Beyond Madison Avenue | The Ad Industry's Cutting Edge Blog

Leveling the Creative Playing Field January 27th, 2012 by Briskman Stanfield
	Everybody knows that Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest day for advertisers to showboat, but it has also become one for the average Joe/Joan to bring it. On this special day when ad rates are sky-high ($3.5 million for 30 seconds), not only can the biggest and best become part of the brilliant ad extravaganza, but now amazing creative opportunities are popping up in contests to give all minds a chance to express their creative genius as well.

Speak Value, Not Benefit January 27th, 2012 by Dwayne W. Waite Jr.
	The biggest difference between the human race and animals, besides the opposable thumb, is what we know as free will. We have the ability to think, decipher, code, and oblige. We decide what our values are; what we consider right and wrong. We can define the environment around us and change it to our liking.

Nurturing the Future of Advertising January 26th, 2012 by Dwayne W. Waite Jr.
	The advertising industry has been facing a "creative talent" shortage for quite some time. Agency executives feel that they cannot recruit the talent they believe they need, young professionals and junior copywriters who grew up in the Information Age think they know everything and deserve more than they should, and recruiters are stuck in-between, thinking that both sides have no idea what they want.

Will Volkswagen's Super Bowl Sequel Fall Flat? January 26th, 2012 by Diane Levine
	Is anything as torturous as waiting for the sequel to something you loved the first time around? It's a time fraught with terror and what-ifs. What if it doesn't live up to the original? What if it does? What if it sucks so bad that it tarnishes the legend established by the first?

We Have Snow: Visit Us, Please! January 25th, 2012 by Dwayne W. Waite Jr.
	If your consumer doesn't come to you, sometimes you have to use advertising to come to them. At least, that is what the Colorado Tourism Office (CTO) did this month to skiers. In parts of the west and mountain west, the weather has been pretty mild. Great for those who don't mind a light snowfall, but terrible for the skiing business. According to the CTO, numbers across its 22-member resorts are down 10.65% compared to last year. It says that another reason for the drop could be the amount of in-state skiers who decided to stay away from the slopes. So the CTO relied on advertising. The tourism office placed the ad you see above in the New York Times, telling its readers that the heavy snowfall it received recently made it the best place in America to ski. Hopefully for them, it works. The ad was estimated to cost around $50,000, and it is the first time since 2002 the CTO made such a buy.

Madness: How Ad Agencies Used to Be January 25th, 2012 by Dallas Baker
	I am often reminded that most workplaces are not like ad agencies. I should say, they aren’t like agencies used to be. Even agencies have gone all HR and PC these days. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if an article like this one were forbidden on some agency servers today. What a shame. This business is too great to be like everything else. I remember, at my first agency, learning the business with people I still love and respect today. We shared a collective attitude that the ridiculously low salaries and sacrifices we made were just part of the game. We also loved the hope for bigger and better things.

Carnival Docks Its Advertising January 24th, 2012 by Dwayne W. Waite Jr.
	Carnival, the world's largest cruise operator and owner of the Costa Concordia, has suspended is broadcast, digital, and direct mail marketing for its namesake line, Carnival Cruise Lines, for an unspecified amount of time, reports the Vancouver Sun. In case you haven't heard, the Costa Concordia hit a reef off the coast of Italy.

Negative Campaigning: Positively Unacceptable January 24th, 2012 by Michael Lindquist
	Election Day is still several months away, but the negative campaigning is well underway. Mitt Romney has already been ridiculed for his attack ads against Newt Gingrich. Ron Paul released an ad going after candidate Rick Santorum. As we get closer to November 4, we’re going to see more electoral slugfests.

Sex and Advertising: Super Bowl Edition January 23rd, 2012 by Dwayne W. Waite Jr.
	It is now no longer a guessing game: the New England Patriots and the New York Football Giants will play in the big game on February 5. Now as the days go by, people will shift their focus to ticket sales, pre-game analysis, and of course, the commercials. USA Today and several other major publications wrote pieces about the increase of "sexy advertising" in this year's Super Bowl.

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