tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56866988573925345072024-03-13T11:56:37.260-04:00Teenie ThoughtsRandom thoughts about pet peeves, advertising, pregnancy, rampant dumbness, moving, and whatever else has my knickers in a bind today.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-7661379539315612632009-10-31T19:19:00.005-04:002009-11-07T09:14:50.885-05:00Project delivered!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW-Flu3NPuu1sxx0FX1HVZ5d4TPxWYawzIcmmSR9XRapGRJVY10f3GCvgqRSZZQXCayrAA8iSTNNj4vGrZvIHTG9aScBFj60IheDqqjGgq5EPicDe99FnByDjOgk4IU0h9XVLA_gWrWtFl/s1600-h/Bump.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW-Flu3NPuu1sxx0FX1HVZ5d4TPxWYawzIcmmSR9XRapGRJVY10f3GCvgqRSZZQXCayrAA8iSTNNj4vGrZvIHTG9aScBFj60IheDqqjGgq5EPicDe99FnByDjOgk4IU0h9XVLA_gWrWtFl/s400/Bump.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401364960215968322" /></a><br /><br /><br />Forgive the long absence--I finally delivered my best project yet. A little late, a little long and a little challenging (why do people not warn you of how hard this really is??), but she's perfect in every way. <br /><br />I'll be catching up on sleep and this wonderfully topsy-turvy new life for awhile, but I'll be back! In the meantime, here she is.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-85604911622772764972009-10-13T10:53:00.005-04:002009-10-13T12:42:23.224-04:00A Reese by any other name...Reese's Pieces cups--those lovely salty-sweet things--have been running a new campaign for the last year or so. So far, they've produced a handful of 15-second spots that are all artwork and music--with taglines that, for me at least, leave much to be desired. Call me an elitist copywriter, but lines like:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Stop global warming or all the Reese's will melt.<br /><br />Sharing is a nice gesture. Stupid, but nice.<br /><br />The perfect three way: Milk chocolate, Reese's peanut butter, and you. </span><br /><br />...feel like first-attempt cast-offs. Despite infusing a little New Order and Fiction Factory into the spots, the messages feel dull and predictable. <br /><br />But looking up the things on <span style="font-style:italic;">You Tube</span>, I realize I may be in the minority. The comments are filled with discussions about the music, the message, the originality. And I'm left wondering if I'm overthinking what are simply nice, memorable spots that are doing their job. Still, I cringe at just how easy the copywriter got off--and wonder again how a big agency can justify the big bills for something that could have been written on the bus on the way in to work.<br /><br />The writing in one spot left me particularly bewildered--until I found its alternate ending. The ad begins like so:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaktEjabpkoAQXo8TedlxRR6oV_Uyu6TK4DUhJoP0oJV4gLH_U493Z1bx0TNvD79gi7grX5iZgNg2QlmVIjIjQNLBy-lL_Vr7qVrM8zBPLxJ8blYiQVryHrU1CzEdX-tWo1cGRoZHGyUgb/s1600-h/Picture+1.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 347px; height: 260px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaktEjabpkoAQXo8TedlxRR6oV_Uyu6TK4DUhJoP0oJV4gLH_U493Z1bx0TNvD79gi7grX5iZgNg2QlmVIjIjQNLBy-lL_Vr7qVrM8zBPLxJ8blYiQVryHrU1CzEdX-tWo1cGRoZHGyUgb/s400/Picture+1.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392122954873211746" /></a><br /><br /><br />And concluded with the bewildering:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVhkYLq3IbB1VqjCznXCmg5b2JjEC7Dfw9SPTj0NOjaAjP33XWm68mmCQIc_6XV8v72LPPKxKu9tv5uikJMp39ZuKvPTTHEys3g3rwG8mjQV4hh6a2jr1oYjZj4_pZFGYJSyS4-_ygD1X0/s1600-h/Picture+3.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 285px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVhkYLq3IbB1VqjCznXCmg5b2JjEC7Dfw9SPTj0NOjaAjP33XWm68mmCQIc_6XV8v72LPPKxKu9tv5uikJMp39ZuKvPTTHEys3g3rwG8mjQV4hh6a2jr1oYjZj4_pZFGYJSyS4-_ygD1X0/s400/Picture+3.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392123262944877090" /></a><br /><br />(Forgive the picture quality--it's all I could find!) What in the world is a Reese? And how is it plural? And just who approved this? And how did anyone think this sounded nice? Or had any flow? Or wouldn't make people stop and say "wha...?"...? Until I found this ending on the Reese's Pieces website:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkW044jZZAa9xY6qejj2s62MRnJ2Xj0demIcxhqTE0X5HwqlFD9RJdp8slHHm-uPeBvo0pnUsKyGB8kqYM6uKb78xCVDB3uhKvyhtr3S63FZcKjg7RNpw2cn9u64nli1E041qG3LyawTl/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 343px; height: 259px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkW044jZZAa9xY6qejj2s62MRnJ2Xj0demIcxhqTE0X5HwqlFD9RJdp8slHHm-uPeBvo0pnUsKyGB8kqYM6uKb78xCVDB3uhKvyhtr3S63FZcKjg7RNpw2cn9u64nli1E041qG3LyawTl/s400/Picture+2.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392123792650623874" /></a><br /><br />Ah, much better. Still terribly uninspired, but at least it's comprehensible. <br /><br />Still, I can't help feeling that all this pseudo-coolness falls flat and feels forced. If any of these win at an awards show, I may just have to eat my hat. While listening to some bygone 80's hit, of course.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-73271526006087334262009-10-01T13:17:00.003-04:002009-10-01T14:12:14.769-04:00Baby Talk<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJN929gRf6MhYxHLKrmp_BUsSYHhZgHfiYEXfDTArOi_Vp-xCwAhMwP2qeDWjx2QHS2cM-AI5XEN1CsHT7rOYlz6_EoJZ0C1GHeP_EoSbJL3ntV4QlZ95IXok3m55qycmWIS8Zx5ifUnre/s1600-h/images.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 127px; height: 118px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJN929gRf6MhYxHLKrmp_BUsSYHhZgHfiYEXfDTArOi_Vp-xCwAhMwP2qeDWjx2QHS2cM-AI5XEN1CsHT7rOYlz6_EoJZ0C1GHeP_EoSbJL3ntV4QlZ95IXok3m55qycmWIS8Zx5ifUnre/s320/images.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387695693313357074" /></a><br />In this incredibly round and bulging state, I have become a prime target for a kind of advertising I've never noticed before. Suddenly, sophisticated ideas and lovely language have given way to a kind of dribbly baby talk that, I'm guessing, is supposed to connect with my inner Mommy-to-be--plying me with cute alliterations, mono-syllabic tot-speak and line after line of eye-rolling goo-gooness.<br /><br />When did I turn from consumer into dribbling moron?<br /><br />I first noticed this while waiting hours for a RhoGam shot (and not, as I've yet to live down, a Rogain shot) at the hospital. I was leafing through a copy of <span style="font-style:italic;">Pregnancy&Newborn</span>, looking for quick snippits of tips and advice and product descriptions to feed my baby-info overload. Yet instead of being spoken to like an adult, I was coddled and rocked with words like din-din, tummy, meat'n'taters, pre-preggo--and, yes, the dreaded Mumsie. A quick look at their website reveals this bit of saccharine insight:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"Will you depend on convenient disposables to cover your babe's tiny tush... ?"</span><br /><br />Now, I've never been a fan of cutsiness. I prefer Vonnegut over Harlequin and The Beatles over... well, anything on the charts today. So perhaps that explains the nauseating feeling I get reading what's intended, I suppose, to be a light-hearted conversation about the cutest subject matter around. But such drivel leaves me incredibly annoyed and, worse, wanting to turn to the woman in the waiting room next to me and say "Have you read this dreadful fluff?"<br /><br />Just what do the briefs for these articles and ads say? <br /><br />TARGET: Moms to be<br />AGE: 25-35<br />TONE: Write like they've lost their minds to hormones and can no longer form complete sentences<br /><br />Yes, dear baby advertising people, I'm a Mom to be. But right now, I'm at home awaiting B-Day, half bored and terribly restless. Soon it will be all-baby-all-the-time, and I will--no doubt--crave a little adult conversation and intelligent insights and wit and anything else that will reconnect me to the land of the all grown up. Keep your cuteness to a minimum and treat me like the consumer I've always been. <br /><br />Yes, I'm having a baby.<br /><br />And yes, my mind is filled with baby stuff.<br /><br />But, for the love of all things holy, keep the ga-ga for your cartoons and give Mumsie a break.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-81925433873532597972009-09-21T14:01:00.002-04:002009-09-21T14:38:54.315-04:00What's wrong with now?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_U3HI1JpHJh7K9M9usMZAwldt2IS2B1kRsIUNdowIVzVvhCkvHOSWeJIaOoRv9TnNcWfphkCrWngVu0UdTrABNC8kvs6f1g4ND3w7im6rV0u4NPXsnNmwbiE3iqO_xXtLtMM36jVzkI5Y/s1600-h/images.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 55px; height: 128px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_U3HI1JpHJh7K9M9usMZAwldt2IS2B1kRsIUNdowIVzVvhCkvHOSWeJIaOoRv9TnNcWfphkCrWngVu0UdTrABNC8kvs6f1g4ND3w7im6rV0u4NPXsnNmwbiE3iqO_xXtLtMM36jVzkI5Y/s320/images.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383991937099047330" /></a><br />Spending so much more time with my new friend the TV these days, I've noticed a strange phenomenon--one I'll call the TLC Syndrome, since they seem to have made an art of the practice.<br /><br />In the bottom right-hand corner, the station's logo--a blotch on the screen it took awhile in itself to get used to--now comes with a little announcement. Today it reads:<br /><br />ALL NEW<br />JON & KATE PLUS 8<br />TONIGHT 9 / 8 C<br /><br />What I've noticed, however, is that week-long announcement will change as soon as the new show starts--either to ALL NEW JON & KATE NEXT WEEK or ALL NEW CAKE BOSS TUESDAY AT 10. It's all new something-or-other, all the time. Which gives you the feeling that whatever's on right now is old news. It's vaguely disconcerting.<br /><br />Then I saw it again yesterday while flipping across the Emmy's. While Dougie Houser was plodding through some bit of prompter reading, across the bottom of the screen flashed some exciting newness, along the lines of:<br /><br />IN 8 MINUTES: KATIE HOLMES AND HER QUACKING DUCK.<br /><br />Now, this isn't the information-overload news line that drags across the screen when you watch CNN or Newsworld--meant to super-inform and keep your head in a tizzy. These TLC bits of info are, essentially, telling viewers "If you think THIS is good, just you wait." <br /><br />Except you never really <span style="font-style:italic;">get</span> to the good part. At least not according to the TV station.<br /><br />What's with the permanent focus on the future? What, exactly, is wrong with what you're watching right now? It's like some constant, artificial adrenaline rush for the next best thing--leaving you feeling like you've always just missed the boat. It's like some new kind of advertising, where the benefit is perpetually elusive and what you've bought into right now will never, ever be enough. <br /><br />What kind of society are we to be so unsatisfied that we can never just enjoy where we are--even for a second? It's gone beyond taking the time to stop and smell the roses. Because their incredible bloom will be nothing compared to the daisies just ready to pop out--say, next Wednesday at 6.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-12469698683610260132009-09-16T16:06:00.002-04:002009-09-19T00:09:53.855-04:00Home again home again...For the first time since I was 4, I have an entire year off. Well, "off" meaning not having to take the little yellow (or big white) bus to anywhere at 8 in the morning.<br /><br />I'm on mat leave and playing the waiting game. <br /><br />It's odd. I love my job, and the people I work with, and most of the projects that come across my desk. I love my AD, my CD, the praise for a job well done, the breakthrough ah-ha moment when a concept comes together. I love working where people understand what "copywriter" means. I love the results of having to go back to the drawing board (even if the going back was a bit of a blow). My aunt once told me that I'm probably the only person who enjoys how they bring their paycheque home--and although I think she's exaggerating, I'm not convinced she's far from wrong. <br /><br />So yes, it's odd to be apart from all that. I feel a little useless, in that I'm not contributing to the work. I feel a bit disconnected from the adrenaline. Advertising gets under your skin, drives some inner force that makes you dig deep, deep, deeper until you get it just right. It's compelling and rewarding and frustrating and satisfying. And I wonder how much I'm going to miss it.<br /><br />But truth be told, my brain has turned into so much mush. My kind and lovely AD has politely asked a few times if, perhaps, just maybe, I'd, say forgotten a word here? Or a bit of punctuation there? And I look and see the glaring mistake, invisible to this bit of Swiss cheese between my ears. Plus you know the week will be long when, by 10:30 on a Monday morning, your previously comfy office chair has turned into a bit of a torture device that no amount of jiggling, shifting, scooting, or leg-raising can fix.<br /><br />I guess I'm swapping one responsibility for another, altogether bigger one. It hasn't hit me quite yet, though. For now, I feel responsibility-less (unless you count the unwritten shower thank-yous that are staring at me from the kitchen, even now). It's a strange, uneasy feeling--like being disconnected from the real world. Almost like losing your place. Or watching from the sidelines. I almost feel badly for the women who run out the office door, free for a year and so glad to not have to come back for a good long while. What could be worse than an unwanted return, a year-long countdown to the pain of going back to their small corner of hell?<br /><br />But, but, but... this project I've been working on since January may just change all that.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-79256812563472107692009-09-14T16:39:00.003-04:002009-09-14T17:23:06.115-04:00Navel gazingI just flipped through the latest issue of a local advertising magazine. It's largely about advertising around the city, and across the province--with bits and pieces of stuff gathered from here and there around the world.<br /><br />And, good Lord, what a bunch of navel gazing.<br /><br />To be fair, this issue is all about event marketing--highlighting last year's big events, the agencies that organized them, the companies who decorated, the caterers who cooked, the sewers who costumed, the venues, the people who attended. So maybe I shouldn't be too surprised that they seemed to haver left out the--oh, how should I put it?--the dang message. I mean the big picture. The advertising point. <br /><br />Sure, a creative awards show had a nice venue and great decor and fab lighting and lovely food--but, um, what did it communicate? (I know I know! That 2 agencies lapped up just about everything--I was there, I saw how everyone else vowed not to come back next year for what was, to put it gently, a great wank fest.)<br /><br />Forgive me if I sound bitter. I don't mean to be. It's just that the more I read about advertising, and attend awards shows, and pay attention to what's going on in the agencies around me, the more I wonder just who we think we are.<br /><br />Because, as a bunch, we take ourselves too dang seriously.<br /><br />And we think customers--the people at the end of the line, the ones who ultimately pay all our bills--are a bunch of idiots.<br /><br />I love being a copywriter. I love the creative process, the creative department, thinking in concepts, playing with words, finding the perfect fit for the brief. It's exhilarating and it sure beats accounting (sorry, accountants!). But to go from there to mistaking what I do for art, or to aim for an award when we should be talking to consumers--sorry. I don't buy it. Advertising has a terrible tendency to elevate itself to some higher plane, judging itself on what's breakthrough and cool and out of the box rather than what works.<br /><br />And we all fall into it, at some point. We start to see what we do as all-important--as an untouchable bit of higher thought, smarter ideas, incomparable cleverness. But it's advertising. It's communication. It's addressing the almighty consumer.<br /><br />It's not rocket science, and it's certainly not going to save any lives.<br /><br />Yet here's this magazine, these award shows, these huge naval-gazing events. And for what? For the glorification of ourselves? The justification of our salaries? <br /><br />A medical magazine has medical articles. An architect's magazine talks about architecture. So why do advertising magazines talk so much about the people in the industry and so little about making the message, addressing the consumer and doing our work a little better?<br /><br />Awards are great, don't get me wrong. But this is our work. We should get our noses out of the belly-button lint and remember who we're working for.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-75325045953058543282009-09-10T14:04:00.003-04:002009-09-10T14:11:15.163-04:00It's a Small World, Indeed<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnqdKPsdCij8BgRv-lh0zORplYEYwg0_IQRcgxWWFYaUeeVt4OwCQedK1ET1dfyi-MIuBOTAU39jRwSOO5A7UvqyXK1QLQVq9IcbpCzWvh7yu9WBGKspf13WSKhNInmInJR5E0fcEx1FOu/s1600-h/images.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 123px; height: 92px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnqdKPsdCij8BgRv-lh0zORplYEYwg0_IQRcgxWWFYaUeeVt4OwCQedK1ET1dfyi-MIuBOTAU39jRwSOO5A7UvqyXK1QLQVq9IcbpCzWvh7yu9WBGKspf13WSKhNInmInJR5E0fcEx1FOu/s320/images.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379902823135711970" /></a><br />So new client needs a great, big list of stuff for their website. It requires a lot of research--sifting through other websites, finding hidden gems, getting ideas, and putting an incredibly long list of stuff together so they can program the ultimate tool for their very serious program. <br /><br />To help, they forwarded what they consider the perfect example to follow. Not to copy outright, mind, but to work with and get inspired from.<br /><br />The source?<br /><br />A page right out of a website I do pro-bono editing for. Written by people I've met in person.<br /><br />Weird.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-38805471316374804542009-09-01T15:00:00.003-04:002009-09-01T15:03:55.114-04:00Ode to the baby who's kicking me incessantly in that spot right above the ribs that really, really hurts.Ah-ha-ha-ha-OWWWW!!!<br /><br />Ditto with the bladder punching. Good thing I still have semi-quick reflexes!<br /><br />Silly, funny little Bump.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(And now back to our regular programming.)</span>Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-53142399583550240832009-08-30T17:43:00.003-04:002009-08-30T17:47:29.077-04:00Sure, your cousin Ginette passed Secondary 4 English, but how bad would it have hurt to spend the $50?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZc_EmBDy4FBE8AgzDiXyKaW374km08h4Nbk4niaV89_99WmNyqxHqmnOqCQhLUp6UascMZaxpf0dr-nBJTl-4ts4LRwImJok8zo0Rjnx0_CcJyLArh6ChKJ79rddgKGAHTjgy75FJyYlt/s1600-h/DSCF6174.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZc_EmBDy4FBE8AgzDiXyKaW374km08h4Nbk4niaV89_99WmNyqxHqmnOqCQhLUp6UascMZaxpf0dr-nBJTl-4ts4LRwImJok8zo0Rjnx0_CcJyLArh6ChKJ79rddgKGAHTjgy75FJyYlt/s400/DSCF6174.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375876475549747122" /></a>Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-66730080065750175922009-08-25T13:07:00.002-04:002009-08-25T13:13:30.349-04:00Dear CS people at our sister agencyI am not a copy vending machine.<br /><br />When you change my copy before it gets to client, and then client doesn't like it, what is it that you'd like me to do now to fix it? <br /><br />Bloody creative vampires. You suck the life out of everything.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(Sorry--needed to get that off my chest.)</span>Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-44329694231285418192009-08-24T12:07:00.003-04:002009-08-24T12:09:55.360-04:00Grammaticus Interruptus<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpBwRAZZhvcMk4NjU1puzkBEJrb4zY1diAaCLVIH94HJNoVcCBwiS46U42ZBPfcaprB4aEPLZIimSWpb7DbQO1PRaXRAm9LV0DgMh2Z_4ZSO5sPGc8-7aigfRUwkW2pbl9nZvz2xLgbK2/s1600-h/Picture+1.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 294px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpBwRAZZhvcMk4NjU1puzkBEJrb4zY1diAaCLVIH94HJNoVcCBwiS46U42ZBPfcaprB4aEPLZIimSWpb7DbQO1PRaXRAm9LV0DgMh2Z_4ZSO5sPGc8-7aigfRUwkW2pbl9nZvz2xLgbK2/s400/Picture+1.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373563128623289538" /></a><br /><br />So... you're saying Scandinavians are lousy salespeople?Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-79727840189453473262009-08-19T14:40:00.003-04:002009-08-19T15:39:44.493-04:00More than verbs.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccRvN8aItrtjji1NREUjdD3uK2T1HSfmBH3aoB1PqzfsUyIqsZBCjLTCCVsjFiOG0OFinm9MlDzEbdWF8uRkRVTS-g0PBBe8sHtx3iJJWV2j2woFVgBTJa9HcswHECBp87eRPPKL_6LtM/s1600-h/images.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccRvN8aItrtjji1NREUjdD3uK2T1HSfmBH3aoB1PqzfsUyIqsZBCjLTCCVsjFiOG0OFinm9MlDzEbdWF8uRkRVTS-g0PBBe8sHtx3iJJWV2j2woFVgBTJa9HcswHECBp87eRPPKL_6LtM/s200/images.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371761275560753906" /></a><br />Since a lot of what I do is adaptation into English, I often come across a few conundrums that drive me a little batty. Now, I know every writer is different, and our toolboxes never look quite alike. But there are some basics that were driven deep into my copywriter brain from the get go, and I have a hard time breaking my own rules.<br /><br />And number one on my list is the use of verbs.<br /><br />Way, way back when I landed my first agency job, my hard-nosed (and temperamental--and I mean temperamental) CD would burst into my back-room office, holding a copydeck that looked like her red pen had sprung a leak. Most of the copydecks were newsletters--simple projects to cut my junior teeth on. And there, at every article headline, she'd scrawl the word "verb" (usually followed by a half-dozen exclamation points). She would change "New hotel offers 10% off" to "Get 10% off at new hotel". Or "Golf Course gives a free round when you book 3 nights" to "Enjoy a free round at Golf Course when you book 3 nights". <br /><br />At first, I thought it was a whole lot of wasted ink over six of one, half-a-dozen of the other.<br /><br />But then it clicked.<br /><br />I'm <span style="font-style:italic;">talking</span> to someone. Or, rather, the hotel and golf course are addressing a client, engaging them to take action, calling on them to sit up and take notice. And here I was, writing newspaper headlines when I should have been opening a conversation. <br /><br />I've never forgotten the lesson. In fact, I'd guess that 95% of my headlines begin with a verb--and the other 5% have probably been changed by some well-meaning client or other.<br /><br />So imagine my dismay when I have to adapt headlines like "The card that gives you more" or "A great deal for members". I call these painting captions--something you'd find under a work of art at a museum, like "Vase with fruit" or "Mary at the waterfall". Descriptive, yes, but flat and unengaging. It's the brand talking to itself. An empty bit of copy. <br /><br />And, more often than not, I get out my boxing gloves and change it.. "Save more with the new card" or "Get 50% off--a great deal for members". I have to talk to the audience, tell them what they can do, take them by the hand and lead them down the path. I have to start the conversation.<br /><br />Advertising isn't about features--it's about benefits. And benefits are all about what WE can do for YOU. So leave the captions to the paintings and bring on the verbs.<br /><br />Cause I'm just going to change the dang headline anyway.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-34135690947958951892009-08-06T16:15:00.002-04:002009-08-06T17:01:07.293-04:00More than words.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5oK4DHC2ayV13s1u7dwVnG48K-LtIuZ2sOloPeE58lj5HnZX4n7nqaK-JHBpkJ85fTgs5b6nYWl2aCbEqHABZp3WPYQ4QFB9sKwN2Nyz9YXVNVS-YozVr4mvR-45_XPrWOaOF9DYTiWL/s1600-h/images.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 124px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5oK4DHC2ayV13s1u7dwVnG48K-LtIuZ2sOloPeE58lj5HnZX4n7nqaK-JHBpkJ85fTgs5b6nYWl2aCbEqHABZp3WPYQ4QFB9sKwN2Nyz9YXVNVS-YozVr4mvR-45_XPrWOaOF9DYTiWL/s200/images.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366958503781844338" /></a><br />I posted awhile back about <a href="http://teeniethoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/dead-on-mr-v.html">Kurt Vonnegut</a>--an absolutely brilliant writer who crafted every page of a novel perfectly before ever moving on. No edits for him, just a carefully constructed rhythm of words that evoked exactly what he wanted to say. And it led you along right through to the end--open mouthed, amazed and wanting more.<br /><br />Now I'd never say advertising is anything like a phenomenal novel, but I think writing principles are generally the same, no matter the media. Words are meant to evoke, to provoke, to lead and tempt and seduce. The choice of words, their order, their rhythm--even the careful placement of a comma--all these work in tandem to pass a message. To communicate.<br /><br />And that, after all, is what advertising is all about.<br /><br />So when I get a copydeck back, either from client services or from client, that's been hacked and twisted and uncarefully rewritten, I sincerely get my knickers in a bind. I'm not sure just how to explain why a two-syllable adjective was needed here, or why the next sentence shouldn't have a comma right there. I just know it. I feel it. It's more than words on the page. It's more than just bullet points on a brief.<br /><br />It's about lulling the consumer into reading. Making music out of words so that their mind floats from one word to the next like notes. So yes, I make a big deal out of a comma change, out of adding more words to this bit and taking words out here. Don't go playing in my copy--let me know what you need, and let me reconstruct. I've got the rhythm in my head. I'll play with the changes, try them out, move them around. I'll find the fit.<br /><br />Just, please--leave my dang words alone.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-22535580603106083522009-08-02T09:08:00.003-04:002009-08-02T10:03:44.571-04:00Brief Truths<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1usqP9RhJ-9aVoBNad2wuvQGpfTZJYzaNa2NsbCYku7xO1ckKwdhQO3F4ZuxMF5O0yrTQF6wZoQOfnUjPzjOjQn8YElZOKtGiCE20kzgyDShyphenhyphenlpTiTTTqU6eTiQXpWS571HVgxNw70Ae/s1600-h/images.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 122px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1usqP9RhJ-9aVoBNad2wuvQGpfTZJYzaNa2NsbCYku7xO1ckKwdhQO3F4ZuxMF5O0yrTQF6wZoQOfnUjPzjOjQn8YElZOKtGiCE20kzgyDShyphenhyphenlpTiTTTqU6eTiQXpWS571HVgxNw70Ae/s200/images.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365366523550805746" /></a><br />Our sister agency briefed us last week on a new project. The account people over there tend to be a lot more formal when writing up briefs, which include yawners like secondary audience descriptions, estimated price per piece and drop numbers per segment. This last brief even had the word "tertiary" in it. How often have you used that one in a lifetime? <br /><br />But no matter. These things can be mammoths of 5 to 6 pages, so I highlight the good parts and doodle around the other stuff.<br /><br />What gave us all a big reason to pause, though, was the entry for the big one--the main objective. That's the part you compare all your concepts to, the words that drive you in the right direction from the get go. This part should be short and sweet. It should have one, and only one, main point. It needs to be the guiding light for all the other information you need to include in the piece.<br /><br />Oh, and it needs to be, you know, <span style="font-style:italic;">true</span>. <br /><br />Because this is what we got:<br /><br />"We understand your company".<br /><br />As in, the reason to pick us is because we understand your business. We get you. We feel your pain.<br /><br />Bullshit.<br /><br />I've yet to meet anyone outside of advertising who actually "gets" what a copywriter does. Not even my friends are 100% sure of what I get paid for, except that I write stuff and it's perhaps like the brochure that came with their toaster. So I have no expectations--and would be highly dubious--of any company that wrote to tell me they get what I do. It would be an insulting generalization, and a communication cop-out.<br /><br />Even worse, when we asked sister company for proof this was true, they replied a few days later with "Um, nothing more there--sorry. You'll have to work with what we gave you." Which, really, just enforces that the whole main objective had no wheels to begin with.<br /><br />So here is what we've decided to work with: We don't get your business (gasp!), but we really know ours. So bring us onboard and we'll take care of our end so you don't have to.<br /><br />Short, sweet and with a benefit, to boot. How hard was that?<br /><br />Apparently, very. Creative briefs are meant for the creative team. They're supposed to be concise and pertinent to the message. They're supposed to present a logical challenge, not a creative conundrum. Yet so many are written to please the client--a kind of client Valium, promising big answers to boardroom questions.<br /><br />But we're writing to consumers. People who couldn't care less about marketing objectives, business challenges and the competition. People who just want a little something to make their lives easier, better, more interesting, even fun. <br /> <br />The main objective isn't supposed to answer a client concern--it's supposed to give consumers a reason to pick you. Mess that part up and you might as well put all your money on the forth horse in the second race.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-10073691064392213472009-07-29T08:57:00.002-04:002009-07-29T09:06:28.425-04:00It's the busy season!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja1126xLafDtegWZhac92hSd1yUYpL1Z15BMJLmlA27s_LTQPJjsE60V-zcwy2LgOqSbCOULDFgjXIj3iFqLukZe-vci4b_QB4IH4ryA742PGF1XKU-o86dy1TlaVGOtiIyMWy8-LPT_Y7/s1600-h/images.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 114px; height: 116px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja1126xLafDtegWZhac92hSd1yUYpL1Z15BMJLmlA27s_LTQPJjsE60V-zcwy2LgOqSbCOULDFgjXIj3iFqLukZe-vci4b_QB4IH4ryA742PGF1XKU-o86dy1TlaVGOtiIyMWy8-LPT_Y7/s200/images.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363867602059268754" /></a><br />I miss writing all my myriad complaints here and hearing all your feedback--but these last few weeks have been absolute mayhem in every way. Good mayhem, but mayhem nonetheless. So a quick hello and how are you and I promise to get something a little more substantial out in the next few days. All this work has got to be good fodder for a post or two!<br /><br />So I'll leave you with this bit of insight on communication--and non-verbal communication, at that:<br /><br />Mommy rolls over onto her side.<br />Baby isn't happy.<br />Baby kicks Mommy a good one in the ribs.<br />Mommy rolls back over the other way.<br />Baby flutters feet in happiness.<br /><br />Lasts all of 5 seconds and gets the message across crystal clear. And for free! Maybe we can learn something from the utter simplicity and straightforwardness of a tiny (well, Bump's predicted at 8 pounds, so let's say "smallish") unborn with no vocabulary to form thought, but all the capacity to get their point across.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-24379333852686347492009-07-23T16:28:00.003-04:002009-07-23T16:58:32.182-04:00I'll be brief<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQXIBo5J16Z3bYx3TYrEmtz7UyjC_iNhCORtaJdrekNluvLHi-XefwuWuScnMy-arlTMYZl6n-44AF15cpZtL2KgXP-nk1D40VwXE5iaj1jSUQO5va2TiE_ezRiubWmcs7f7oFNbLKroF/s1600-h/images.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 112px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQXIBo5J16Z3bYx3TYrEmtz7UyjC_iNhCORtaJdrekNluvLHi-XefwuWuScnMy-arlTMYZl6n-44AF15cpZtL2KgXP-nk1D40VwXE5iaj1jSUQO5va2TiE_ezRiubWmcs7f7oFNbLKroF/s200/images.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361762520030161506" /></a><br />I'm an avid note taker. I have a drawer-full of copybooks here, each one interspersed with meeting notes, doodles, word associations, concepts, scribbles, ideas, and unintelligible babble. <br /><br />And briefs.<br /><br />As in notes I took while being briefed. Out loud. By paperless people. <br /><br />When did briefs become an oral tradition?<br /><br />Agencies have always been busy places. People have always been swamped. Yet the brief remained the guiding light on every project--the common thread that tied client services, creative, production, and studio together. The rule book getting us from strategy to execution. The brief was brief yet full--inspiring, concise and, most importantly, a reference to return to when you needed to ensure you were still on the right track.<br /><br />These days, every second brief is a chat. I pull out my pen, scribble some notes, ask for clarification, write down what I understand. Only to discover, nine times out of ten, that the Art Director understood something else. Or there's a chunk of meat missing. Or there's nowhere to turn for key words and insights. It's frustrating. And it's an illusion that it saves time--because the time saved not writing the dang thing is time wasted trying to get everyone on the same page again. <br /><br />Case in point: I just spent half the afternoon coming up with new themes for a project, only to learn I was supposed to develop theme names for existing ideas. Subtle difference--two-hour waste of time. Not a single slip of paper exists to outline the requirements. All I have are scribbles in a copybook--my misunderstanding of what needed to get done. <br /><br />And I've doubled my time on the project because no one invested their time up front.<br /><br />I'm not asking for a novel. I don't need a 10-page dossier (lord knows long-winded briefs are just as bad). Just a single piece of paper that states the case, outlines the objectives, notes the next steps, and tells me when it's all due. <br /><br />It's advertising. It's not the telephone game.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-53853170427019472002009-07-21T15:29:00.003-04:002009-07-21T15:42:38.241-04:00Vacation... just not mine! The writer at our sister agency is off and I've got a bit of a balancing act to do this week. Not that I'm complaining--a lot of the projects coming in are pretty fun and really varied.<br /><br />It's just, you know... I haven't a minute to blog about anything. Gak! <br /><br />Although how's this for odd: A client of ours insists on NOT putting a logo on a piece. First time in my career I found myself on the pro-logo side of the fence. Wonders never cease!Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-67362313785011077362009-07-16T12:24:00.002-04:002009-07-16T12:30:23.851-04:00I wonder what they were hoping for?Someone's search of the following keywords led to my blog:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">free teenie in knickers pics</span><br /><br />I don't know if they wanted to free me from my preggie knickers or if they want pics of me liberated from my...<br /><br /><br />Oh.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-88493065377084423012009-07-15T15:21:00.002-04:002009-07-15T15:32:16.938-04:00This is why I do what I doJust came out of a meeting with a newish client. We've presented to one of the clients before, some years ago, and now that the account is back there's someone new on the client team. <br /><br />After some pleasantries and an intro by our lovely CD, I was all alone to present the creative, since the AD is swamped today. So I present the list of headlines, explain the pros of each, show the mock up, help the CD explain the layout, and sit back to see the clients' reactions.<br /><br />They were smiling.<br /><br />And the new client looked up at me, a little incredulous, and said:<br /><br />"You wrote these?"<br /><br />"Um, yes."<br /><br />"These are... wow, these are great."<br /><br />And for all the bitching I do, all the frustrations we live through, all the last-minute changes and debates and misplaced commas and missing hyphens and glitches and agency angst, this makes it all worthwhile. A happy client with an honest compliment. With a smile and an understanding that I pleasantly surprised them with something they weren't expecting.<br /><br />"Ah, I love my job," I told her.<br /><br />And it's true. It's true.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-55299818617603102932009-07-13T18:41:00.003-04:002009-07-13T19:29:01.363-04:00Unfocused groups.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfmtTfghEuJiCE2qVtXRVpfsia2ma0Py2ZHH-mVhquHSaAtRQgOcU2hlBGY-Xjv4UHoXo80nn0etGNUF2td5RnO73VAapgA8oPzMGFvfYeq_luAgk1cB_7xf58i_GZ2A5o0vPDjcUdff5D/s1600-h/images-2.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 116px; height: 116px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfmtTfghEuJiCE2qVtXRVpfsia2ma0Py2ZHH-mVhquHSaAtRQgOcU2hlBGY-Xjv4UHoXo80nn0etGNUF2td5RnO73VAapgA8oPzMGFvfYeq_luAgk1cB_7xf58i_GZ2A5o0vPDjcUdff5D/s200/images-2.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358090464246145746" /></a><br />This morning we were briefed on a new client. We're kind of coming into the picture in the middle of a campaign, where look and feel and media and approach have already been decided, and we're here to tweak and tease the message so that it hits home with impact.<br /><br />One of the items we have to use in all our executions is a weird little logo. It contains a positive message--a reminder to follow procedure, to do the right thing, to keep a rule in mind. It's giving the green light to an important behaviour.<br /><br />And the dang thing was designed in red.<br /><br />I'm talking about a big red circle with a red icon in the middle and a two-word message in blaring red letters. And everyone at the agency who's seen it--and I mean everyone--asks the same thing:<br /><br />Erm, shouldn't that be in green?<br /><br />And the client service person rolls her eyes for the umpteenth time and repeats what the client told her when she asked the same question:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">We tested this in focus groups across the country. That's what people picked.</span><br /><br />Which brings up two points, at least as far as I can see:<br /><br />1) Passing the buck off to Joe public for a decision that--according to your job title--is essentially yours is a big cop out. Not to mention a colossal waste of money (in this case, the Government's--aka yours and mine). And resources. Unless your title is "Focus-Group Manager", you kind of have to make the final decision yourself--and stand up for it.<br /><br />2) Focus groups are very often a great, big, stinking waste of time and money.<br /><br />Now, sometimes a focus group is a great way to collect insight and feedback. Say, if you're testing a new product flavour. Or changing the name of a well-known product. Or collecting feedback on people who live in a certain area, or have certain behaviours, or exhibit similar interests. A focus group can give you some pretty keen insights about where to focus your message, and how to target your audience. Focus groups work wonders IF you're using them for the talents they possess: namely, speaking about themselves and their experience.<br /><br />Where it all goes horridly, flamingly wrong is when focus groups are used to test creative. Gather a group of rather haphazard people together and ask them to give their opinion on an ad, a logo, a TV commercial, anything at all, and you're going to get exactly what you ask for: an opinion. Based on personal taste. Influenced by the people sitting around them. And, worst of all, over-thought to death. <br /><br />You're asking Mr. and Mrs. Sample to look at an ad, analyze it, talk about it, compare it with other ads, debate it with the people around the table, and score it on a scale of good to bad (and, in one horrific fiasco earlier this year, 1 to 10). I've seen people start with one opinion and change their minds completely in 10 minutes. Which opinion should we go with? What's their true gut feeling? How much is this forced focus-group atmosphere influencing what they say?<br /><br />And moreover, what do non-advertising people know about advertising? I don't mean to sound pompous or elitist--I simply mean that agencies have an expertise in advertising. We've honed our communication skills. We've broken the data down into a brief. We've fleshed out the message. We've kept the target in mind. We know the project, inside and out. Yet these 10 strangers, sitting around a table for an hour, suddenly have more say than the experts that the client hired in the first place.<br /><br />Focus groups have become career padding--a buffer between the client and their boss, between results and responsibility. How can 10 people off the street have a say powerful enough to derail an entire campaign? How can a client--being paid ample money to turn out a campaign that works--put their trust in those 10 people to get his or her job done?<br /><br />It's baffling. And it's happening more and more. The anonymity of focus groups makes for the perfect scapegoat when it comes to taking the blame.<br /><br />And advertising is suffering for it.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-47498936718661588412009-07-07T18:24:00.003-04:002009-07-07T19:09:55.055-04:00Client conundrum, agency angst<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeWgRTk7xarmn_CUVXq8If9WjQZB4B86sP2b2YLztYhOgkyv3FZN3aedypoR2rWE-oLOBpYQsJecVQhyOQg6Wb86JWJ_WxxEpxfNDcAQMMRsYtQrAOyci_Kaz_9qPJqknlDPWOPy9N-lWL/s1600-h/images-1.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 123px; height: 82px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeWgRTk7xarmn_CUVXq8If9WjQZB4B86sP2b2YLztYhOgkyv3FZN3aedypoR2rWE-oLOBpYQsJecVQhyOQg6Wb86JWJ_WxxEpxfNDcAQMMRsYtQrAOyci_Kaz_9qPJqknlDPWOPy9N-lWL/s200/images-1.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355858858690798770" /></a><br />Over the last year, our agency has had no fewer than 3 newbie clients--clients who've never worked with an agency before. All 3 did the entire bulk of their advertising (mostly DM, with a few exceptions) in house, until volume, restructuring, the economy, the alignment of the stars, and so forth called for agency input.<br /><br />We pitched and won for each, with presentations that detailed how we work, what we do, the process each project entails, costs, a portfolio--you name it. Basically a typical agency pitch, with a little more detail to help the uninitiated understand the inner workings of our little world.<br /><br />Theory, however, is a far cry from practice.<br /><br />Without fail, all 3 clients have had a rough time of it. From time constraints (you can't have that in an hour?), to creative confusion (that's not how we've always done it!), to process (can't I just talk to the Art Director myself?), to timelines (we're only mailing in 2 weeks--there's plenty of time for changes), these clients confront and balk every step of the way. It makes for some very heated debates (hats off to the Account Director for the verbal beating she endured) and bizarre meetings (the art director and I once sat across from 2 clients--another art director and copywriter--to be told how to make things more like they used to be).<br /><br />It's eternally frustrating.<br /><br />On the other hand, I get it. When you've been working one way for so long, who's an agency to say you're doing it the wrong way? What's a copywriter know about your product that you haven't written ad nauseam for years? How can an art director rejig a look you've whittled to perfection? After all, these clients know their product inside out, so just who are these people who want them to change, expand, try new things? Why would anyone want to rock a leakless boat?<br /><br />Most of the time, I think, the clients who vote to go the agency route aren't the same clients who engage with the agency day-to-day. The people at the top may want change, but the people in the trenches know the one way of working--the process that's made them successful enough to be needing an agency in the first place.<br /><br />So what to do?<br /><br />On our end, we spend hours and waste money creating strategies, writing briefs and delivering concepts and creative arguments that take in a bigger picture--only to be resoundly rejected. On their end, they see strangers to the business who don't understand, change the rules and question their marketing input--then charge them for it.<br /><br />It isn't enough to want an agency. It isn't productive to make the switch before everyone is ready. It's a waste of resources all around to head out in new directions only to be pulled back to old ones. Going the agency way is a big decision--and an uncomfortable one. And well it should be. Discomfort, and not the status quo, prompts change.<br /><br />So don't stuff an agency down your workers' throats. And don't pick an agency only to reject what you'd initially agreed to.<br /><br />It really isn't profitable for anybody.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-83460247365232567042009-07-06T13:00:00.002-04:002009-07-06T13:05:29.409-04:00Random words that should never be used in advertising... Part 3Thing.<br /><br />I'll also accept: Things.<br /><br /><br />Unless dialogue calls for "The thing is" or "Here's the thing," I'd stay away from this big, bad empty word. My favourite example--courtesy of a lazy, profiteering pseudo-book writer from my days way back at a correspondence school (don't ever take correspondence classes unless offered by a reputable institution!)--is the following, for an Introduction to Computers manual:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">A computer is a thing...</span><br /><br /><br />Jebus, you don't say.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-76089951246770261672009-07-02T19:34:00.003-04:002009-07-02T20:06:47.333-04:00Butt out?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPj9HQO0Rha3qVAAuqpTQqxaaHvk7KJr2lQjt3y65jg_wqgst0Rc-EOHw1eLPTDEby1WfRZHtdl0LX8GUcwYWjPp9TijgMfNRGI33HqWaALMduSJsbRoiPgBTPWn0rx-dblZf2dZBnUQvg/s1600-h/images.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 105px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPj9HQO0Rha3qVAAuqpTQqxaaHvk7KJr2lQjt3y65jg_wqgst0Rc-EOHw1eLPTDEby1WfRZHtdl0LX8GUcwYWjPp9TijgMfNRGI33HqWaALMduSJsbRoiPgBTPWn0rx-dblZf2dZBnUQvg/s200/images.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354018042610937874" /></a><br />I've been trying to decide whether or not to post about this for awhile--in part because I don't want this poor blog to sound like a whiny ol' tirade, and in part because I don't really have an answer. But it's bothered me again today, so I might as well open up the topic and see what people think... <br /><br />I'm taking about public smoking. As in smoking on the sidewalk.<br /><br />Here in Quebec, smoking in restaurants, bars and indoor public places has been banned for a good few years. It's nice to sit and eat without smoke billowing across your penne arrabiata, and it looks like many smokers are OK with stretching their legs between courses for a puff. I'd guess many even enjoy a smoke-free meal themselves.<br /><br />But now smokers pool on the sidewalks. Or they simply light up on the sidewalks, walking around, blowing smoke behind them.<br /><br />Except for one summer where I snuck puffs of my Aunt's discarded butts while baby-sitting my cousins, I've never been a smoker. Cigarettes send my allergies into haywire--just a step below cats and shaggy dogs. So I've never been one to hang around smoke.<br /><br />With baby Bump on the way, my tolerance for smoke is at an all-time low. Walking down a busy shopping street today, in 30C heat, my slow self was stuck behind wave after wave of summer smoke--truly awful, nauseating stuff. Every time I hit a wave, I'd cough, then preggie gag, then stop to catch my breath (which I seem to have less and less of these days). <br /><br />By the end of an hour's stroll, I'd had it. I wanted to knock the cigarette out of every last person's hand, wanted to blow something unpleasant into their faces--a whiff of our 2-week-old garbage bin, perhaps. A little bit of armpit. <br /><br />Who are these people to invade my lungs? To invade Bump's tiny lungs? To walk around like the smoke goes nowhere? I don't see them blowing smoke into their companion's face, or covering their faces to exhale a second-hand wave of eye-watering exhaust into their own eyes. Even our new upstairs neighbour smokes out on the balcony, drifting whiffs of smoke through our open window and scattering ash all over our patio.<br /><br />It's gross. It's invasive. And unless I lock myself indoors, it's getting into me--and into baby.<br /><br />But what's left for smokers? What are these people, seduced by cigarette's allure, supposed to do? They're addicted. They're caught. They're running out of places to hide. Is the sidewalk equally theirs? Can we, as a society, ban smoking from every place but smokers' homes? Like any addict, they would barely be able to cope--to get through a day. Do we have the right to take the last smokable public place away?<br /><br />I don't know. <br /><br />All I know is that I'm addicted to chocolate. And I've yet to shove a Mars bar up some stranger's unsuspecting nose.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-78545282824207497562009-07-01T11:34:00.003-04:002009-07-01T12:03:58.909-04:00Navel gazing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0dEcLz7H8eq2yjlHpAPOQniuU5_8MbDXYBGAj651ZIWbQmDm8HBTT6qLUhWNxj3PfhcRsEhJZ5HM7QKvcrbiewz2epQiJw5QbYZqF-7AeIxVNVikYFng-iqCUmSev8IGTFuXqky8SY_E5/s1600-h/images-1.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 102px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0dEcLz7H8eq2yjlHpAPOQniuU5_8MbDXYBGAj651ZIWbQmDm8HBTT6qLUhWNxj3PfhcRsEhJZ5HM7QKvcrbiewz2epQiJw5QbYZqF-7AeIxVNVikYFng-iqCUmSev8IGTFuXqky8SY_E5/s200/images-1.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353522734951053330" /></a><br />Having totally given up on Geek Squad's ability to fix my defunct router, I went to Future Shop last night after work to get an ethernet cable that would stretch into the kitchen. I'm sitting amongst a mass of wires, but no matter. At least I have a working connection and some sort of idea on how to get everything humming along nicely.<br /><br />Anyway.<br /><br />Future Shop is a place that seems to pride itself on technology, service and know-how. Their commercials--although pretty lame--show employees pointing out great deals on new trends. The store is filled with long, white shelves loaded with every gadget imaginable. The prices are relatively competitive. The commission-driven salespeople juggle client after client, a bit rushed but always pretty well informed. <br /><br />Plus Future Shop was the first place to pop into mind when I decided to kick the router out and bit the cable bullet.<br /><br />So I was pretty surprised when I got to the cash to discover the direct-debit machine from hell.<br /><br />I mean, this thing was big--a Motorola touch-screen Behemoth that stood upright on the counter... a counter that's inconveniently placed at the end of a very busy aisle. <br /><br />The employee swiped my card and moved to the side. So I prompted the screen.<br /><br />Price? OK.<br /><br />Account? OK.<br /><br />PIN. Er...<br /><br />Try to hide a screen as big as your hand while attempting to hit the right numbers in sequence. The screen is flat. It's waiting for the right touch at the right place. And it's hidden behind my hovering hand.<br /><br />I missed the first attempt. <br /><br />I missed the second.<br /><br />I tried peering over my hand, through my hand. I tried to stand in front of the thing. But there were people everywhere--even an employee typing away on the computer next to me, looking up stock. Not a lick of privacy and no way to feel around for the numbers I know the touch of by heart.<br /><br />So I gave up, stood back and punched the things in full sight of whoever happened to be looking. I felt vulnerable and exposed, me who is so careful about keeping my money matters in check.<br /><br />I assume some Future Shop big shot saw these direct-debit machines and drooled. Had visions of being technologically advanced at every touch point, offering a nifty new gadget that people would remember--hopefully even talk about. Wanted a fabulous Future-Shop experience for customers to get all excited over.<br /><br />They should have tried the dang things first.<br /><br />Innovative doesn't get to replace practical. And standing out certainly shouldn't come at the expense of ease, simplicity and comfort. You want to impress customers? Deliver great customer service. Make your store appealing. Be helpful. Take the time. <br /><br />Get back to basics.<br /><br />And get your heads out of your navels.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5686698857392534507.post-10205762329773450022009-06-29T12:52:00.004-04:002009-06-29T16:52:37.606-04:00You reap what you sow--the advertising versionA recent post at the brilliantly written <a href="http://jakepoinier.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-do-you-treat-your-one-off-clients.html">Jake's Take</a> raised the question: How do you treat your one-off clients? And, really, this applies to advertising and everything. Just how do you treat people you'll never see again... or think you'll never see again? How do you treat people a few extra steps down the totem pole? <br /><br />It reminded me of a client I had eons and eons ago.<br /><br />I was a junior at what George Parker calls a BDA (or Big Dumb Agency, for the uninitiated). One of our biggest, and most profitable, clients hired a consultant to take on a bulk load of work and interact with us peons at the agency.<br /><br />And what a bulk load of work he was.<br /><br />He berated the client service group. He asked routinely if the writers were on drugs. He criticized concepts in the most ungraceful terms imaginable. I remember presenting to him once--two juniors with the jitters but 2 days' worth of practice--only to watch him take apart and put together his Bic pen, over and over, lining up the pieces along the desk. He didn't look at us once. <br /><br />It was infuriating. He was so mean. I don't know if he was trying to prove something or if it was part and parcel of his personality, but the agency put on a big smile and took it. And it hurt.<br /><br />Fast forward years later, and I'm the only English writer at a teenie, tiny agency with small clients and smaller budgets. And what do I hear in the kitchen but the consultant's name. We were looking for a department head, and he'd come in the evening before for an interview. To be my BOSS.<br /><br />So I got up from my desk, went into the kitchen, and explained the Bic story.<br /><br />Last I heard, he was trying to sell chocolates online, writing long, loving emails to everyone he knew in an attempt at sales.<br /><br />Advertising is like life, and I think a lot of people tend to forget that bold, brash, backstabing, and bullshitting aren't prerequisites for an advertising job. In fact, in advertising as in life, you get out what you put in. Kindness is free, but it reaps rewards that are truly priceless. <br /><br />To those who bully their way to the top, remember the advertising adage: Be careful who you step on when you climb up that ladder, cause you may be needing them when you climb back down.Teeniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07943312952246047448noreply@blogger.com3