haha! hoopla!

It surprises me that there is or ever was a question that the “firing” of Jerry Seinfeld by Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, Microsoft’s agency of record, was anything but a pre-planned and calculated PR stunt to generate maximum buzz for their agency and new campaign. Oh, uh, and yeah, it’s nice that Microsoft got some play, too. I mean, didn’t anyone read Bogusky’s book Hoopla!.

What? Eh? Oh.

Okay, so maybe not that many people read it…but I did. And their M.O. is to pull something like this, pretend that it’s real until there is a big media swell behind it and then pull out something…like an event or a website or a sneak visit by Jerry Seinfeld like two months into the “new” campaign or something.

Not that there is anything wrong with the way that they roll.

It’s not like it has been unsuccessful for them.

But seriously people, it’s not like they haven’t done anything like this before. And really, after it’s happened more than once it’s probably time to realize that, maybe, they’re kind of a one-trick pony, trying to pull this Hoopla! stuff over on consumers of every brand that they work on.

And I say this as a fan of CPB.

Albeit as a fan that is kind of tired of the pointless yammering of “they’re fucked” and “they screwed up” and “did Seinfeld really get fired?” For God’s sake, if you’ve been paying attention to the agency you know that it’s all part of their master plan.

reactions to crispin’s microsoft work

After a nice Sunday of doing Sunday things, errands and a haircut and things like that, I get back to the Official Apartment of the Biz to see that my roommate and some of her friends have sat themselves immediately in front of the television to watch the Video Music Awards on MTV. Needless to say, this was unexpected.

After a crack or two about Kurt Loder and Kennedy, I sit down to watch it.

And just as I am about to get up and walk away – about two minutes in to my watching, after seeing Katie Perry and Miley Cyrus compete for the Dumbest Starlet Conversation Captured on Television Award – on comes Crispin, Porter + Bogusky’s new spot for Microsoft:

Some of the comments that were heard from the group:

– That is awful

– I bet Crispin shot like 50 of those and they’ll build them up just like the Mac vs PC ads were built up

– But I liked Mac vs PC from the beginning

– Crispin was hot shit when they had like only Mini and Burger King

– Bill Gates looks surprisingly likable

– He is as cheap as my Dad…only he has more money that all of Europe

– It doesn’t make me want a PC

– Maybe they should spend their marketing budget on making their computers better instead of bankrolling Apple knockoff commercials

seth macfarlane animates the king

I guess that whole Subway thing didn’t work out…maybe Seth MacFarlane just got sick and tired of drawing fat Peter Griffin slavering over the tasteless processed meats and cardboard cheeses that Subway puts in their so-called sandwiches.

Either way, he’s working for a new fast food company these days.

He’s working for the king. Burger King, that is. Though numbers weren’t released, you can be sure that Burger King paid him a lot of money to animate The King in a series of spots that will run before MacFarlane’s new online show, the catchily named “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.”

The MacFarlane-animated series of three ads will run as “preroll” ads in front of the “Cavalcade” clips and is a great example of how doing ads just isn’t considered selling out anymore.

“Cavalcade” is distributed exclusively through Google (though YouTube will have a dedicated page), served through its AdSense program, serving targeted websites with streaming video of an episode instead of a typical banner ad.

Burger King is along for the ride, and is doing it in a way that is as close to total integration with the show while still being separate.

It’s a fantastic idea…and about time, too. Crispin, Porter + Bogusky had been relatively quiet after taking the interactive portion of the account from struggling VML (not to mention that they hadn’t really hit any creative home runs on any of their brands recently)…this puts paid to rumors that the agency was too stretched to churn out their traditional level of work.

This is a great idea, a short lesson it what it means to do truly 360 cross-functional work.

Final thought: Maybe that’s why MacFarlane told Subway to shove it…they and their hack-tastic shop MMB, Boston just aren’t able to think outside their silos. Or maybe they’re just not able to think in general (

the advertising ivy league

There is an Ivy League in advertising. That is, there is a small group of shops that if you happen to get a job at one you will be shopping that experience and using it to open doors the rest of your career.

The Ivy League group does change from time to time as shops fade and upstarts blow past the competition, but a shop’s reputation counts for a lot and even if it’s fallen on hard times it still means something to say “I was at Fallon when Pat Fallon was there (or, even better, when Tom McElligott was).”

My number one piece of advice to newbies, be they creative, planning or account, is to get an Ivy League shop on your CV.

Like now.

The advertising Ivy League is a lot like Premier League soccer in that there is relegation – poor performance and you will be replaced – and a lot of people who start to hate you if you’re on top of your game for too long.

The current Ivy League is:

Crispin, Porter + Bogusky:

This agency is so hot, they could take a crap, wrap it in a ’64 Beetle, put a German accent over it and sell it to Volkswagen as advertising. Which they just did.

Goodby, Silversten and Partners:

Adweek’s Agency of the Year has a long history of top drawer work, San Francisco is a great location and when I was last there everyone seemed to drive a Mercedes. So…yeah.

TBWA/Chiat/Day:

Lee Clow, the work for Apple and a bunch of really good looking employees sort of sum up the positives of this Ivy Leaguer.

Wieden + Kennedy:

Best known for their Nike work and for Dan Wieden’s principled refusal to join the 4A’s, they have faced recent encroachment on their key account by CP+B but are still a place with “wow” factor.

Fallon

This may be a contentious one (and they are in danger of falling out of the Ivy League) because of the recent account losses and other upheaval…but Fallon is still a place that opens doors because of its history of greatness.

There are a lot of agencies that are hanging around just on the outside of this select group. Shops like Arnold (which was recently in the Ivy League on the strength of their better-than-Crispin VW work), The Martin Agency and Butler, Shine, Stern need only that iconic campaign to be in with a shout while other, larger places like your DDBs and BBDOs are places where you can collect awards and do great work…they just don’t have the same cachet.

Though, to be fair, a Pencil looks good no matter which shop you won it at.

bobby knight throws chairs for volkswagen

When Crispin, Porter + Bogusky launched their first work for Volkswagen since winning the account from Arnold I was a little underwhelmed. I sorta liked the idea behind the devilish “Fast” but it didn’t come together in the end, seeming creepy and un-VW.

I am not the only one who thought that it wasn’t working.

But, as a client that believes in its agency should, Volkswagen gave Crispin a chance to take another crack at it. They came out with the pleasant spot for the Rabbit and in that and subsequent ads seemed to be getting the hang of this VW brand thing.

The newest campaign for the brand has just launched, stars “Max” the 1964 Beetle. Tim Ellis, Volkswagen’s VP of Marketing considers Max to be “a lovable icon that everyone will know and relate to.” I’ll let you decide if Max lives up to the billing.

The new campaign is part of a push by the German carmaker to sell 1 million cars in the United States this year and will support the launch of several new vehicles including the Tiguan crossover SUV, Routan minivan, Passat CC, clean diesel Jetta TDI and Jetta SportWagen.

The campaign launched during March Madness with a spot featuring Max and legendary basketball coach Bob Knight (who, strangely, looks exactly like my grandpa):

The category norm for telling consumers that your car won a reliability award is to show said car driving thrillingly around a curvy road while pulling a see and say to emphasize the reliability point. An area for a :5 dealer tag later, that’s a wrap.

So kudos for Crispin in not following convention.

They also did a good job directing Bob Knight; at least in my experience professional athletes and coaches are as engaging in front of the camera as a 2×4 but they have managed to make it work. The dry way that he runs through the script even makes it more amusing.

Will this idea help to sell a million cars? I don’t know. It doesn’t reach the heady creative heights of the best VM ads from DDB and Arnold, but maybe all VW needs right now is to hit consumers over the head with the fact that they are past their reliability issues of earlier this decade.

And if you’re hitting someone over the head, Bob Knight is the guy to do it. Har har.

crispin still makes me hungry for bk

Like most agency people, I pride myself on being able to see through advertising and remain unswayed by it. Sure, I will occasionally make purchases of products because the ads are good, but more out of professional respect than actually having been swayed by the message.

Sometimes, though, even I give in and fall for the sugary sweet promises in ads.

Being a little bit hungover today from a random Wednesday night out, all I wanted was fast food. And even since the office-themed Burger King campaign from Cripsin, Porter + Bogusky there has only been one fast food joint that I will stop at. And, since this spot in particular, only one thing to order:

I love the Spicy Tendercrisp to this day and can only thank the boys (and girls) in Miami for their great work that still has me coming back to the well.

we hear…cpb snagged burger king’s interactive business

The old client-agency relationship just isn’t what it used to be, especially in this day and age of agencies expanding their capabilities beyond the traditional limits. Now, competitive isn’t just between agencies in traditional functions like advertising and media and PR, but rather with all agencies because you never know who has staffed up to try and take your piece of business.

With the word on the street is that Kansas City-based interactive agency VML has been shown the door by Burger King, a client for which they had responsibilities for online advertising and BK.com, and it going to be replaced in its interactive duties by advertising agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, it is clear that nothing is sacred.

Sure, CPB isn’t just any ad agency.

In fact, they probably get the whole digital thing better than most interactive agencies and they have shown the ability to do a range of work, from building campaigns around a viral hit like Subservient Chicken to building useful and engaging consumer applications like the Domino’s pizza builder. Plus, the agency gets good PR, and what client doesn’t want that?

It’s hard to say if there is cause, as it were, for Burger King to ditch VML (but I would love to know if any readers have thoughts on that), though if they had anything to do with the Dr Pepper-Pauly Shore-Valentine’s Day debacle I strongly encourage any and all clients on their roster to immediately reconsider their professional relationship with the agency.

I have reached out to all relevant parties to confirm the rumors, but nobody is talking this morning. Or at least they’re not talking to me.

If the rumors are true, congrats to Crispin and bummer to VML…hopefully nobody’s job is affected.

“content” is an meaningless buzzword

The idea of “content” as it is used these days in marketing presentations is an empty idea. In presentation-speak it is nothing more than a buzzword that agencies use to try to sell in an idea. In execution-reality, content is neither compelling, engaging nor original.

Content has been commodified by agencies seeking to replicate successes like Fallon’s BMW Films and Crispin’s Subservient Chicken…but without an actual idea. These agencies make presentations where they say things like “this effort will be supported by compelling branded content online.”

Compelling branded content online historically ends up as a limp and not-very-entertaining long format commercial masquerading as something consumers might be interested in – because it is sold in as a tactic and not as the idea itself. Usually the so-called “compelling content” is coupled with an appeal to consumers to “create their own content” within the same brand manager-limited parameters that the ad agency is working under.

The problem with selling content as a presentation bullet point is simple. There are lots of content creators out there, from the traditional networks and movie studios and record labels to the new media outlets like blogs and YouTube and social networking.

Compelling content comes from a great idea, not because the Marketing Director thinks that it’s time to get a video up on the internet.

The problem with creating content within the brand-accepted restrictions used to guide televisions spots is also simple. There is a lot of “content” out there, especially in the online space. BMW Films was a success partially because it had the first-mover advantage and partially because online movies allowed BMW to show its cars being taken to the limit of performance – without a super about the dangers of driving like a getaway driver. Subservient Chicken was a success because it matched the quirky vibe of the internet while offering interaction. Mainly, both were successful because of reasons that we don’t know as much as we feel. And we all feel, I am sure, that they cannot be replicated or incrementally improved upon.

The next big thing is going to be a big departure. The internet demands as much.

The problem with giving consumers the change to “create their own content” about the brand, but then giving them a brief and tightly restricting their ability to take the brand where they want to take it is simple. That isn’t control. It’s the equivalent of giving a child a coloring book and four colors of crayon and telling them that they have to stay within the lines.

You might get minor variations, but it’s the same old story and it’s not particularly original.

There have been a lot of recently-launched campaigns that hinge on “content” lately, and all have been duds. From Xerox’s Incredible Inc to Schick’s disastrous consumer video Challenge to the three more “online video and UGC video contest” programs that are going live this week, the generally-accepted idea of “content” is a dud.

It is generic, soulless and unoriginal.

To paraphrase Mugatu from the movie Zoolander, “it’s all the same campaign! Doesn’t anybody see this? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”

rumors are fallible, crispin isn’t

And unfortunately so is the little bird who gave me the scoop that Fallon was a leg up on Crispin in the race for the Microsoft account. Perhaps there was a little bit of wishful thinking wrapped up in those rumors.

While Crispin walking off with the Microsoft account is a crushing blow for Fallon – a big win on an account of the size and profile like Microsoft would have done wonders for morale, new business and the balance sheet – perhaps it isn’t as crushing as it seems at first.

With an inferior product offering, Vista, a cash cow in Office that is being threatened by free software peddled by companies like Google, and products like the Zune aren’t even in the same league as products like the iPod, Microsoft is likely a poisoned chalice. It is especially poisoned for Crispin, an agency that has done a great job with charger brands like Mini and Burger King but has struggled when faced with brands that are in more of a leadership position.

Crispin is a great agency with a track record of great creative so I am not counting them out, but it is going to be an uphill task…an uphill task that, unless Microsoft can improve their products, advertising may not fix.

juvenile gags work for crispin and burger king

Ripping on Crispin Porter + Bogusky has gained a certain traction lately as the little charger shop known for great work on off-beat brands like Mini has grown into a creative powerhouse doing work on blue chip brands. It’s much easier to find fault with a shop that could challenge your own.And people are doing their best to find fault with the Miami agency’s work.

Sure, some of their work has flopped. The Miller Lite “Man Laws” campaign is the most memorable of what didn’t work…but every agency has something like that happen from time to time, be it due to poor research, poor insight, poor strategy, clients unwilling to take a risk, or any number of reasons.

Crispin really hit the big time when they started doing work for Burger King, a perennial second-choice that was quickly losing share, revenue and relevance, and that work was fresh, irreverent and tightly targeted to a specific demo:

My guess is that Burger King targets an 18-30, with a sweet spot in the 20s, male who eats fast food a few times a week. Psychographically, they are unlikely to care about health and wellness, look to get more – flavor, serving size, etc – from their food choice and are open to look to the brand as a way to get more emotionally fulfilling experiences out of life.

The small hands gag from the spot above is not cerebral or deeply meaningful, but it is undeniable that it gets interest and a laugh out of the target while using the joke to say something about the product (as opposed to an unrelated joke that gets attention but says nothing about the brand). It seems easy because the gag is sort of juvenile. It’s not.

Both the spot in question and the evolving campaign have done well on sales and brand measures. And some of those ads are really funny.

The Man Laws may not have gone down all that well, but CP+B still has it.