AT&T Is Going Down

I love it when the world agrees with me. And by the world I mean a trade magazine. Apparently PC World shares my opinion on the AT&T attack ad starring Luke Wilson. That’s like a one two punch coming from my insanely popular blog (my mother doesn’t even read this) and PC World. Is AT&T still in business? Don't see how they could be.

The Dogs of War

The network wars have begun. I’ve been keeping aloof from the whole thing because I’m a bit biased on the topic. I will say this, when Verizon Wireless first aired the “There’s a map for that” campaign, I hated it. I thought it was derivative (which it is), unimaginative, and capital L lame. Then AT&T went and threw a tantrum. Then I started liking “There’s a map for that” a lot more.



I’ve been following the legal dispute with interest. You can boil AT&T’s complaint down to a childish “But it’s not fair.” Verizon’s response has been pitch-perfect. They haven’t backed down and have kept pushing their campaign. Yes, I’ll admit the campaign makes sense to me now, and yes it’s decent.

AT&T has become its own worst enemy in all this. AT&T is a common trending topic on Twitter, usually not for good reasons. I think people see the law suite as a lame attempt to silence a competitor that is pointing out flaws. Today, a judge dismissed AT&T’s request to put a stop to Verizon’s current campaign. In response AT&T released its own commercial targeted directly at Verizon Wireless.



The AT&T commercial isn’t very compelling at all. A magnetic board with some softball “facts” about the AT&T network—oh and Luke Wilson. The new tagline for AT&T: “A better 3G experience.” Better than say, being able to connect to actual 3G in over 264 major cities nationwide? Verizon Wireless has been able to make that claim for the better part of a year now. If this is AT&T’s response to Verizon’s campaign, I foresee a difficult holiday season ahead for the home of the iPhone.

Advertising aside, I think AT&T can find itself in a world of hurt here. The iPhone won’t be exclusive much longer. AT&T needs to make some serious upgrades to their network. Verizon is a recognized leader when it comes to 3G networks, and they are already moving headlong into deploying a 4G network. What makes the Verizon campaign work is that it’s true. The Verizon network delivers on its promises. And people know it. AT&T needs to do some major revamping of their network first, then focus on ads. As things stand right now, AT&T looks like a poor-sport that doesn’t know how to admit defeat.

Stormtrooper PTO

I don’t know why but action figure humor always gets me. A co-worker forwarded me a link to this Flickr page. Definitely worth checking out. What do Imperial Stormtroopers do when not committing genocide?

The Mayo-Wars

A few weeks back I made a post about the ridiculous ads for Miracle Whip and Stephen Colbert’s awesome response to them. Well in an unexpected turn of events Miracle Whip responded to Colbert’s insults. They actually produced a spot specifically responding to Colbert. I am impressed.

Apparently Miracle Whip does have a sense of humor. They bought every TV spot during Colbert’s show to run the new ads. It was a genius move. Miracle Whip just went from lameness to greatness in my book. They took the seemingly bad publicity and turned it to their favor. Even making it part of their campaign. That’s impressive.

Instead of sending lawyers armed with cease and desist orders (I’m looking at you AT&T), Miracle Whip just made more ads, and changed their messaging slightly. They turned my initial rating of a FAIL to a SUCCEED. Good work Miracle Whip. Now, if you could just change your product to something half appetizing.

Here's the spot that ran during the Colbert Report.

Talk to Yourself

I talk to myself a lot. I mean a lot a lot. From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed, I’m usually carrying on a conversation in my head. It used to freak me out. I thought that I might be going a bit crazy. But I started to realize that it’s not that uncommon for people to talk to themselves. I also realized that talking to myself is a big part of my creative process.

My good friend Kyle is a really talented artist. He created the octopus for this blog actually. I asked Kyle not long ago if he ever talks to himself. Kyle was understandably confused by the question and asked for a little clarity. I restated my question: “Do you ever talk to yourself as part of your creative process?” He replied, “Yeah. I do that now and again.” So that set me at ease. If my pretty normal friend Kyle does it then it can’t be too weird.

I’ve always talked to myself, even as a kid. And it wasn’t for lack of other people to talk to—I came from a family of six kids. There was always someone around to talk to, trust me. I just enjoyed exploring things internally and talking them out. And that’s something that has turned into a helpful tool. The ability to explore an idea and then debate it internally helps keep my mind focused. It helps me be creative.

So it’s strange, sure. But it works for me. I theorize that the majority of people have some kind of inner dialog going on. I’d encourage you to explore that inner relationship. Don’t be too creepy about it, but don’t be afraid to dig into your subconscious and see what comes up. If nothing else it’s a good excuse to stare at a blank wall for a few minutes.