New award recognizes authentic depictions of people with disabilities in television advertising
FORT WORTH, Texas – American Airlines and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) are pleased to announce the creation of the “Altitude Award” honoring the best U.S. television commercials featuring authentic depictions of people with disabilities.
“One of the highest priorities at American Airlines is our continuous endeavor to promote workplace diversity and inclusion and equal employment opportunities for all individuals,” said Dan Garton, Executive Vice President – Marketing. “We are looking forward to reviewing all of the entries and know that our judging panel – and the public – will have many worthy commercials to consider.”
Two name changes—or more correctly, modifications—have received attention in the media and branding worlds recently. Pizza Hut has announced that its boxes and select locations will carry the name “The Hut,” and RadioShack plans to unveil new creative for “The Shack,” its shorter, catchier moniker.
These name shortenings are proof of what professional namers already know: names acquire meaning, they don’t create meaning. Once meaning is established, the brand name can be reduced to a shorthand version of itself, signaling its secure place in the realm of consumer awareness.
In the case of Pizza Hut and RadioShack, there’s also a more tactical motivation. As brands move away from their legacy offerings and expand product assortments, they outgrow their descriptive names. Today, Pizza Hut sells more than pizza, and RadioShack has more than radios on its shelves. The two brands are larger than their original products; their names stand for tangible and intangible experiences.
Many people asked this question in email, so I thought it's informative to put on the blog.
Ads of the World is a website targeted at advertising professionals. Therefore the criteria for selection in general is to please you. To serve you I try to select ads that answer one of the following criteria:
Inspiring. Ads that either in their approach, idea or execution inspires you to do better work.
Informative. Ads that are created for global and well known brands. This is in order for creatives to be in the know.
Interesting. Ads that are interesting in one way or another. For example a campaign from an obscure country or a very unusual product.
The ads are selected by one person (me) who consults several friends and colleagues both within and outside of the industry when in doubt.
There is an element of subjectivity in the selection because unfortunately there is no clear way to select the good from the bad. It can't be measured with a scale or a tape. The selection will never be to 100% liking to everybody. But over the years I've learned what the audience likes and I try to be as close to everybody's taste as possible.
One thing is sure. A campaign that is recognized as such by everybody will always gets published.
If a campaign is rejected from publication on the front page it is not a reflection on the quality of work. It means it doesn't answer any of the 3 criteria above. At the same time it can be a campaign that produces results for the client, so it would still qualify as good advertising.
Ads of the World is completely independent, so the decision to publish material is not influenced by any network.
New York, NY – July 28, 2009: New York Festivals 2009 World Tour of the NYF International Advertising Awards hosted their first ever awards presentation in Shanghai China on Saturday July 25th. The spectacular day long series of events, held at Jiading SINO ADI Creative Zone culminated with a gala award presentation and screening of the 2009 New York Festivals Gold Winners in TV and Film. Legendary ad man Neil French was presented the 2009 New York Festivals Lifetime Achievement Award. CumminsNitro, Brisbane received the newly minted Boutique Agency of the Year Award, along with a Grand Trophy; Revolver Films, Sydney took home the just launched Production company of the Year Award; and Big Ant International, New York was bestowed the celebrated Grand Trophy.
NYF President Michael O'Rouke with Lifetime Acheivement Award recipient Neil French
On the heels of producing one of the most successful automotive viral films in history, (over 20 million downloads to date), Mad Media has completed work on a new Gymkhana project dubbed “Ken Block’s Gymkhana TWO: The Infomercial”. The project was designed to promote Ken Block’s new DC Shoes TeamWorks Clothing Collection. Block’s design inspirations for his collection all stem from his Gymkhana TWO car, and each feature his rally sponsors’ colorways and graphics.
With Google's new “location extensions” addition to its AdWords platform announced last week, small businesses will soon have the ability to extend their AdWords campaign by attaching their business addresses to their ads. So what does this actually mean for local businesses advertising online?
This feature is the latest extension of Google’s Local Business Center, which launched in 2005 and has not really gotten significant traction. Google is clearly making a big effort to add value for its small business owner customers through LBC, and to that end I think the location extension feature it is a good small step.
For advertising professionals, this is very good news. Including location in ad formats works well for many local businesses, and this puts yet another key tool at their disposal. Using this functionality is important as Google Maps is the fastest growing part of Google and increasingly where a large share of local search is happening. While this change is good for ad pros, the big question from my perspective is, ‘Do local business owners really want to service their own ad accounts?’ All of this infrastructure assumes the small business owner has the time and the inclination to manage all of this on his/her own. Given that 40% of small and medium size businesses do not even have a website, I do not see this as being useful to the majority of small businesses for some time.
One measure of success for advertising is when people start creating their own iterations of a campaign. Remember the millions of Absolut ads or the funny mockup ads made for MasterCard's priceless.
It looks like Snickers' award winning campaign with made up words going viral too. Check out the irreverent and ads below from Craig Baldo.
Anyone who names things for a living will tell you a name is simultaneously the most important and least important signifier of a brand. It’s the most important because it’s the most succinct verbal expression of everything the brand stands for. It’s the least important because that “everything” is what gives the name value. The name alone—or out of its brand context—doesn’t mean anything aside from its dictionary definition, assuming there is one.
Now think of all the places you’ve been—especially those places that conjure up fond memories or positive associations. The place names stand for something much larger than their geographic locations. Even places you’ve never been can have very specific associations. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr at the top of the Empire State Building. Dr. King and the March on Washington. Paris, France. Wasilla, Alaska. Each place name has its own narrative, real or fictional, that gives it significance beyond the everyday. The name represents the story that is the brand experience.
Have you experienced the frustration of account executives and clients not being able to understand the value of your creative campaign. Do they make your professional life miserable. Here is a way to release some pressure.
Colloquial speech is a powerful force, especially when it comes to brand names. In both cases above, a registered trademark is being invoked, but most consumers aren't aware of it. "Band-Aid" is a registered trademark of Johnson & Johnson, and "Laundromat" was a trademarked name created by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in the 1930s.
To receive the Agency of the Year Lion, DDB Brazil's president and CEO Sergio Valente went up the Palais des Festivals stage with all his team members that are in Cannes, France for the 56th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
And with a quick "Yes, we can", he celebrated the Agency of the Year 2009 title.
This was the fourth time that the agency -founded in 1989 by Nizan Guanaes and Guga Valente - won a worldwide title in Cannes.
The first two titles were in 1998 and 1999, when it was still headed by Mr. Guanaes, who is now chairman of Brazilian Communications group ABC (20th largest Marketing Communications group in the world). ABC has a minority share of the winning agency, along with other Advertising, Marketing services, Content and Entertainment companies.
Before I start my rant, let me say that I love award shows. They generate the best ideas in the industry and they take advertising forward. Award shows also bring attention to the best talent and a great occasion to celebrate ourselves.
However, there are several things wrong with them and they should change to make them promote creative values even stronger. When I'm talking about reforms, I refer to reforms to our own AotW Awards as well.
Here are the four things I consider needs change:
1. Effectiveness isn't considered
Effie award winning creative work.
Most award show jury members do not take effectiveness into consideration. While creativity is something very subjective and hard to measure precisely, there is one aspect of an advertising campaign that is possible to measure objectively. Effectiveness can be measured by return on investment. Let's put on the table how much profit did you make for spending each advertising dollar. Did the campaign raise brand awareness or perceived value measurably? Such numbers have been measured by all large brands for years. Why aren't they influencing the award show results at all?
One might argue that award shows are about creativity and not business. However we should not forget that the process of advertising is only complete with it's audience. It's mass art that supposed to be understood by the target. If only the only people who get it are insiders and the jury it failed to do its job and it can't be categorized as good advertising. It still can be great conceptual art, but then we should call the award shows art competitions, not advertising competitions.
My suggestion is that ROI is taken into consideration when judging creative and if an ad is counter productive or generates negative ROI it should never be awarded regardless how "creative" it is.
The company known for having “Probably the Best Beer in the World,” has announced the winner for the “Probably the Best Mate in the World” competition. Carlsberg Canada yesterday announced that Wesley Watt will be taking his entourage on a VIP weekend to Las Vegas. “This is absolutely amazing!” said Wesley. “It was some serious competition. I’m still in shock that I won and I can’t wait to party in Vegas!” When asked who he was taking on the trip, Wesley said “Not sure yet…maybe I’ll hold my own Best Mate competition!”
Becky Kwiatkowski, Brands Marketing Manager for Carlsberg Canada Inc. said “This has been a complete success and has greatly surpassed our expectations of how far the competitors would take this challenge. It has achieved our goal in compelling and engaging consumers while still enhancing awareness of Carlsberg as a premium import brand. GJP understood what we needed to do and they made it happen.”
"We're People — Wanker" reads the campaign, which was created a day after the highly controversial Wrangler "We are animals" campaign won the most prestigious Cannes Lions Press Grand Prix award. Clearly people are divided about the Wrangler campaign and either feel offended by it's message or the lack of. I personally like the campaign, I think it works. And, I like the humor of the spoof as well. Good work!
Ads of the World has been assigned the #2 position in the Advertising blogs Ultimate rank by blogrank. I'm really happy about this and will work on becoming number one. Thank you for your support and ideas on making this site what it is.
Also, let me congratulate to all the blogs taking top scores! Good job!
New York, NY – June 18, 2009: The 2009 New York Festivals Advertising Awards, honoring “The World’s Best Advertising” will present iconic commercial director Joe Sedelmaier and legendary advertising creative Neil French with NYF Lifetime Achievement Awards. The NYF Lifetime Achievement Award recipients will be honored in separate ceremonies during the inaugural New York Festivals International Advertising World Tour.
Joe Sedelmaier, the brilliant award winning commercial director known for his quirky humor and off beat casting for client’s such as FedEx, Wendy’s and Alaska Air, will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chicago launch of the seven city 2009 World Tour. Sedelmaier’s hysterical, instantly recognizable commercials include Fed Ex’s “Fast Talking Man” and Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef.” His quintessential comedic point of view hit a nerve with audiences while lambasting the workaholic corporate culture of the 70s and 80s. The comic genius has garnered countless international awards, was inducted into the New York Art Directors Hall of Fame, and most recently was an official selection in the Sundance Film Festival for his film “OpenMinds.”
Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B) (see work here), an MDC Partners firm, announced today that they are expanding their European base of operations with the acquisition of renowned Swedish digital agency, Daddy. Currently CP+B has service offices in London, Spain and Germany but will now count Gothenburg, Sweden as its first creative hub and factory within Europe. This is a true launch of CP+B Europe with Gothenburg as the center of European operations. The move strengthens CP+B’s global presence and allows them to better serve their current global clients, Burger King and Microsoft, as well as pursue new business with global demands.
Subscriptions is a feature on AotW that allows you to be notified by email when certain content is updated on the site.
This subscription feature has been updated on Ads of the World today to make it fully customizable to your needs. Please take time to read what the current system does and how you can modify it to you liking.
It's increasingly more important for all parties (advertiser, agency, media) to deliver ads to reader that are relevant. And, in the near future I feel relevancy will drive the industry.
Traditionally good media planners knew where to place ads to make sure readers are interested. This method is not very precise, but this is what off-line media could offer for a long time.
Is the Wrath of Cannes a bitter response to the self-congratulating, glad-handing, marblebag-wearing, Dom-swilling, bronzer-slathered soirees that fester up on the beach in Cannes?
Now more than ever, yes. And make no mistake, Wrath of Cannes’ creators—indie agency Woods Witt Dealy & Sons—would rather be there.
But due to unprecedented layoffs, agency budget cuts, management fear of the perception of extravagance, and plain disinterest, Wrath of Cannes resonates this year more than ever.
2009 is kicking our industry’s ass. It’s time you kicked back with a foolish, boozy, pointless celebration of the best work your battered but too-dumb-to-quit souls can muster.
Visit www.wrathofcannes.com for more info (before you dive in, don’t forget to roll over the “firing squad” videos on the homepage).
Whether because of economic circumstances or technological developments, agencies are changing. As we steer into a different genre of advertising, both structures and roles must evolve, says Intermarkets' Siddhartha Banerjee.
It’s a lazy Friday afternoon and, for once, the sun isn't playing its usual game of hide and seek. Instead, it's raining outside - which is very unusual for this time of year. But since the entire world seems to be taking unexpected turns lately, we can't blame Mother Nature for joining in.
Take advertising, for example. All agencies are suddenly suffering. Clients are using the recession to try to reduce fees, and many agencies have made multiple redundancies. Others have enforced pay-cuts and frozen recruitment; essentially everyone is battening down the hatches, pitching like crazy and working hard to maintain their existing clients. And in this turmoil, we will slowly but surely abolish the agency pyramid structure.
With a challenging economy, many marketers are cutting budgets and don’t have the ability to tap into seasoned marketing talent. Addis Creson has put together a top ten list of tips that marketers should consider when creating an ad.
Great ads have one thing in common. They sell things. Things like products, services, ideas or lifestyles. If they don’t do this directly, they are memorable enough to influence a consumer at the time he or she makes a purchase.
Bad ads are brand poison. If you go public with a half-baked concept, a forgettable headline, or a me-too message, chances are the ad will have the opposite effect you intended. It will drive consumers away. Even worse, it will drive them to the competition.
Below are 10 principles to keep in mind when creating an ad. Read them before, during, and after you have created your ad. Make them your checklist. And remember, every ad represents not just a product or feature or price, but what your brand promises.
Sorry for the relative slowness and temporary issues with AotW. We are aware of the problems and working on fixing them. We should be able to solve most issues within days. Sorry about it and thanks for your kind patience.
Here is a letter I received from Fabio Fernandes / President and CD or F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi:
In 2009, F/Nazca will not submit its pieces to any festival that charges registration fees.
Our decision is in line with a broader objective for the agency in 2009—to focus on the qualification of our professionals, their well-being, agency growth, expansion of our facilities and double our attention on everything that is really the core of our business.
F/Nazca has absolutely nothing against advertising awards and does not agree with those that find them irrelevant or harmful to the business. To the contrary, the agency owes much of its reputation to the visibility reached through these local and international contests, which have, consistently and frequently, recognized F/Nazca’s creative quality.
Therefore, our decision merely reflects our feeling that 2009 should be a year to channel our resources to that which will more rapidly turn F/Nazca into an even bigger agency, even more professional, even more human and, because of that, even more wanted by advertisers and talented professionals in our market.
Next year, we will resume participation in festivals with all our strength, as we have always done. Because we are very intense in everything we do.
Fabio Fernandes – President / Creative Director
Communication Department F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi Cacaia/Adriana + 55 11 3059 4907/ 4902
What can I say? During these times of economic recession and wide-spread lay-offs this is a very good strategy.
Free is good! AotW is free. And if you get to the front page of AotW you can get an award for free as well!
We tried to create a simplified design that allows the content stand out more. Allows for a better and faster browsing experience overall. (appr. 40% faster page generation times.)
Surely, it will take a few days to get used to it. I realize that change is always difficult to deal with. But, I hope you will like the new design on long term.
At this moment it's not 100% complete, but we're working on it. I'm sure you will find some bugs here and there. Please be so kind to report any problems or requests in comments.
I would like to thank CUOMA Design Studio, a graphic design studio based in Argentina who secured this twitter account for our use. Check out their site: http://www.cuoma.com/
Please comment here if you use twitter with your address!
You may have noticed a new menu point on the left: News, delivered by AgencySpy.
AgencySpy delivers breaking news and inside information from Madison Avenue and beyond. It reports on account wins and losses, new campaigns and the industry’s revolving door in an often irreverent but always unvarnished way. The sources are the very people making the decisions affecting the global ad industry every day.
You must have noticed the point next to member names. This is a humble attempt to reward those who are active on the site. You gain points for the following activities:
• Voting — 1 point
•• Commenting — 2 points
••• Creating a forum topic — 3 points
The points were added to your account retroactively, so all your past participation is correctly noted to the last point. In the future we have plans to introduce more features that are related to points.
In order to prevent gaming the system, it's literally pointless to spam with comments or forum topics to gain points, because deleted content will delete the points too.
Let me know your ideas on the next steps! ( and gain 2 points ;)
Dear members, please click My account, then click Edit and update the five sections in your profile. All fields are optional, so you can fill in as much or as little as you like.
Make sure to select if you're available for job offers and freelance work. You never know when somebody will find you with a great offer. From the emails I get, I estimate somebody gets an offer through Ads of the World every day.
Make sure you allow people contacting you by checking the box Personal contact form under the Account settings.
Under Account settings you can also upload your picture.
Thank you for your cooperation and stay tuned for more options in the near future.
“RDX Wall Art: The Making Of” is a new short documentary highlighting some of the pioneers of Bristol, England’s thriving street art community. The clip features the new Acura RDX, Ben Foley and Chris Hopewell from Collision Films (Radiohead’s “There There” music video), and internationally celebrated street artists David Whittle and Henry St. Leger (Sainty), and goes behind the scenes of this 30-second spot to illustrate this massive undertaking which fuses animation with street art.
Two name changes—or more correctly, modifications—have received attention in the media and branding worlds recently. Pizza Hut has announced that its boxes and select locations will carry the name “The Hut,” and RadioShack plans to unveil new creative for “The Shack,” its shorter, catchier moniker. 
How place names represent brands
To receive the Agency of the Year Lion, DDB Brazil's president and CEO Sergio Valente went up the Palais des Festivals stage with all his team members that are in Cannes, France for the 56th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
The company known for having “Probably the Best Beer in the World,” has announced the winner for the “Probably the Best Mate in the World” competition. Carlsberg Canada yesterday announced that Wesley Watt will be taking his entourage on a VIP weekend to Las Vegas. “This is absolutely amazing!” said Wesley. “It was some serious competition. I’m still in shock that I won and I can’t wait to party in Vegas!” When asked who he was taking on the trip, Wesley said “Not sure yet…maybe I’ll hold my own Best Mate competition!” 
Joe Sedelmaier
Is the Wrath of Cannes a bitter response to the self-congratulating, glad-handing, marblebag-wearing, Dom-swilling, bronzer-slathered soirees that fester up on the beach in Cannes?
Whether because of economic circumstances or technological developments, agencies are changing. As we steer into a different genre of advertising, both structures and roles must evolve, says Intermarkets' Siddhartha Banerjee.
You may have noticed a new menu point on the left: 
American Airlines, AADP Launch Advertising Award for Positive Portrayals of People with Disabilities
New award recognizes authentic depictions of people with disabilities in television advertising
FORT WORTH, Texas – American Airlines and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) are pleased to announce the creation of the “Altitude Award” honoring the best U.S. television commercials featuring authentic depictions of people with disabilities.
“One of the highest priorities at American Airlines is our continuous endeavor to promote workplace diversity and inclusion and equal employment opportunities for all individuals,” said Dan Garton, Executive Vice President – Marketing. “We are looking forward to reviewing all of the entries and know that our judging panel – and the public – will have many worthy commercials to consider.”