So as the old O’Jays song goes, “got to give the people, give the people what they want.” Re-introducing the Ad Celebrity Book List!

First up to bat, Jay Giesen, Executive Creative Director at Brunner. So Jay, what’s on your bookshelf?

On my living room table…

THE R. CRUMB HANDBOOK - R Crumb & Peter Poplaski

He’s been called the founder of the underground Comix movement, but I first discovered his work through album covers. Yes, I said albums.

Brilliantly disturbed, brutally honest. Fritz the Cat, Keep on Truckin’,Mr Natural, they’re all iconic 60s and 70s imagery.

THE WORLD WITHOUT US - Alan Weisman

Really interesting concept - Examine the impact mankind has on this planet by imagining the Earth without us. Incredibly in-depth in his scientific research and at the same time a story well told. Reminded me of a trip to Nagasaki I took years ago. I was struck by how beautiful Ground Zero had become and how uplifting it was to know what a remarkable capacity this world has to heal itself.

UNTRODDEN GRAPES - Ralph Steadman

Gonzo art and great wines of the world.
May sound weird, and it is Steadman after all, but it works.

CHARLOTTE’S WEB - E.B. White

My Mother just sent me this. An early 50’s edition that was mine as a child. Some interesting artwork added by my own hand 40 plus years ago.

On my night stand…

HEAT: AN AMATEUR’S ADVENTURES AS KITCHEN SLAVE, LINE COOK, PASTA-MAKER, AND APPRENTICE TO A DANTE-QUOTING BUTCHER IN TUSCANY - Bill Buford

The author is the former fiction editor for The New Yorker. He gives up his day job to ’study’ cooking by working the kitchen in Maro Batali’s Restaurant Babbo’s. Very well done, he tells the great tale of food. I found myself finding many striking similarities to our business.

THE PERFECT MILE: THREE ATHLETES, ONE GOAL, AND LESS THAN FOUR MINUTES TO ACHIEVE IT - Neal Bascomb

True story of the race to break the 4-minute mile. Three amazing athletes pulled together by desire, talent and fate. A bit sad that history and most of us only remember one, Roger Banister.

THE DESIGN OF DISSENT: SOCIALLY AND POLITICALLY DRIVEN GRAPHICS - Milton Glaser, Mirko Ilic & Tony Kushner

This is a great compilation of posters from the 1960s through today. It really shows the power of design as a social and cultural voice to generations.

THE PUNCH: ONE NIGHT, TWO LIVES, AND THE FIGHT THAT CHANGED BASKETBALL FOREVER  - John Feinstein

One of my favorite sports writers on the amazing changes in the lives and careers of two men and the game of basketball itself in one of the worst incidents in NBA history.

RIDDLEY WALKER (EXPANDED EDITION) - Russell Hoban

A post-apocalyptic world 2000 years in the future set in England with puppets.
Well told, well thought out story through first person narrator Riddley.
This book has had quite a following since it was first published in 1980
and I now understand why, you know the puppets and all.

In my bag and finishing reading right now…

SPECIAL TOPICS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS - Marisha Pessl

Debut novel for Pessl. Narrated by Blue, a student who travels around the country with/and because of her Dad. I guess you could call it a mystery, certainly a good read.

Marc Stoiber
VP of Green Innovation
Maddock Douglas

The Green Screen has the mandate to review the best communication for green products and services every month.

Usually, there are about five to ten good pieces to talk about. But this month, I thought I’d make an exception, and talk about just one ad.

Not just any ad. An ad that introduced green to mainstream America.

I am speaking, of course, of the Audi ‘Green Police’ spot that debuted at this year’s Super Bowl.

The way that E*Trade’s barrage of irreverent Super Bowl spots signalled the rise of a new world order (well, until the bubble burst), the new Audi spot signalled a sea change. This spot reflects the growing sentiment that it’s OK to like football, have a sense of humor, and be green.

And it wasn’t just a signal. At about $2.8 million dollars per 30 second spot (the Audi ad was a minute long), the carmaker was betting big that this message would strike a chord.

A sure signal the spot did, in fact, work - the American Chemistry Council lashed out at the spot’s ‘takedown’ of someone choosing a plastic shopping bag, saying that plastic bags are indeed recyclable (tell that to the fish swimming through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch). If this spot simply represented a lone voice in the back 40, the ACC certainly wouldn’t have seen the need for a rebuttal.

Ironically, however, the biggest hand-wringing came from the folks who should have celebrated the ad.

The New York Times said the spot put the ‘mental’ in ‘environmental’. Treehugger asked if it was a fun way to get a message out or ‘a cynical poke at environmentalists’. An enviro blogger named Adam Siegel likened the Green Police to the Ordnungspolizei, Nazi policemen who - by virtue of their green uniforms - were dubbed the Green Police.

Even David Roberts at Grist found it necessary to hyperanalyze the spot, first asking if it was in fact aimed at angry white men who wanted to make fun of environmentalists…then reversing his theory and deciding that the spot was just plain fun with a nice message.

I have never seen a group as uncomfortable with success as environmentalists. Folks, leave it alone. Like every good ad, it simply took an observation (’go green without the big sacrifice’) and exaggerated it to the point of comedy. No more, no less.

In fact, if the spot ’stands’ for anything, it stands for the mainstreaming of green - which is a good thing, I believe. Hey, it played during Super Bowl, which means it reached more people than most green campaigns ever will.

A few years ago this spot wouldn’t have been made, let alone screened at a cost of millions. Celebrate that fact. And put down that hyperanalyzer before someone gets hurt.

Marc Stoiber is the newly minted VP of Green Innovation at Maddock Douglas, a leading innovation agency headquartered in Chicago. Maddock Douglas is in the process of acquiring Marc’s firm Change. Change is a green branding and innovation firm founded by Stoiber in 2005.

Lincoln Bjorkman
EVP, Executive Creative Director.
Digitas NYC

I turned on Super Bowl XXIV and I stepped into a time machine back to those pre-Bubble years before the turn of the last century. Ah yes, ‘twas was a simpler time. The first half of this retro-Super Bowl was all nostalgia… I kept waiting for those retro team uniforms.

I quickly dumped my MacBook and iPhone and scrambled to find a pad of paper and a pencil. I even went so far as to turn off Tivo, deciding to go all the way and watch the game old school. Next I logged off of Facebook and shutdown TUMBLR. Nope, no sir, no Google searches for me during the game. None of that texting stuff or emails either. I was totally on board for retro-Super Bowl. I longed for better facial hair, Nirvana and obscure micro-brews.

I watched ad after ad that drove me to, ah, watch the next ad. Brands made great use of the latest breakthrough technologies like big screen televisions and phones—cordless land line phones.

A few brands decided to bust my retro-Super Bowl mellow and noted at the end of their spots that they have websites. I laughed along with the brands that with tongue firmly planted in cheek went crazy with the retro-Super Bowl theme and nostalgically placed a “www” in front of their URLs in a nod to a bygone era. Well played.

Even CBS got into it (I’m still laughing) with a very clever promo that drove me to call a phone number (awesome) and listen to a prerecorded message about a hit sitcom. Hilarious. 800 numbers and pre-recorded messages! Awesome. It was like “awesome” was awesome again and “Friends” was still on the air.

Many of the brands played it cool - no big obvious joke. They held back and just ran a nice :30 or :60. A display of confidence and a signal that said, “Like you, we get it.” 100 million people attached to a plethora of devices that provided instant social and online connectivity with myriad opportunities to create deeper brand experiences that could make a $3 million ad worth so much more and create urgency, intimacy, deeper engagement, sales lifts or just add to the marketing experience that you expect from a major brand in the modern era. Why do more?

Even Go Daddy, said, “You go daddy.” We’re going to stick with classic Tactics and Analysis that work hard. Just the way Dad always got it done at Pets.com but with an actual real business plan in place. Not retro, but definitely old-school T&A - fitting with retro-Super Bowl.

Dockers gave away free pants online, though I unfortunately couldn’t even get on the site for 20 minutes because it was so busy. The search buy was fantastic and thorough. I even got an email a few minutes after I gave you my email address (you wisely only asked for my first name and email address, love that!) that said I might win free pants. Not ground breaking, but in a tough economy I’m going to guess you got a big return on your marketing dollars and you got my email and many more. If you’d simply let me text you, I would have kissed your Dockers.

As the game progressed, the Saints were down 10-0 and I thought everything about this game was going to be predictable – but wait – a couple of field goals scored. Going for it on fourth down against Peyton Manning!

I almost spit out my Hot Pocket and Pepsi Free when they announced The Who. The Freakin’ Who! They were going full force with retro-Super Bowl. I mean Springsteen used last year’s Super Bowl appearance to drive his new album to number one and even pushed sales of his back catalog on iTunes through the roof! The Who were clearly going to use this appearance to drive their new, ah, latest, wait, um 2006’s “Endless Wire” – their first studio album since 1986’s legendary “It’s Hard!” –sales through the roof at Tower Records and Virgin Megastores? Whatever, the kids are all right and we’re going retro!

But enough of this. I WAS FREAKING OUT! Was my career choice a joke? With a few exceptions, everything I professionally believed in was being ignored, abused or simply fading away before my eyes. The channels that helped elect a modern-era president had almost vanished overnight. FLO TV and some wonderful user-generated content and online voting and yet another clever promotion from the now perennial Super Bowl powerhouse Doritos were just not enough.

I thought retro-Super Bowl was going to break my heart. I hoped that maybe, just maybe, the second half would restore my faith. I wanted to believe…I needed a sign…and then came the onside kick that made me realize the Saints were going to win and I was going to survive this.

Retro? No way! These folks survived Katrina and they were going to save me from retro-Super Bowl. It was as though the Saints said “Who Dat” to the Colts, the brands and to the NFL (really, legal action?) with one play. It was 2010.

Everybody was stepping up. The NFL used every opportunity to drive awareness of every channel they have and every event and property they own. They gave their audience what they wanted. More football. The combine. The draft. NFL.com. NFL Network. Well done, except for that lame legal action thing against the Cinderella team’s fans. That is so old school and so first half. And it will kill you in the online space.

FLO TV introduced new hardware (they introduced new hardware!) proving I can have TV and sports and football anywhere. They even said that I was less of a man if I didn’t want that. Old school AND new school. Snap, Jim Nance. And take that, iPad. They did it large on the Super Bowl! Didn’t Apple do something cool on the Super Bowl once? Could it get better? Yes, it could.

“Hello, Megan Fox, how you doin’ in the tub?” I said under my breath. “What, Megan, there’s new hardware that brings all my social technologies together called Motoblur with Facebook and Twitter and My Space and emails and texts all synced and backed up and you’re naked in a tub and the spot’s funny and maybe if I go to your site I can see your naked-in-the-tub-picture (nope) and watch more content and learn about the product because the spot made me want to check you, I mean it, out?” It’s all so integrated and relevant…I needed a moment.

Then VW slides a gem in under the radar. Old school? Yes. It’s a nice spot with Tracy Morgan and Stevie Wonder together at last.

But Homeaway.com, what happened? Did you see what came up when you searched for homeaway.com on Google? Ouch. I see your proprietary URL in the #1 paid slot but the link takes me to vacationsonly.com? Who Dat?

A note to KGB. Your business model depends upon me remembering the number I text my question to. You had 30 seconds and spent millions. It didn’t work. And the same note goes to the Red Cross on texting to donate to Haitian relief. For one of you I will actually spend time figuring it out (text message “HAITI” to 90999, folks). Sorry KGB.

Things were picking up. I was feeling the surge that comes from people experimenting and taking chances…challenging themselves and their teams and their brands to make a statement on the big stage. Is it really so complicated? Yes, I know it is. But bring it on.

And then I fell in love, again, with Google. They produced a poem in the form of a simple product(s) spot with astounding sound design. Everything I love about the brand and what they do and how they do it and what it means in my life. “Search on,” indeed. I will if you keep the faith like that. Simple. Perfect.

The NFL sent a wonderful, beautifully crafted “thank you” spot to the fans, starting with a slow motion touchdown from the team that would ultimately win the game and masterful slo-mo shots of ardent fans from many teams including Saints fans. Yes, the same fans the NFL recently threatened with legal action over “Who Dat?” Weird. Bite the hands that feed you much?

Vizio came through with Beyonce and everything else but the kitchen sink and Taylor Swift (how did she not make the Super Bowl as she was everywhere else in the last twelve months?) in their spot to prove they finally put together the Internet and HD television. Nice work. If you had actually driven me to the aforementioned Internet or leveraged social channels I would have sent you flowers. But it was relevant and clear and I was happy.

Audi and the Green Police hit all the right notes for me except they didn’t seem to think I would want to learn more. They were wrong and I protest so I will not explore clean diesel on Audi.com or visit a dealer for one month because they didn’t give me any incentive to do so. I would have loved to watch more online. However, I am playing Cheap Trick in your honor as I write this.

Megan Fox and Motorola, Google and Doritos had almost released me from retro-Super Bowl hell. The NFL was even announcing that you could vote for the game’s MVP at NFL.com. Okay, that was cool and felt almost digital. Except what the promo actually said was, “The NFL invites you to go nfl.com or use your web enabled mobile device to vote for the MVP of Super Bowl XXIV.” Huh?

We were so close. Is there confusion in any consumer’s mind about which of their devices may or may not get them to a site? “Web enabled mobile device?” Yes, don’t use a toaster. As long as you are clarifying things for those with rotary telephones you should probably say, “visit the NFL on your online enabled personal computing desktop apparatus and don’t forget to change the ribbon on your Smith Corona laptop before you type the “www” (with a period) in front of “nfl.com.” EarthLink and Netscape will appreciate you helping out their customer base.

Attention all brands: we do know how to get to the Internet. Really. We’re that smart. If you want to help us, we do need more Wi-Fi hotspots and Verizon for our iPhones. Otherwise, we’re cool. You can drop the “www” and assume we know if our phone is smart or not.

Pepsi made a big statement by abandoning Super Bowl XXIV advertising in favor of joining the online, crowd-sourced philanthropy movement that was started a few years ago by brands like American Express with the American Express Members Project (full disclosure: I worked on that project for American Express). Pepsi has received a lot of press for this choice, noting they are spending even more money (in excess of $20 million) on Pepsi Refresh than they would have on traditional media like the Super Bowl and I hope the bet pays off.

I suspect Pepsi will be back to the Super Bowl next year, having missed the buzz 100 million potential Pepsi consumers can create across multiple channels along with driving a nice sales bump as the warm weather peak sales season gets closer. I also believe they can have it all. A great brand can strike a powerful balance with coordinated efforts across many channels rather than making a brief wave for simply abandoning a favored power channel in favor of a developing one.

This balance and flexibility and passion for marketing in many channels, not just one, is what the “next generation” takes for granted as they Facebook, Google, Tweet, text, Tumblr, blog, talk, watch, ogle, email and cheer for their heroes on the field or on the stage. Their brands should take note.

The Who used to shatter guitars and smash things up in order to break through and make us pay attention. We wanted to join them in the fight. Like a lot of brands tonight, they chose to play it safe and not break a thing. Or even try.

James Stewart
Producer/Director and Owner
Geneva Film Co.

One year ago, James Stewart of Geneva Film Co. penned a very popular article here on ihaveanidea about his field of expertise, working with 3D technologies. Fast forward to 2010, and James is back to talk more about 3D, a world that that has suddenly become more real to mainstream audiences.

Is there anyone out there who still doesn’t believe that digital 3D has changed the game and is here to stay?

With Avatar setting new sales records every week, and getting set to sail right past Titanic as the highest grossing film of all time, it would be hard to argue that this genie could, or should, be put back in the bottle.  A quick Googling of the number of 3D films in the pipeline — from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland to Toy Story 3 to TRON — shows that the publics’ appetite has just been whetted.  Or take a look at any of the many surveys asking people whether they prefer 3D movies to 2D and it’s evident that few want to go back to the second dimension.

Many of those same surveys report a growing number of people want the same viewing experience at home.  And they’re going to get it.  As you probably know by now, both ESPN and Discovery have announced that they’re launching all 3D channels.  ESPN will go on air this June in time for the FIFA World Cup.  They are planning to show at least 85 live sporting events in their first year of operation.  Discovery’s 3D effort goes live in 2011. Across the pond, Sky television in the UK is preparing to broadcast 3D soccer matches into pubs and eventually living rooms, and the BBC has announced part of its coverage of the 2012 Olympics will be in 3D.

I know, I know. There are still some hurdles to get over on the television front: the minor extra cost for a 3D-ready television and 3D glasses, the lack of 3D programming out of the gate… it reminds me, in its own way, of the objections so many people had in the early days of HD.  The fact is digital 3D is coming. It’s coming to your laptop, your Blu-ray, your PlayStation, your mobile phone.  And before you know it, glasses-free 3D will be in a theater or home theater near you.  So I say embrace it.  Explore it.  Revel in it.  A whole new dimension in which to be creative has just opened up.

Next Question

Still, I do come across articles and industry types that question why television producers and especially advertisers should follow the crowd.  (To them I say, go see Avatar!)  But those questions, in my experience are getting fewer.  In fact, over the last three years as I’ve had the opportunity to speak at a number of industry gatherings-from the first 3DX Film and Entertainment Technology Festival in Singapore to the latest Dimension3 in Paris and 3D Summit in Los Angeles-the questions I get asked have less and less to do with the viability of 3D and more and more to do with the nuts and bolts of working with the medium.  The top three questions:

• How do we do it?
• What does it cost?
• When is it going to be on my iPhone?

The short answers: easier than you think; less expensive than you think; and sooner than you think.  Here’s the longer version.

How We Do It

To begin with, we live in a 3D world.  As ‘binocular’ beings, we see everything with two eyes.  Each eye sees a slightly different angle, creating depth perception in the brain.

Live action 3D recreates this effect by filming with two cameras, each camera replicating the view of one eye.  Looking deeper, human eyes are 2.5 inches apart and that’s the starting distance for the placement of each camera.  By moving the cameras closer together or farther apart, or by pointing them slightly inwards it’s possible to create all kinds of effects-from making objects appear to jump off the screen to scenes of incredible depth.

The workflow is also entirely digital; digital acquisition, digital post-production, digital projection. All of which means that anything and everything can be captured, from real-time concerts to live-action sports, with little opportunity for the technical challenges that have plagued 3D in the past to enter into the process. And the state of the technology, especially on the projection end, eases the eyes into seeing and perceiving images as “hyper-crisp”.  Polarized lenses have replaced the cardboard glasses; each lens has a different direction of polarization allowing only the correct image to enter each eye.  Your brain fuses them as it does everything you see, to create depth.  No more headaches.  No more eyestrain.  No more seizures. Industry advances will soon do away entirely with the need for 3D glasses.

What It Costs

For live action 3D —I’ll leave the issue of 2D to 3D conversion out of this discussion — my rule of thumb is 10 to 25 percent more than shooting Digital.  It is a wide range, and where a particular project falls on that scale depends on the size of the initial budget.  If you are producing a high-end spot and working with a substantial budget, the move to 3D will be less because you are already investing in higher production value — more comprehensive storyboarding, more shooting days, more time lighting, etc.  If you are dealing with a small budget, then the move to 3D is going to be that much more, and possibly prohibitive. But don’t kid yourself into thinking this is only for Avatar sized budgets.  Right now, music videos, independent films, commercials, TV series, documentaries, concerts, sports are being shot in digital 3D, with budgets large and small.

Cost, I suspect, is what was holding many brands back in 2009. But that has now changed. Speaking at the  Screen Advertising World Association (SAWA) conference in Australia this November, the enthusiasm for 3D was absolutely palpable. Several global brands have already made forays into this brave new dimension, including Pepsi with a Sobe Life Water spot during the SuperBowl last year, Mazda in Sweden, Vodafone in Europe and the US Air Force (maybe not a global brand but a global player). And my company, Geneva Film Co., has produced six 3D spots for some decidedly not global brands, including tema.ca.

Coming to an iPhone Near You

In fact, 3D is already available on your iPhone.  I’ve had a prototype of an application on my iPhone for two years.  Today, you can download the app for ninety-nine cents — it’s made by a Canadian company called Spatial View — and play 3D content or 3D games anytime, anywhere.  This is on your iPhone, with no glasses. Look for a major launch of 3D iPhone music videos and commercials following the Grammys this past weekend.

To close, I’ll rephrase the question I opened with: Is there anyone out there who would want to go back to living in a pre-Avatar 2D world?  I suspect not.

Marc Stoiber
Founder
Change

I know, it’s the beginning of January, and your bleary eyes are trying to focus on the new year. This ought to help snap you to attention.

As you know, Green Screen is a monthly article highlighting the best in communications for green and socially responsible clients. It includes everything from more traditional ads to ambient and online.

This month, I received great leads from folks around the world on all manner of campaigns. Special thanks to Lauren Gropper in LA, Manfred Summe in Berlin, Ellen Seh in San Francisco, Chris Staples in Vancouver and ihaveanidea’s own Brett McKenzie in Montreal.

Let’s start with Shft.com. Shft is a new online green scene video mag. It includes film bits, stuff to buy, and just general thoughtstarters on all things green. The video bit I chose to highlight was a wonderful monologue by Sarah Silverman in which she describes how to solve world hunger. She appeals to the Pope to simply sell the Vatican, and use the funds to feed the world. Not only would the world be a much better place for it, but the Pope and his friends would win the, um, admiration of the world’s female population. The Silverman piece is wonderful, and it’s just a taste of the great stuff you’ll find on Shft.

Marcel Paris’ Fiat Crash Test Panda is a great ad, beautifully done. The concept is that the new Fiat is safer for the world, as well as for the driver and passengers. The folks at Fiat truly found an elegant, fun way to express the concept.

Rethink’s Loonie Project is a campaign that was all over the news a while back. What I loved most was the ‘found’ media – loonies with stickers applied to make the poor birds look as if they’d been doused in crude oil. A brilliant campaign that drew all of Canada’s attention to the BC Government’s allowing tankers to traverse the coastline – potentially endangering everything that made Super Natural BC super natural in the first place. Proof that great work doesn’t demand a huge budget.

Sun Shines Out Your Arse is the title of a spot from the UK that draws a very, very interesting connection between your nether regions and environmental responsibility. Don’t ask me to explain…just treat yourself to a viewing.

McDonald’s Fresh Salad Billboard is a brilliant execution of a simple idea. McDonald’s offers fresh salad. And so does the billboard.

Planet Green is the first all-green TV network in North America. The spot I found plays out what might happen if an enlightened Planet Green viewer found herself acting out her green convictions in a bank. It was good clean fun, with an awesome cameo by a naked security guard. I wish there were more naked security guards in TV spots. It would really liven things up.

Planet Green’s Solar Powered Swimsuit is another spot with the same quirky humor. Normally I wouldn’t highlight two spots from the same campaign. But these both made me laugh out loud, so I made an exception.

Utopia Credit Card is a product from GLS bank in Germany. I thought it was worth mentioning because the Utopia card is creating quite a stir in Europe with its change mandate. 30% of the Card’s earnings go to ‘Plant for the Planet’ and their climate initiative; 30% to Utopia, an online forum for sustainability information and change; and the remaining money goes to the bank.

Mini Minimalism is an online program from Germany. It’s interesting because of its concept – the Mini representing conscious consumption by stripping away all but the minimal. But it’s also quirky in the way it invites the consumer to find out about the ‘essential’ elements of Mini, in exactly the time that the consumer has at their disposal. You don’t waste your time discovering superfluous facts – just like Mini doesn’t waste resources creating features you don’t need. I may be a Luddite, but I found a bit of a disconnect – the online copy was in English, but the voiceover was German. Naturally, I thought this was a US campaign, but I wasn’t able to find the program in the US. Perhaps readers could help me set this one straight.

Stella Artois Recycling TV Show is the final piece for this article. It’s a beautifully shot mini-show that is part 60’s French cool and part existential comedy. It makes the point – over the course of several skits and a commercial with a hedgehog – that Stella is using recycled paper in its packaging. It definitely gives your head a twist, and makes you wonder what the first creative presentation to the client must’ve been like.

As always, I would welcome your feedback, tips on great new green communication campaigns, and any other thoughtstarters you might have. Look for the next Green Screen in early February.

Marc Stoiber is president and founder of Change, a green innovation brand agency in Vancouver, BC. He can be reached at marc@changebiz.com

Brett McKenzie

When I first sat down to reflect on what the 2009 was like for us at ihaveanidea, my mind first went to the things we didn’t do. Global recession, economic downturn, financial nosedive, whatever you wish to call it, purse strings were firmly tightened all over the advertising industry, and ihaveanidea was no exception. This meant fewer trips to various world cities and less time hobnobbing with creative directors on their turf. We also ended up skipping out on Cannes this year. No holding court at the Carlton terrace or the Gutter Bar, no tearing up various dance floors, no annual drunken photo with David Droga (sorry Dave, I know it broke your heart not seeing us.) We convinced ourselves we weren’t missing anything, clinging onto the virtue of having our first sober late June in years.

Yes, 2009 was a fat-trimming year at ihaveanidea in certain aspects. But in other ways, in more important ways, there has never been a bigger year at ihaveanidea.

We started the year off by trying a new twist to a very popular section of the site: the Creative interview. Everybody’s favourite nomadic CD Erik Vervroegen was in our neck of the woods, and we thought it would be cool to try our very first video interview with him and Sid Lee Founder/ECD Philippe Meunier, getting our questions from our viewers and readers. While our technical and cinematography skills weren’t stellar (extra batteries next time guys!) it was a lot of fun, and Erik and Phil were great sports. We haven’t done this interview format since then, but who knows what the future will bring?

2009 also marked ihaveanidea’s eighth year of existence. Now eight years is a very long time in internet years, and we couldn’t have reached that milestone without listening to our fans’ thoughts. The thing is, most of those thoughts came to us in the form of boozy conversations at award shows and whatnot. This past January, we decided to remedy this and take a more formal approach to getting feedback from our visitors. To this end, we launched the first ever ihaveanidea user survey. Massive in scope, we looked to find out as much we could about visitors, from the casual observers who only popped on a few times to read a very specific thing, to the hardcore fans who spend all day on the site when they should be making ads.  More importantly, we wanted those people to tell us what they liked - and didn’t like - about ihaveanidea. Which sections did they visit most often, and which ones could disappear without them noticing? What kinds of articles and interviews would they enjoy seeing?

When we wrapped up the survey in February, we were happy to see that nearly 10,000 people from all over the world participated in the survey, from first year ad students to worldwide CCOs and even people from the client and production sides of the business. Over a third of the respondents soldiered through and answered every single section they could, even the long form answer ones. To those brave troopers, we salute you!

Some interesting things we learned:

• The ihaveanidea audience skews a little older than we anticipated, with the largest segment of our visitors in their late 20s and early 30s.
• While we always knew that the UK had our largest European audience, we were surprised to see that number two was Romania.
• A significant portion of our audience was first introduced to ihaveanidea via Portfolio Night, while another group found out about us through the Jancy book “Pick Me.”
• The single biggest complaint about ihaveanidea was the anonymity of its users, which emboldened some users to constantly bash work and ridicule others.

So what did we intend to do with the vast of info we collected? Patience dear readers, it will all be answered in a moment…

…but first we must talk about the jewel on the ihaveanidea calendar crown, Portfolio Night 7! Let me start by saying I’m not going to sugarcoat things; the economic collapse of late 2008-early 2009 meant that this year’s Portfolio Night was far from a sure thing. We worked non-stop trying to secure global partners and host cities to make Portfolio Night a reality, but the true reality was that budgets were extremely tight, and many companies that would normally be more than happy to support the event now had to reconsider. By the time March and April rolled around, we only had a handful of cities on board, and only our friends at Corbis returning as a Global Partner. We were bracing ourselves for a much smaller Portfolio Night this year.

But as the saying goes, April showers bring May flowers. Perhaps spurred by our belief that it takes fresh, young, technologically savvy talent who don’t think in terms of 30 second TV spots to really turn the industry around, and that no event brings out such talent like Portfolio Night, all of a sudden we had a tremendous swell of support behind PN7. Ogilvy & Mather, led by new Worldwide CCO Tham Khai Meng, picked up the torch and became Global Partner, encouraging their local shops to get behind the event.

Portfolio Night 7 was scheduled to take place over a few days in June, and as we approached the dates, the somber feeling of perhaps not being able to have Portfolio Night this year was replaced by a sense of excited optimism. In a year of doom and gloom, Portfolio Night was going to be happening in twenty global cities, only two shy of the previous year’s record. This included six cities that would be holding Portfolio Night for the very first time: Lisbon, Dubai, Beirut, Tunis, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur.

In the end, Portfolio Night 7 ended up being a huge success. Over 1,700 aspiring young creatives and 600 creative directors participated around the world, and some of the attendees even received jobs and internships out of the evening. Corbis, Ogilvy, all of the host agencies and their sponsors went all out to ensure that the excitement of Portfolio Night would not be dampened by the global economy. We at ihaveanidea cannot thank everybody enough for digging deep and keeping Portfolio Night alive and strong! And for those who missed out, you can check out all of the photos, promo videos and event videos here, here, and here respectively.

The final Portfolio Night 7 date was Tuesday, June 16^th in New York City, and if you had visited the ihaveanidea website that day, you were in for a big surprise. You know that gigantic survey we did earlier in the year? That wasn’t just so we could figure out the male/female ratio of our visitors or stats like that. What we really wanted to know is how we could make the ihaveanidea site better. We took all of the suggestions we received, looking for common trends. We found out what was working for some people and what wasn’t. Then we put on our digital boots and went to work, building and launching an all-new ihaveanidea website.

One of the first things we wanted implement was strengthening ihaveanidea’s community. Not because “social networking” has become a catchphrase over the past year or two, but because from Day One ihaveanidea has been about connecting people in the ad world, sharing thoughts, ideas, expertise and opinions in order to build everyone’s knowledge. So we took a few cues from the survey suggestions and made it easier for ihaveanidea fans to recognize and connect with one another. We made it necessary to register to participate and access certain content, and did away with anonymous negativity. There are so many other sites where you can giggle behind aliases while spreading malicious gossip, but we heard loud and clear that you the people wanted more positivity. Now if we could only get those people who asked for it to use the Forum a little more…

Other changes that stemmed directly from your input included a Portfolios section for people to showcase their work. The Inbox offers a daily dose of “hey, did you see that?” to tide visitors over until the next article or interview. Those interviews have been more frequent and have gone beyond the usual suspects of North American traditional ad guys. The new Agencies section allows ad shops to join the community and show off a bit, uploading recent and historical work. And Ask Jancy now allows for members of the ihaveanidea community to add comments in case people have a different take on their advice.

The new ihaveanidea is far from perfect - there were still a few kinks to iron out over the summer - but the good news is that the new ihaveanidea is far from finished. Since the “official” launch of the new site right after Labour Day, we’ve made subtle changes that were only found to be necessary once we had a few thousand people kicking the tires a bit. Rest assured we’ll continue to listen to your suggestions and continue to make the ihaveanidea site a more enjoyable place to visit.

What’s in store from us at ihaveanidea in 2010? Well if you’ve been keeping an eye on the banners on the site, you would know that planning for Portfolio Night 8 is well under works, and is already guaranteed to be the biggest one yet. Ogilvy and Corbis are both returning as Global Partners, and they’ll be joined by a new Global Partner to be announced after the holidays. Portfolio Night will be returning to former PN cities London and Mexico City, and will also take place for the very first time in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dublin, Stockholm. Brussels, Cairo, Jeddah, Mumbai, Shanghai and Taipei… and more cities will be added in the coming months! I’m thinking it’s entirely possible that on May 20^th, 2010, PN8 will take place in twice as many cities as this year. Forty cities!? I can remember way back in the first year when Portfolio Night was only three cities!

The ihaveanidea team also has a few other things that have been turning around in our heads for quite some time, and 2010 looks to be the year that we bring those ideas to life. While some of those ideas are still being fleshed out, I strongly suggest you visit the site more often in the new year. You might just find out what we’ve been cooking!

Well that’s about it from ihaveanidea-land! On behalf of Ignacio, Brendan, Nat, Jay, Mimi, Rafik and Stephanie, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being with us, and for joining the new ihaveanidea. Have a safe and happy holiday and we’ll see you in ‘10!

Martin Belanger
Freelance Creative Director
www.martinbelanger.ca

The stench of fake seems to be fading around award shows, and the recognition of true work seems to be making a comeback. At least, we hope so.

If there was a sensible topic to close out the year, it’s the one regarding scam or ghost ads. You know the ones, those ads that aren’t ads, which often reaped their lot of awards, and which have taken up, I say it with regret, a certain space in the “creative ” sections of industry publications and websites.  To recap: from pure thirst of recognition, and from a desire to see themselves crowned in front of their peers or potential clients, some agencies submit pieces that have great virtues of ideas and purity of execution. But the designation of advertising starts and stops there. These ads have been elaborated without any marketing problem to solve. Without any brief, no invoice or media placement, either (if not a homeopathic buy, with the unique goal to comply by the skin of teeth to award shows rules). In short, fake stuff. Often some beautiful fake stuff. Some very intelligent fake stuff. But fake stuff nonetheless. And it rarely expresses itself in the form of campaigns for Gillette or Nike. No, they are creative ideas that more often pretend to sell a chiropractor, a hairdresser (a classic), a bowling alley, an aphrodisiac drink, or other products nobody ever heard of. At best, client is in on it, and participates, with one eye closed. At worst, the client isn’t even aware or – the height – never heard of the agency and has no relationship with them. And then Bam ! We give them a trophy. Which is very much like giving “star of the game” status to a hockey player who would have scored an empty-net goal, on a penalty shot, with no goalie.

This phenomenon has fed controversy in international award shows for more than a decade. Brazil was among the first champions of these prize specimens, and more recently, Asia has had fake campaigns roll in in front of judges, with India and Singapore being particularly assiduous. Lions have been pulled after verifications that unveiled the fraudulous process. No later than last year, Saatchi & Saatchi NY and a production house (Epoch) were caught with their pants around their ankles and had to hand in a Bronze Lion for a JC Penney spot that was too good to be true.

Wanderings in grey areas and complacency of awards show organizers have often made me jump out my seat. We haven’t been exempt — here in Canada and in Quebec — from this trend of the fake stuff. But is it a consequence of economic pressures that keeps us away from frivolities, or is it a newly acquired conscience? I don’t know, but by looking at the Quebec prize list of the last five or six years, I have observed a decline of the said phenomenon.

The 2009 Marketing Awards promotion is in line with this trend, to say the least. At last, a respected show that positions itself firmly against fake ads and fake clients. “Only real clients, please” is the campaign’s tagline by BBDO Toronto. A breath of fresh air. A few years ago, another award show call-for-entry showed a car print ad, on a cutting table, and an X-acto-armed hand, truncating the offer-price-monthly-payments-legal portion. It said something like “prepare your entries”. Once, accomplices winked at each other about a practice that had become commonplace. Today, we laugh at the forgers.

One thing is for sure, if the tendency is real, it is welcome, at a time when our industry needs – more than ever – to evacuate bullshit. For those who are a little naïve, like myself, I suggest we cheer the real ones. Real clients, transparency and real exploits. And to those who still pride themselves on scoring in empty goals, I think you better hurry: the game is almost over.

Marc Stoiber
Founder
Change

Four years ago I turned my back on mainstream advertising and founded Change.

So much of what we do at my agency takes place ‘upstream’ from advertising (product design, operations, packaging, etc) that it’s easy to lose sight of the terrific innovation that’s happening within the green ad field.

A few years back, the green ads I saw were all maudlin, doom and gloom affairs. They banked heavily on shock value, and went pretty light on insight. It seemed like someone had given all the Brazilian junior teams pro bono briefs like ‘shock the world into thinking pollution is bad…without using words’. After the first 20 ads, the pattern became pretty apparent.

Today, the ad world is still cluttered with crap like the 9/11 scam ads – oversimplistic, shock value stuff. But, I’m happy to say, there is a growing tide of extremely smart work out there…work I’d kill to have done myself.

I picked 11 of these ads to profile today. I hope to make this ‘green screen’ a regular affair, so if I missed your favorite, let me know and we’ll see if we can include it in the next installment.

I’d like to thank Lorne Craig, Jason McCormick and Robin Brown for helping with their top picks this time around.

1. Audi Economy Drive

This is a beautifully shot, completely fresh take on a very simple concept – when your car stops, the energy it uses should stop as well. The ad makes me feel Audi understands design, and understands the sophistication of its audience.

2. Canadian Tourism Federation

You know spoof ads, because they never really get the rip off right. But this ad comes close. It’s a Canadian Tourism Federation ad encouraging tourists to visit the ‘better, warmer’ Canada. The shots, from the water angle canoe paddle by to the wheat field kid swinger, really nail the cliches. Even the website (a front that clicks through to the true climate change message) makes me do a double take. The only downside? I can see folks south of the border looking at the ad and booking their tickets to Canada for a warm November getaway.

3. VW Fun Theory Piano Stairs

A big winner on the viral video circuit. Smart, smart, smart work. And reinforcement of the idea that people can change if they feel like it (profound thought, isn’t it). I can even see this ad selling VW’s – I believe I’d feel like a smarter, more fun-loving version of myself if I saw this and drove a Golf.

4. Method – Shiny Suds

I love Method’s ‘People against dirty’ campaign. I love their product design. I love the way they’ve given status quo cleaners a kick up the scrubber. This new commercial made me laugh out loud. Nothing beats stripper humor – especially coming from soap bubbles.

5. Fiat Eco-Drive

OK, not a video. It’s a website. But I love the european animation, and the way it made me think about the way I drive without making me think about the way I drive. It’s humorous, flawlessly executed, and smart. Show’s that there’s plenty of room for craft on the green frontier.

6. Footprint Chronicles

I talk about the Footprint Chronicles all the time with clients who are afraid of being less than perfectly green. It’s a great example of the new mentality among conscious consumers and their favorite companies. Monologue is out, dialogue is in. Brand perfection is out, brand honesty and commitment to improvement is in.

7. Sunchips Compostable Bag

I first saw this ad this summer at the Sustainable Brands conference. It was testimony to the fact that corporations were not arguing climate science anymore, but getting on with the business of green innovation. The insight of creating a compostable bag for lazy junk foodies is genius. The concept of shooting it composting is excellent – because nobody in their right mind would’ve thought it was possible to make one of these bags actually compost to nothing. Truth is way more impressive than fiction!

8. Reciclatorii

Bumped into this one by mistake. A beautifully animated, NFB meets Mastodon metal take on cutting down trees. Yes, it is all about a cause, not a brand. But dogs peeing on people to heavy metal music transcends all the cliches, so I thought it might be a keeper for the file.

9. Falling polar bears

Now we’re on the subject of cause ads that use shock to impress – something I hate – this ad pummels through the clutter. It’s simply so realistic in its horror, so gut churning, that I couldn’t look away. I don’t see myself looking at it again and again (unlike, say, the Piano stairway spot), but it makes the other ‘shock and awe’ ads look pale and contrived.

10. Energy efficient light bulb

A beautiful, gentle spot that actually tells us something fresh and new. Even if we’re being good, the industrial supply chain isn’t. It’s a new way of looking at the same point as Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles. What I liked about it was its gentle tone and non-accusatory manner. We’ve all created this system. We all have to take blame and look for answers together.

11. National Film Board Waterlife

Last but not least, an absolutely beautiful promo site for a new documentary from the National Film Board of Canada. I just wanted to sit and look at the damn thing again and again. Every day I say a silent prayer of thanks for great designers in our world. A few of them worked on this project.

Marc Stoiber is founder of Change, a green innovation brand agency in Vancouver, Canada. You can reach him at marc@changebiz.com

Marc Stoiber
Founder
Change

At a green brand conference this summer, I witnessed something incredible. It wasn’t the speakers, although they were inspiring in their own right.  It was the audience that caught my eye. About 90% of them never looked at the stage - instead, they were rapid-typing the content of the speeches into their tweets or blog entries. I was impressed, thinking I was witnessing a glorious mass communication revolution.

That is, until I peeked over some shoulders and saw what they were typing. There were posts like “Speaker says green is here to stay.” And “Green is good for business.” A pretty anemic version of what was actually being said.

Then it dawned on me. These audience members were so intent on flexing their social media muscles, they were missing out on 95% of the message. Technology had turned them into stenographers - and not particularly good stenographers at that.  There was no synthesis, no analysis, no thinking. I’m certain each of the writers felt they were making a difference. But they were, in fact, adding little more than chatter. And that, I believe, is a problem. The movement to fight climate change does not benefit from a fire hose of superfluous communication. It needs focus.

I’m not a Luddite. I understand and admire the power of social media, and believe the world is a better place for it. Social media provides shades of content; it’s visceral and raw; it’s authentic (well, usually); it can help me instantly connect with like-minded thinkers.

That said, it doesn’t replace real action, real human connection and commitment. Becoming a fan of Al Gore’s Facebook page may make me feel like I belong, but it isn’t doing a damn thing to save the world. It does, however, reflect a disturbing phenomenon. We have become a society that is deathly afraid of being left out. We somehow feel better knowing we have hundreds of people following our tweets. We feel comforted by all our Facebook friends and fans. Substituting real friends and family with the online variety speaks volumes about the isolation technology can enable. Unfortunately, this isolation is the exact opposite of what the environmental movement needs.

David Suzuki says a major contributor to environmental destruction is our disconnection from each other, and the environment. He calls it the shattered world syndrome. To illustrate, imagine our society is like safety glass that’s been shattered. Each of us occupies a tiny shard - physically close to our neighbour, but disconnected.

When we turn on the tap, we don’t know where the water came from. When we flush the toilet, we don’t know where the water goes to. When we get the clarion call to make our contribution and fight climate change, we pull back into our cocoon and start retweeting. It’s not that retweeting is bad. But again, it seems pretty anemic when you think of what’s necessary in the fight against climate change. What I believe we need to rediscover is a sense of commitment to our fellow earth-dweller.

Studies show that the number one reason people enlist in the armed services isn’t for government or country. It’s because their friend or brother enlisted. That’s strong stuff. People will enlist to potentially sacrifice their lives because their sibling or friend did. Imagine if we could harness that sort of action for the environmental movement.

Truth is, we can. I would sacrifice plenty for my friends or family. I’m certain you would, too.

It’s time we all rediscovered the power of that sort of commitment. Instead of sitting in front of our screen, we should be jumping on our bikes with our kids, getting involved in public forums with our friends, looking politicians in the eye and telling them that our families are a force to be reckoned with.

We have to live the mission. Not type it.

Marc Stoiber is founder of Change, a green innovation brand agency in Vancouver, Canada. You can reach him at marc@changebiz.com

Marc Stoiber
Founder
Change

I attended a panel discussion on the adoption rate of sustainable actions in our society. The tone wasn’t pretty. One speaker - a university professor - made the point that our society was never going to change rapidly enough to avoid ecological catastrophe. He believed the only way people would really move on sustainability was at the point of a gun, through stringent legislation, or through education.

I found his thinking depressingly incomplete. Actually, I found it depressing period. But that’s another story. Following his logic, we have no real say in changing our behavior for the better. Instead, we have to rely on lawmakers, government or educators to show us the way to sustainability. It all sounded a bit Orwellian. And I know it isn’t true.

I’ve made a career out of engineering people’s perception of things. In simple English, I make ads. As such, I know we can change the way people feel about things. And usually, we can do it while making them feel wonderfully autonomous. I’m not advocating selling our way to sustainability. But I do believe it’s time we engaged more lateral thinkers, started shifting perceptions to fix our reality, and gave the Orwellians the day off.

Adman Rory Sutherland illustrates the point brilliantly with a story about Frederick the Great. Frederick needed to curb his country’s reliance on wheat. Otherwise, a failed wheat crop could bring famine to his people, and make them an easy target for invaders.

Frederick decided to make Germans eat potatoes. Only one problem -  Germans hated potatoes. He tried to legislate potato eating, with predictably dismal results.

Then he did something brilliant. He decreed that potatoes were royal food, and could only be eaten by royalty. In fact, he planted a royal potato patch and ordered guards to watch over it. But not too carefully. German peasants weren’t dumb. They knew if something was worth guarding, it was probably worth stealing. In no time at all, Germany had a thriving contraband potato market, and Germans were savoring their illicit potatoes.

What Frederick had done was re-engineer the perception of potatoes. Nice one, Frederick.

This isn’t an isolated case. Examples surround us. Think about the VW Bug. When it hit American shores a few years after WWII, it was the antithesis of what Americans ’should’ want - an ugly, slow, little car built by Germans. However, it spoke to a generation disenchanted with the status quo. People who felt turned off by planned obsolesence, cosmetic non-innovation, and crass overconsumption. (Sounds a bit like the LOHAS crowd, doesn’t it.) Fuelled by brilliant ads that were self-effacing, modest and smart, the Bug took off - the biggest automotive success since the Model T.

Today, our Bug is the Prius. A strange little car that’s created a frenzied following of environment-minded folks. The Hollywood elite have even adopted it - a move that’s made it as desirable as royal potatoes in Frederick the Great’s Germany.

You can argue the Prius isn’t the solution. Although it’s all about consuming less, it’s still about consuming. But the Prius illustrates the point that people will gladly change their behavior, if we help them shift their perception.

Think if we took this a step further. Really unpacked our lateral thinking brains and adopted the challenge of making intangibles more valuable than consumables. It’s already happening. I spoke with a young colleague of mine the other day about tangible wealth. We agreed the current crop of 20-somethings would probably be the first generation to have less than their parents. “And be proud of it” he happily chimed in. He’s completely bought into the concept of being proud to own less. Putting more emphasis on what he experiences, rather than what he has.

So let’s take that a step further. What if we tore a page from Buddha’s book, and made enlightenment and compassion the ultimate status symbols? I’d be thrilled to get a creative brief like that. I can’t imagine a creative thinker who wouldn’t be. Imagine the results. People buying less, and enjoying each other’s company more.

Could we actually pull it off? Well, if Frederick could make Germans eat their vegetables, anything is possible.

Marc Stoiber is founder of Change, a green innovation brand agency in Vancouver, Canada. You can reach him at marc@changebiz.com