The Ad Club Ad Club Blog

Reflecting on 50 Years of The Hatch Awards

Kaitlin Maud — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:17:18 GMT

Terry MacDonald is known for being one of the best radio and print writers Boston has ever seen. He is respected for his keen understanding of strategy and under his direction The Ad Club President, Kathy Kiely, won her first Hatch Award with Pearson and MacDonald for her work for the Museum of Fine Arts. Kathy cites Terry as her mentor from her first job in advertising and throughout her career. We are honored to have Terry as a judge for our 50th Annual Hatch Awards and in the spirit of this occasion we share this note from Terry with all of you.

I've been reflecting on the fact that the 50th Anniversary of Hatch is also the 50th anniversary of my own career in Boston advertising. I joined the Boston advertising community when I took my first job, at Doremus & Company, in 1960.
       Not many will remember this, but the first Hatch Awards ceremonies were held over lunch! I think there were about five first place awards in those days: newspapers, consumer magazines, trade magazines, radio and outdoor. Something like that. By 1972, the number of categories had escalated to 12, and the young agency Pearson and MacDonald, whose creative department numbered just five, took five of those first place Hatch Awards. (Pretty impressive in percentage terms: 42%.)
       Heady times.
       Best,
    Terry

Click here to learn more about Terry's legacy.
To share your reflections on 50 years of Hatch e-mail kaitlin@adclub.org

Boston Buzzes Over The Edge Conference

Kaitlin Maud — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:11:02 GMT

Thank you to all who attended The Ad Club's 2010 Edge Conference: Branded in Boston- the event was an enormous success! From Mayor Menino to Colin Angle and Jonathan Kraft, the day was full of insight into the 'marcom' community. The live-tweet still lives on: #adclubedge and we have showcased some of our favorite wrap-up blog posts below!

"Early in the morning, Mayor Thomas Menino and two of his right hand men, Andrew Feinberg (Policy Advisor to the Mayor) and Mitchell Weiss (Chief of Staff to the Mayor), introduced the audience to a brand new initiative: Boston’s “Innovation District.” Like all good plans, the strategy was clear and concise: Create a living environment that will attract and retain innovators to Boston. With 1,000 acres in South Boston ripe for development, the Mayor and his staff plan to create such an area — one that offers affordable housing, communal workspace for businesses, entrepreneurs and researchers, as well as a fun living environment that is, well, worth living in."
-Mullen "Highlights From the Edge"

"During the conference, (Ad Club Chairman) Andrew Graff presented a new study on the marketing and communications sector in the Bay State that estimates that the sector contributes $38.7 billion to the state's economy and generates 143,000 jobs. The event had 19 sponsors including The Boston Globe, which presented The Idea Award to three businesses: Staples, Converted Organics, and Neighbor Brigade. The award recognized people and their companies who have developed 'new revolutionary ideas that will forever impact and shape the world we live in.'"
- The Boston Globe "Conference celebrates Boston's brands"

"When it comes to companies in Boston, there aren’t many that are more cutting edge than iRobot and their line of consumer robots.
That’s probably why our friend’s at Boston’s Ad Club asked iRobot CEO Colin Angle to speak at the end of yesterday’s EDGE Conference. Afterall, the EDGE Conference is about great ideas that have been 'branded in Boston,' and that’s exactly what led to the success of iRobot, says Angle.
No, it wasn’t just the red hot technology behind iRobot’s consumer-friendly cadre of smart machines that resulted in millions of sales. iRobot currently employs over 500 people and did $300M in revenue last year alone."
- BostInnovation "Colin Angle Says Branding was the Secret to Getting iRobot into Homes"

"'We are honored to accept this award, and it is heartening to learn that The Boston Globe and the Ad Club have recognized the value of what Converted Organics(TM) and our supporters seek to accomplish. We believe that the conversion of food waste into organic fertilizer is a revolutionary idea that will impact and shape the world in which we live as these products continue to gain market acceptance," said Flannery. "Every year in the United States, 31 million tons of food waste is disposed of in landfills, where it decomposes to create methane -- a greenhouse gas 20 times more environmentally destructive than CO2. Our mission is to reduce the amount of food waste that ends up in landfills while creating a value-added product, and we are pleased that these efforts have been recognized today.'"
-Market Watch "Converted Organics(TM) Receives 2010 The Idea Award for Top Innovative Start-Up Company"

"The most surprising and interesting presentation came from the closing keynote speaker, Jonathan Kraft of Patriots fame. Hearing how the Patriot's brand extended beyond just the logo to include the whole Patriot's experience virtually and physically was eye opening. It was a good day for Design Museum Boston who made some great connections. A very special thank you and kudos to the AdClub team for putting together a great day. Here's to future collaborations!"
-Design Museum Boston "The EDGE Conference: Branded in Boston"

"Small agencies rule! PJA’s Phil Johnson moderated a lively panel of local small agency leaders, including Steve Curran of Pod Digital Design, Jeff Freedman of Small Army, and Dave Batista of BEAM. The major takeaways? Traditional, large ad agencies no longer have a monopoly on marketing and brand. Emerging channels are much more accessible than, say, traditional broadcast, so small agencies can excel at them. Below the line is now above the line. Content is king, but many big agencies struggle to balance great storytelling with strong interaction design. Smallness means less operational nonsense and more client focus."
-Partners + Simons "What I Learned at #adclubedge"

If you want to be featured on The Ad Club Blog, send your ideas to kaitlin@adclub.org

Frankenstein’s Data: Unlocking value and protecting privacy (Guest post- Ben Jones, Digitas)

Kaitlin Maud — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:21:51 GMT

Frankenstein’s Data: Unlocking Value and Protecting Privacy
Ben Jones, Digitas

I don’t know your name, but I know where you live. And what sort of car you drive, and the magazines you subscribe to, and what you’ve been looking at (it’s ok--we’re all obsessed with True Blood). I know who your friends really are, and who’s just spamming you with their foursquare updates. And that’s only the beginning. And guess what? It might actually be good for you.

We’re in the midst of a privacy revolution that bursts out into the open every now and then, like when Facebook decides your pics are everyone’s business (and photo-stalking the half-stranger becomes an office bloodsport). But the real revolution is happening more quietly, as data about you and your behavior proliferates in dozens of public and private databases and enterprising developers start to connect the dots.

When we’re brainstorming ideas for a brand, we start by exploring things the brand could do that would be useful for their customers. What application could we provide that actually does something customers would like? How could we invest in value, rather than just another barrage of messages? One of the exercises we do is to think about bringing streams of data together in meaningful but perhaps unexpected ways. For hotel developers, a map that shows existing hotels as well as traffic patterns to surface new locations. For business travelers, flight delays plus screening line times so they know whether they need to run for their flight. For home improvers, weather forecasts combined with discounts for indoor or outdoor projects, depending whether it’s going to rain.

As new sources of data are made available, and new means to connect them are developed, we will have a wealth of new ways to use data to bring value to customers. Now add in the emerging media targeting models—that use your social network, or your behavior to bring you more relevant ads and experiences (and, by the way, all the free content you enjoy but not enough to pay for with anything except your attention). Government entities are also opening up all kinds of data: crime statistics, sickness, public records of all kinds. We are awash in data, and just figuring out what we might make if we joined it together.

The opportunity (and the challenge) of the privacy revolution that’s going on is not whether a Facebook or an Amazon will let some big cat out of the bag. Thousands of cats are getting let out of thousands of bags in an endless stream and what remains to be seen is when they join together into some sort of huge and freaky Voltron-cat, whether they will use their powers for good or evil. And while there are people out there trying to make the web safe for our data (like those fine folk at work on the Oauth protocol), we’re going to have lots of loose data around to play with.

So what to do? First, see the possibilities inherent in this new set of tools for brands to use. The next time you are asking a team to concept, don’t send them to Getty for images. Send them to Programmable Web for APIs and see what they can cook up (and invite some developers to the party). There are all kinds of ways to unlock value and surprise and delight customers.

Second, think carefully about how customers might respond when they see data about them put together (just because you can pick up their license plate number from webcams and assemble an on-the-fly video of their road trip doesn’t mean you should).

Third, keep a wary eye on the shifting edges of privacy perceptions. Most of the lawmakers are focused on the big cats at Facebook and Google, but the public mood is uncertain about what’s private and what’s not, and how they feel about it. They’re happy to have the value (relevant ads in context), but might not be so happy when they realize how that value is derived. I don’t want to visit the factory, but boy oh boy are these hot dogs delicious.

Ben Jones is the Executive Creative Director of Digitas Business, the B2b arm of Ad Club member company Digitas.
This post is the kick off to our guest blog series and was inspired by the content for our upcoming Edge Conference: Branded in Boston. If you want to be featured here, e-mail your ideas to kaitlin@adclub.org.

Ad Club Chairman Andrew Graff Wraps-Up Rosoff Awards

Kaitlin Maud — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:04:01 GMT

The 14th Annual Rosoff Awards, presented by the Ad Club, recognize companies that have meaningful diversity, mentoring, and inclusion programs and was held (fittingly) at the John F. Kennedy Library this week. In addition, $110,000 worth of scholarships were presented to eleven gifted and diverse high school students - “Rosoff Scholars” - who will be mentored by a sponsored company throughout their four years of college.

Given that the advertising industry has been challenged with increasing its diversity practices, I am proud of the Ad Club for leading the way. As Kathy Kiely, President of the Ad Club pointed out in her introduction of the Rosoff Awards, Boston has a rich history of Human Rights firsts and we are a city that is arguably one of the most tolerant places to live in America.

Our Keynote speaker, Harvard Business School professor David Thomas , author of “Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America” talked about applying business practices to diversity. In other words, diversity initiatives should not simply be an HR program, they should be woven through a company’s strategic business plan.

Some of Thomas’s thought provoking points included (paraphrased):

In order for an organization be diverse and support differences in the workplace, executive leadership needs to form relationships that are transformative.

We want a diverse workforce, but are not always willing to learn from our diverse employees.

With these points in mind, I challenge my fellow CEOs:

Get out of your comfort zone and get to know a business colleague or form a new business relationship with someone different - not the same people you see at every event. Learn from the experience. Shake things up.

Be inspired by the companies that were honored by the Rosoff Awards and other companies that work hard to support diversity, not only because it is the right thing to do, but a smart business decision in the long run. Use the Rosoff Awards as a model in your city.

Show support for programs like the Rosoff Awards through sponsorship, volunteering and mentoring - offer up what your company does best. Show your employees that these types of programs matter and encourage their participation (setting an example from the top down is the best way).

The Ad Club has stepped up its commitment to fostering diversity since the Rosoff Awards were founded 14 years ago. How can you do your part?

(Source)

Dennis Crowley Checks-In at The Ad Club

Kaitlin Maud — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:06:35 GMT

Dennis Crowley Checks-In at The Ad Club

On Monday, April 5th, after a long night out with The Ad Club for Opening Day, Dennis Crowley checked-in with us at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge. Wade Roush, Chief Correspondent for Xconomy moderated the talk and all who were in attendance watched history unfold as Dennis shared the origins and future of Foursquare and we all collected the Swarm badge. The Ad Club received an outpouring of feedback on the event and we'd like to thank everyone who blogged, tweeted and shared their thoughts with us.

"What appeals to me about foursquare is that it truly delivers on the right info/right time promise. When you know someone’s physical location, the potential to hit them with relevant messaging just goes through the roof. I’m really looking forward to them releasing an API for us to play with and really happy that so many people in our biz get excited by new technology." - Nicole Berard (Mullen Blog)

"I was once told from a trusted advisor that success happens when preparation meets opportunity — I have a hunch we will all be looking back at this a year from now, reminiscing about our earned “swarm badge” (for 50+ people checking in at the NERD Center at once), and praising the serendipity of Foursquare’s (and Dennis Crowley’s) massive success." - Mike Proulx (Hill Holiday Blog)

"On Monday, a few of us from AMP attended a great Ad Club event with Dennis Crowley (@dens), co-founder of the location based social networking website Foursquare at the NERD Center in Cambridge. I’ve known about Foursquare for a while, but it was a great opportunity to hear directly from one of the creators not only how it started, but where it’s going. With growth rates rivaling Twitter, the 1 million user mark close at hand and a potential $100 million buyout from Yahoo, Foursquare is about to get even more attention in the coming months." - Matt Rainone (AMP Agency Blog)

"A couple days ago, I attended a Boston Ad Club event with foursquare's Dennis Crowley, during which Xconomy's Wade Roush interviewed him on the start-up’s meteoric growth and the rise of location-based social networking. Again, I was somewhat surprised that this type of interview — of a tech CEO by a tech writer — was conducted primarily, if not solely, in person." -Steven Duque (Steven Duque blog)

"Foursquare is not just Dodgeball reincarnated. The badges and points and mayorships are all new, and to hear Crowley tell it, they’re a fundamental part of the service’s appeal, both to players and to potential business partners. And while Foursquare is far from the only social network built around the promise of rewards for local check-ins—competitors include Brightkite, Booyah, Gowalla, Loopt, and Whrrl—it’s fair to say it’s the current darling of the social media elite, not to mention Silicon Valley venture firms, who are competing to invest more cash for equity stakes in the the startup. (There are even crazy rumors that Yahoo is interested in buying Foursquare for a reported $100 million.)" - Wade Roush (Xconomy)

Pictures from the event with Dennis are on our Facebook page and the Twitter stream is still alive under #adclub #4sq. To hear the Podcast of the event and to read a Q&A between Wade and Dennis, visit Xconomy's website.

Over $4,000 Raised for Beyond the 11th at the Women's Leadership Forum

Kaitlin Maud — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:18:19 GMT

Susan Retik-Ger touched all of us with her courageous story at the Women's Leadership Forum. Together with the event attendees, The Ad Club, our sponsors, and volunteers helped raise over $4,000 for Susan's non-profit organization, Beyond the 11th, which provides support Afghan widows. Her commitment to this cause was born from her own journey into widowhood — a journey that began on September 11, 2001, when her husband David was killed on American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center.

To hear more of her story and learn how you can get involved with Beyond the 11th visit http://www.beyondthe11th.org

The Ad Club is having a Twitter party!

Kaitlin Maud — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:52:34 GMT

In preparation for our Women's Leadership Forum, we have planned a Twitter party for this Wednesday, March 10th, from 7-8pm EST.

Moderated by Creative Strategist, Lisa Hickey (@lisahickey), and Tweeting under the name "Women's Wednesday" (#ww) we will engage women in a virtual dialogue about the best advice they ever got. Some of the advice we collect will go into a coffee-table book to be distributed at the event.

To get your ideas rolling, here are the four questions we plan to put out over the hour. If you can't make it online for the Tweet-up, but you would still like to share your thoughts- visit our Facebook page and write it on our wall or link us to your blog!

Q1: Inspired by Women's Leadership Forum speaker, @ellynletters, book "What I Know Now": What do you wish you knew when you were younger that you know now? #ww
Q2: What do you see as the greatest struggle for women today? #ww
Q3: Who has been the most influential female figure in your life and why? #ww
Q4: What's the best advice you ever got? #ww

Please follow @theadclub and log-on on next Wednesday to share thoughts, expand your social network and connect with other vocal women in the online community.

Other confirmed discussion leaders will include:

Annette Arabasz (@ConnellyAgency) Web Developer/Designer at Connelly Partners
Neha Yellurkar (@nehaleela) Interactive Strategy at Hill Holliday
Cindy Gordon (@newcynthia) Vice President, Digital and Social Media at 360 Public Relations
Kathy Kiely (@madameprez) President, The Ad Club
Nicole Berard (@mullenunbound) Associate Creative Director, Mullen

Women's Leadership Forum Speakers
Diane Hessan (@communispaceCEO) CEO of Communispace
Ellyn Spragins (@ellynletters) Author of "What I Know Now: Letters to my Younger Self"

Ad Club PR Committee Members
Rebecca Sullivan (@rebeccasullivan) Rebecca Sullivan Public Relations
Mike Rush (@mycrush) 360 Public Relations
Kaitlin Maud (@kaitlinmaud) The Ad Club

For more information & to RSVP for the party head on over to Facebook!

The Ad Club & The Ad Club Foundation announce The 2010 Diversity Internship program

Kaitlin Maud — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:04:06 GMT

The Ad Club & The Ad Club Foundation are proud to announce The 2010 Diversity Internship program.

The Diversity Internship has developed into one of New England's most premier internship programs. Past participation has included Arnold, Staples, Blue Cross Blue Shield, GSN Digital, Oasis, MIT Technology Review, Digitas, and many more.

For all participating companies, The Ad Club offers the following benefits:

    * Recruiting dynamic and intelligent students from New England's most prestigious colleges and universities
    * Screening candidates and matching them with your company's particular needs
    * Working closely with your company to provide multiple qualified candidates for internships
    * Pairing each intern with a mentor for the summer
    * Hosting 5 events for interns over the course of the summer, including a career development panel at the end of their program

Each intern will be offered a summer stipend of $3,500, to be paid by the host company.

By March 12, please let us know how many interns your company would like to host. The program will last from the beginning of June to the middle of August, for a total of 10 weeks. Recruitment and placement will take place over April and May.

The Ad Club Welcomes New Members

Kaitlin Maud — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:06:43 GMT

The Ad Club welcomes new members!

Trustee Members: Jack Morton
Corporate Members: Continuum
Entrepreneur Members: Antler Agency

Win a pair of Opening Day tickets!

Kaitlin Maud — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:18:28 GMT

The Ad Club is excited to announce that we will be giving away a pair of Opening Day Tickets!

In preparation for our Women's Leadership Forum, we have been searching far and wide to collect "the best advice." Beginning today, March 1st, we will be looking for our Facebook Fans to post the best advice they ever got to our Facebook wall. Your submission can be words, pictures or videos. The submissions will be used in our book "The Best Advice I Ever Got" to be distributed at our Women's Leadership Forum and the videos will be played during registration at the event.

On Friday, March 12th we will review the entries and the Facebook fan who submits the Ad Club's favorite advice will get to live like Mad Men with us for a day. They and a friend will attend the Red Sox Opening Day game against the Yankees on April 4th and will be treated to two grandstand seats and an all-you-can eat dinner buffet with endless beer, wine and soft drinks at the Best Buy Club inside Fenway Park.

So what are you waiting for? Visit http://www.facebook.com/theadclub to submit the best advice YOU ever got for a chance to come to Opening Day.

AdAge: Chrysler Preps Shift of Digital Duties to SapientNitro

Kaitlin Maud — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:02:32 GMT

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Chrysler is prepping to name SapientNitro its digital agency of record for all automotive brands, replacing Omnicom Group's Organic, executives familiar with the matter say.

The shift to the independent network represents the latest chunk of Chrysler business to leave Omnicom after a series of creative and media agency reviews the car maker initiated last summer following its alignment with Italy's Fiat.

The last round of the interactive review was said to be a three-way shootout between Organic, Meredith Corp.'s Genex and SapientNitro.

A SapientNitro executive confirmed the win, while spokeswomen for Chrysler and Organic declined comment on the shift.

Executives familiar with the matter estimate the account -- which gives SapientNitro responsibility for digital duties globally across the Dodge, Ram Jeep and Chrysler brands -- is worth nearly $30 million in billings. It caps a nice new-business run for the network that was formed last year out of the merger of traditional agency network Nitro Group and Sapient. Among other things, SapientNitro was recently named to Unilever's global digital roster and tapped as lead agency for Target's coming e-commerce platform.

Last week, Chrysler Group named Meredith Corp.'s New Media Strategies agency its new social-media marketing agency of record. That move furthered the expansion by Meredith, a company perhaps best known for publishing magazines such as Family Circle and Better Homes & Gardens, into agency services. Social media duties, along with its customer relationship management business, expand on an existing relationship between Chrysler and Meredith, which began with custom publishing services. Meredith acquired Los Angeles-based Genex in 2007. Chrysler handed Meredith Integrated Marketing CRM from Omnicom's BBDO Detroit, which has since shuttered.

Chrysler in recent months has totally overhauled its agency roster. The automaker is also working with Richards Group, Dallas, for Ram creative; GlobalHue, Southfield, Mich., for Jeep; and Fallon, Minneapolis, for the Chrysler vehicle brand.

Check out the article on AdAge.com

BusinessWeek: AOL Moves to Build Tech 'Newsroom of the Future'

Kaitlin Maud — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:59:00 GMT

BusinessWeek: AOL Moves to Build Tech 'Newsroom of the Future'
CEO Tim Armstrong deploys software that helps journalists collaborate on articles readers seem to want, then reports the traffic they generate

By Douglas MacMillan

Tacked to the newsroom walls in AOL's downtown Manhattan headquarters are pages and pages of Web traffic data. The numbers tell the growing number of journalists who work there how well their articles are performing and—thanks to the ads that appear alongside them—who's paying the bills.

Judicious use of Web-analytics software is a hallmark of what AOL Senior Vice-President Marty Moe calls the "newsroom of the future," a large and growing news gathering operation at the heart of AOL's turnaround effort. As demand dwindles for the dial-up Internet service that made AOL (AOL) a tech powerhouse in the 1990s, Chief Executive Tim Armstrong wants to jump-start growth by creating original online content and selling ads to appear with it.

To succeed, Armstrong, who will complete his first year at the helm in March, is leaning on AOL's background in technology. Rather than merely craft articles and passively post them on the Web, as many newspapers and magazines do, AOL is using software to determine which articles to write and then give journalists up-to-the-minute data on how much traffic those articles generate. It helps the journalists collaborate in low-cost ways, too. "We really want to enhance journalism with technology," Armstrong says in an interview. "We feel like we have a strategic window to invest in quality content."

AOL has hired more than 500 full-time journalists, many of them veteran reporters and editors seeking refuge from the business implosion in print journalism. The company also buys material from more than 3,000 freelance contributors. As AOL becomes better known for creating its own "quality content," advertisers will pay more to put their advertising on its pages, says Armstrong, former head of U.S. ad sales at Google (GOOG). "Brand ads should be a lot bigger on the Internet today and I think it's going to take hard work and creativity."
"The way is open for AOL to innovate"

Armstrong, who led AOL through its spinout from Time Warner (TWX) in December, hasn't said how much ad revenue he expects from the news operation. But he signaled his commitment to beefing up news when he largely spared journalists from a round of 1,400 job cuts in January. "The journalism enterprise was not affected at all," says Moe.

Startups such as Huffington Post and TechCrunch are similarly attempting to build online media companies from the ground up. Few, if any, are trying on such a grand scale. Media behemoths, meanwhile, are still struggling to find profitable ways to translate print operations to the Web. "The way is open for AOL to innovate," says Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism at New York University.

AOL will need to persuade Wall Street that it can succeed where others have failed, says Mark Mahaney, an analyst at Citigroup (C). "The market is skeptical that they've got a new mousetrap here," Mahaney says. Since it began trading publicly in December, AOL's stock has hovered near its opening price of 25.07. On Feb. 3, AOL reported a fourth-quarter profit. Still, the editorial operations are likely losing money, Mahaney says. Ads account for $471.6 million, or about 58% of the total. On Feb. 19, the stock rose 72¢ to 25.15.

To keep costs in check, some of AOL's news and blog sites, including Politics Daily and Engadget, are entirely run by virtual workforces. Editors and writers interact and produce news remotely, using tools such as chat.
profit-sharing with journalists?

AOL plans to continue hiring editorial staffers. In February, the company signed Marty Steinberg, a 28-year veteran of the Associated Press, to be executive news editor of AOL News. Armstrong also plans to replace Bill Wilson, the departing head of its media business, with fellow Google alumnus David Eun in March.

News editors' computers come equipped with software—created internally by combining data from AOL's own analytic tools with such other resources as social network feeds and Google's trend-tracking service—that provides daily updates on the number of Web clicks AOL's stories receive. "Audience growth and audience engagement have to be the things that we judge the most off of our journalist investments," Armstrong says. AOL is even considering sharing a portion of quarterly profits with staffers whose work fetches the most page views.

In January, AOL ranked seventh in overall traffic on the Web, with 87.6 million unique visitors, according to Nielsen—a drop of nearly 2% from a year earlier, when it ranked fifth. Its news sites make up about one fourth of that traffic, or 22.5 million page views.

To help get traffic flowing back to its site, AOL is letting user interest play a role in story assignments. Editors use internally developed software to figure out what topics are hot on the Web, based on activity on such sites as Google and Facebook. Frequently, stories are assigned to explore such popular topics as "How to Open Champagne," which was published in December on AOL food site Slashfood.
"fear" readers will generate fluff

Seed, a service AOL launched last year, similarly pays freelance journalists to write on subjects in demand. For example, Seed recently asked for short, 100-word blurbs on "Your best packing tips." Entries are edited for quality and accuracy and then posted on AOL sites. Vetting outside contributors and thoroughly editing the submissions is crucial to keeping AOL's brand intact, Armstrong says. "I don't think we would call it user-generated content," he says. The company's January acquisition of StudioNow, for $36.5 million, will let videographers post content on AOL sites for pay.

Some journalists fret that by letting the readers decide which stories get assigned, media outlets risk turning their attention away from hard, investigative news. "My fear is that once they start analyzing where their traffic comes from and where their dollars come from, they decide maybe journalism should go after Hollywood celebrity stuff and sports figures who are doing dope," says Alan Mutter, who writes about the media industry on the blog, Reflections of a Newsosaur.

That hasn't been the effect for James Graff, who joined AOL after losing his job as a senior editor at Time. "We're breaking stories," Graff says. "We're feeling the kind of hum that comes from the fact that we're building something."

Douglas MacMillan is a staff writer for Bloomberg BusinessWeek in New York.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2010/tc20100221_085000.htm

Scott Prindle, Hatch Awards 2009 Judge, Featured in AdWeek

Kaitlin Maud — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:58:25 GMT

AdWeek: The New Tech Heads
Digital technologists share their expertise, creativity

What's the best way to marry content and code? For general agencies that question is being answered by digital technologists, an increasingly critical interdisciplinary position that helps shops create compelling digital experiences for clients. These experts, who come from disciplines including programming, strategy and production, have the digital agility necessary for today's fast-paced times. "We're in a period of transition where more and more people are discovering the need for this role," says Chick Foxgrover, CIO at the 4A's and principal at Web content strategy firm Foxpath IND in New York. "It's about taking a more holistic view of what it means to create for media." Here, a look at four senior agency talents who are redefining creativity in the digital age.

Scott Prindle > Executive creative technology director > Crispin Porter + Bogusky

"Technology fuels great ideas," says Rob Reilly, co-ecd at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. "It's critical for agencies like us." The MDC Partners agency has been at the forefront of digital creativity ever since "Subservient Chicken" put on its garters for Burger King in 2005. Back then, the agency was just beginning to build its in-house digital resources and, after winning the Volkswagen account late that year, it turned to Scott Prindle, a technical director at R/GA, to help oversee its digital future. The economics grad from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who received his early Web training at the U.S. Department of Commerce, says, "I liked bringing digital and technology capabilities into what was then more of a traditional creative environment. Alex [Bogusky] and I agreed that technology is a creative discipline." The agency is now armed with 50 technologists who are an integral part of the creative process, says Prindle, 39, who joined R/GA as a programmer in 1996. There, Prindle ran the technology side of the Nike and Nokia accounts. During his CP+B tenure, he's seen the emphasis on talent shift from the visual -- e.g., Flash designers needed to produce microsites and banner ads -- to programming. "Someone ... who has a solid grounding in IT, is comfortable working across a number of technologies and is a good problem solver is the ideal candidate now," he says. Reilly notes that the tech capabilities allow for greater creative experimentation and allows them to comp ideas in real time, an instrumental tool in selling ideas such as the recent Facebook facial-profiler app for Coke Zero or the mobile app for BK that gives users entry into the King's cell phone. "Having Scott here," he says, "allows us to control our destiny."

-Eleftheria Parpis

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/our-products/in-print/digital/e3ib5173b54f64bf8d28bb472d996173999

ISM on "Why Google Blinked"

Kaitlin Maud — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:25:06 GMT

There it was.
Right after The Who had finished their Cover Band of The Who act. Right at the beginning of the third quarter.
A 60 second TV spot. For Google.
My thoughts ran like this:
What is this? Google? On TV? WTF?
Google, the darling of the digiterati, the vanguard of the new order, king of the world where advertising in print, magazines and television would be obsolete, where everything would be digital, where brand was a four letter word, where search rankings were the holy grail, where TV was a colossal waste of money because it could not be measured, arbiter of the new world where clients would only market to consumers ready to buy.
Google. One of the Four Horsemen of the Advertising Apocalypse, Keepers of The Sacred Algorithm, tip of the spear of the Digital Revolution.
Google? On the Super Bowl with Bud, GoDaddy and Doritos?
What on earth were they doing there?
Here's what I figured. Google does nothing without looking at the numbers. And the numbers told them this:
Search is passive. Advertising is active.
Search commoditizes. Advertising differentiates.
Search creates measurable clicks. Advertising creates desire.
Search harvests. Advertising sows.
And Bing is starting to crawl up their behind.
Oh, yeah. It's on.
By aggressively advertising, and positioning themselves as a "decision engine", rather than a "search engine" Bing (and Microsoft) have forced Google to blink.
Google didn't advertise on the Super Bowl because they wanted to.
Google advertised on the Super Bowl because they had to.

Bob Minihan, Executive Creative Director/Partner ISM Travel and Lifestyle Marketing
Read more on the ISM Blog.

Captains of Industry Announces Incredibly Boring Web Content Challenge

Kaitlin Maud — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:45:10 GMT

Boston Marketing Agency Captains of Industry Announces Incredibly Boring Web Content Challenge

Companies can submit their most boring web content. The winner will have their content “Captainized” for Free – making it fun or fascinating.

Boston, MA: February 16, 2010 –Captains of Industry, in partnership with their media sponsor MarketingProfs, today launched the Incredibly Boring Web Content Challenge. The Challenge will offer one company the chance to have a piece of their most boring content Captainized for free, in the form of a web video, podcast, quiz or other engaging web media.

Here’s how it works. Companies can submit their dullest, most incredibly boring product or service to www.captainsofindustry.com/yawn. The Captains will pick the one that really makes them snore and Captainize it for free, making it ideal for effective inbound marketing campaigns.

“Even great products can sound dull if their story isn’t told well on the web,” said Ted Page, Principal and Creative Director of Captains of Industry. “The Incredibly Boring Web Content Challenge is a good way to demonstrate that it is possible to make any subject matter exciting and entertaining, helping clients attract the right customers to their sites.”

To enter, participants can send a link to the content they think could use a makeover to yawn@captainsofindustry.com by March 8^th, 2010. It can be anything from a chunk of web content or a downloadable document—but participants must provide an active URL that is no more than 2 pages in length. To be eligible, the submitter must occupy an officer, marketing, or sales position at their company. Only one entry will be chosen for Captainization into an exciting piece of FREE content.

To learn more about the Incredibly Boring Web Content Contest, watch the Announcement Video and view the submission guidelines at http://www.captainsofindustry.com/yawn/.

Stay tuned for more updates about the Incredibly Boring Web Content Challenge at www.captainsofindustry.com.

About Captains of Industry

Captains of Industry is an independent marketing and filmmaking company dedicated to telling their clients’ stories, engaging customers, and getting results. The Captains have expertise in renewable energy and viral marketing and have created memorable work for clients ranging from First Wind, Alteris Renewables, and Deepwater Wind to Dunkin’ Donuts, Bose Professional Systems, and SolidWorks. In a BusinessWeek CEO Guide to Online Video, two of Captains’ campaigns were ranked among the top ten created nationally. Learn more at www.captainsofindustry.com or follow us on twitter @CaptainsBoston.

About MarketingProfs

MarketingProfs is a rich and trusted resource that offers actionable know-how regarding marketing applications of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media tools along with coverage of more traditional marketing topics, such as lead generation and email marketing. The MarketingProfs team is committed to helping you market your products and services smarter. Entrepreneurs, small-business owners and marketers in the world's largest corporations make up our more than 350,000 members. Our library of more than 3,000 articles, online seminars, conferences, discussion forum, and special reports deliver the tools, templates, and tactics you need to quickly turn even the toughest marketing challenge into your own marketing success story. Follow MarketingProfs on Twitter @MarketingProfs.

Mullen: Doritos wins the BrandBowl. Budweiser Select 55 is biggest loser.

Kaitlin Maud — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:48:22 GMT

According to the 63,000+ Twitter users whose comments were captured in BrandBowl2010, Doritos was the most effective brand to advertise on the Super Bowl telecast on CBS this year. Budweiser Select55 was the least effective brand.

Mullen, and Radian6, a leader in social media measurement, created BrandBowl2010, a Twitter/Super Bowl experience that combined tweeting, ad reviews and a host of metrics to let viewers generate and view real time ratings of the TV commercials that ran on the big game.

The results were determined from a total of 98,656 Tweets collected at BrandBowl2010. The site provided an overall ranking of the brands advertising on the game based on a composite score that takes into consideration both volume of tweets and sentiment (positive or negative).

TOP SCORERS
When all was said and done, the top three brands were Doritos, Google and Focus on the Family. Doritos won the title by virtue of dominating the sheer volume of tweets. That was enough to keep them ahead of Google, which had a higher percentage of positive tweets.

MOST POPULAR
The most popular brands at the BrandBowl were McDonald’s and Dr. Pepper. Interestingly, neither of these brands had the sheer number of tweets to break into BrandBowl’s top ten—but the tweets about these brands were overwhelmingly positive.

MOST VOLUME
Again, the top three brands were Doritos, Google and Focus on the Family. These brands gapped the rest of the field in terms of volume of tweets, which dropped off sharply after the top three.

Free creative for Budweiser Select55

Mullen is offering Budweiser Select55, the last place finisher in BrandBowl2010, free creative services to make a better Super Bowl commercial next year. The Select55 spot this year was produced by a St. Louis agency called Momentum. Mullen has produced four Super Bowl commercials in the past, including the Monster.com spot When I Grow Up, which many ad critics consider among the best Super Bowl spots of all time.

“Clearly no one wants to come in last place,” said Edward Boches, chief creative officer at Mullen. “So to ease the pain, we’ve made a commitment to recommend, for free, to the losing brand, creative ideas for next year. Perhaps we’ll even crowdsource those ideas, asking the entire social media community to join us in offering up free recommendations.”

The Top Ten Most Effective Brands on BrandBowl2010

1. Doritos
2. Google
3. Focus On Family
4. Snickers:
5. Budweiser
6. Bud Light
7. Hyundai
8. Kia
9. GoDaddy
10. Coca-Cola

The Five Least Effective Brands on BrandBowl2010

1. Budweiser Select55
2. Michelob Ultra
3. Teleflora
4. Honda
5. Diamond Foods’ – Pop Secret

The success of Brandbowl is due not only to all the people at Mullen and Radian6 who built it, but to many people in the social media community who helped promote it: @bbhlabs, @bigspaceship, @rga, @erproulx, @benkunz, @schwartzie14, @stevehall, @kenwheaton, @lvanderpool and dozens of others. That alone is a reminder of the worth of having a social network and a community.

Article featured on http://www.mullen.com:
http://www.mullen.com/2010/02/doritos-wins-the-brandbowl-budweiser-select-55-is-biggest-loser/

When it Comes to Super Bowl Advertising, Allen & Gerritsen Wants to Know: Do You Buy It?

John DeGray — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:23:51 GMT

When it Comes to Super Bowl Advertising, Allen & Gerritsen Wants to Know: Do You Buy It?

Allen & Gerritsen and New England Cable News have teamed up once again for their Super Bowl Meaningful Messages survey .
Now entering the 7th year of the survey, a&g has discovered a significant gap between meaningful and entertaining Super Bowl advertising.

According to a&g, in an era when world events have heightened our collective skepticism, there is very little that we "buy" or believe to be credible.
Bringing this skepticism to the biggest advertising opportunity of the year - the Super Bowl the big question is, what do people ³buy² figuratively and literally?

What do consumers believe in and what converts a laugh to a sale?

a&g is opening the Super Bowl ad conversation beyond industry insiders congratulating or mocking each other next Monday. They want to know whether or not you, as the consumer, buy it.
Do you buy that Weird Science, Flashdance, and Danica Patrick have anything to do with registering a domain name? Does it matter?

Do you buy the phenomenon of wise-cracking babies championing E-Trade?

Do you buy Bridgestone's adventure vignettes, including whale-whispering and MadMax like encounters on the road?

Do you buy the ref's call?

Do you buy the hype?

Do you buy it?

We want to know, tell us on Twitter at #dybi or take the survey.

Watch Ad Club Chairman and Allen & Gerritsen CEO Andrew Graff on New England Cable News for a Super Bowl preview segment on NECN Business at 6:30 PM on Friday, February 5. Andrew will report the results of the survey on Monday, February 8 at 6:30 PM on NECN Business.

AdAge: Trustee Member, Arnold, Secures Mike's Hard Lemonade Account

Kaitlin Maud — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:32:52 GMT

Mike's Hard Lemonade has shifted its creative advertising account to ArnoldNYC, following a competitive review, according to people familiar with the matter.

The New York office of Havas-owned Arnold Worldwide beat out Omnicom's Energy BBDO and Cutwater for the account, which was held by independent Amalgamated, New York, since early 2008. Before that, the account was at now-defunct shop We Are Gigantic.

The review does not affect media chores, which are handled by independent Horizon Media.

That Mike's was in review at all is a bit puzzling, considering the brand posted low-double-digit sales gains during 2009, a period in which competitors in the flavored malt beverage category such as Smirnoff Ice and Bacardi Silver posted declines. (Sales of Mike's core lemonade brand also declined, but robust sales of line extensions boosted the company's sales.)

Amalgamated's campaign for the brand focused on its Seattle headquarters, where a "soft" intern continuously ran afoul of his gruff superiors at the "hard" marketer.

Mike's spent about $9 million on measured media through the first nine months of 2009, according to WPP's Kantar Media.

Calls to Mike's yesterday were not returned, and a spokeswoman for ArnoldNYC declined to comment.

Article Featured in AdAge
http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=141819

01/14 New Decade 2010: The SHIFTboston Forum

John DeGray — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:54:50 GMT

Join SHIFTboston on January 14, 2010 at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston as we present the winner and top entries of the SHIFTboston Ideas Competition. With the City of Boston as the point of inspiration, visionaries from around the world were encouraged to submit innovative ideas to enhance the urban experience and progressive architectural design by exploring topics such as the future city and ecological urbanism. This international competition gathered provocative visions for Bostonʼs public spaces from design professionals and artists by challenging them to answer the question: WHAT IF this could happen in Boston?

Local leaders in government, academics and business will join the design and arts community to celebrate these ideas and to envision new possibilities in the urban realm. Among the confirmed notable attendees are Boston City Councilor President Mike Ross; Carlo Ratti, Director of MITʼs SENSEable City Lab; and Gerald Frug, Harvard University Law School professor and author of “City Bound: How States Stifle Urban Innovation”.

Local award-winning architect Brian Healy will moderate a panel discussion on the winning and top submissions with select jury members including Mitchell Joachim. Dr. Joaquim is widely recognized as a leading thinker in ecological urban design and has been acknowledged by the History Channel & Infiniti Design Award for the City of the Future and named in Time Magazine's Best Invention of the Year list in 2007 and Wired Magazineʼs article “The 2008 Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To”.

The conversation and party will continue after the presentation next door to the museum at the Atlantic Beer Garden. A silent auction at the after party will offer attendees the opportunity to continue to support SHIFTboston and win a number of items including a ski weekend in North Conway, a weekend in the White Mountains with a helicopter tour, a pair of Boston Celtics tickets, gift certificates from top Boston restaurants and more.

As SHIFTboston looks towards the future cityscape of Boston, we invite the city and its citizens to join us.

Details:
January 14, 2010 // The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston.
100 Northern Avenue, Boston MA
6:00-7:00 PM // Cocktail Reception
7:00-8:30 PM // Presentation and panel discussion with select jury members
9:00 PM - ? // After Party/Silent Auction at the Atlantic Beer Garden. 46 Northern Avenue, Boston MA

RSVP: info@shiftboston.org, Free along with free entrance to the museum

ISM Welcomes Barry Frechette in New Leadership Role

John DeGray — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:38:58 GMT

Barry brings nearly 20 years of production experience in interactive and broadcast media to a team dedicated to developing and implementing creative solutions for clients like American Express, Emirates, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club and the United Nations Foundation.

Before joining ISM, Barry was most recently Vice President and Manager of Creative Production at Boston digital shop Oasis, where he implemented digital strategy and marketing programs for clients including Titleist, FootJoy and Standard & Poors, and oversaw agency partnerships with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners among others.

He’s also held similar roles at Arnold and the former Ingalls, Quinn & Johnson working with brands including McDonald’s, Royal Caribbean International, ESPN, Gillette, the American Legacy Foundation, T.J. Maxx and others.

Over his career, his work has received over 90 industry honors including CLIO’s, EFFIE’s, CA, MIMC and Webby Awards as well as two Emmy nominations and one Emmy win.

Everyone here at ISM is exceedingly happy to have Barry on our side. And we're quite certain that once you've met him, you’ll be just as pleased to have him on yours.

Feel free to contact him any time at bfrechette@ismboston.com or (617) 424-3183.