IKEA & Verdana, Say It Aint So

Think something 'small' like typography doesn't matter? Then ask the fine people at Swedish furniture seller IKEA if they've received any feedback from their customers on their recent change from the highly stylistic Futura to the Microsoft-created Verdana font.

Why companies do something like this is a mystery, particularly when type plays such a huge role in the company's image (all-text logo, massive billboards, promo call-outs in catalogs, etc.). I'm sure the thought is that it may be an outrage at first, but eventually everyone will forget about it and move on. And honestly, they probably will, with a bit of exposure in the media because of it.

But in IKEA's case, it may really matter. A brand that's built on whimsical style and a half-serious treatment of itself begins to become mainstream when it uses mainstream typography. Have they become the new General Furniture Outlet? Will they can the blue stores and cram them into strip malls? Will I still be able to smell those Swedish sticky buns from a mile away?

Who knows, but the design community is right in their statement that the change to such a common font sends signals that the company is destined to assume a more common path, which runs counter to the reason people go there in the first place.

Don't get us wrong. We use Verdana ourselves for certain projects. It's not evil. But it doesn't work for IKEA . You can get a cheap lamp anywhere. But you can't get one with IKEA's panache. Take that away - one letter at a time - and you change the image of your company.

Our man Don Stoppenbach was responsible for bringing this to our attention. Charming, smart, fontastic.
Well done, Stopper.

Agency New Business Perspective

Great piece this week by Milan Martin in Advertising Age's Small Agency Diary about new business and the importance of understanding clients, their values, their culture, and how those things align with your business.

We've been fortunate enough to win a few accounts over the last couple of weeks. It's been hard work and well earned. More importantly, we've been fortunate enough to win business that's good for the agency and the client because we see a lot of the same business and cultural values in them as we do in ourselves. Just like with our existing clients.

As infered in the article, not all business is good business. If you're not on the same page with a client and they're not on the same page with you, it really is doomed. Doing great work requires being in the trenches. Sometimes it's tough. Things get heated. Looking down the lines and finding you're fighting alongside someone who doesn't understand you or even care to understand you is cause for throwing up a white flag and moving on to the next battle. Best for all parties to understand that up front, right?

Milan's article can be read here: http://adage.com/smallagency/post?article_id=138609

Lil' Bit of Awesomeness

Likely no advertising value whatsoever in this post, so file under "cool stuff" unless you're in the promotions business for head-driven instruments.

This was just really cool. Enjoy.

Think Creativity Doesn't Matter? Think Again.

Stumbled on this last week and thought it was a perfect counter for all the things that lack creativity, thought, and imagination.

Such things run wild in the world today, where design and presentation are relegated to the low-end of business or seen as a frivolity. What's amazing is that this train of thought is entirely counter-productive. As in, why would you spend all of your resources, executive time, hard-costs and other associated money developing a product or service, only to throw a minimum effort behind presenting the culmination of all these efforts?

You shouldn't. In the end, it will cost you more than it saves you. And with that, we give you this.

Chips & Sophomoric Humor. Perfect Combination.

Because nobody really takes themselves too seriously when they're scarfing down a bag of chips, this spot for New Zealand's SKOF may make perfect sense.

Flatulence jokes tend to go far in some crowds, but I'm going to guess they're not angling to become the preferred chip of boardroom lunch-in meetings. Then again, we don't live in New Zealand so who knows.

The spot is a part of a larger campaign that's quite hilarious and feeds a user-submitted video application on their website featuring borderline "talents" of SKOF eaters.

In addition to Ping Pong there's also professionally produced spots like Straightjacket Snooker and Spitball Sniper. Extra points for the uber-appropriate tagline, "Hold Nothing Back."

Give 100%, Get More? What A Deal

Although understandably never able to find their footing like Nike, Adidas has given it a good run in their advertising over the years.

Although our favorite is the now-defunct "Impossible Is Nothing" campaign (poster shown here which sits in my office), they've continued to do good work which unfortunately tends to constantly be overshadowed by their bigger, more famous competitor.

The new campaign? If you give 100%, Adidas will contribute more to your performance. Legally. Kind of like that guy that Barry Bonds gets his "medicine" from, right?

Anyway, great ad and worthy of some attention and containing a lot of star power (albeit mostly international and not as well known in the US, other than Dwight Howard). We're looking forward to seeing the rest of the campaign.

If form follows, there will be continued focus on sport-specific campaigns featured on broadcasts and at events relating to those sports. What Adidas lacks in general market advertising, they more than make up on local levels.

Ya Don't Say

Interesting article in this week's AdWeek about a study from Dynamic Logic regarding the effectiveness of certain size online ads. Whether this concerns your particular business or not, the bigger message is: test, test, test.

For Online Display, Less Can Be More
Aug 20, 2009
- Mike Shields

NEW YORK When it comes to effective Web ads, integration is more powerful than "in your face," at least according to a new report issued by digital marketing researcher Dynamic Logic.

The new report claims that smaller display ads, which appear within a Web page's content, are often more impactful than larger, more intrusive ads that surround content for driving traditional brand metrics such as awareness and purchase intent. Specifically, Dynamic Logic found that in analyzing 2,390 display campaigns over three years, half banners (234 x 60 units) and rectangles (180 x 150) -- placements that are often included in media buys simply to bring down the overall CPM -- were more effective than larger, pricier placements such as leader-boards and skyscrapers.

That finding flies in the face of the current trend among Web publishers and advertisers, who are pushing toward larger, more interruptive online advertising as a way to funnel brand dollars away from TV. Currently, both the Online Publishers Association and the company ShortTail Media are testing several new oversized online ads.

But Dynamic Logic, which for over a decade has researched online ad campaign effectiveness, says that where an ad is placed may be more important than how big it is. "It will be interesting to see how the new, larger ad formats that publishers are beginning to debut will rank next to the more traditional online ad formats," said Ken Mallon, Dynamic Logic's senior vice president of custom solutions. "Based on the current data, bigger doesn't always mean better, but these new ad formats are quite unique, and we look forward to testing them."

Regardless, the researcher found that creative quality and level of sophistication are also key. For example, among the 2,000-plus campaigns it analyzed, rich media ads that featured video excelled in most branding categories, including awareness, brand favorability and purchase intent. Meanwhile, basic Flash ads, perhaps the most common form of display advertising, consistently achieved the lowest scores, per Dynamic Logic's research.

EA Sports: Push

As if the new Madden 10 football game from EA Sports isn't frighteningly realistic enough, now we have the spot promoting it. This type of thing is never gonna happen, but the reality lies in the fact that we've all had that moment where the guy on our team is running the rock and gets stopped a half yard shy of a touchdown or first down, and we all wish we could jump in and help move the pile.

Ironically, this hasn't been a huge problem with WR Larry Fitzgerald, featured here. But we have to guess that if he went up against the Steelers every week, he'd definitely need all the help he could get.

Mad Men: The Return

In cased you missed it, or have been hanging out on a remote island in the south pacific somewhere, Sunday night marked the return of Mad Men, AMC's smash hit about the good-time days of the ad industry and all the seedy extras that apparently are the norm at the fictional agency of Sterling Cooper.

We gotta be honest here. It was a little slow getting off the ground when we first tuned into Season 1. But since then, it's become a favorite. Questionable characters. Heavy day-drinking and smoking. Inappropriate office and marital behavior. For something like this, you usually have to tune into any of the seven thousand reality shows currently airing on tv. But Mad Men pulls it off with something better: characters you can't help but feel for and hope that they'll figure out their issues.

To really get you in the swing of things, the show has created a brilliantly viral companion website, capitalizing on the popularity of the clothes and style of the show. If you haven't seen someone's "Mad Men Yourself" profile picture, you'll certainly be seeing one soon enough. Great way to promote the show and get people to immerse with the tone and style of the show.

Check it out here: http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/madmenyourself/

Additional time waster: Want to know which Mad Men character you are? Take this insightful test (I'll send $5 to anyone who gives this to a candidate during an interview). http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/whichmadman

On Personal Brands, Part II, But Funnier

Last week, we posted about personal brands and linked to some reading material we give away at 1201 whenever someone joins the company. We also spotlighted The Hardest Working Man in Show Business ... Soul Brother Number One ... James Brown, as the poster-child for cultivating and maintaining a strong personal brand.

We'd like to amend our entry and submit to you the one, the only, Mr. Chuck Norris: http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com

A friend sent us this link (thanks, Pat Connick). Never has a suggestion been more quickly turned into a post than this one. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll continue to respect Chuck Norris appropriately.

While you're there, you can also build your own menacing t-shirt, which means you can kind of be like Chuck Norris, but nothing like Chuck Norris. We can all dream.

Voice-Over Also Makes A Great Ringtone

Rates highly on the scale of funniest commercials of all time. Particularly hilarious when the stain gets belligerent at the end. Take 30 seconds from your day and enjoy. You deserve it.

An Ad Movie? Shouldn't It Be Sponsored?

Just when you thought you couldn't get enough advertising, comes Art & Copy, a new documentary featuring the titans of creativity. We can't wait.

On Personal Brands

At GROUP1201, we give every employee a pile of reading when they come on board. Included in it is a great article written by Tom Peters titled The Brand Called You. In it, Peters writes about the power of developing your individual business personality and cultivating an identity for yourself as a professional.

The central argument is that, by developing a strong personal brand, an individual builds trust in those whom they work for and with, which in turns creates the necessary latitude to allow for the type of risk taking required to truly move business forward under said employee's stewardship. Beyond simply building on success, an individual must also cultivate a unique business personality and become known for something invaluable to the entire enterprise. It's down and dirty separating from the herd kind of stuff, but frequently overlooked.

Read the article here: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/10/brandyou.html

.. And who better to exemplify the power of personal brands than The Godfather of Soul, The Hardest Working Man In Show Business ... the one, the only ... Mr. James Brown. Seriously, anyone who's Wikipedia profile has a subsection and four paragraphs dedicated to their legal issues, yet remained beloved and worshiped throughout life knows a thing or two about personal branding. He had more than a great voice and cool moves. He had a vibe. When you watched James Brown, you knew what to expect, but were always surprised when he took your expectations one level higher.

James Brown never veered from his personal brand. He just kept improving it. Watch these videos and tell us you don't feel instantly better about your day. Personal branding at its best.

Monster.com - Reach Your Potential

As alumni of Monster.com's parent company and from being there in the go-go days of the 90s, we've got a special little place in our heart for all things Monster.

Talk about high impact. This speaks mountains with only one line of copy.

Absolut Cool

How cool is this spot from Absolut? Almost as cool as their Facebook fan page showing the making of it.

As always, Absolut's work is elegant, rich, and cool. And we wouldn't be offended in the least if they sent us a few test bottles for helping promote their product.

Peeling Bananas The Wrong Way?

Yes, our blog is typically about advertising, but it says in the header that it's also about stuff we think is cool (check it out yourself ... the header is right at the top of this page.). This falls in the "cool stuff" category and will change your world. Seriously.