Simple Is Hard

I've been thinking about simplicity lately. Over the weekend I watched Objectified, which is a fantastic movie and I recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in design. I’m not a designer but I think many design principles apply to writing, especially a designer’s quest to simplify. What makes a good design work and what makes a good ad work is essentially the same thing. Simplicity. The less moving parts the better.

[Objectified movie trailer.]

Yesterday, I came across a presentation by Luke Sullivan the author of Hey Whipple, Squeeze This—an amazing book that I’ve read half a dozen times at least. The topic of his presentation, you guessed it, simplicity. I’ve included the video below. It’s a bit long but there are some great insights buried in there. Here’s one nugget I excavated yesterday.

Luke Sullivan gave an example of a car print ad. The ad shows the headline, an image of the car, some body copy, then a tagline and the logo. Pretty standard ad. Then he starts stripping elements away. First it’s the body copy because a good headline can do most of the heavy lifting. Then he takes the headline because sometimes an image can do all the necessary talking. Then the tagline gets canned. He has some strong opinions about taglines something like “If it’s not “Just Do It”, don’t.” So all that’s left now is the image and the logo. Finally he strips the logo because the logo can be incorporated into the image. So all you’re left with is an image, one simple thing that does all the work. The idea is to take away everything that isn’t necessary. You have to find the balance between superfluous and cryptic. And that’s hard.

I have a habit of over-writing. So I’ve rededicated myself to simplicity. I’ve decided to be brutal with my assignments. Anything that doesn’t have a good reason to go in gets kicked out. No questions asked. It’s been an interesting exercise.

Luke Sullivan from Mediastash.tv on Vimeo.

Cool Billboards. Not so Cool Web Site

These billboards have caught my eye. They are clever concepts. At first I thought it was a local public service campaign. But after further investigation I discovered the billboards are part of a national campaign for the Ad Council from Y&R New York raising awareness about reckless driving among teens. A good subject to talk about. There are a few things about the campaign that need work though. With the billboards for example, I couldn’t read the URL in the bottom left corner. While driving home one evening I focused in on the billboard determined to read the tiny URL. I got it, and nearly slammed into the car in front of me. That would have been ironic.

Unfortunately the Web site wasn’t worth the near-miss on the highway. Speakuporelse.com is easy enough to navigate. The problem is, however, there just isn’t much to keep anyone around for very long. The tone of the campaign is totally lost in the Web site copy. All you get is a very parental lecture about tire pressure and proper steering techniques. Considering the audience, I’m pretty sure that kind of approach will get a big FAIL from teens. The “viral” videos are especially disappointing. They try too hard to be zany and off the wall.

It’s too bad really. The outdoor executions are good, despite the small URL. I wish Y&R New York could have carried the tone from the outdoor work through the rest of the campaign.

Miracle Whip: Don't Be so Lame

Nothing says cool like mayonnaise. I saw this spot for Miracle Whip a few weeks ago and was completely entertained with how ridiculous it is. It’s clearly targeting the hipster set and trying to break through as the “cool” product to use. But come on, it’s coagulated fat with other mystery chemicals you spread on your club sandwich. If I ever find myself at a rooftop party with hipsters passing around a bottle of Miracle Whip, I’ll jump off. No questions asked. The concept is so asinine it hurts. Does Miracle Whip cause moments of impaired judgment? That would explain how this got approved.

This is a good example of an ad trying way too hard. The Levi’s Go Forth ads came close to trying too hard. Miracle Whip blasts passed that barrier and puts as much distance between itself and taste as it can. No pun intended.

I’m a proud member of the Colbert Nation. So you can imagine my delight when Colbert gave this Miracle Whip ad its deserved whipping. He even created his own ad defending mayo. Enjoy the video.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Mayo-lution Will Not Be Televised
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael Moore

Sometimes Being Cool Is Enough

A new week is upon us. The fruits of our creative labors from last week have been sown and reaped and the fields of creativity lay barren before us. This weekend I came across two older campaigns. They have been around a little while now but I still enjoy them. So here they are. Enjoy.

Toyota Prius:

These commercials have been around for a minute or two. But I still enjoy them a great deal. The concept for the campaign is really interesting in its simplicity: “The world is made of people.” And they shot the commercials as a literal interpretation of that. The Prius, in my opinion, is the ugliest car to come down the production line since the Pontiac Aztec, but these commercials are beautiful. I love the waterfall especially. The way they make the whitecaps out of somersaulting people is ingenious. The video is a making of version with the actual spot playing after.



Levi's Go Forth:

I wasn’t sure what to think of these spots when I first saw them. They were a little too out there for me at first. I couldn’t make the connection between Walt Whitman and jeans. The jury is still out on that issue. But putting all that aside, these commercials are a visual treat. They do a good job of emoting and causing an experience. They ride the edge of trying too hard to be “arty” but I still think they’re well made visual experiences. How affective they are as advertisements may be a separate issue.

The Balloon Boy Invasion

Yesterday was a big day in social media. Thanks to a little boy and his parent’s weather balloon. I was amazed at how this story basically took over social (and traditional) media for the entire day. Here’s how I found out about it while sitting at my desk. I checked my Twitter page and noticed #Balloonboy as a trending topic. After clicking on that I learned there was a 6 year old boy floating away in a weather balloon that used to be tethered to his parent’s house. Then I went back to my Twitter page and looked at the trending topics again. Six out of ten trending topics were related to the balloon boy from Colorado. Impressive.

From Twitter I jumped onto Google News and found the live video feed from CNN. Then onto Facebook where my wall was full of balloon boy-centric comments. So the story continued to unfold. I followed the progress of the story from my Twitter feed—with pictures from the ground even. Then I saw this t-shirt pop up.

And this artwork. And even Kanye couldn't go without commenting on balloon boy. Now mind you this was on the very day the event was unfolding. Before Falcon (balloon boy) was found safely hiding in his parent’s attic.

When I got home for the evening I checked my local news—balloon boy was the leading story. I continued to watch as Jay Leno made the event a central part of his monologue. Conan later chimed in with similar jokes about balloon boy. Even Jimmy Fallon mentioned the kid.

What amazed me most about this was how fast the story melted into the pop-culture zeitgeist. This boy was made famous in a matter of hours. And he had already appeared on network television! (His family was part of Wife Swap for TLC just a few weeks ago.)

Social media is powerful stuff. There is an interesting case study locked somewhere within the balloon boy invasion of social media. Especially when you consider he had participated in traditional media (network television) and new media (everywhere you looked on the Internet) with drastically different results.

Creative Inspiration

The main function of The RIP FILE is to show things that inspire me at the moment. Be it advertising (mostly advertising) or whatever. I found three very inspirational items last week and I’m just now getting to posting about it. It’s been a busy week.

Dyson bladeless fan:


Dyson of the cyclone vacuum fame has done it again. This guy is super interesting and creative. The story goes Dyson was working on a hand dryer and noticed that the high speed air leaving the dryer was sucking in surrounding air thus amplifying the volume of air leaving the dryer, which was useless for a hand dryer. But the phenomenon inspired Dyson to create this. It’s a fan with no blades and it’s supposed to be super efficient. Don’t ask me how it works cause my brain will melt. You can check out this article on Wired.com. They do a good job of explaining it. Those guys are smart and stuff.

The bladeless fan is such a great example of a guy following his creative impulse. A lot of people would have just treated the air sucking phenomenon as an unwanted side effect. But Dyson was willing to explore what this new discovery could do. Good example of following your creative instincts.

Multi-touch mouse:
I thought the Mighty Mouse was a big leap in desktop interaction. These guys have bested the conventional mouse by 10 (literally). All the touch screen stuff coming out lately is cool. I have a touch screen phone (not an iPhone unfortunately) and I like interacting with my technology this way. I even played with the HP touch screen desktop awhile back and it was interesting. But I kept asking myself “How can this be more than just a cool trick?”

These guys took the touch screen concept and used it to re-imagine the way we interact with information on a computer screen. It’s more than just the next evolution of the mouse; it’s a whole new way of organizing and interacting with information on your computer.

I hope this makes it to the consumer market someday. It’s a really cool idea, and a good example of redefining the status quo. If anything stifles creativity it’s sameness.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

Adam Savage obsessions:
Mythbusters is one of my favorite shows. The geekiness of that show is extremely entertaining and satisfying. So I found Adam Savage (one of the hosts) on Twitter and started following him. Turns out, the dude is crazy interesting and creative. I started researching him further and came up will all kinds of cool things that Adam has been involved in. My research led me to a site called Fora.tv (which has become one of my favorite sites) and found this presentation given by none other than Adam Savage. I’ve watched it several times. It’s a bit long but so worth the time. I highly recommend watching it.

Adam Savage’s willingness to test his creativity and push the envelop of authenticity is what inspires me most about the presentation. He doesn’t want to settle for close enough—it’s perfection or failure. That’s a dedicated dude. What I took away from the presentation was a desire to push ideas as far as they will go. Then strap on some retro-boosters and push it farther. That’s a lesson in creativity we can all benefit from.


[If the video doesn't launch check it out here.

Social Media will Save Us All

Twitter has lied to us. Well maybe not directly, but the idea of Twitter has given us a false hope. Some people in the ad world would have us believe that social media will save us all. I just don’t see that happening. Brand managers want to believe that the world is taking to their Twitter and Facebook accounts to discuss how awesome their dish soap is. I haven’t seen dish soap as a trending topic and it hasn’t shown up on my wall either.

So what good social media anyway? A lot of very smart people are trying to figure out how social media fits into a media plan, or how it can add value to an existing campaign. Unfortunately the answers that have developed so far have been thinly disguised spam, or overtly pitch heavy posts. I venture the opinion that social media shouldn’t be treated like a cure-all ointment for marketing.

There have been successful uses of social media recently. Best Buy’s use of Twitter as a global help desk is a great example. That is an innovative idea and a useful application of social media. However, I do wonder what happens when a person’s computer crashes and he tries to Tweet Best Buy about it.

Brands have been lured by social media’s shinyness. They see subscription numbers and assume those numbers belong to potential customers. But that’s like putting a debit card kiosk in the middle of a crowd and expecting everyone to use it. Social media still needs content. Content that people actually want.

So social media isn’t the savior of the world. It’s the hero of the backyard bar-b-queue. For some clients it fits logically and comfortably in their existing brand. Companies that attempt to move their brand to be more “social” are making a huge mistake. Because if social media is anything it’s change. Next year Facebook could be the next Myspace, Twitter the next WinAmp. Nothing stays the same. Everything changes. And that’s the hook we hang our hats on.

Direct-to-DVD Gravy Train

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. TransMorphers. Snakes on a Train (not making this up). These, my friends, are direct-to-DVD movies. Films written with the express intent of skipping the big screen and landing in a DVD player. They are, by and large, terrible. Although Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus had some hilarious moments, despite itself.

I’ve seen these movies hanging out in the DVD isle at my local Target and they got me thinking. Who writes this stuff? Somebody’s out there right now putting the finishing touches on a script about a man-eating amoeba running amuck in a sorority house. And they’ll get paid for doing it! The real question then isn’t “who’s writing this stuff;” it’s “how do I get on this gravy train?” Seriously, I could come up with an asinine concept and throw it in a script. I wouldn’t even charge much for it.

Hollywood screenwriters are well compensated, like in the tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars for a good script. Even if a direct-to-DVD screenwriter makes a couple grand for a script, that’s good money for an afternoons work.

If any direct-to-DVD producer is looking for fresh, young writing talent to pen his next Carmin Electra action movie, I’m available. And like your leading lady, I’m cheap. Holla at cha boy.



[I can't wait for the sequal! Even more Mega Shark vs. Even Gianter Octupus. Starring the woman who played Xena's sister-in-law, and a guy who onece bumped into Bruce Willis.]

Microsoft Advertising that doesn't Suck

Being a Mac owner makes you a PC hater by default. It’s the unwritten code of Apple ownership. Some would say that Mac owners are pretentious, egotistical, and illogically attached to a computer system. Well, yeah—so?

Well I decided to put my Mac ego aside and venture to the dark side. When you think of PC you can’t escape the gravitational pull of Microsoft. For years, Microsoft has embodied everything Apple was against—in the mind of average Mac users anyway. In the advertising world Apple has had a decided edge on Microsoft. Apple's clean innovative packaging and colorful TV spots made Microsoft look drab and boring. Mac users around the world rejoiced with every new commercial.

Microsoft has staged a comeback, however. They have actually released some good advertising recently. Here’s a list of the Microsoft ads that I think are actually really good.

Microsoft 2010: The Movie
I know it’s kind of cheesy, it’s really cheesy actually, but I still like it. The movie trailer format reminds me of the BMW effort a few years back. And the inclusion of Clippy in the trailer was a stroke of genius. I always wondered what happened to that annoying paperclip.



Halo 3: Believe
When I saw this commercial the first time—I stopped watching TV, went to my computer, and watched it four more times in a row. It’s beautiful. The piano music in the background is just perfect. The spot won all kinds of awards for TAG San Francisco. And they deserved it.



Halo ODST: We are ODST
Another Halo commercial done by TAG San Francisco. Halo is still part of Microsoft so it counts. The game may be lack luster, but the advertising is so good. I think I enjoy this one so much because I want a live action Halo movie more than a pot of gold. There is going to be a series of these released. And if any Hollywood producer is looking for the way a Halo movie should look—ask TAG.



I'm a PC: Good News
This one may be controversial but hear me out. Yes, Microsoft ripped off the “I’m a Mac. I’m a PC” ads, but I think it was the appropriate response. Microsoft let the Mac campaign go far too long without answering, so they almost had to do something that responded directly. The first executions were a little rocky in my opinion. Showing a bunch of people declaring their dedication to PCs. There wasn’t a why in those commercials. The newer executions are much improved. I especially love the newest one. Finally Microsoft is giving reasons to be a PC.



So there they are. The Microsoft ads that don’t suck. I’m still not a convert. But it’s nice to see Microsoft is trying to suck less.

The Force is Strong with this Print

It’s no secret that Darth Vader is an amazing villain. And I’m talking the James Earl Jones voiced version from the original. Hayden Christensen’s Vader doesn’t count—Vader wasn’t emo dude. He is such an iconic villain—modern societies boogieman made real. A few weeks ago I came across this print. It's the coolest print I’ve seen. Full Metal Jacket and Darth Vader together at last. I just placed an order. It’s going in a frame right above my desk. Stunning. Check it out at Josh Spear.

Plaid Shirt, Skinny Jeans, and Vans Slip-Ons

My office is surrounded by investment firms, law offices, and accounting offices. And every now and then I head out to the plaza between the buildings to eat lunch. It’s easy to pick out the finance guys. They all coagulate in a corner sharing a step or two wearing trim blue or yellow dress shirts (no tie) with khaki pants. A jovial bunch for the most part. The lawyers are easy to spot as well. Usually cutting across the plaza with a BlackBerry shoved to their ear wearing a three button suit with white shirt and tie, usually carrying an over-priced leather briefcase. Accountants speckle the crowd here and there with their polo shirts and slacks usually alone but sometimes in twos (rarely in threes).

Then there are the people from my office. They stick out like teenagers crashing a job fair. What amuses me are the professional “uniforms.” People that work in finance look like they work in finance. Their dress shirts say “We’re serious if your serious,” while their lack of necktie says “but we still know how to get zany.” The lawyers outfit just says “Don’t screw with me. I can afford this suit because I learned how to be superior in law school.” And the accountant’s uniform says “Yeah, I like numbers, and yes my fantasy football league is killing it on ESPN.com!”

The ad uniform tells people that “We are creative and don’t want to be tied down by a monkey suit.” Skinny jeans, plaid shirts, and Vans slip-ons (add black rimmed glasses for the visually impaired) make a statement in understatement. I enjoy my professional uniform. But sometimes I wear a necktie just to throw people off. Every time I do people ask:


“Job interview?”

“Na, just throwing a wrench in the machine.”

Subaru's Dual Personality Disorder

Stumbled on an article in BrandWeek this morning about Subaru. Apparently Subaru is one car company that hasn’t been eviscerated by the recession. Instead they have actually grown. Subaru experienced a 4% jump in sales while the rest of the auto industry suffered an average 32% decline, according to the BrandWeek article.

Now, I’ve been a devoted Subaru customer for years. Something about the car company has appealed to me and I’ll never be without an all-wheel-drive Subaru in my garage. I can point to my pragmatism as a buying motivator when it comes to cars. And the BrandWeek article points out that this is a common thread among Subaru loyalists. The article quotes Subaru CMO Timothy Mahoney as saying “We know who we are, and we do it consistently.” Timothy Mahoney may know who Subaru is, but he may need to rethink his marketing strategy to reflect his view.

Subaru has a history of schizophrenic advertising. It’s been a company without a firm brand direction since the early 90’s—in my opinion. When Subaru launched its flagship car, the Legacy, around 1990 it was positioned as the next Honda Accord and Toyota Camery. And it wasn’t. It was much more, but Subaru decided to focus on attacking Honda and Toyota and forgot the superiority of its car's engineering. That initial push from Subaru and Wieden and Kennedy didn’t turn out so well. Eventually Subaru started focusing on its car’s mechanical superiority. We began hearing more about all-wheel-drive, anti-lock brakes, dual airbags, horizontally opposed boxer engines, and “the wheels that slip to the wheels that grip.” All standard features on Subaru’s. Then it slipped back to competing with Honda and Toyota in the MPG wars.

Today we still have a schism when it comes to Subaru ads. I’m a big fan of the “Love” campaign being presented by Carmichael Lynch. But I’m a fan of the campaign because I’m a Subaru owner and loyalist. I get it. My criticism of the “Love” campaign is the same for the overall Subaru approach to advertising—make up your mind. Are you a fine-tuned performance machine with safety ratings Volvo would kill for? Or are you an economical sub-luxury brand for the up and coming hipster with a mortgage and 1.3 children?

I’m happy to see Subaru doing well through these biblical disaster movie times. I do worry, however, that Subaru may be relying too much on existing customers. What I would like to see is Subaru pick an image and own it. Either engineering superiority or economical practicality. Subaru owners are more likely to be repeat customers—but Subaru can’t continue to dip from the same well. Eventually it’ll go dry.

Saturn Goes Supernova

Irony is great for punch-lines and cocktail parties—not so much with a company’s advertising. The meltdown of the American auto industry was frightening to watch. My agency was left twisting in the wind when GM decided to be insolvent. But one GM brand tried to reassure its customers.

Saturn produced a campaign called “We’re still here.” It followed the announcement that Penske was going to purchase the brand and save it from the GM black hole. The spot was charming and direct, but unconvincing. I didn’t think Saturn was going to survive. Call it a hunch.

My hunch was correct. GM announced earlier this week that Penske had backed out and the Saturn brand was going to be dropped. Saturn wasn’t able to escape the gravity of GM’s event horizon—it’s being sucked into the maw of obscurity.

Deutsch Los Angeles took over Saturn’s advertising in 2007, and did some great work. I particularly enjoyed the Saturn Vue spots. But Deutsch made one large mistake—they believed the product hype. So note to advertisers, if your going to make a campaign and call it “We’re still here,” the brand better still be here next year.

Find more videos like this on ImSaturn

Work That's Doing it for Me Right Now

The world is full of crappy advertising. Just terrible, awful rubbish. And it kills me that people get paid for producing that crap. Fortunately, there are some bright spots in the ad world.

First, some local advertising that I think is awesome. I see these billboards everyday on my drive home. The billboards are great. Richter7 really did a nice job of putting a face behind the safety glasses. The art direction is fantastic and the headlines are right to the point. Great work.

[Crappy picture taken at 70 mph, but you get the idea.]

Not sure who’s responsible for this campaign but I enjoy it a great deal. Really simple execution. The photography is amazing. Just a nice ad that makes you feel good when you see it and peaks interest in Montana (which is no simple task believe you me).

And now from the ad world at large:

I love miniature things. Honey I Shrunk the Kids is high on my Netflix queue and I still own Micro Machines. So it’s no surprise that I enjoy this TV spot for LG’s new phone. It’s a cool idea and a well executed ad.




Ok, ordinarily I’m not into cartoon characters associated with brands. Call it a Joe Camel gag reflex. But for some reason the Weight Watchers hungry monster is hilarious to me. I think it’s the eyes and the fact that its arms come out of where its ears should be. I dig it.