Monday, June 26, 2006

Philanthropic inspiration

Hats off to Warren Buffet for advancing beyond business as usual and shining a very bright spotlight on philanthropy! I hope his $37 billion gift inspires people to build legacies of their own. In fact, thanks to the proliferation of community foundations, individuals don't have to be billionaires to have an impact. You can become part of forever by donating whatever you can afford, by establishing an endowment of your own, or by including a community foundation in your will. One act can have a profound effect.

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it is attached to the rest of the world." - John Muir
DiggIt!Add to del.icio.usAdd to Technorati Faves

Friday, June 23, 2006

Simplicity Celebrated

It's always good when simplicity is hailed. Our times are filled with chaos, images, words, complexity. Often, unnecessarily. Our challenge each day is to cut through the clutter and create messages that people remember. Calls to action that compel people to actually act.

We believe the core message is the strongest. And, apparently, BBDO execs just might agree: "As the world becomes more multidimensional, the things that stand are the simplest concepts," said John Osborn as quoted in USA Today (6/23/06).

So, for those of you ready to accept the challenge: state your desired message, then boil it down to the most important word, and let that one word drive what and how you communicate.
DiggIt!Add to del.icio.usAdd to Technorati Faves

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Who doesn't aim for 'engaged' consumers?

Theresa Howard had a byline in today's USA TODAY for a story claiming that "much of the ad industry has been converted to the belief that engagment--adspeak for getting consumers to spend time with brand messages-- is what gets results from advertising."

Who are these people in the industry that have just been converted?! Engagement has been the name of the game for decades. Getting someone's attention was really never enough to close the deal consistently. If you didn't connect with the consumer, they certainly weren't going to stick around very long.

But it was reassuring for those of us without tickets to Cannes to know that we've been doing it right the whole time-- do good creative work, get people talking positively and find ways to connect your sales message throughout everything you do.

Big budgets seem to yield bigger press. Our hats are off to everyone, everywhere doing great creative that connect consumers with a clear message consistently.
DiggIt!Add to del.icio.usAdd to Technorati Faves