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McCann pitted the robot against human creative director Mitsuru Kuramoto to create an ad for Clorets Mint Tab that conveyed the message: "Instant-effect fresh breath that lasts for 10 minutes." The client was asked to fill out a form with all the elements they wanted to appear in the ad. The AI robot then scrambled the database for ideas (humans were required to actually produce the final creative). The two spots would then be thrown to a nationwide poll, where consumers could vote for which ad they preferred. See if you can guess which ad was created by a human and which was created by a robot...
The ongoing McDonald's creative review initially included all three of the ad industry's largest holding companies. But WPP made headlines earlier this month for bowing out (leaving incumbents Publicis and Omnicom in the running), and the alleged reasons behind its decision are even more intriguing. The client required competitors to complete their respective pitches in 60 days, with a June 30 deadline, and presented contracts forbidding future partners from turning a profit on base compensation, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Agencies would allegedly operate at cost before meeting unspecified targets for performance-based pay. "Clients have always had the power," said Bryan Wiener, executive chairman of 360i. "And performance-based compensation is not a new topic either, but it's very hard to find ways to make it work so that all parties are aligned. "McDonald's did not respond to Adweek's requests for comment on the claims, which stirred controversy among creative agencies. One source who requested anonymity described the terms as "unheard of" and noted, "I don't know of any business that operates that way."...
As the CEO of Momentum Worldwide, a nontraditional agency that spans all facets of creative, media and ideation, Chris Weil knows how difficult invention can be. After all, he is credited with coining the term "phygital," which describes the increasing connection between the physical and digital world around us. Weil strives to bring what he calls a "total brand experience" to such clients as American Express, the U.S. Army and Microsoft.
It's one reason he was selected to serve as a judge for this year's Project Isaac Awards. In that spirit, Weil was asked to share his thoughts on invention. Interestingly, he expresses a desire to completely reinvent the agency structure from being execution-based to being growth-based. And he offers his thoughts on the difference between creativity ("inspired") and invention ("brave")...
It's that time of year again, when agencies use all their remaining creativity and joyful spirit to create festive holiday cards, videos, and websites. It's also the time where agency staffers are given free reign to get downright weird. And thankfully, this year did not disappoint.
If you're looking for messages of goodwill and hope for humanity, you won't find it in these examples. But you will find awkward people dancing around in onesies, a hipster santa, and a Pomeranian in 12 different outfits -- and isn't that the most you can hope for this holiday?
Check out this list of the weird, wacky, and wonderful world of agency holiday cards. (Warning: The audio in #3 is NSFW.)...
Almost every major brand harnesses Twitter to share news and build up a dialog with their customers. But, surprisingly, very few of the people behind those brands — the marketing teams, agency executives and creators of the tech that power digital advertising — use Twitter in the same way for themselves.
The Twitter accounts of most top marketers and agency CEOs are rubbish. They aren't even updated regularly.
That's why we pulled together this list of the best people in advertising and marketing to follow on Twitter....
Here’s a puzzle for you: What do advertising and promotion managers have in common with construction helpers, carpenter helpers, stucco masons, typists, textile machine workers, and people who operate drilling and boring machines?Answer: They’re all working in areas where U.S. jobs are disappearing the fastest, according to a special report from 24/7 Wall Street.
Moreover, of all those categories, advertising and promotions is the worst, having shed 65% of all jobs over the past decade. “No occupation has lost a higher proportion of its jobs than advertising and promotions managers,” the report claims.You're better off working in a textile mill, running a drill press, or hauling two-by-fours for a carpenter than you are if you pursue a career in advertising...
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Comic short films about the absurdity of the ad business have a proud history going back to Tim Hamilton's brilliant Truth in Advertising. Here's the latest one—director Tim Mason's No Other Way to Say It, about an amusingly bleak voiceover recording session for an ice-cream commercial. As the creative team tries to get the voiceover artist to nail the right tone for a single line, over and over—and the latter gets more and more distracted—the truth in advertising here becomes painfully clear: The project is mired in idiocy and inertia...
The U.S. women's soccer team has a roster of stand-out stars, but their individual strengths work best when they play as a team. That's the gist of a new, minute-long "American Woman" ad Nike launched as part of a bigger #NoMaybes campaign designed to elevate the team's profile during the FIFA Women's World Cup this week.
"We didn't want to go into this trying to make a women's spot—we wanted to make a soccer spot," said Michael McGrath, partner at Thousands Creative, the Portland, Ore., agency that created the ad.
Thousands Creative's own profile is getting a boost because of the work. The two-man shop was founded just a year ago by a pair of former Nike employees and currently has neither a website (just an empty Tumblr) nor publicly listed contact info....
U.K.-based trade body called for advertising agencies to strike against Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, citing “despicable” practices it says the Budweiser maker imposed on its members when pitching for work.In a recent pitch for work,
AB InBev asked agencies how low they would go on rates, how many free hours of work they’d offer and whether they’d wait for payment beyond the current 120-day period, the Marketing Agencies Association said Thursday in an e-mailed statement.
The world’s biggest brewer also asked agencies how much money they’d give back -- known as rebates -- beyond a minimum 5 percent the company already stipulates, to contribute to its corporate sustainability program, the MAA said. The organization called on agencies that work with AB InBev to strike starting April 7....
While the demise of ad agencies due to digital disruption has long been prophesied, the evidence just doesn't point to such an outcome.
The actual outcome, to date, has been the proliferationof agencies. As digital democratized publishing has opened unlimited new channels, the marketing environment has, in turn, become much more complex, with CMOs hiring a broad phalanx of best of breed channel-specialist agencies.
Indeed, “integrated marketing” — or the orchestration of this “stable of agencies” — has become the issue of greatest importance for CMOs, (according to a Forbes study), sadly surpassing even “effective advertising.” In other words, help in managing the marketing cacophony has become even more desirable than selling more product.
Forbes' survey also reported that a third of all clients report that they manage over 50 agencies and 22% have a roster of over 100 agencies! Clearly, Forbes was surveying the biggest brands, but having five or six agencies involved in a brand that spends under $10 million annually in measured media is commonplace these days. Sounds like a tipping point, doesn't it?...
Many agencies have launched their own incubators and accelerators in the past few years. Learn about 16 cool products agencies have launched.Agencies have, within their walls, some of the most brilliant creative and strategic minds. But these creatives are subject to the volatile business of agencies: Project work that comes and goes, relationships with risk-adverse clients, and billing rates that are stagnant.Agencies believe they are in the services business, so that is what they do. But in reality, they have the knowledge, expertise, and experience necessary to create products, services, and software.That's why so many agencies have launched their own incubators and accelerators in the past few years....
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The robot creative director directed a TV ad for Mondelez Japan and a human CD did as well. Guess which ad the audience liked best?