Easily distracted F, ISO way out of a reading rut

Elaine: These are good people, Jerry. They read!
Jerry: I read, I read!
Elaine: Books, Jerry.
Jerry: Oh.

I was watching this Seinfeld episode earlier tonight and caught myself laughing uncontrollably. Who doesn't read books? Oh right, I don't.

I do read, of course, and more or less constantly. I'm just reading blogs on my RSS feed, scouring the news online and reading interesting articles my friends share with me via Google Reader and Twitter.

Anyway, my problem, like Jerry's, lies in books. It's not that I don't enjoy them. I have become quite the collector over the years, accumulating a pretty impressive library. Disliking books isn't the problem... it's that I start too many simultaneously and can never finish them.

It strikes me that the last book I read from start to finish might actually be Hey Whipple, Squeeze This! by Luke Sullivan two, make that three semesters ago. Ouch. I've probably written a book's worth since then!

I'll end up starting a new book I'm excited about, read a few chapters, and then next thing I know I've picked up another book and started reading it too, before finishing the first one. Then another. And another. Next thing I know I'm knee deep in five or ten books and never finish any of them. Case in point, here's a photo of what I'm reading now:


What?! That's 10 books! Yeah, it's a problem. But they're all worth reading, so I can't quit! I need help! Heaping amounts of help -- and sanity.

So what am I reading? And why? Here's a rundown of the 10:

• The Appeal, by John Grisham. I love everything this guy writes. And this guy can write one helluva suspenseful legal thriller. I'm on about page 138 in this one, which is easily the furthest along I am in any of them.
  
  
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR, by David Meerman Scott. It's about the PR and marketing in the digital era and delves into issues like social media. Couldn't say a lot more about it since I'm only on page 15 or so.
  
  
• Dixieland Delight, by Clay Travis. This book's about a guy who goes to a home football game at every SEC school in one season and reports about the tradition, tailgating, food and cultural spectacle of each event. Each chapter covers a different program and it's a little heavy on the frat guy-ish "hot ladies" talk. Otherwise it's an interesting read and I love the idea. Wouldn't mind going on the same adventure myself. I'm on page 98, thanks in a large part to riding the Metro in DC a lot this past weekend.
  
  
• Cutting Edge Advertising II, by Jim Aitchison. As you might guess this is about creating cutting edge advertising that breaks through clutter. It's probably a pretty good read, but didn't make much for beach or pool reading this summer. I still chug along on it occasionally though. I think I'm on about page 60, but I'm starting to forget things I read about in it earlier.
  
  
• Adobe Flash CS4 Classroom in a Book. This is a how-to book intended to teach me how to use Flash. An admirable personal goal, but I'm only on about page 15. Must keep trucking on that one!
  
  
• The Non Designer's Design Book, by Robin Williams. The book is probably great if you're clueless about design, but I'm using it to make sure I have my bases covered before tackling anything much more advanced. It's OK, but nothing spectacular. I just want to learn from the beginning, so this should be a breeze. Too bad I'm on page 22.
  
  
• Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover's Guide to the South, by John T. Edge. This book's a little disappointing, but I love food, especially fried delicious southern food... don't even get me started. I keep it around for obvious reasons, because not only do I like tasting food, but I love talking food. And we all know I have a soft spot for geography and the south so, why quit? It goes state by state, and I'm on the first one.
  
  
• The Choice, by Nicholas Sparks. Disclaimer: yes, I'm quite cheesy and I love Sparks books. Yeah, this is a romance story, just like they all are, and I know he's going to break my heart again. But I love the ride, and Sparks is an incredibly gifted writer. I can't resist... until another book snags my attention. I'm on page 113.
  
  
• Graphic Design School, Third Edition, by David Dabner. This book is excellent! Sometimes I wish I went to design grad school instead of advertising grad school (I stress sometimes), and this book does an excellent job of walking you through the basics of good design, element by element. I'm largely self taught when it comes to things artistic, so I appreciate it immensely. I have it on loan now from the library but really should cough up the $45 to buy it (and by $45 I mean probably $15 if I look hard enough). In the meantime, I'm on page 38.
  
  
• And last but not least, Hockey for Dummies, by John Davidson and John Steinbreder. I'm interested in one day working in sports and there's the possibility that that opportunity could be in hockey. It wouldn't hurt to know more about it. Also, for some reason I follow and am followed by tons of people working in NHL on Twitter. I'll admit, that's what really made me interested in learning more and picking this up at the library. I'm on page 15 though, but that's because I'm such a hockey dummy (OK, novice) that I'm reading all the prologue business too.

Well there you have it. Anyone have any suggestions for an easily amused/easily distracted person in the midst of 10 books? Where should I go from here? Has anyone read any of these and think any are must reads? Any I should dump or throw off a bridge? How do you stop yourself from picking up new books and follow through and finish what you start? Can I ask any more questions?

In the meantime, I'm going to stew on this quote from one of my favorite authors.

"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." --Mark Twain

In honor of Mr. Twain, I'm going to read the Grisham book until I fall asleep tonight. And maybe when I'm done I'll finally start The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Or The Prince and the Pauper. Sweet dreams, world.

G

I've know for a little while that Gatorade had been planning to unveil new packaging, since I had "read" this blog post about it on TheDieline, the self-proclaimed (and can't say I disagree) "leading package design website."

Gatorade redesign. Photo courtesy TheDieline.

I wasn't a fan of the design at first... It seemed a little Adobe-ish for some reason, even though Adobe uses a sans-serif font and this G has a quasi-serif, but I thought the lightning bolt logo would save the design from being a total dud due to easy recognition. I say Adobe-ish because the label blends in exactly with the color of the contents and is straightforward, simple, brightly colored and easy to read, just like these Adobe product logos:

Adobe logos from The System.

While in Ukrop's (the best grocery store in the world) last week I saw several "new package Gatorades" but they were missing the signature lightning bolt. Yeah, it was in the sports drink section, and yeah I knew the brand planned to redesign its package, but I wonder if anyone else had walked by looking for product, got confused and left. Probably not, but you never know.

Anyway, I'm not a fan of those Gatorades lacking the lightning bolt, and I'm also not wild about the related "G" commercials that have flooded the airwaves these past few days. First of all, I was actually aware of the packaging change, but still didn't recognize right away that the commercials were for Gatorade. Truth be told, after the first watch I sorta thought, is this a commercial for Georgetown? Why are all these athletes on here? What's G? The G reminded me of the Georgetown G (see below) for some reason. It also crossed my mind that it could be for some new line for Nike.

The Georgetown G. From georgetown.edu.

Anyway, here are some of the new "G" ads. What do you think?





The ads are the work of TBWA\Chiat\Day. I think the music is catchy (it's been in my head off and on all day long, with the exception of Texas' "give 'em hell, give 'em hell, make 'em eat shit" chant from the Fiesta Bowl) and the use of celebrity endorsers certainly makes it memorable (Lil Wayne's voice, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Serena Williams, etc.). But what difference does it make if people don't know what the product is?

In my non-scientific convenience sample of my family (five), I was the only one to know what the product was within three views. That's pathetic for the brand considering at least three of us drink the product semi-regularly and all five of us are passionate about sports and recognized the majority of the athletes.

In a more reliable, though still unscientific poll on CNBC's Sports Biz with Darren Rovell blog, the survey found that 37 percent of the 287 respondents "don't like the spot, don't like the 'G' idea." Though 57 percent of the respondents did enjoy the ads, but were almost evenly split between "OK with the 'G' idea" and "just say it's Gatorade."

According to the blog post, one reader said, "I don't know why this is so awesome, it just is."

Bleh. Can't say I agree. I stop paying attention to the voiceover about five seconds in, though I keep wondering what celebrity will next cross my screen. And the song never quits!

Additional reading: AdAge on G

Thunderstorm of miscellany... and welcome 2009!

Hi all! Hope your holidays and 2009 are treating ya well so far! Apologies for going underground again... It's been a whirlwind with graduating, job hunting, moving across the country, the holidays, and visiting with friends and family. An enjoyable whirlwind however.

Hopefully I'm back for a while, but here's a smorgasbord of thoughts... Sorry in advance, it's quite the hodgepodge:

• Should I get a job immediately? Or should I take up other pursuits for a while before getting back into the working world? While I'd prefer to get a job sooner rather than later, I'm not killing myself to get my job tomorrow. Here's an interesting article in last week's AdAge weighing in on the merits of waiting versus full speed ahead. Good comments in feedback section too.
  
  
• Holy monkey I've become so into Twitter. If measured only by time spent on the network these past few weeks, it's safe to say it's surpassed Facebook as my favorite social network. Granted I use them for totally different purposes. Will post on this topic soon.
  
  
• Building an advertising portfolio online is quite the daunting task. It's consumed my life the past few days. I'm learning a lot, but am realizing it's quite the steep learning curve. However, things to thank for my little bits of success thus far: the few HTML tags I retained from CS 105 or whatever computer science class I took undergrad, and copious use of tips on forums. Thanks internet... though I have a long way to go.
  
  
• I'm in love with Adobe's Classroom in a Book series. These books introduce the reader to the Adobe software of choice and assign relevant projects that can be completed step-by-step. Cheapest prices I've seen since the release of their CS4 line has been on Amazon with about $34 per (Adobe's price is around $52). They have titles available for Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash and more. I have varying experience with the first four, but am hoping to add Flash to my repertoire in the coming weeks thanks to this series (and Christmas). And I'm a big fan of offline solutions to software problems and reading something tangible.
  
  
• Not into the clunky book idea? You can always try lynda.com tutorials. They're available for tons of graphic design and web software and other computing topics. Examples of a few you could find: creating games for the Wii using Flash CS3, essential training for bloggers, and typographic principles. I'm already making notes in my head of potential classes I'd like to take on the site. You can get access to ALL the training on the site for $25/month (as often as you want). Or I recommend using this (copy and paste): http://www.lynda.com/deke to get a free 7-day trial before committing.
  
  
• I have tons of commercials I've seen lately that I'd like to comment on. Stay tuned.
  
  
• I have decided that I'm going to treat Feb. 1 as the new year as far as resolutions go. That way, I can use all of January to come up with a good one. And, should I choose a gym- or fitness-related resolution, everyone else will have broken theirs by then, so I'll have less competition for treadmills, rowing machines and the pool.
  
  
• I have the best family and friends in the world. Seriously. Way to make 2008 rock and I'm looking forward to the continued fun in the new year. Stay warm all!
  

Chuck Brown goes wild

Today we wrapped up our portfolio class with the end-of-semester critique. Everyone finished in time and it was nice to see my classmates' work (and my own) come to fruition. We got some helpful feedback from industry pros which enabled us to gauge our progress on "making our books."

No matter how you slice it though, it's been an exhausting journey. As my friend Stacey put so precisely early this week, "P2 [intermediate portfolio] is full of growing pains." I agree. Unlike in P1 (beginning portfolio), we're sorta at the point now where we know when our stuff sucks, but are still grappling at making things good or great. There's a whole lot of being satisfactory or adequate, but not special. Needless to say it's frustrating, but all part of the learning experience.

Anyway, like all things in life besides the really important things like family and friends, you just have to remind yourself "it's just advertising." We all get sucked into our own little worlds and forget about the world going on outside. We don't return phone calls. We go underground for unknown periods of time, conversing only with others in the same situation. Our tempers are short and we're ready to pounce on unsuspecting copy center employees, should they mess up our order or coloration on our final ads. We worry about the most infinitesimal details... "I don't have time to get coffee, I have to redo the Gaussian blur." To quote my undergrad econ professor, Ken Elzinga, "In the long run we're all dead." How much difference will that extra 10 minutes for a snack or caffeine break make in the long run? Will it be the difference between a lower and higher score at critique? Probably not.

But who am I kidding? I got sucked into the madness just as much as everyone. As usual, seeing everyone else stressed out frazzled me as well. Call it pathetic, but I was glad for it to end because for the first time in a week I sat down and watched three TV shows in a row. I stress the word watched, because I've been listening while graphic designing/art directing or cutting my foamcore for the final mounted ads for the past week, but hadn't truly enjoyed the art of watching TV.

Going back to "it's just advertising," a friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this unbelievably hilarious YouTube video parodying agency life. I laughed loudly at least six times during the video, and thought over and over again "this is what I'm going to school for." I think if you can't laugh at yourself you won't be able to survive in the working world. It was the perfect thing to watch after a day, week, month, and really, semester of portfolio obsessing.



I love that it doesn't miss a single detail. Egotistical creatives* driven by the incessant need to win awards (and toot their own horns about it). The mention that Crispin always comes up with the great ideas, looking for inspiration in the CA annual, which works perfectly, as that issue arrives in December. Guerilla marketing. KISS - Keep it simple stupid (I enjoyed the surprising substitution of "shithead" though for that final S in the acronym). "Concepting." There's a word you don't hear enough of in the advertising world.

Well enough with the overanalysis. I'm going to KISS and get ready for and go to bed -- a plan that has worked for thousands of nights of my life already, and yet never loses its freshness.


*I will post my opinions on this word in a future post. Stay tuned.

Happy December

Hi to the five people who read this! Sorry for my lack of updates lately. Things are a whirlwind with finishing up school, yadda yadda. Saturday I graduated, so now I guess I'm a Texas Ex!


OK, so maybe not quite. I still have two classes that haven't finished. Thursday @ 8 am all of our ads for the semester are due for critique. Two or so creative advertising bigwigs will come in and crush our souls and tell us we aren't good enough for the ad biz. Won't be anything I haven't heard before. I'm just looking forward to being done.

Friday I have my final sports journalism project due. We have to write three articles: a 1000 word main story, a 600 word sidebar and a 600 word column about topics related to Central Texas, Austin or UT sports. My main story will cover the history of UT athletics from 1970 to present. In my sidebar, I'll write about women's athletics director Chris Plonsky and how UT athletics are able to thrive with a two-AD system. (Piece of trivia for you: only two D1 schools do this: Texas and Tennessee). In my column I'll argue what's ethical and what's not in collegiate sports marketing. My opinion may surprise you!

Anyway, I got to interview both Plonsky and men's AD DeLoss Dodds. Both were absolute class acts and a joy to talk to. I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed all that I've learned in this class, not only about sports, but about careers and writing as well.

Anyway, Dodds actually wanted to get to know me first before we even got to the interview. Asked all about where I'm from, why Texas, all that good stuff. At the end of the interview he gave me a copy of this, saying "I figure you'd appreciate this anyway, but especially as a history major and fan of 20th century history." Wow. No really, wow.

OK, but really, I have a whole lot of work I need to get back to. Legit post coming soon. And I get my life back in only a few more days! Til then, enjoy your Christmas Pandora station and watch some Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, and/or Rudolph for me!

The future of Pam Beesley?

You may have already heard this proposal if I've talked to you in the past two days, but I think I have a great idea on a new job for ol' Pammy (and don't call me Pammy) on The Office:

ART DIRECTOR
IN-HOUSE (ADVERTISING)
at VANCE REFRIGERATION

Why?

SPOILER ALERT: Pam's back in Scranton. Ostensibly, for good. She has Pratt graphic design experience behind her, whether or not she likes it. So maybe she's not the master of Flash, and doesn't like making logos. Doesn't mean she doesn't have a future ahead of her utilizing those (other) art skills in another context like advertising.

And Vance Refrigeration doesn't seem like a big enough company to do their advertising off-site or at an agency. Read into the show much? In-house advertising is a very feasible option for Pam's character.

If ol' Pam works at VR, she could talk all day on the phone to Jim. (Vance Refrigeration is Dunder Mifflin's neighborhood business in the Scranton Business Park.) And she could attend lots of Dunder Mifflin gatherings. Not to mention be there for lunches mid-day.

Just saying.

This set-up would still give her interactions with other Office characters. And according to this week's preview, Toby will be back this week. Interesting...

By the way, to echo a friend's very astute observation... has Pam ever looked more radiant than she did sitting on the hood of Jim's car, waiting for him to get out of work during last week's episode? I think not.



Oh Dwight -- your eternal creepiness -- you never disappoint.

Don't pass gas.

Close your eyes and listen to this YouTube video. Seriously.



I was listening to the radio when this commercial came on. I'm pretty sure it was exactly the same script, but it was even more hilarious and effective when I only heard the audio.

Pretty cool ad, eh?

I love the surprise at the end when you find out that "passing gas" is smoking.

Plus I have a 6th-grader's sense of humor, so you know I howled the first time I heard it.

We now return to your regularly scheduled maturity.

More Microsoft WTF?

Here's the second installment of WTF? Microsoft. This time the ad is far too long, and instead of a lousy minute and a half, it reaches four full minutes and some change. Unbelievable. It's funnier, but still irksomely long and nonsensical. There are however, fleeting moments where I thought I was seeing a brand message or learning about Microsoft products, which is an improvement over the previous ad.



I did enjoy the double reference of Cabo San Lucas. Done so in a mocking manner of course, but I appreciated it nonetheless.

Jeers for ending the commercial in the lame, annoying way as last time. Seinfeld asks about the future of Microsoft to its founder, will there be a "Frog with an e-mail? Goldfish with a website? Amoeba with a blog?" Once again he begs Gates to "Give me a sign," this time with the billionaire performing the robot.

Oh, the commercial, it's something. But nothing I care for. It probably hits its campaign goals if Microsoft aims to succeed virally and by word-of-mouth in an effort to drum up brand awareness. If it's to take back some of Apple's market share though, I'd venture to guess it isn't going to be overly successful.

Here is AdAge's discussion, which found a lot more glimpses of excitement in the commercial than me.

Dr J, Dr P

Y'all catch the Dr. J Dr Pepper commercial yet? I get the vibe it's been around for a little while, but I've been seeing it a lot lately.

Well I must say I'm a fan. Why exactly? Because it is so perfectly corny in every way. Check it out:



It has all the "nos" of creative advertising wrapped into one beautiful, hilarious, so-bad-it's-good package.

How, you ask?

Does it have a ridiculous celebrity spokesman for the product?
Check, Dr. J, obviously a candidate who'd know lots about... soda. And Dr. J, Dr Pepper, very funny, we get it easily.

Oh, so an athlete is the spokesperson. Is there a cheesy slo-mo sports play in the commercial?
Check, oh you know it.

Ah yes, and for Dr. Pepper. Clever. How many times is that pun approached?
At least 3 times (Dr. J name is a pun in every mention, so there's at least a pun in introduction, when he mentions being a doctor, and tagline at end).

Is a cheesy over-the-top sports feat accomplished (an impossible goal or shot, slam dunking on the moon, etc.) to a play-by-play soundtrack or equally silly song?
Oh yeah, Dr. J hits the glass with his ice cube from 10 feet away. In slow motion. Gotta love the music during the shot though. It was my favorite part of the commercial.

How about a cringe-when-you-hear it line from the script?
"Trust me. I'm a doctor."

And a pun-tastic tagline to seal the commercial?
Check. Dr's orders. Doesn't get any better than that!

Apparently we can expect more where that came from from Deutsch/LA, where similar ads will feature another doctor with expertise, Dr. Frasier Crane. The boundless corniness of this installation will certainly be tough to top.

WTF Microsoft?

Have you seen the new Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates commercial? Summed up in one uttering, it was WTF?!

The commercial drags on for 90 seconds and consists of Jerry and Bill shopping for shoes at a cheesy location of a "Shoe Circus." I'm guessing it's supposed to be like Shoe Carnival. Anyway, Jerry pretends to know a lot about breaking in shoes and makes awkward unfunny jokes for a good 70 seconds of the commercial. At the very end it is briefly mentioned that the ad was for Microsoft Windows. I have no idea what this message was supposed to mean. Was the spot supposed to be the next link we all forward on YouTube? Was it supposed to be funny? Am I the only moron that didn't get it?

I guess my overall reaction is that it was a humongous disappointment. My feeling is, if you're going to have a commercial run for that long I better be amused or learn something. I, of course, came away with neither. Choosing to have Jerry Seinfeld on the commercial certainly was a brilliant decision in order to cut through the clutter, but I was at a loss the whole time for why he was there and what was the message of the commercial. Either way it was 90 seconds of my life I won't be getting back. If you'd also to lose 90 seconds of your own life (you've been forewarned), feel free to click below:



After reading AdAge I realized I wasn't the only one confused. Apparently it was supposed to be some sort of teaser ad to hold us over until something else is launched. In the meantime, I don't get how Windows is supposed to be delicious. Or what's with the conquistador thing? I'm kind of surprised to see that this was a CP+B ad, as I'm usually a fan of their zany work. Everyone loved Mini of course, but I enjoyed the creepy Burger King and hilarious candid camera-esque Coke Zero ads with lawyers and "taste infringement." Maybe Crispin's follow-up for Microsoft will answer many questions, or we can hope, bring at least something funnier to the table.

The Advertising Ivy League

So today I was internet-ing and I stumbled upon (though not by using StumbleUpon) a list of advertising agencies that allegedly compose an unspoken Ivy League. I've thought about the concept a few times and was curious if anyone had ever ventured to publish a list, and somewhat serendipitously found this today.

According to the daily (ad) biz, these are today's Ivy League advertising institutions (as of May 2008):

• Crispin Porter + Bogusky
• Goodby, Silverstein and Partners
• TBWA\Chiat\Day
• Wieden + Kennedy
• Fallon

And of course Honorable Mentions... aka "Bubble Teams":

• Arnold
• The Martin Agency
• Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners

While I don't pretend to know any more than the next ad enthusiast, I'd be surprised to see CP+B, Goodby, and W+K not on the list. TBWA is a far from shocking inclusion as well. I was happy of course to see Virginia is for Lovers' (of old) (The) Martin Agency on the honorable mention short list though.

In an industry so volatile, you can never be certain how long any agency can maintain Ivy League status. This list (though a blogger's opinion) could well be obsolete in a matter of months. Either way, it was enjoyable to see a blogger venture to rank the advertising world's titans for the rest of us to contemplate.

Remember the Slowskys?

The other day I was talking to a friend about using animals to make funny ads, and I mentioned how much I loved "The Slowskys" campaign for Comcast from a few years ago. I was shocked to find out that she hadn't seen the commercials, and I figured that this was preposterous and necessitated an immediate remedy.

For those also unfamiliar, the commercials featured Bill and Karolyn, a married turtle couple, more fondly known as The Slowskys. The turtles liked things just so, at their own, slow pace. They found the high-speed of Comcast internet overwhelming and instead opted for a more comfortable alternative for them, in the form of slower DSL service.

My favorite thing about the commercials were the subtleties. One of my favorite lines was when Karolyn piped up that they "felt rushed" by Comcast's high speed. Another commercial has a strategically placed coffee mug that says "Decaf for life." These fine details really add up to the atmosphere and overall humor of the spots.

Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy:

A good introduction to the Slowsky family...


"I didn't know you could read!"
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me."
(Great banter between Bill and Karolyn)...


Love Karolyn's sass when she quips about Bill's middle name:


All these and more are the great work of Goodby Silverstein & Partners out west in SF.

Q: What do Dodgeball and Planters have in common?

A: One terrifying, icky, unibrowed female.

Left: "Fran" of the Purple Cobras in Dodgeball
Right: The new "starlet" in Planters Peanuts commercials

Four years late on the craze, last night I finally watched that movie Dodgeball. Though the movie was about as entertaining as I anticipated, the plot wasn't much like I expected. I just figured Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller were professional dodgeballers in some sort of dodgeball league. I had no idea that the premise was Vaughn's character playing dodgeball in order to use the prize money in order to save his bankrupting gym. (Which now that I think about it, isn't this the same as Happy Gilmore, where Adam Sandler's character takes up golf in order to win enough money to save his grandma's house from foreclosure?)

Regardless, Vaughn plays dodgeball for a team called Average Joe's (also the name of his gym) and Ben Stiller heads the rival gym's team, the Purple Cobras. The Purple Cobras are saturated with testosterone-injected males and one exceedingly frightening and masculine-looking female named Fran.

I couldn't help but notice that this scary woman looked surprisingly familiar. Finally I figured out the resemblance. She looks just like the gross creature that is presented on the new Planters Peanuts commercials. Originally aired during the Super Bowl, this commercial also utilizes a gross, irksome unibrowed woman.

If you want to throw up in your mouth a little, check the Planters girl out here:



Decent commercial, but EWWW.

So question of the hour... was the Planters commercial inspired by Dodgeball or is it merely a revolting coincidence?

UPS Whiteboard - What happened to you?

I was a huge fan of the UPS Whiteboard commercials when they came on the scene. They showed an "actor" (actually a Creative Director at The Martin Agency in Richmond) drawing fascinating little doodles on a dry-erase board that could somehow be partially erased or slightly manipulated in order to explain a B2B shipping task, like routing or freight.

These ads were so simple and yet so attention-grabbing. Maybe it was the quirky, long-haired artist, or the irony of using a song by The Postal Service to sell UPS shipping, but I found these ads catchy and couldn't watch them enough. Here's an example:



Unfortunately, at some point during March Madness, I saw that these Whiteboard commercials had adopted a new look. Before, all of the UPS capabilities were demonstrated in 2-D on a dry-erase board. Now, these ads use some sort of animated component in order to demonstrate the same messages as the older commercials, but in a slightly more complicated way. I'm curious to find what others think of about the renovated strategy. Here's one of the newer ads:



I wasn't even sick of the old ads yet, but I feel like The Martin Agency should have opted to execute more of the traditional-style ads but with different graphics and "lessons." If it were my decision, I would have opted for a new soundtrack... perhaps a different tune by The Postal Service, or even a new band all together that shares a similarly interesting yet soothing electronic quality.

Maybe UPS advocated for the new approach as opposed to vice versa. Either way, whenever I see one of the new commercials I am saddened that it isn't one of old.

Sonic: Mystery Solved

Finally, after a year or two of checking every so often online, I found out what agency makes Sonic's hilarious commercials! Not only that, but someone else who touts the campaign's genius. As it turns out, Barkley, an employee-owned agency out of Kansas City, churns out these dazzling ads.

According to an article in Ad Age (proof that someone else enjoys these commercials as much as I do), these ads are acted out by improv actors. Turns out the amazingly entertaining actors have been improvising gems to the prescribed scripts this entire time!

The commercials either show the same two male friends interacting or a husband and wife team. I think the commercials with the pair of guys are a complete riot. Here's an example of the duo in action:



The husband and wife are less absurd, but are certainly still funny. They run in the 60th percentile of funniness, let's say, while the all-guy team is consistently in the 80th-95th percentile. Nonetheless, I love that the wife is always giving the husband lip, instead of the other way around. The pitiful husband is a great foil to the stronger, and mildly sardonic wife. Check them out:



Just like I've been saying for several years now, I can't wait to see what ol' Sonic comes up with next. Apparently the guy team has made 115 "video blackouts" together since 2003. What great comedic chemistry!

There are no Cinderellas

I'm really digging this new Nike commercial I keep seeing during the tournament. I stop and pay it respect every time it comes on:



John Thompson III watching Pops on the tube. Appalachian State football. Jimmy Valvano running around the court in disbelief. A reprise of John Thompson III, this time at Georgetown practice overseeing his team running the Princeton drill. Boise State practicing the Statue of Liberty play. MJ hitting the shot. Long, mesmerizing video cuts. The tolling bell bringing it all together.

Another great Wieden + Kennedy Nike spot. Wow.