It Had To Start Somewhere.

I have probably walked by this little bit of Chicago history at Wacker and Lake a thousand times and never noticed this plaque. It's hard to imagine in this day of instant communication, there was a time when the mail only showed up once a week.

A high fructose dose of reality.

This blog isn't sponsored by any brand but if you're interested call my people.

Never forget a face

Bringing new meaning to the statement "all eyes are on you", TruMedia and Quividi have brought face-reading technology to retail billboards to determine who is actually looking at the outdoor media. You can read more at www.tru-media.com and www.quividi.com

Smile!

It's not just your idea anymore.

We all have great ideas but bringing them to life so that they are fully formed and can live beyond the printed page is becoming an art in it of itself. The function(s) of planning, development and production expertise has become an upstream necessity for agencies that traditionally haven't placed a premium on these roles. The August issue of CREATIVITY does a great job of crystallizing one of the bigger challenges of today's shops by stating "...the issue of determining where an idea stops and where it execution begins and who are the creators and who are the producers goes far beyond award show credit. It speaks to significant changes in media, creativity and technology and the way in which those things combine to make new kinds of ad experiences."

Creativity is still king but without in-house (or seamless partnerships with) development teams, production planning and innovative management, clients won't have the security blanket to move forward with the biggest and best ideas. 

For Fun: The Carousel Ad

Here's a look a Kodak ad from the early 60's that is featured in the video below. JWT created the original advertising for this product and was featured in Advertising Age recently. 

Delicate But Potent

Mad Men has instantly become my favorite show for obvious reasons. Here's one of my favorite scenes because Don Draper isn't selling. He's tapped into the truth. 

This is probably one of the most "real advertising" moments of the show. (They finally get beyond the cigarettes and whisky.) 

Remember kids... It's not The Wheel. It's The Carousel.