March 2010
2 posts
A word about the truth.
posted by Ronan Doyle, Creative Director
I lie for a living. I’m as trustworthy as a car salesman. I’m always trying to sell you something you don’t need. I’m slick, and I’ll say anything to get your money out of your wallet, and into mine.
I’m an ad man. And as such, I’ve been called a lot of things.
Advertising has consistently ranked among the least respected professions in America. In a...
Read the fine print. It just might change your...
by Ronan Doyle, Creative Director
As I roll into my 12th year in the advertising business I can’t help but look back at the very unlikely path that led me here, and what it was that first had me thinking that this is something I could do, and do well.
I didn’t set out to be a copywriter when I headed off to college. I was a business major briefly, believing I’d be happy as a bank manager. There...
February 2010
2 posts
Feeling warmer about the economy, but feet not so...
It should be news to no one that 2009 was a less than buoyant retail year. OK, it was a spectacularly abysmal year. Retailers’ reaction to the crash and burn economy of latter 2008, and anticipation of imminent lackluster consumer demand (what demand..??), resulted in historically low levels of new-goods inventories for 2009 –a true deplenishment of supply across the board, and rightly so. This...
December 2009
1 post
November 2009
3 posts
The luxury of time, and the responsibility to...
Let’s make sure we’re all on the same page here. The internet is great, right? Not just because we can find - intentionally or not — endless amounts of free porn, discount Viagra from India, and yet another way to make up to $5000 a week in our spare time from the comforts of our Snuggies, but because we can talk to everyone, all the time, for free.
We can be “friends” with people who used to...
Sure we're for sale... but don't call us whores.
We’re ad execs. Mad Men. Jingle-writers. We draw pretty pictures. Make up “slogans” and sell you more stuff you don’t need day in and day out. But c’mon… we have some morals. And, we have a unique talent. If YOU could do this even remotely well, you wouldn’t pay us for it. And trust us, you don’t do this well.
But even us ad folk have to draw the...
Candidates... just be yourselves. Well, okay... a...
Randy Olson’s new book, Don’t be such a scientist: Talking substance in an age of style, is a read that should be on the gift list of every ad agency client in the country. Dr. Olson’s premise, broken down to a single though for the purposes of this blog, is simple: Just because you find it utterly fascinating, doesn’t mean that everyone does. Putting forth scientific argument is no easy task. But...
October 2009
4 posts
New page, nice intro... CNN.com →
August 2009
34 posts
“The Lion sleeps tonight.
Senator Ted Kennedy, dead at 77. Rest in peace.”
“What the internet has allowed us to do is engage the consumer not for :30...”
No one likes waiting by the phone...
Something all agencies can relate to: Waiting for the RFP results. (sigh)
We respectfully decline...
There was a time when just about any client was happily snatched up by any agency lucky enough to get ‘em. Regardless of social norms, culture, or political correctness. Advertising was very much a business of commerce, and less about personalities. Today, it’s different. Every agency is a slightly different animal. There are far more boutique shops, like ours, than there ever were in...
A really long way of saying that agencies just... →
“Fun without sell gets nowhere but sell without fun tends to become obnoxious.”
– Leo Burnett
The state with mandatory health insurance, is the... →
“Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public...”
– Leo Burnett
“I’ve never found a client’s business problem that could be solved...”
– Lee Clow
We see the golden age of advertising on 'Mad Men.'...
Advertising used to be different. It used to be easier, though We’re sure it didn’t seem so at the time. Our CD Ronan Doyle’s first job was working for two guys who became millionaires simply for writing “I (heart) NY.” An enduring campaign, yes, but to rocket to fame and fortune because of it? It was a different time. Back then, you wrote a print ad, a radio ad, or a TV spot. And if...
“If you want to work in advertising, ducks better roll of your back like water.”
– Ronan Doyle, G&P Creative Director.
(Full disclosure: some cocktails may have been involved)
“In this business, you can never wash the dinner dishes and say they are done....”
– Mary Wells Lawrence - Famed advertising copywriter, founder of Wells Rich Greene, and unquestionably, the First Lady of Advertising. Also, quite intimidating to be at a breakfast meeting with.
“In this very real world, good doesn’t drive out evil. Evil doesn’t...”
– Bill Bernbach
“The reality is that [small agencies] can do things for their clients the big...”
– Alex Bogusky
Check out the trailer for Lemonade Movie from... →
“John Huges lived every ad guy’s dream. He got out of advertising.”
– American Copywriter
Sometimes it seems that RFP should stand for "Real...
It’s RFP day here at G&P. That means a few things are bound to happen, like it or not: It’ll be a long day. Someone’s going to get pissed off. Something significant will change in the final hours. We will swing from 110% confience that we’ll win, to 110% positive that we won’t in a matter of seconds — a few times.
It makes it sound like a miserable part of...
“Advertising doesn’t create a product advantage. It can only convey it.”
– Bill Bernbach
“Too many ads that try not to go over the reader’s head end up beneath his...”
– Leo Burnett
Your brand is your baby. We get it. We really get...
As we who work in the advertising business go through our careers, we work on many, many brands. Some so briefly that as time passes, we forget about them. Others, we stay with for years, almost to the point that we feel like we’re a part of that brand. Some leave a lasting memory, some don’t. It’s almost like a relationship. But no matter how long we work on a brand, or how much we become a part...
Pissed off? There's an app for that. →
“There’s no such thing as ‘hard sell’ and ‘soft sell.’ There’s only ‘smart sell’...”
– Leo Burnett
Did he call? Does she like me?
You come home from a long day at the office, running errands, dining with friends, whatever. The answering machine is blinking. There’s a message. (For the sake of argument, let’s pretend answering machines still exist somewhere other than our parent’s homes and romantic comedies). You press play. It’s that guy or girl you recently met at a party or bar or dog park. He/she awkwardly tells you...
Mobile billboards. Okay? Or oh no!
Mobile billboards. Diesel spewing trucks with no purpose but to advertise whatever is printed on the side. What do you think of them? Everyone has seen them. Some of us, in the ad biz, have actually designed them, recommended them to clients, and been responsible for them being on the road. For that, we’re sorry… maybe. At a glance these things seem to represent all that is evil about...