I just got back from a whirlwind tour of Finland (Kemi, Lapland, Helsinki) and Russia (Saint Petersburg, Moscow) and it’s time to get caught up. As you can see from the graphic, the call for ANDY Awards entries has been announced. As you know I am an award junkie so I am moving to get my entires into place to win this elusive award. I am sure there are plenty of you who have no idea what this award is, so here’s there elevator speech, “for 55 years the International ANDY awards have been known as the most sought-after awards for creative excellence in advertising.” Heady stuff for sure and prestigious in my industry. I want one and my three previous attempts have bore no fruit. I’m taking it seriously because the single entry cost is $1,500!

The quest for an ANDY made me assess my work against some of my contemporaries from the past year. You know what I found? I found a whole lot of campaigns that should have never been greenlit. They missed their mark or worse. You know I don’t have a Hall of Shame because I’m negative. I do it because the worse the ad, the greater the inspiration to be better; to do better. Also, some of the advertising SVPs need to call the Media Guy before they spend millions on a media buy to showcase bad work This is one of my independent new business pushes. I don’t charge a lot for a two-day consultation and the return on investment for the companies that do call is immense.

In 2016, I introduced my “You Should Have Called the Media Guy” columns where I implore tone-deaf ad men and women who don’t bother to focus group their advertising and I censure then why a call to me, the Media Guy, can save them some serious advertising budgets in bad publicity if they had only let me review their work first. The columns have proved to be reader favorites (you can catch up on past columns here):

Burger King
The American Red Cross
Pepsi
Kellogg’s
Anaheim Ducks
T-Mobile, Dove, and McDonald’s
Class of 2018 Media Guy Hall of Shame Inductees
The Best and the Worst of the Super Bowl LIII Commercials

I am sure you sit at home and wonder openly and loudly how ads such as these could ever wind up on television or in your online feeds. Some are so poorly thought out you have to say “how did this load of poop make it past their high-paid creatives. So despite my offer for inexpensive, yet sage consulting, there were companies and ad department that decided, “hey we got this!” and didn’t call the Media Guy. The ran with their great ideas and I’m here today to bash them a little bit by inducting them into my Media Guy Hall of Shame.

Before I do though, I want to run my annual PSA for those fools making ten times more than me in their lofty corner glass offices:

“Hello Chief Marketing Officers: you can’t see the forest among the trees. Call me. A small consulting check made out to me could save embarrassment and, also, potentially, your jobs. Swallow your pride and just do it!”

5. Peloton’s “The Gift That Gives Back”

Peloton decided to shame a thin woman’s journey to get, well, more thin and the world laughed at them. Others wagged their finger at them, especially the husband who obviously was a real winner as he made his wife check in daily with selfies and what not. In short, the campaign follows her through a yearlong selfie expedition as her dictatorish partner passive aggressively suggested that she needed more exercise.

4. Kia’s ‘The Niro Electrified Family”

Kia started off with a smart actor placement on the form of Robert DeNrio in this heavy power of puns spot aimed at promoting its electric e-Niro range. I’m sure that concept sounded good in the pitch session but the end product ended up like the agency chose to wing it without a script after into securing an Oscar winner. Sigh.

3. Snapchat’s “Would You Rather”

You have to be kidding me that this would happen in the current #MeToo climate. In 2009, Chris Brown decided to use Rihanna as a punching bag on the way to the Grammys. SnapChat decided they should make light of domestic abuse it, asking users to reveal whether they’d prefer to slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown. Snapchat responded saying the ad was the product of a third-party oversight intended to promote the company’s latest game, “Would You Rather.” I mean, really? No wonder SnapChat has fallen off the Earth.

2. Miele’s “International Women’s Day”

How do you celebrate modern women on International Women’s Day? By reinforcing the 1950s housewife stereotype. The appliances manufacturer probably thought it was cute to share an image of four white women excited over a washer and dryer, but completely missed the mark. Miele deleted the Facebook post a few hours later. Seriously Miele, you shouldn’t rely on old-fashioned stereotypes for your marketing. Know your target audience. Understand what drives them and use this information to inform your social media for business campaigns. It’s basic Marketing 101. One call to me and I would have told you that instead of you showing around the creative department and being pandered with a bunch of “great job”, “looks incredible”, and “you killed this!” comments I am sure you heard prior to giving the thumbs up to roll this out.

1. Oreo’s “First Christmas”

So it’s Christmas Eve and even though every kid’s parents leave milk and cookies by the fireplace, Santa is a glutton and needs more. [You know, I covered mean Santa before. He’s not so easy to work for…] At this point, he pulls over to a gas station and sends his first-day-on-the-job elf intern inside for some Oreos. (Yeah, yeah, bad day to start, but go with it, will ya?) Newbie elf grabs a Big Gulp of orange soda and several packages of Oreos (it’s clear he has no idea what glutton Santa is all about). Thankfully, dude at the cash wrap knows the deal and turns on the elf to his milk vault behind the counter which gains him a golden ticket to the Infamous Santa Xmas Rager. Cute idea, no? Exactly, NO! This entire spot smells of creepiness. Dimly lit with newbie elf is wearing way too much makeup. The guy behind the counter with the milk stash twists off the top of the Oreo and demonstrates the proper method to lick off the creme. Good gawd, too much information! All we need is the FBI to show up on December 26th in the epilogue to figure out what became of newbie elf who disappeared for an Oreo pit stop.

The post Class of 2019 Media Guy Hall of Shame Inductees appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Okay, so where am I?

I am doing a little happy dance because I’ve been GREENLIT!

Yes indeed, my little pitch about writing a book on the wacky, wild, and sometimes great Kontinental Hockey League has been accepted for a 2021 publish date by Penguin Random House Canada.

I mean, who would have thought that a 2018 side trip to CKSA Ice Arena in Moscow and a chance meeting with Igor would have produced a 2021-word article in my regular Jewels From The Crown (an LA Kings blog) spot and led to one of its most read columns in recent years. That success gave me the courage to pitch my book and low and behold, my author’s acceptance arrived nearly a year later.

Now the hard work begins, finishing the actual book. Mark Twain famously said, “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” A comic he was…

The difficult part of writing a book isn’t getting published, it’s the actual writing and the self analysis that comes with it. As an author of multiple books, I can tell you without hesitation that the hardest part of a writer’s job is hunkering down to do the work. Books don’t just write themselves, you know. Sweat equity is the key. You must invest your entire being into creating your important piece of work.

For years, I dreamed of being a writer. Mostly for television and then for newspapers. I knew in my soul I had vital things to say that the world wanted to hear. But as I look back on what it actually takes to become an author, I realize that the process doesn’t always mesh with expectations.

To start with, you don’t just sit down to write a book like Paul Sheldon does in a cabin in Misery. That’s not how writing works. It begins with writing a sentence, then a paragraph, then maybe if you’re in a groove, an entire chapter. Writing happens in fits and starts, in bits and pieces. It’s a process. It’s the art of sculpting fog.

The way you get the work done is not complicated. You take one step at a time, then another and another. As I look back on the books I’ve written, I can see how the way they were made was not as glamorous as I once thought.

I did discover that writing in the same place every time spurred great words, incredible sentences, and better paragraphs. It doesn’t matter if it’s your patio or a a sauna or the backseat of your car, it really just needs to be a different space from where you do your other activities. Make your writing spot a special space, so that when you enter it, you’re ready to find that inner inspiration. It should reaffirm you of your commitment to finish.

Another important thing to keep in mind is the total word count. You should already see the light at the end of the tunnel. Here is a quick guide to what word ranges mean in terms of what you will get at the end of your writing:

• 10,000 words = a pamphlet or business white paper. Read time = 30-60 minutes.
• 20,000 words = short eBook or manifesto. The Communist Manifesto is an example of this, at about 18,000 words. Read time = 1-2 hours.
• 40,000-60,000 words = standard nonfiction book / novella. The Great Gatsby is an example of this. Read time = three to four hours.
• 60,000-80,000 words = long nonfiction book / standard-length novel. Most Malcolm Gladwell books fit in this range. Read time = four to six hours.
• 80,000-100,000 words = very long nonfiction book / long novel. The Four-Hour Work Week falls in this range.
• 100,000+ words = epic-length novel / academic book / biography. Read time = six to eight hours. The Steve Jobs biography would fit this category.

In the end, the hardest part is really getting the book deal but the real work is turning a 2000-word column into a 100,000 word novel. Wish me luck

The post GREENLIT! A New Media Guy Book appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Okay, so where am I?

As you can see on the left, the call of Clio entries has been announced. That means I’m pulling together to campaigns from last year trying to see if I should spend $525 to $1,025 on entry fees to put my best work forward. It’s been a while since my last win. Maybe it was easier in the nineties when the wins came fast and furious. A losing streak can surely shake your confidence. That is, until you assess your work over the years and you realize that your campaigns have kicked ass and that ethos has never ebbed and always flowed. Yeah, that’s the ticket.


“Gosh, you’re so negative.”

In the course of doing this work in 2018, I earmarked a whole bunch of campaigns and ads that missed their mark. I don’t do that because I’m negative. I do it because the bad ads give you perspective to make great ads. Also, I’m hoping the people who run the companies making low awareness ads will call me. New business of sorts. The pay is good for me and the return on investment for the companies call is is large.

In 2016, I introduced my “You Should Have Called the Media Guy” columns where I basically call out tone-deaf CEOs and Chairmen who don’t bother to vet their advertising and lecture them on why a simple call to the Media Guy have saved them millions in bad publicity if they had only let me watch their spots first. The columns are quite popular. Catch up on missed columns here:

I write these columns opening wondering how advertising like this could have possibly made it past their high-paid teams of creatives and then when they do, they double down by spending millions of dollars in ad space to brag how clueless their ads are, tarnishing their brands along the way.

In spite of my well-read columns, there were companies that didn’t call and ran whatever felt right to them. Giants like H&M, Heineken, and Dolce and Gabbana proved they could generate some truly awful and ridiculous advertising last year. Hello Chief Marketing Officers: you can’t see the forest among the trees. Call me. A small consulting check made out to me could save embarrassment and, also, potentially, your jobs. Swallow your pride and just do it!

So while I covered some bad campaigns in the midst of 2018, here is the complete list of my newest inductees into the Media Guy Hall of Shame:

5. Hong Kong Tourism Board

This from my October 12th Column:

[The ad] left me murmuring to Dr. Lam, Mr. Lau, and the entire Hong Kong Tourism Board: “What were you thinking?” This spot does little else than to embolden emotional abuse in relationships while dressing it up as “romance” and “love.” After watching this, Hong Kong has zippo appeal and would never encourage sane people to visit. 

Want the full story? Click here.

4. Heineken

The Amsterdam-based beer company is nine hours ahead of me, so I can understand their trepidation about calling at odd times, but their “Sometimes, lighter is better.” commercial landed the brewer in hot water. The 30-second ad shows a bartender sliding a beer past three patrons, all of whom are African-American, to a lighter-skinned woman. The tag line reads “Sometimes, lighter is better.” Yikes!

Chance the Rapper took to Twitter calling it “terribly racist.” Thousands agreed.

3. Dolce & Gabbana

RESULT OF THE BAD CAMPAIGN: You think I’m kidding when I say bad advertising costs millions? After co-founder Domenico Dolce apologized to the public, and then was forced to cancel their Shanghai runway show.

WHY TO FUROR?: The luxury fashion line decided that  a marketing campaign full of ethnic stereotypes was their formula for success. The ad shows an Asian model attempting—and failing—to eat various Italian dishes with chopsticks. The public-at-large were outraged over the depiction of Chinese people as lacking refinement and an understanding of culture. That’s not to mention the sexually suggestive content.

That was only the start. Following the campaign’s launch, Diet Prada, a fashion-focused Instagram account, posted screenshots of an Instagram DM exchange between founder Stefano​ Gabbana and model Michaela Tranova, were Gabbana says “the country of [series of poop emojis] is China,” and “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia.” Of course the Diet Prada post went viral and the backlash was immediate. The hashtag #BoycottDolce immediately trended on the Chinese social media site Weibo. 

Click here to watch it on Instagram.

1. Domino’s Pizza

In Russia, Domino’s launched “Dominos Forever,” a campaign offering 100 free pizzas a year for 100 years to customers who inked their bodies with the brand’s logo
.

Hundreds took them up on their offer and got inked and that’s when Domino’s pivoted, releasing restrictions such as size of the tattoo, as well as a 350-person cap on the offer. The promotion was immediately cancelled. No word on how many people were denied.

The post Class of 2018 Media Guy Hall of Shame Inductees appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Okay, so where am I?

I’m waiting by the phone hoping Axel Schwan, the Global Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Burger King, dials me up so we can discuss their latest brain fumble. I mean, the FIFA World Cup is a great event to center an advertising and marketing campaign that will inevitably get their message out to the whole world. The World Cup is by far the most widely viewed sporting event on Earth — with an audience reach of 3.5 billion — and with that Burger King in Russia saw this as a prime opportunity to come up with a cheeky promotion, that maybe, just maaaaybe they didn’t think through all the way.

Burger King was trying to have it their way but trying to build up Russia’s future in soccer by investing now by giving women a lifetime supply of Whoopers. But how would women be able to do that?

Above is the now delete post that translates like this:

“Burger King within the framework of social responsibility has appointed a rewards for girls who get pregnant from the stars of the world fútbol. 

Each will receive 3,000,000 rubles and a lifelong supply of Whoppers. For these girls, it will be possible to get the best fútbol genes and will lay down the success of the Russian National Team for several generations ahead. 

Forward. We believe in you.”

Mr. Schwan, as much as I rack my brain, there is no real positive in this stunt. I mean, didn’t you watch the Oscars? Or all the Harvey Weinstein news?

#TimesUp bro!

Seriously.

No matter, the bosses stepped up and apologies were issued blah blah blah. Which spurred on an interesting conspiracy theory: what is brands are putting out this stuff on purpose?

As a bunch, us ad folks are pretty self aware to what works and what doesn’t. Most of us are fairly skilled and in many cases, have big budgets, and are under heavy pressure to raise their client’s brand profile. In a crowded marketplace, these modern Mad Men need to do something (anything) to get their voices heard and seen.

Passionate Soccer Fans at the FIFA World Cup.

The ad industry is deliberately being provocative and it’s trying to get the headlines. But, ultimately this is going to be much more damaging for brands than what they actually realize.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK’s advertising watchdog, has received 2400+ racism complaints from 956 different ads since 2013. Of those, 12 cases were formally investigated and 10 of those had the complaint upheld.

The power to ban adverts it thinks breaches its standards, but that usually isn’t necessary because brands usually remove the offensive ads once the bad publicity starts.

Experience tells me that despite adverts being looked at by many many eyeballs before they make it to the public, a “lack of diversity” in advertising agencies means things can be missed. This is why marketing executives like Axel Schwan should be calling me. As I have ranted and raved in six previous articles and nearly daily in my own office, a simple pre-release phone call to the Media Guy can save you millions of dollars in bad publicity and wasted media buys. Reach out, I’ll be there.

So did Burger King do this on purpose?

It’s hard to say considering their track record. Burger King Russia division has a history of horrific publicity-baiting stunts. Last year it made fun of a teenage rape victim in an online marketing campaign, using the likeness of Diana Shurygina, who was raped when she was 16 at a house party, as part of a buy one get one free burger offer.

Ugh!

And it’s not just Russia…Burger King has a global track record of misogynistic advertising. In Singapore the company advertised a seven-inch burger with overtly sexual imagery and a tagline saying “It’ll blow your mind away.” The model featured in the 2009 advertising campaign later came forward to say she had no idea her image was going to be used in that way.

Double Ugh!

On the other hand, they come forth with a clever ad to commemorate that it’s legal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia with free Whoppers (no pregnancy required).

For a entire month (June 24 to July 24), Burger King Saudi Arabia is giving its signature burger free to any woman in the driver’s seat who pulls up to its drive-thru windows. The burgers will come wrapped in special paper, renaming the sandwich “WhoppHer.”

So, will Burger King or Alex call the Media Guy? Remember this: one call to me will save could you a bunch of migraines and a boatload of cash…I advise you to strongly consider these words.

Previous “You Should Have Called the Media Guy” Columns:


H&M
The American Red Cross
Pepsi
Kellogg’s
Anaheim Ducks
T-Mobile, Dove, and McDonald’s

The post BURGER KING: You Should Have Called The Media Guy! appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Okay, so where am I?

I’m preparing for the annual father’s day trek to the new Pixar release. Only a couple of days away and I’m wondering if this will be the annual pilgrimage of sibling fighting that I have to referee or if my kids (now adults) will stop bickering long enough to make me feel like I did a good enough job as a dad raising them to get me to the next holiday. Like I say, media bonds the family and all you have to do is put in the time. I’m putting the odds at 50-50. Yet, I am already digressing.

Aside from the greatness that Pixar movies provide from an entertainment point of view, they go much deeper for the Media Guy. They seem to focus on the genesis of creativity and collaboration. It’s hard to fathom that Pixar has drawn some of its finest inspiration from napkin sketches. The democratic collaboration methods that Pixar has chosen to adopt.

Design thinking enthusiast John Spencer has penned down 10 lessons from Pixar that touch on creativity and collaborating with other professionals.

Creativity Isn’t A Solitary Effort

via GIPHY

People often romanticize creative people as loner types feverishly scratching papers each time they get an ‘aha’ moment. However, Spencer believes that the greatest creative ideas root from entire teams.

Pixar empowers its people to offer their input. Its non-hierarchical structure, “from the meetings to the decision-making to the fact that nobody gets a special parking spot,” is possibly one of the reasons why its ideas flow so smoothly but vividly.

Critique Doesn’t Have to Wreck Creativity

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Spencer describes that when you have trust and transparency, constructive feedback can inspire creative thinking. This is in line with what Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull famously said: “We believe that ideas—and thus, films—only become great when they are challenged and tested.”

There is Power in Pivoting

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Pixar first started as a technology firm before branching out to filmmaking. It’s characteristic for the company to focus on a concept, and then pivot out to new ideas until the overall result works.

“I loved seeing how movies like Monsters, Inc. evolved over the years of planning,” remarks Spencer, “…pivoting doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you are being flexible and willing to improve.”

Play is Important

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Pixar isn’t an all-work-and-no-play enterprise—celebrations, parties, and retreats, are integral to its culture. The company even encourages employees to decorate their desks with little trinkets.

Some of Pixar’s greatest accomplishments are derived from producing short films. These shorts are typically avenues for testing out new ideas, as well as a means to having small teams pick up a wide range of new skills.

“If you’re working on a long project, you will get tired,” Spencer admits. “It will become a grind. But play allows you to find energy, reconnect with your group and ultimately hit creative breakthroughs.”

Trust the Process

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Pixar might work pretty flexibly, but it also comes with its own structures and rules. Without these, creativity becomes an overwhelming process.

Spencer highlights a quote from Catmull: “People who take on complicated creative projects become lost at some point in the process.”

You Can’t Value Risk-Taking and Unless You Allow for Mistakes

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This theme popped up often but in a way that was much more meaningful than the typical “embrace your mistakes” mantras that you see on social media. It’s the idea of having a growth mindset and knowing that experimentation means mistakes will occur. This is such a sharp contrast to a story in the book where Steve Jobs fires an Apple employee in front of the entire company. By contrast, Catmull wanted Pixar’s employees to feel the freedom to make mistakes and grow as a result.

Art and Science are Complimentary

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This was one of the earliest themes. I’ve seen STEM folks who bemoan the A added in STEAM. However, I am struck by the fact that there is artistry in science and so much science in the art of storytelling. A similar thought is that you can create something innovative and timeless at the same time. So, as students engage in creativity, we need to explore how your collaborative processes honor both art and science.

We Need Mental Models to Battle Fear

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Creativity is scary. I have had moments in creative work when I felt terrified. I worried about what people would think. I worried about entering the unknown without any assurance that I would create what I wanted to create. What I loved about this book is the reminder that the fear never goes away. If anything, it intensifies with success. There’s a section in this book where they explore the fear that the directors face and the mental models they use to make sense of everything. This is important for creative collaboration because an entire group can get stuck and grow risk-averse in their creativity.
The goal of creative collaboration isn’t creativity. With Pixar, the goal is always storytelling and, I would argue, highly emotional myth-making. Creativity isn’t what drives the storytelling. Rather, storytelling drives the creativity. This, by the way, is why I rarely talk about creativity with students. I don’t assess it. I don’t place it on a rubric. I don’t tell students, “Go out and be creative.” Instead, I encourage groups to focus on the purpose and the audience and to feel the freedom to take creative risks.

People are More Important Than Ideas 

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There was a great quote here, “Ideas come from people. Therefore, people are more important than ideas . . . too many of us think of ideas as being singular, as if they float in the ether, fully formed and independent of the people who wrestle with them. Ideas, though, are not singular. They are forged through tens of thousands of decisions, often made by dozens of people.” This has a few big implications for creative collaboration. First, it means trust and relationships are more important than the products we make. Second, it means we need to be okay to abandon ideas without taking things personally. Finally, it means our success in generating ideas does not define who we are as people. Ultimately, the success of a group isn’t the product they create so much as the way that they relate to one another.

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I’m on phone watch hoping Karl-Johan Persson, the CEO and president of Hennes & Mauritz, aka H&M, stops monkeying around and dials me up so we can discuss their ridiculous Monkey hoodie and subsequent lame apology. Maybe before I rant and rave and tell you how a simple pre-release phone call to the Media Guy can save companies millions of dollars, perhaps I should show you the source of my consternation:

H&M: What were you thinking?

Uhhhhhhh…I’d be speechless in this case, but, you know, I’m never speechless.

In previous columns, I have expressed empathy for the CEOs of these organizations for not calling because I felt people in the marketing and advertising department would lose their jobs. But in reality, nothing happens. They just go about their days and weeks issuing lame apologies and react to the situation they caused, rather than respond to them.

In case you missed it, the term “monkey” has been used as a racial slur toward African-Americans. Just look at the picture above. In the ad, the African-American is a “monkey” and the Caucasian kid is a “survival expert.” Ugh!

The “monkey” sweatshirt fiasco is yet another miserable reminder of how much more work lies ahead when it comes educating corporations about the consequences of using certain images and messaging. The Swedish clothing giant is learning that lesson firsthand.

A barrage of comments ensued, including multi-platinum recording artist The Weeknd who ended his partnership with H&M:

It didn’t end there. A barrage of comments ensued, with celebs from Questlove and Snoop Dogg to LeBron James and Diddy raucously protesting (and, in some cases, redesigning) the tone-deaf ad via Twitter and Instagram. H&M also lost rapper G-Eazy who also terminated his agreement in advance of the March 1 launch of his H&M collection.

In true cover your ass mode, H&M released a statement saying it had withdrawn the hoodie from sale and would “thoroughly investigate” to make sure there is not a repeat of the incident.

The post H&M: You Should Have Called The Media Guy! appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

So you’re probably asking, why am I saying that now? Well, while doing some research for an upcoming university project, I came across a section on a college website which highlighted how much it likes “diversity and inclusivity.”

First off, congrats on being proud of your very high standards that most colleges and companies couldn’t possibly reach, even with a brilliantly-written mission and diversity statement. Really, it makes then very exclusive (the opposite of inclusive, duh!).

And yeah, it’s great that you’re attracting more minorities and people of color, but at the same time, your faculty gets more and more liberal, with conservatives being increasingly rare birds.

What the heck am I speaking about? you ask…

It means that you  like diversity when it’s about stuff that shouldn’t matter (gender, skin color, sexual preferences), but less so when it affects something that should (intellectual and political diversity).

But of course, the university can’t admit this, or else there’d be all kinds of trouble. It’s such a rabbit hole, I doubt anyone could avoid the land mines  he said, shamelessly mixing his metaphors.

Maybe the university would be better off valuing “uniqueness” rather than “diversity”?

Just thinking out loud.

Speaking of thinking out loud, in 2016, I introduced my “You Should Have Called the Media Guy” column where I call out tone-deaf advertisers who would have been wise to call me before running some of their ill-fated ads. So far, I’ve tackled:

The American Red Cross
Pepsi
Kellogg’s
Anaheim Ducks

I write these columns opening wondering how advertising like this could have possibly made it past their high-paid teams teams of creatives and then when they do, they double down by spending millions of dollars in ad space to brag how clueless their ads are, tarnishing their brands along the way.

Despite my soapbox pontification, companies from McDonald’s to Dove to Pepsi produced some tasteless advertising decisions last year. I mean, really? A simple phone call and a small consulting check made out to yours truly could have saved all of these companies a lot of bank.

And no, I am not always the smartest guy in the room, but yes, I AM somewhat of a savant as to why your silly commercial will or won’t work. So, like the classic 1970s Fram Oil Filter commercial told us, “you can pay me now or, pay me later”:

A small five-figure check to the Media Guy will save you seven figures down the road…yet I digress.

Bottom line of all of this? Don’t do what they did! So while I covered some bad campaigns already, here are three of my newest inductees into the Media Guy Hall of Shame:

T-Mobile

I hated this commercial so much, that I cannot believe I’m actually putting this in my column and subjecting myself to potential hearing the signature T-Mobile audio cues again, and again, and again. Serious, it’s great that new T-Mobile users could now access Netflix as part of their subscription. But telling me again and again, and again? I just wanted to punch my TV:

Model and John Legend worshipper Chrissy Teigen may have said it best, “The T-Mobile commercial with alternating Netflix and T-mobile sounds puts me into an anxiety inducing personal hell.” On a side note, I cannot believe I am using a Chrissy Teigen quote to validate my hatred for this ad.

Dove

How in the world would you pay money to put an ad on television that could best be described as “racially insensitive” and at worst be cased “downright racist’? Dove did just that in October. The soap company posted an ad on its Facebook page that featured a black woman taking off a shirt similar to her skin tone to reveal that she had turned into a white woman wearing a shirt similar to her skin tone. What? Whaaaaaaaat?

Dove quickly pulled the ad and apologized: “In an image we posted this week, we missed the mark in thoughtfully representing women of color and we deeply regret the offense that it has caused. The feedback that has been shared is important to us, and we’ll use it to guide us in the future.”

Regardless of their ghost-written apology, hashtags like #DoneWithDove and #DoveIsRacist have gained traction. Such a shame. One call to the Media Guy would have solved their problem. In 2017-18, you don’t take chances with people thinking you aren’t diversity inclusive.


McDonald’s

In May, McDonald’s U.K. “Dad” spot shows a boy asking his mum what his dad was like. After a series of anecdotes and walking around the English countryside, the duo arrive at their local McDonald’s where it’s revealed the son and father both shared a love for Filet-O-Fish.

I’m sure you noticed that that the boy is clearly hoping one of the descriptions will line up with something that would describe himself. Alas, the boy and his dad seemingly had nothing in common, except that fish sandwich.

After the harsh criticism of the ad, McDonald’s yanked the spot and apologized. Sigh…

The post Class of 2017 Media Guy Hall of Shame Inductees appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

I mean who would make such a video in this sexually harassment-fueled climate? All we read and hear about are inappropriate men doing rotten things to women around the context of work. Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose, Bill O’Reilly, Kevin Spacey, Al Franken, John Lasseter…this list is endless…

…and then there it was…the culprit was the Anaheim Ducks!

Full disclosure: As a life-long Los Angeles Kings supporter (44 years and counting), nothing pleases me more than Anaheim ducking is all up.

So there I am jaw dropped as I watch the news report of perhaps the worst example yet of tone deaf companies—and the individuals who work for them—perpetuating something that should never exist in the media in 2017…take a peek:

Okay, so where am I?

I’m waiting by the phone hoping Michael Schulman, the CEO of the Anaheim Ducks, dials my ten digits so we can discuss their brain burp. I mean, I feel for Schulman because how many people at the Ducks are going to get fired? I say this is because I can’t remember the last time a major sports team making this kind of advertising mistake. This should have been an easy empty net of a happy birthday message to their parent league (more on that later). But, no, they had to be clever.

As a reformed misogynist, every time I see something like this I say, “stop and take a look around at everything that’s happening in all of these industries in the world.” If you don’t think this is serious, look at the punishments people are receiving for their actions. Currently, the penalty is ejection from your workplace. They might not get everyone immediately, but, take someone like Louis C.K. and what they got him on. The people who make decisions on his projects are thinking out loud themselves…

“Uhm, Louis, this movie you were going to be in? Yeah, no, we aren’t worried about that making this real any longer.”

“Hey, you have some movies on Netflix? Not anymore!”

Kevin Spacey was supposed to star in J. Paul Getty, Part 2 and Sony said “nah, no need, Kev, we will just re-shoot every scene you were in and still get the movie out on time.” This is what ejection from the workplace looks like.

There’s a lot of dreadful advertising out there, especially for sports team, but most of it fades into the superficial tapestry of suburban life. You disregard it and move on with your day. But this is a downright affront to the intelligence of anyone with an operational brainstem.

Somebody somewhere had to sit in the Orange County office and say “How are we going to make a real statement for the National Hockey League?”

“I’ve got a great idea…”

And someone else had to say, “Wait a minute – what if we ignore all of the headlines out there and make a video skit that screams sexual harassment?”

And then the first someone probably built on this thought with something like, “How about we pick the guy on out known for pranking people so we will have an ‘out’ should some of the overly sensitive demographic object?”

At which point high fives were exchanged and comps were briefed into a designer with an online extension learning degree, access to an Better Call Saul-like video crew, and a deep appreciation of how women were treated at the office in the 1960s.”

But here’s the most distressing part. The Ducks brass had to buy into this. Someone in charge of an actual marketing department had to say to themselves “You know what? I think this is going to work. We slap this baby all over social media and everyone without access to basic news is going to be hunched over laughing and re-watching it until it goes viral. We’re going to turn our Internet feed into the embodiment of how Don Draper and Roger Sterling treated their staffs in Mad Men.”

So did Anaheim wind up calling? Nope, they decided to issued a non-apology and evil wins again:

Here’s how the smart NHL teams wished the NHL a happy birthday:

–>

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Okay, so where am I?

I’m preparing for an other trip…and another surgery…yeah, getting old sucks. I’m also prepping for the Emmys on Sunday. I got a new lens to break in. You know I’ll post pictures. Stephen Colbert is hosting…more political humor. Ugh! I’m thinking Louis Vuitton for the red carpet. Yeah, that’s the ticket…yet I digress.

I bring up the traveling because it’s a little known fact that I see a classical music performance or an opera in every country I visit that offers such a thing. In Europe, it seems every major city has a beautiful opera house. Ah, the Opera…a kid I remember it being something you were taught to avoid. It was a old school meant to be enjoyed by the stuffy, nose-up crowd in tuxedo tails and shiny shoes.  The opera was strictly for the high cultured. As I aged I learned to truly appreciate it because I get to use my slim knowledge of classical music and study up on the stories and the history of each type of performance.

Regardless of how well I’ve aged and how cultured I’ve become, the fact remains that it is still a difficult sell for younger audiences.


Swedish opera house Folkoperan knows this fact and decided to pick the easy path to try and reach Swedish millennials is to use the old advertising adage that “sex sells.”

To promote the premiere of Puccini’s Turandot, Folkoperan and its agency crafted a commercial called “The Opera of Orgasms” that is devoid of words, just moans and groans and, well, orgasms.

So much for high culture…

If you are new to opera, the connection to sexual situations isn’t a stretch by any means. Opera is peppered with fables spun from of unbridled yearning, retribution and heartrending losses. Elevating its more applicable qualities was invented yesterday either. Last year, the Paris Opera recruited Bret Easton Ellis to craft a modern version of “Figaro,” a story as contemporary and depraved as you can get without dolling our red-light district ticket prices.

Turandot is especially suitable for this kind of interpretation. First released in 1926, it narrates the tale of Prince Calaf who falls in love with the unemotional Princess Turandot. To gain permission to marry her, potential suitors have to solve three riddles; any wrong answer results in death. Yikes!

“We live in a society where we’re constantly encouraged to indulge life, but it’s often in very superficial ways,” says Mellika Melouani Melani, director and artistic director at Folkoperan. “In our interpretation of the opera, we want to pay tribute to the urge of desire and the total devotion that comes with it. In our film, the orgasm symbolizes this.”

In the commercial (the Folkoperan marketers call it a film), people in diverse—not necessarily glitzy—sexual circumstances express their apex to the tune of the Nessun Dorma aria. It’s a festival of unlimited longing, those moments when you’re so close to metaphorically falling off the cliff that things like environment, expectancy and social norms no longer carry any weight. And it exquisitely echoes the state Turandot’s admirers find themselves in, one in which the proximity of pleasure is so painful that nothing matters more than finding release, not even oblivion.

Now trust me, having an orgasm might actually be the closest you and I get to singing opera. Both are big physical experiences that release endorphins and oxytocin, but this piece just rings wrong with the current state of advertising. It’s over the top and getting ample amount of press but it’s done so well, it’s much too hard to be incredulous.

So what do I know?

I do know this—it’s becoming all too easy for brands to use sexism as low-hanging fruit to go viral. Time after time, we rise to the bait, giving the brands exactly what they set out to achieve: Internet Fame.

On an almost daily basis, sexism in headlines, adverts and newspaper front pages is getting taken to task on Twitter. But, by tweeting about those brands and making them go viral, are we giving them exactly what they want?

As Oscar Wilde said “the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about”. Brand managers are well aware of this,” says Anthony Patterson, professor of marketing at Liverpool University. A “response — whether outrage or support — demonstrates that consumers are engaging with their brand.”

Take the London’s Daily Mail. On eve of Britain triggering Article 50 and officially entering Brexit negotiations, it was #LegsIt (not #Brexit) that topped the UK’s Twitter trends. The newspaper’s headline declaring “Forget about Brexit, who won Legs-it!” alongside a photograph of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and British Prime Minister Theresa May and a pain staking analysis of their legs, prompted the ire of thousands on social media.

A statement from a Daily Mail spokesperson (which began with “for goodness sake, get a life”) only added fuel to the fire. “Sarah Vine’s piece, which was flagged as light-hearted, was a side-bar alongside a serious political story.” The Daily Mail wasn’t sorry. And, why would they be? We, by venting our outrage on Twitter at their “light-hearted” sexism, made #LegsIt the most talked-about story of the day.

Long story short: Women shouldn’t be roadkill in a brand’s race to get viral fame. Brands, it’s time to get your act together and find another way to get internet fame.

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…however, I do have just a little expertise on the the subject of cross-culturalism having grown up in Compton and Inglewood in the early and mid-seventies and later working on Middle Eastern tourism accounts in a post-9/11 America. Talk about stereotypes…I lived inside of them! You could ask for a better sitcom setup than being the only five year-old caucasian kid in all-black Los Angeles neighborhood or the same guy as an adult rolling around downtown Damascus leading journalists on tours of the next great world destination.

Mrs. Lee’s husband was some hot-shot…

Soooooooooo, one thing I can spot from a distance is a racism and racist advertising. Even in the 1970s, when no one cared about racist or sexist advertising (well, at least not enough to impact real change) I could spot these ads.

In the seventies, you couldn’t turn on the television without seeing a Calgon commercial. The iconic “Take Me Away” ad, created by Ketchum Advertising, endured for decades in various forms. Take Me Away earned a spot in The Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame (yeah that’s a thing). But it older advertising sibling, “Ancient Chinese Secret,” earned itself a spot in the Media Guy Hall of Shame (no, that’s not a thing).

“Ancient Chinese Secret” takes place in a hole-in-the-wall big city laundry run by a Chinese couple. In the ’70s, Asian-Americans seemingly couldn’t appear on American television unless they were serving up karate chops, walking around in the background as Chinatown gangsters or running laundries at the pleasure of the bourgeois (maybe things haven’t changed much actually). The (probably) very caucasian copywriters who dreamed up “Ancient Chinese Secret” had to have lived in a world where Americans only understood Asian Americans (called then “Orientals”) as people who were extremely adept at getting stains out of bell bottoms. Without a Commissioner of Logic running around checking approved copy, this beauty hit the airways:

Let’s dive into this spot just a bit.

For those of you not aware of the historical significance of the Chinese Laundry, it started with the California Gold Rush of 1849. With the hope of finding gold in “those there mountains,” contract laborers from Southern China scrambled to the Golden State in search fortunes in the gold mines and or working on the railroads. Soon the anti-Chinese sentiment was so strong that immigrants were forced to seek other work.

Myths debunked!

A bit of research showed that in 1851,Wah Lee opened the first US-based Chinese hand laundry in San Francisco. The small storefront in San Francisco had a simple sign: “Wash’ng and Iron’ng.” Quickly, the laundry had expanded to dozens of washermen working three daily shifts. With no special skills or venture capital required, a laundry was an ideal business for Chinese immigrants. By the 1870’s, Chinese laundries were operating in all most western cities firmly cementing the laundry guy as a stereotype that would take a century to defuse.

Chinese laundries have been used in many laundry-related product advertisements, typically in a method that exploits this stereotype. A Lavine Soap trade card showed small, cute, pig-tailed Chinese with the product. The Chinese Laundry Scene, an 1895 silent film5, featured the popular slapstick vaudeville act Robetta and Doretto as an Irish police officer and a Chinese laundry worker quarreling. One print ad for a Hoover home washing machine shows several Chinese men, presumably laundrymen, standing around it with a puzzled look. and on and on.

Back to Mr. Lee. The whole commercial was off from the start. I mean who goes to the dry cleaners simply to get shirts washed? Nobody really did that anymore in the seventies. And the whole “Ancient Chinese Secret” thing? Surely had to be wrong. Right? But month after month, year after year the spot appeared.

I’ve decided back then that if they could get away with that spot, then surely the ad men were some kind of wizards that had the ability to cast a spell on the nation.

The “Ancient Chinese secret, huh?” copywriter? Some hot-shot he must have been!

I mean just a few years earlier, the ad men were crafting dry punch mix commercials that sold out the supermarket with this copy:

“Let’s have some thirsty, tired kids yell, ‘Hey, Kool-Aid!’ 

Then a huge, walking punch pitcher came crashing through a brick wall. High concept indeed. Today, there would be a public outcry that Kool-Aid was promoting wonton destruction of property. Can you imagine the picket signs, pitchforks and angry mob that would descend on Ketchum Advertising today if Mr. Lee was touting that in 2016?

Explain that one, Mr. Lee.

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