Weezer Snuggie

Sometimes, you let the press release speak for itself.

"Alternative rock band Weezer and Allstar Products Group, marketer and distributor of the Snuggie, America's favorite "blanket with sleeves," have joined forces to create the official Weezer Snuggie. It will be launched today and will bear the band's trademark "Weezer" logo. This latest addition to the Snuggie collection will allow fans of the band to stay warm while keeping their hands free to rock out. And rock out they will; fans who purchase a Weezer Snuggie blanket will also receive a copy of the band's brand-new album, Raditude, as a bonus gift."

Layoffs at Proximity

It's been a while since we've posted about agency layoffs, but we received this just after 4 PM yesterday.

Proximity Canada has been experiencing significant growth over the last few years especially in our digital practice, and is continually being awarded additional North American and global assignments.

As part of this growth, we need to ensure we have the appropriate staffing levels, with the right skill sets and resources in order to structure ourselves to meet our expanding client roster and their increasingly complex business needs. As a result, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to lay off 11 people today.

Some of these positions are being restructured and will be replaced with different skill sets, while others are being eliminated altogether in an effort to realign our business structure and expand the depth and breadth of our talent base.

As part of our restructuring strategy, we will be introducing new roles that will strengthen and expand our current offering.

Proximity Canada’s management team is united in its decision that these changes are in the company’s best interest and must be made in order to remain competitive in the industry; to continue our growth; and to deliver the best and most innovative work for our clients.

So, a few questions, obviously. The choice of wording presents a message of "we're growing so fast we need to let people go," which is confusing. My first read left a cloudy taste of mixed messages in my mouth.

However, Shari Balga, spokesperson for the agency, said these changes are in step with an overall agency evolution. While she couldn't specify which roles were being changed/dissolved, she did say that some of these changes have been planned since the Spring.

Hiring for new/revamped roles start as soon as next week, and Balga says the changes will result in an overall increase in head count, though that won't be realized for a few months yet.

Whether I should interpret that as "we've set aside resources for more people," or "we'll do our hiring when the economy improves," I'm not sure.

Until we know exactly which roles are going and what the "new skill sets" are, it's all just speculation. No senior executives were made available to comment.

We'll report more details as they come available.

The Foundry makes Snow White filthy

If this ad actually ran somewhere, you can't tell me they didn't know what they were doing. Disney's reputation as a litigious company is well known around the world. This was meant to be flagged, get some cartoon blood boiling, get lots of blog posts, and then vanish under threat of a gajillion-dollar lawsuit. (IMHO).

It was created by The Foundry (a Google cache reveals it was on their website though it's not there now), though SlashFood.com and The Daily Telegraph sniffed that out first.



The brand in question is a a raspberry ale from Jamieson Brewery (and my eyebrows are raised by this website too). Yes, that is a Snow White lookalike in bed, smoking, with seven dwarfs made analogous to Walt's comical group. I can only make out the line "Anything but sweet" in this lo-res jpeg, but there is supposedly a website mentioned that now requires a password to access.

From the Google cache of the Foundry's page: "Our partnership with Jamieson Brewery started with the redesign of their logo and the launch of Raspberry Ale. While getting our hands dirty with Raspberry Ale, we soon recognised (sic) that this beer was in fact ‘Anything but Sweet’. So we challenged the consumer’s notion of what this beer was, and created a striking campaign around this line. The strong packaging design and cheeky nature of the advertising work, hand in hand to create a truly unique brand identity, and so another brand transformation has begun."

Barriers

This video is from Ogilvy & Mather. That's all Shots knows, and it's all Vimeo reports (in language that I can read).

Shots says: "This is by Ogilvy & Mather. We think their Turkish office. We found it on Vimeo. We like it. And the sound track is brilliant. We know nothing more about it than that."

I agree.

Önyargılarımız...Görünmeyen duvarlarımız from Bulent Keles on Vimeo.

"Cockroaches" of SEO

Derek Powazek (whom I found via BoingBoing.net) has posted an angry missive against SEO (search engine optimization for those who contract-in for all thing Internet). Called Spammers, Evildoers and Opportunists, he calls out most SEO outfits with some rather generalizing, but perhaps accurate statements, such as...

And so, like the goat sacrificers and snake oil salesmen before them, a new breed of con man was born, the Search Engine Optimizer. These scammers claim that they can dance the magic dance that will please the Google Gods and make eyeballs rain down upon you.

Do. Not. Trust. Them.

He makes a few very good points, which boil down to the fact that good websites with good content get found and slowly become popular. He explains that trying to game Google's system with bot-generated links (and other kinds of Internet magicking) for instant success isn't worth the risk of getting banned, and suggests that those who offer such services are "cockroaches."

This is relevant to you, dear Marketing reader, because anything you do online probably has to happen fast and demonstrate results before the end of fiscal quarter. Speed may be key to those who vet your budgets, but it's not really how things work, according to Powazek.

I don't think Powazek's talking about microsites or new services that go legitimately viral because they catch the imagination of a given audience, but most would agree that these types of enterprises are rare.

Another key point:

Worse than the hackers are the competent journalists and site creators that are making legitimate content online, but get seduced by the SEO dark side into thinking they need to create content for Google instead of for their readers. It dumbs-down the content, which turns off your real audience, which ultimately makes you less valuable to advertisers. If you want to know why there’s so much remnant advertising on online news sites, it’s because you’re treating the stories like remnants already.

Remember this: It’s not your job to create content for Google. it’s their job to find the best of the web for their results. Your audience is your readers, not Google’s algorithm.

So, does Powazek have SEO's number? Is he being fair to those individuals and companies that sell this service? Would love to hear from agency folks who've had experiences on the good and bad ends of this spectrum.

The most honest TV pitch ever

Some Friday fun for our media buying readers.


Coolest TV Pitch Ever - Watch more Funny Videos

I cannot vouch for the work-safe-ness of other vids on the source site, but any organization that gives me a dose of Muppets is okay in my book.

Branded touchscreen knobs

Technology can mess with a marketer's job (see PVRs, browser ad blockers and spray paint). But it can also inspire them (see QR codes and radio waves). The video below suggests a few possibilities if and when touch screens become household staples. Branded blocks for special promotions? Who knows?



This comes via New Scientist, which has a subscription ad on its page that really bugged me at first, but now I think it's quite clever.

Nearness

WarrenEllis.com, the blog of a writer I like that is occasionally NSFW, posted the vid below this morning. Ellis introduces it thusly:

Remember that Honda commercial where all the components of the car are placed into a Mouse Trap-like contraption and all the bits hit, roll to, knock and swipe each other into motion?

Jack Schulze for BERG and Timo Arnall illustrate how it works with the invisible pulses of RFID. Without touching. Just proximity in a wireless world. Nearness.

Here's where the vid normally lives.

Nearness from timo on Vimeo.

And speaking of car ads with lots of moving parts, you should really check out "Intelligently Combined," an Audi ad reportedly from Kempertrautmann gmbh.

Walrus continues using video to push print

The Walrus magazine has started using video to promote its enterprise and each issue. Above is the second of the article-focused promo vids.

Related: Video ads in the print magazine, courtesy of CBS and Entertainment Weekly

Olympic RFP cutting things close

In late July we told you that there was a multimillion-dollar national Olympic campaign in the works from Canadian Heritage to promote healthy living and bolster pride for our country. (We're sure this feel-good-about Canada campaign breaking in the middle of a likely federal election is pure coincidence.)

During the long, dry summer when agencies were laying off staff and waiting for the economy to turn around, this RFP was an oasis in the desert.

According to the government, the campaign should launch concurrently with the torch relay on October 30, so we figured Public Works (the government body running the review process) was probably getting close to a decision. After all, the solicitation period for the RFP closed on Aug. 6, more than a month ago.

We asked for an update and received the following late last week.

"I can confirm that we are currently in the process of evaluating the bids received in response to the solicitation. That’s all we can share at this stage." - Charles Drouin, media relations officer, Department of Canadian Heritage.

Asked specifically if there was a short list, Drouin said "confidentiality" prevented him from answering. The agencies that we know are pitching told us they haven't heard anything back from the government, which could just mean they never made it to the next round.

But as of this writing, we are 53 days away from the scheduled launch of this national, five-month-long, $10 million campaign and there is no sign of an agency.

I understand that something as broad-reaching and political as an Olympic-themed campaign will require a lot of client oversight. And I'm guessing there are a lot of submissions to go through and score.

But if Public Works is being straight when it says they're still sifting through the submissions, this campaign may be in trouble before it even starts. If our nation's feel-good ads are currently nothing more than spec submissions on a desk at Heritage, the government is really cutting this one close to the wire.

Even if the winner is chosen today, they'll have less than eight weeks to produce their Olympic opus.

I've been assured this is not impossible. One agency executive told me short turn-around times can be great because it mean less "over-thinking" of concepts.

Fair enough, but don't tell me this situation is ideal. As another agency executive said “The IOC gives a host city seven years to prepare for the games. There is a reason."

The bar for this kind of advertising has already been set by VANOC, the broadcast consortium and every corporate sponsor from these and the previous Games. And because it is our government's (i.e. Canada's) campaign, it is our government's (i.e. Canada's) reputation on the line.

So call me skeptical. I think this calls into question the eventual quality of the campaign. I know there are shops waiting to sink their teeth into this assignment. But will they have the time do more than nibble?

The Phony WWF Ad and the Coverage You Don't Want

By now you're probably aware of spec ad DDB Brazil did for the WWF that used the pre-9/11 New York skyline and dozens of jets to make a point about... well, something "environmental" I guess, but the point is quite muddied. Agency Spy has done good work on this fiasco, so I'll direct you there to catch up.

And as part of their coverage, they've posted a vid of left-leaning pundit Keith Olbermann naming DDB Brazil one of his "world's worst."



Yowzah! How often do you see DDB's corporate logo out in the wild? Of all the places you don't want your logo to appear, that one's up there with anti-gay marriage rallies.

The Man Who Walked Around The World (Updated)

The Johnnie Walker brand story in five minutes and one take. Starring Robert Carlyle. Pretty damned impressive.



(Update, Aug 20 - Found a fresh YouTube vid to embed).

(Update, Sep 9 - Found yet another version, as they keep getting ripped down. This one has subtitles. I suppose the accent was impenetrable to some).

Timmys and Rhode Rage

It would be tempting to look at the Tim Hortons situation from the past couple of days as an example of the dangers that social media poses to brands. After all, it was an online petition and expressions of rage throughout the Twitter-sphere that prompted the folks at the coffee shop chain's Canadian headquarters to force one of its Rhode Island franchisees to back out of providing free coffee to an event hosted by an anti-gay marriage organization. Without a doubt, there were probably some Timmys execs who felt pretty jittery at being "outed" by consumers in this fashion.

But really, isn't this more of an example of the positive relationship that social media tools allow between consumers and brands? Without being alerted by the online army of outraged citizens, Hortons headquarters might not have known of its rogue Rhode Island franchisee's support of the event until after it had happened. At that point, it would have been much more difficult for the company to dig out from under a mound of negative press. As it is, they were able to stop the the franchisee's sponsorship in its tracks and quickly issue a public statement to that effect, a statement that also outlined the company's policies surrounding stuff like this. 

Sure, Tim's got some negative publicity when the story first broke. But thanks to some alert and angry consumers, they were able to avoid a PR storm of a much larger magnitude. There's a lesson in that somewhere.

The Information Superhighway's Memory Lane

Thought you might be interested in seeing Duke University's AdViews, which has just gone live with an archive of television commercials from the 1950s - 1980s. All the spots in the archive are from New York's Benton & Bowles (which eventually became D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles).

(Found via BoingBoing)

Cossette's Options

So don't be surprised if Cossette is a private company again before the end of the year (read here and here for details).

One person familiar with the situation, talking on the condition that they remain unnamed, said there are a number of ways this could all shake out:

•The $4.95/share offer from Duffar et al could be accepted

•President Claude Lessard could use the company's balance sheet to buy the outstanding shares

•Or he could find the proverbial "white knight" investor to gallop in with better terms.

Cossette has since said it will "actively solicit and consider proposals from third parties relating to the acquisition of the company."

It's kind of fun to guess who might ride in wearing the gleaming armour in this case. The multinationals are possible (shaking up our agency tree layout for 2010), but which of them has the money on hand to pounce? One agency expert suggested only Omnicom. I'll take guesses in the comments section.

However, those suggested resolutions are still far enough away to make predictions thin as smoke. As Tuesday's Daily indicates, most of those watching the situation are more interested in what the $4.95 price tag says about the true value of the Quebec-based agency network.

Whenever I ask folks about this (I've been talking to analysts and agency types so far), most agree that the price is "okay" and "fair," but they say it with that sing-songy lilt in their voice. It's not reflective of the company's true worth, they say. The economy + lower budgets + a few account losses have lead to a lower-than-appropriate share value.

Of course people are asking all kinds of questions about the genesis of this surprise move, which leads to the second major pillar of this saga. Like Cossette's revamped company tag line proclaims, "It's all about people."

Those people are Claude Lessard and Francois Duffar. I won't pretend to understand this relationship better than anyone else, but two dominant pictures have emerged in the popular characterizations of Cosmos/Cossette proposal.

The first has the two men as friends, co-founders and entrepreneurs building a company together. This split is a difference of professional opinion. As the Globe story linked above says, "They are long-time friends. Together, as partners, they built one of Canada's most successful advertising and public relations agencies. Now they are pitted against one another."

The second says Duffar left under less than amicable circumstances in May, forced out by a man he had maintained a "civil" relationship with for years, but never saw eye-to-eye with–personally or professionally. (That "civil" in quotation marks comes from one of several agency sources who, speaking anonymously, have been helping me understand Cossette's recent history). Now Duffar's come back, suggesting he knows a better way to do things than Lessard. His gesture made, it is now for his opponent to make the next move.

When Georges Morin left the company suddenly on Saturday, he effectively set a deadline on Cossette's old order. By moving to Cosmos, he divided the all-powerful multi-voting shares down the middle, with him and Duffar on one side, and Lessard/Pierre Delagrave on the other.

As it was explained to us, under company rules, Morin's multi-vote shares will revert to single-vote shares three months after his departure. Those same rules say that if fewer than 30% of the multi-vote shares are outstanding (which they would be after Oct. 18), all multi-vote shares (i.e. Lessard and Delagrave's) revert to single-votes shares.

So, barring some fancy footwork, the dual-class share system will be abolished in October. Lessard may remain CEO, but will become markedly less powerful in terms of vote share. If he wants a say in how Cossette will be run going forward, he must move quickly, or leave its fate to the votes of the masses.