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Cat videos - the future of advertising

2012-02-22T15:39:00.000-05:00

This is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. At first I thought "The Onion" produced it, it's that well done. Creative directors and "visionaries" speaking on behalf of the new direction of advertising. Cat videos.

Too funny

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Real ads - Real scary - Culman Liquidation

2012-02-21T10:48:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of people in the naked city, and even more out in the backwoods of the deep south. This ad comes from Culman Liquidation. They sell mobile homes. As the owner Robert Lee (yes Robert Lee) says, "you can buy yer mobil home from me.. or not. I don't care."

Honesty in Advertising can sometimes be too honest. See for yourself.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Creative Excellence Fridays - Beauty and brains

2012-02-17T14:22:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Creative Excellence Fridays for Friday February 17, 2012.
Today's theme -- beauty and brains.

And that is more or less the theme of today's commercial from Mercedes Benz.

This commercial was done by a group of students following with the same Mercedes theme. The approach was admirable, but it should go a long way to showing professionals they are save in their industry. Note how a well written script falls completely flat with poor casting/performances and poor over all production.

And finally, from the group that brought you Orbitz travel,
this next commercial literally left me speechless. And it appears to be the same for the patient featured in the ad, but he has a lot to say with his fingers. A brilliant ad guaranteed to be viralled around. Kayak Travel. Search one and done. I'm sure Joey Smith and Joey Ianno had a difficult time keeping a straight face as they pieced the components together for this ad. Agency credits go to Barton F. Graf 9000, New York

That's it for this week - Remember, make all your creative, excellent.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Skype ads coming to Canada

2012-02-16T10:43:00.001-05:00

You knew as soon as Microsoft bought Skype, they'd immediately put plans in motion to monetize it in a superior fashion.
Well the rollout has begun and it's been announced that Skype ads are coming to Canada. I'll admit I've become a big proponent of Skype. It's relatively bug free, with minimal crashing and, best of all, it's free. Unless you want to Skpe to several people at once, or use it to call a conventional landline, in which case it's still very affordable. Now we're going to have to pay the piper by viewing some banner and motion ads. We'll watch with a keen eye and hope the quality and creativity of the ads keeps the product at a superior level. Watching MSN messenger's message wall sometimes leaves me feeling like I've just come out of the Eaton Centre on Christmas eve, with so much messaging. But we'll keep an open eye.

The Marketing release story is here.

Skype’s the limit for Microsoft Advertising, which is now selling advertising on the free version of the VoIP service it acquired last year for US$8.5 billion.

Microsoft began selling Skype advertising in the U.S. late last year, and rolled out the product in several global markets including Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the United Kingdom on Wednesday.

Owen Sagness, vice-president of advertising and online for Microsoft in Toronto, said that Microsoft has already seen “pretty good traction” for the Skype product among retail, consumer electronics and automotive advertisers in the U.S., and expects it be similarly alluring for Canadian advertisers.

Sagness called Skype “a very hot brand” that is “generally a safe environment for marketers to advertise in, and a very rich canvas for them to tell their brand story.”

Canadians are ardent Skype users, spending a total of 161 million hours on the service in January – a 78% increase over the 2011. The average time spent with Skype is 34.5 minutes, a 66% increase over January 2011.

“There’s a lot of engagement, and it’s engagement of a social nature,” said Sagnes. “Skype really allows advertisers to reach people that are highly engaged in a social setting, which is very powerful.”

Microsoft’s goal, said Sagness, is to ultimately get to one billion users a month. “When you start to talk about those types of reach and engagement numbers, it’s a very interesting proposition,” he said. “Advertising is the way we’ve chosen to monetize the free version of Skype.”

The ad units appear on the Skype home page, and include a 300 x 250–pixel unit and a 650 x 170–pixel unit that is expandable to 650 x 340 pixels to show ads that can include audio and video. Microsoft is also testing an “in-call” unit with clients including Walmart.

The product is currently being sold on a daily flat rate.

Sagness said that people 18-24 are 38% more likely to visit Skype than the general public, while adults 25-34 are 15% more likely. Users are also 24% more likely to come from a household with an annual income of more than $100,000. The product also skews slightly male, 53% versus 47%.

How will Canadians react to ads in this venue? Post your thoughts in our comment section.
Originally published by MarketingMag.ca on February 16, 2012

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Public Awareness ad - Elizabeth Banks

2012-02-15T12:46:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth Banks is better known for her roles in movies like Zak and Miri make a Porno. However she is also an advocate for women's health issues. When it comes to heart disease and spotting the signs of a heart attack, this is obviously everyone's issue.

Elizabeth directed this short as well. On her website you can see, through QZAL, she is attempting to use her celebrity to influence issues she cares about.
Humour works to move money out of peoples wallets and into worthwhile causes.

Comments? Suggestions?

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

The Real Story behind the Apple Brand

2012-02-14T21:51:00.000-05:00

Since the untimely passing of Steve Jobs we've all head a lot about the genious of Jobs. There is not doubt he was iconic and moved mountains with his ambition.

However Former managing partner and creative director of TBWA/Chiat Day, Rob Siltanen writes some revisionist history behind the story. He goes on to say that Jobs was brilliant, there's no doubt about it. But he didn't write the "to the crazy ones" campaign as earlier reported.

It's definitely worth a read, if for no other reason than to get a bit more insight into what made Jobs tick.

Article

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Standout public awareness commercials - Creative Excellence Fridays

2012-02-10T17:22:00.001-05:00

Public awareness campaigns are generally designed to make you do something, or give something or feel something you don't find fun, interesting or remotely desirable. Convincing men to examine themselves for testicular cancer is a sizable task.

You hear how you should get examined for this cancer or that cancer; and eventually it all becomes whitenoise blocked out by Sports Centre.

Here is a commercial that is so on the mark, it's legendary. No man can look away. Rhian makes a compelling spokesperson.

Another commercial with a surprise twist.

No I didn't see it either.

And finally, a powerful ad from South Africa. Time goes backwards.

A formidable task of influence, and commercials well executed.
That's it for this week. May all your creative be excellent.

Creative Excellence Fridays - Top Superbowl ads - just my opinion

2012-02-06T09:30:00.001-05:00

First of all, I'm more of a commercial fan than a fan of either the Giants or Patriots, but congratulations to Giants fans. I'm in it for the commercials, and the halftime show.
Speaking of halftime, Madonna put on an impressive performance, but on behalf of adults in their early fifties, I think she should hang up the pointed bra while she's still on top (no pun intended).

The commercials were stellar as expected. But you don't spend 3.5 million dollars for 30 seconds and put just any commercial out there.
Scanning the Superbowl ads from yesterday there were a couple exceptional ones, in my humble opinion. Car ads led the way.

Having been a long time Seinfeld fan, I had to smile at the Acura commercial. Jerry does whatever it takes to be the 1st owner of the new Acura NSX.

And the spot that was teased all week, Mathew Broderick's reprisal of Ferris Bueller also didn't disappoint.

See more Super Bowl 2012 videos

And this one from Doritos. Man's Best Friend.

See more Super Bowl 2012 videos

There were so many exceptional ads yesterday. So here's the recap from the Washington Post.

Superbowl ads

Enjoy - and may all your creative be excellent.

Graffiti artist chooses Facebook shares over cash - WINNER

2012-02-02T09:46:00.001-05:00

You have to love moments like these. A few years back as Facebook was starting out, they hired graffiti artist David Choe to paint some of the Facebook offices. He had a choice. Accept a few thousand dollars in cash then, or in lieu of cash, stock. He went for the stock and when the IPO happens shortly, he'll be worth an estimated 200 million dollars.

Moments like this happen once in a lifetime, if you're lucky. Kudo's to an artist who made a wise business decision. As artists, and I believe we all are in some fashion, we often get caught up in the work, and plan poorly on the business side of things.

In this instance, the artist wins. Congratulations David Choe. Full background article fromCNN here

Creative Excellence Fridays - Superbowl Teaser

2012-01-27T22:59:00.000-05:00

Superbowl XLV is coming up next weekend. The web has introduced a new twist on the old model of the Superbowl commercial.
There was a time when we had to just wait and watch. Now, with the extreme cost of the airtime, smart advertisers start the tease even before the commercial airs for the first time.
One of the hottest Superbowl viral teasers is the homage to Ferris Bueller's day off.
The movie came out in 1986 and Honda has enlisted Mathew Broderick to recreate his character for this commercial.

Here's a report on ABC that gives an overview of spots to look forward to next weekend.

ABC Superbowl Teaser Feature

More next weekend. Viva la Superbowl commercial.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Creative Excellence Fridays - Goodby, Silverstein and Partners

2012-01-20T11:36:00.002-05:00

Today on Creative Excellence Fridays - an outstanding series by Goodby, Silverstein and Partners.

Agency Spotlight - The agency was founded in 1983 as Goodby, Berlin and Silverstein by Jeff Goodby, Andy Berlin and Rich Silverstein. Andy Berlin left in 1992 and the agency was renamed. Goodby, Silverstein and Partners is now part of the Omnicom Group, Inc., an advertising holding company. The agency is based in San Francisco but in 2010 opened a Detroit office to service its Chevrolet account.
Their work is, frankly, outstanding. Notable campaigns include, Got Milk, the Denny's Grand slam superbowl promotion and the 2000 E-trade monkey campaign. Goodby, Silverstein and Partners get it. The key to any successful commercial is buying into the "what if" philosophy. This first spot made me laugh out loud. The concept, what if roadies ran an airport.

Here two highschool teenagers write their own commercial for Chevy Camaro. It's every scenario you could think of, all wrapped up in one tidy 60 second spots.

Three years ago, Hyundai's challenge was to help people know and pronounce their name properly. This ad really get's the message across.

That's it for this week. Suggestions for future Creative Excellence Friday themes? Pay it forward and we'll feature you and your shop in this blog. Have a great weekend. May all your creative be excellent.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

5 important video sharing sites

2012-01-17T10:13:00.003-05:00

We all know about YouTube. It's ubiquitous. But there are some other video sharing sites out there that are definitely worth knowing about. Let's run through 5 very important sites.

1.YouTube: Of course, as mentioned, when you think of video sharing websites, YouTube naturally comes to mind.Youtube has thousands of videos on nearly every topic imaginable. Want to watch a Jack Benny clip from the mid fifties? It's there. Want to know how to change the battery in your Blackberry? It's there. Youtube has also become the TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award winning video sharing site. It shows popularity around the world. And best of all, no membership is required.

2.Vimeo:Vimeo is a free video sharing website. It offers you uploads of up to 500MB of video content per week. Or with a paid account called Vimeo Plus the maximum weekly upload limit raises to 5GB. Vimeo supports full HD streaming and widescreen format. Note however, Vimeo is very light on video creation tools and resources. The site can accept a wide range of file formats for upload, so you can use any video editing software on your videos without worrying about compatibility issues. The one downside? It's codecs aren't supported on all mobile smart phones. Older Blackberry's especially have an issue running their video content.

3.Metacafe: Metacafe offers quality videos and a dedicated review system that keeps content up to high standards. One of the biggest advantages of this video share site is the lack of duplicates. Metacafe is so popular because it was one of the first sites to pay people for posting videos. Metacafe will pay you $5 for every 1,000 views. The content is great and easy to find.

4.Break: Break is a very useful site for finding your relevant topics because it is intuitive. It offers the option to commit to specific kinds of videos. Break has a list of daily video picks on their homepage and humorous videos are common.

5.Google Video Review: If you are searching for TV shows, music videos, video about a specific topic or just humour, chances are you'll find it on Google video. It provides a myriad of features including the ability to find, rate and comment on videos. On Google video users are able to upload videos either through the Google Videos website (limited to 100MB per file); or alternatively through the Google Video Uploader.

Video sites are changing and evolving rapidly, but there's no denying video is a powerful tool for promoting you and your interests.

Creative Excellence Fridays - Perfectly Simple - Google

2012-01-15T12:15:00.002-05:00

I was surfing a series of commercials in search of inspiration for today's Creative Excellence Friday blog, and I found it. What has become synonymous with online search, has also become an international business phenomenon. Google is a force to reckon with whether it be Microsoft, Facebook or Apple. There was an article in the paper this weekend discussing some of the questions Google asks potential new employees. The article is called "15 Google Interview Questions that will Make You Feel Stupid."

It was pointed out in Steve Job's biography that he spent on average three hours a day working with his ad agency. Google also "gets it". This ad shows how they realize the winners of the technology race will be those who figure out how to harness it to bring people closer and allow their emotions to soar.

Suggestions for future blogs? Please forward them this way. Done some truly wonderful work? Share and share alike. May all your creative be excellent.

Top 10 news organizations best using Google +

2012-01-11T10:03:00.002-05:00

New York Times leads the list of news organizations who has best adopted Google +. The Times along with Mashable and 45 media companies in total are mentioned in a recent Mashable article.
By using the All My + tool, media companies are able to analyze public Google+ data of individual users or pages to generate engagement stats, charts and most-popular posts.

CRTC looks to control LOUD commercials

2012-01-09T10:44:00.000-05:00

We've all been there. We're watching a television show at a certain volume, and then a commercial comes on that is MUCH louder than the tone set by the show. It knocks you out of your chair. It's very annoying. Especially if you are watching a show that is low energy and lulls you into a relaxed state. And then, BAM, a commercial for Monster Trucks comes on and the levels are much louder than what you were just watching.
Can the CRTC legislate poor production standards at master control centres? It appears they're going to try.

Here are the background links from TVB's site.

The CRTC is seeking input on draft regulation that will require broadcasters and television service providers to control the loudness of TV commercials by September.

The decision, rendered last September, means that both broadcasters and television service providers will be required to adhere to standards developed in 2009 by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) for measuring and controlling television signals to minimize fluctuations in loudness between programming and commercials.

The Commission has proposed amending the Television Broadcasting Regulations, the Specialty Services Regulations, and the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, as well as the standard conditions of licence for video-on-demand undertakings and the exemption order for terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertakings serving fewer than 20,000 subscribers.

Comments are due by February 13, 2012.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/

Source: Cartt January 03, 2012

Happy 2012 - Creative Excellence Fridays salutes Ed Wood

2012-01-06T15:32:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Chris Seguin for this idea starter. If you follow classic cinema you're probably aware of Ed Wood. Johnny Dep played his life story on screen a few years back. Ed Wood had the reputation for being one of the worst directors ever. His movies, and as you'll see below commercials too, broke every rule in the book. Jump cuts, poorly focused, unrealistic dialogue, you name it. But history never took into account the appreciation for shmaltz. Definition of shmaltz? Something so bad, it's good. Literally, you have to laugh, or at least smile when you watch an Ed Wood production. And with the passing of time, they have only gotten funnier and more interesting for those same reasons.

Four commercials from Ed Wood.

And just to say we told you so, here is more proof of Ed Wood's perfection at imperfection. The Top 10 "clunkiest" moments from his cult classic Plantet 9 from Outer Space.

Have a great weekend.

Tablet wars - Android vs Apple (where's Playbook?)

2012-01-04T10:30:00.001-05:00

Table wars - android or apple

I'm a little discouraged that Rim's Playbook is not mentioned. I quite like mine. A smaller table enables me to easily take it almost anywhere. And the operating system is fast and intuitive. And more importantly, it plays Flash. While you click through this article, keep Playbook in mind.

Android or Apple - Choose your Tablet Eweek Article

Creative Excellence Fridays - The Condom Sex app

2011-12-16T10:35:00.002-05:00

The city of Stockholm was alarmed at the number of young people practising unsafe sex.
So, why not create an app that will encourage condom use. Sounds simple? Not really, but the results were encouraging.

An app that measures your sexual performance. Imagine. And it's all very scientific. Because you know no one would ever:
a) exaggerate their performance
b) lie about their success rate
c) take a few seconds/minutes longer to report their findings.

Here's how it works. You download the app to your smartphone, take your phone to bed with you, let it "record you getting busy", and upload the results to a social networking site. It's one small step from simply having a reality camera doing live feeds of your sexlife. Wait, that probably already exists, only people get paid for it.

Obviously scientific accuracy was not foremost in the minds of the app creators. It's creating an exclusivity around the idea of "safesex is cool". See the report video here.

The Sex Profile from ESTER on Vimeo.

Job well done. Have a great weekend. And don't forget to include your smart phone, otherwise it'll feel left out.

Creative Excellence Fridays - GPS

2011-12-09T06:07:00.002-05:00

Happy Friday. We've been getting into the holiday spirit, creating video holiday greetings for clients this week. As we all ease in, or in some cases careen into the holiday season, we think about possible gift ideas. Not everyone can get a tablet. GPS devices are always a fan favourite. Garmin has been a leader in GPS for some time and have recognized the importance of strong creative to set themselves apart in the category.

Here's the new holiday creative.

I have to admit a fondness for the mandolin playing squirrel from 2009 . For our Toronto readers you'll notice one shot from the Adelaide ramp overlooking the CN Tower.

Finally, here's a fun spot from a competitor, Mio Digiwalker.

That's it for this week. May all your creative be excellent.

Solving the mystery of Edgeranking on Facebook

2011-12-08T13:23:00.003-05:00

When you're managing your facebook page, every time you create an update, you have an edgerank. That object will have a single edgerank. The new news feed on Facebook impacts how that all rolls out. EdgeRank is calculated using affinity x weight x time decay. Here are some interesting thoughts from EdgerankChecker co-founder Chad Wittman.

Author Archives: Chad Wittman
Did Facebook Really Fix The 3rd Party API Penalty? Posted on December 1, 2011

In early September we decided to tackle the rumor that 3rd Party APIs (using a platform to publish other than Facebook.com) had some sort of penalty affecting EdgeRank. Our article caused quite a stir reaching many of the major tech news outlets. We heard many social marketers concur that they have been seeing similar affects on their data. A few weeks after our report, Facebook overhauled the news feed (correlated with the recent f8 conference). 3rd Party APIs developers submitted a bug to Facebook detailing an issue that seemed to severely affect Impressions and Engagement. Facebook acknowledged the issue and vowed to fix it. This seemed to somewhat validate that there was some sort of effect impacting 3rd Party APIs. Approximately 1.5 months passed and Facebook updated the bug and proclaimed that it had been fixed.

How was the data analyzed?
Facebook announced their bug fix on November 6th. We grabbed data from the two weeks before November 6th vs the two weeks after November 6th. The sample size included over 4,000 Pages that posted during both of those time frames. We took every Page that posted over this time period and averaged their Post Impressions (per Post per fan at time of Post). We then noted how the Posts were published (directly from Facebook or 3rd Party API). In order to fairly assess how the bug fix affected each Page, we needed to only include Pages that posted directly on Facebook and used a 3rd Party API during our time frame. With this in mind, our data was most accurately analyzed by only looking at the most widely used 3rd Party API (in our data set). After imposing several rules to accurately compare the data, our segmented sample size was 391. To clarify, we required a Page to have posted with a 3rd Party API and directly on Facebook once each, during each time frame compared.

Creative Excellence Fridays - The bacon edition

2011-12-02T15:00:00.003-05:00

One of my favourite foods is bacon. There are probably fewer foods that are worse for you, Krispy Creme donuts aside.
My friends who are vegetarians just simply don't understand. It's one of life's great mysteries how someone can smell bacon and not want to lay strips of it over just about everything.

Food ethics and cardiac concerns aside, bacon is a beautiful food. Even for vegetarians.

Our fascination for bacon doesn't just stop on the plate. It also could include a little behind the ears and a dab behind the neck.

And finally, this commercial may just push you over to the vegan side. The KFC double down. Two filets, two slices of cheese, two slices of bacon. Heart paddles not included.

That's it for this week. May all your creative be excellent. Have a great weekend.

What is Can Spam

2011-12-01T10:44:00.005-05:00

As we work with clients to help them successful marketing their email campaigns, this question comes up again and again. What is Can Spam ? It was a law passed in the United States congress which only applies to residents of the United States.

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 establishes the United States' first national standardshttp://www.blogger.cohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifm/img/blank.gif for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce its provisions. The acronym CAN-SPAM derives from the bill's full name: Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Does Canada have any anti-spam legislation? Sadly, no. Bill C-27 died on the order paper when Stephen Harper's government prorogued parliament in December 2008.

That's not to say professional agencies and marketers in Canada don't act with a best practices model in place.

It's a given that every email that goes out has an option for the reader to unsubscribe. More best practices in upcoming blogs.

Snowblower Headlines

2011-11-29T08:37:00.002-05:00

This man has never won a Cassie or a Lassie or anything ending with ie, but he has written a phenomenally sensational headline; a headline that has inspired people to laugh, and more importantly pick up the phone and react. And isn't that what we're all trying to do?

Weh-Ming Cho's 900-word manifesto on the attributes of his snowblower – a "machine of snow doom that will cut a 29-inch path of pure ecstasy" – has been viewed about 360,000 times in less than a week.

You can see the CTV nationally covered story here.

Viral snowblower ad generates job offers, proposals | CTV News

Brilliant. And so simple. The two words that best describe the perfect campaign.

Creative-excellence-fridays-GeorgeClooney-commercial-spokesguy

2011-11-25T09:04:00.002-05:00

We're familiar with George Clooney, movie star. But thanks to the internet and viral we're becoming very familiar with George Clooney, shameless pitchman. There was a time (pre-internet) when actors would promote products overseas, in Japan and other countries where the chances of their fan base seeing the ads was very remote. Today, media savy actors like Clooney recognize that being in a commercial is not a bad thing. And Clooney chooses his commercials wisely to enhance his "movie star" image and promote his sense of humour. And hey, the money's not bad either.

Here's a commercial that was viraled like crazy a few months back. D&B Bank in Norway.

Clooney understands his image is much more appealing when he pokes fun at himself, as opposed to taking himself too seriously.

No martini, no party.

And finally.. his spoof spot on the Emmy's celebrating Modern Family.

That's it for this week. May all your creative be excellent. Have a great weekend.