against Geico's tongue-in-cheek campaign. A quick view of all three campaigns.

I mean, I get the gist of each campaign.

Gecko: Informative, friendly, approachable
Caveman: Easy-to-use online format
Celebrity: Customer testamonials

So, where is the Martin Agency going here? Each campaign is fun and quirky in and of itself. But, why run all three simultaneously?

Surely, there's some genius amid this madness.

Copy Ban: Nothing's 'unique'...

Copywriting is an artform. It takes practice, skill and patience. To this end, I'm starting "Copy Ban." Tentatively, this section will be devoted to improving the art copywriting through the banishment of certain words or phrases. Time to clean house!

If there is one word out there that deserves the ax, it's unique. Let's take a moment to examine. (Please note, that I pulled the following information from my little built-in iMac dictionary widget.)

unique: adj. being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else

derivatives
uniquely adverb
uniqueness noun

usage
There is a set of adjectives — including unique, complete, equal and perfect — whose core meaning embraces a mathmatically absolute concept and which therefore, according to a traditional arguement, cannot be modified by adverbs such as really, quite, or very. For example, since the core meaning of unique (Latin for one) is 'being only one of its kind,' it is logically impossible, the arguement goes, to submodify it: it either is unique or it's not, and there are no stages in between... It is advisable, however, to use unique sparingly, and not modify it with (adverbs)... Often, a writer can instead make accurate use of rare, distinctive, unusual, remarkable or other nonabsolute adjectives.

In other words, there are better options in our copywriting arsenal then unique. It is a tired, overtaxed word whose perception is mere puffery. The copy ban is in place!