@seanmcdonald

Advertising | Strategy | Design

A Presentation Done Entirely Within Instagram

Jason McCann, my colleague and VP/Executive Creative Director at TAXI, recently spoke at a conference on design and decided that he would do the entire thing within instagram. It obviously misses a lot without the videos and his narration, but you can get a sense of what he did going through the pictures. A nice way to change it up a bit. 


Absolutely love this ad on behalf of obsessive compulsive disorder.


A well done ad by Google. I don’t remember seeing anything done by Google that makes such a good connection between emotion and use-case. via John Gruber

Edit: Not everyone seems to love it, though. The other side of the coin is that Google is asking to store all kinds of personal family data on their servers so they can know more about you. The question then becomes, what are they selling? See that here. 


A really great, subtle ad for the the Navy Seals that has been getting some pass along this week, after their work taking care of Osama Bin Laden. 


The Pitch | AMC expanding into unscripted series

I’m looking forward to checking out this behind the scenes look at the advertising industry. AMC plans to follow agencies as they pitch ideas to potential and existing clients. If you work at an agency, especially if you’ve been at more than one, you know how everyone’s approach is totally different. I look forward to seeing how this unfolds. via Yahoo! News


"The problem with the Internet is there’s so much of it. It’s highly fragmented, and most of it’s for free,” he (Sir Martin Sorrell) says. “Consumers must pay for content if they value it,” he insists."

- That’s a debate starter if I’ve ever seen one. Nearly nothing online is free, I’d add. We pay through labour (viewing ads) nearly everywhere when there isn’t a pay wall. Most people simply don’t acknowledge that as a cost. That said, there is money to be made in distinguishing yourself from the masses. What that really means is you need to make something worth it - paying or working for. Ad Titan Martin Sorrell Says Readers Must Pony Up - Newsweek

Love this add by Gary Vaynerchuk for his new book The Thank You Economy. via Ari Greenberg. 

Neat game by Jeep requiring no app or add ons. Simply follow a series of Twitter accounts, solve the puzzle and be the first to report that you’ve done so. 


Awesome integrated mass/digital add by AXA. via Matt Rowe. Apple’s iAD meets Print Advertising (via ME3almobile)


How Advertising is Changing Social Media

I’d prefer to refer to this as how ‘social media’ is changing, but alas. Just as social media is changing, agencies are changing too - balancing earned media skills, with content production and media buying. Talent lies in the balance. 


Why smart marketers won’t use Twitter’s ad platform – intersecting cultural anthropology and marketing

I guess we’ll see how this turns out. In the end, advertising is advertising - bought and paid for. Inherently, it draws a different reaction from people than genuine word of mouth. 


I’m Sorry About The Hipster Commercials : Mobile • Local • Social

I can’t tell you how disappointed I was to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes featured in the commercial for the Microsoft’s latest mobile offering, Kin. Also - what the *eff is up with the stupid decision to demonstrate some mild sexting during the commercial? Also, see this piece on bands, advertising and selling out. 


"If you can harness social media marketing, you don’t have to pay for advertising any more."

- Sequoia’s Kvamme: Social Media Marketing Can Replace Advertising – GigaOM

Twitter Ad Platform 'Imminent' | MediaPost Publications

Apparently this will launch within the month. I could see this being announced and presented formally at SXSW.


Sysomos Heartbeat Now Talks with Salesforce « Sysomos Blog

Although Heartbeat provides light CRM functionality, this integration should be helpful and scalable.