Category Archives: Advertising & Media

And the prize for longest article about a person you will stop giving a shit about after the seventh paragraph goes to…

This incredibly long paean by Liz Robbins in today’s New York Times about aging former Meatpacking District restaurateur & scenester Florent Morellet.  A mercifully short excerpt from this slavering epic:

In his raspy, French-accented voice, Mr. Morellet extols the potential development of Newtown Creek’s waterfront (post-pollutants), analyzes North Brooklyn’s messed-up grid and pushes for more skyscrapers to accommodate the city’s growth. He moved to what he considered the most viable edge of Bushwick, but he sees the boundaries soon pushing farther east on the M and L lines. He considers the two dirtiest words in the English language to be “nostalgia” and “gentrification.” He especially hates “the g-word,” as he calls it — but only because neighborhoods fight it.

That’s what’s happening now in Bushwick. A plan to rezone nine square blocks for retail and high-rise apartments has upset longtime residents and the likely new councilman, Antonio Reynoso, 30. Artists met this summer to discuss whether it was better to join the development bandwagon or be swept away by it.

Mr. Morellet, who read about the meetings in a local blog, thought they belonged in the TV parody show “Portlandia.”

“Cities change,” he said. “Young people are going to be pioneers in neighborhoods and make them livable. Wealthy people are going to move in and young people are going to move to the next neighborhood, and the next neighborhood. We have tons of neighborhoods to rebuild. Yes, the prices are going up. That’s great.”

To which those of us who are not discoing away every night in our luxurious retirement can only say: Fuck You. As if Brooklyn needs any more ultra-rich douchebags coming over from Manhattan to advocate for building luxury skyscrapers (none of them providing affordable housing) in the middle of previously low-rise working and middle class neighborhoods and trying to make their cool little “discovered” corner of Brooklyn more like, you know, Manhattan. Please go away or die already. You say “we have tons of neighborhoods to rebuild”… until we don’t and we are all living somewhere near JFK with jets roaring over our heads every 5 minutes because that’s all we can afford. And did not the editor think to tell Miss Robbins to maybe cut her ode to Mr. Fabulous here by, oh, I don’t know, 15 or so paragraphs?  It boils down to a fawning story about a guy who owned a restaurant and is now on his 3rd midlife crisis discovering his personal fountain of youth in Bushwick, not exactly Pulitzer-worthy journalism. Jesus wept, at 3000 words who could possibly make it to the end of this damn thing? I dare you to try to finish it without wanting to throw your computer out the window.

 

Blog of the day– Jake’s Rolex World Magazine

If you want to get heavy into Rolex ephemera, pop culture and the wonderful personalities who wore Rolex throughout history, Jake’s Rolex World Magazine is a fine place to while away the hours. From the brand’s founder Hans Wilsdorf to the ultra cool ambassadors like James Bond, Jackie Stewart, Steve McQueen and (believe it or not) Martin Luther King, Jr., Jake has a passion for rooting out the many tales in Rolex’s storied history and the pivotal players who wore the watches. We’re not sure where he gets the time or the energy for such a massive amount of well done posts but our hat’s off to him–way to go, Jake, you’ve got a real cool blog!

Ads we like: DIRECTV “Get Rid of Cable”

Rarely has the benefit of the product and the diss to the competition been so cleverly entwined as in DIRECTV’s “When you have to (do something annoying because Cable sucks) you end up (worst case scenario). Don’t (worse case scenario). Get rid of cable. Upgrade to DIRECTV” campaign. If a mini-story is one great ways to sell a product and humor is another, these ads are the best of both worlds because they are damn funny and travel a very long story arc in 30 seconds. And because one of the oldest principles of comedy is that there is very little funnier than someone else’s slapstick misfortune, the arc is inevitably catastrophic for the protagonist. You can practically sense the creatives at Grey advertising working backwards from the outcome to get to the benefit: “Let’s see: a guy has to sell his hair to a wig shop–how do we get him there and blame Cable for it?” And like the Dos Equis campaign, DIRECTV also uses a uber-serious narrator with great pipes and intonation (in this case, the 60 Minutes man) to give the spot a faux serious documentary/PSA feel that perfectly plays off of the crazy on screen action.

Like only the very best campaigns, we’re actually left hoping for new spots while never tiring of these classics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm76JhMa61w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoG0O9xH6-U

Adweek’s review here.

Website of the day: Gearpatrol.com

If you’ve got a hankering for adventure and the finer things in life, a wide range of experiences and interests, Gear Patrol is for you (http://gearpatrol.com/). Designed to appeal to your inner James Bond/triathelete/race car driver, etc, Gear Patrol is packed with adventure vacations, fine spirits and awesome gadgets.

As a really good example of what these guy’s are doing (and at the risk of stepping on Graham’s turf), check out this fantastic mini-documentary on the iconic Porsche 917 prototype: Faster. Farther. Porsche 917 (Click it, man. You’ll thank me later.)

These are definitely our kind of guys. In fact, I’ve just added them to our links page. But be forewarned: the site is huge with a ton of cool stuff. You could get lost in there for days so it can definitely cut into your productivity. But what a way to while away the hours until your next adventure.

Ads that confuse us–Gillette Body Grooming

OK call me old school but this Gillette Body Grooming commercial kind of pisses me off:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXzdbr7HvAc

Let me get this straight: According to Handsome Boy Modeling School there, us guys are supposed to Gillette-style our bodies according the whims of whatever hottie comes along? What if I get tired of the “hairless” chick and make a play for the one who likes the hairy chest (but not the back*)?  Guess I’m screwed then, right? Talk about a moving target! I’m gonna have irregular patchy fur all over my body if I listen to this pretty boy’s advice.

Nuh-uh. I don’t give a rat’s ass if that is Kate Upton and Hannah’s hot and Genesis is probably a bit of a freak. “Grooming” my wonderfully hairy bod to please some high maintenance babe ain’t gonna happen. Love the hairy chest rug or leave it, darlin’, and do not even say a word about my legs or I’ll send you back to momma. If a relationship starts with body hair demands, where is it going to end? (Hint: your nuts/her purse.)

Riddle me this, Gillette: are these demanding diva’s gonna make Superman shave his chest, too?

Kal-El ain’t shaving nuthin’, baby!

Yeah, didn’t think so.

*Admittedly, I have yet to meet a woman who “likes” a hairy back–sorry, my wooly friends. But I’m sure she’s out there…she’s just maybe in Turkey or something.

 

Ads We Like–Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World”

No great revelation here: We like the World’s Most Interesting Man in the World campaign.  Who doesn’t?  Here’s why:

  1. I’m not privy to the metrics but it must’ve lifted the brand’s profile in the States immeasurably, which is, after all, why companies pay ad agencies.  So great value for money to the client.
  2. The commercials are worth viewing for enjoyment on their own merits.  I’m sure they’ve won a closet-worth of awards.  So great prestige for the ad team while doing creative & fun work = win-win.
  3. And, most pivotally, the dude kind of reminds us of our dads, who really did seem to have done a lot more adventuring in their heyday in the 1960s & 70s.  We could be biased but our pops were more well rounded and, yes, masculine than most guys tend to be today.  The MIMITW is a caricature but he resonates because those years really did seem extra “actiony”.  And our dads were definitely in the thick of things.

Sure, the beer’s good with Mexican food and in hot weather.  But the campaign is better than the brew.  It is an all time classic.

Wiki article here: The Most Interesting Man in the World