Video Out-Takes From PSFK Conference New York 2008
Posted on
2008-Apr-28
at
10:29
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Analog Nights - That Was A Bad Idea
Posted on
2008-Feb-8
at
04:38
A conversation with Ignacio.
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Ignacio at Infopresse's Social Networking Conference
Posted on
2008-Feb-7
at
01:59
Yesterday Ignacio spoke at the Infopresse's Social Networking Conference in Montréal. The Gazette was at the event and neatly covered what was said.
Companies urged to use online social networks
Can't be ignored. 'This is Wild West,' conference told
ROBERTO ROCHA, The Gazette
Adman Ignacio Oreamuno pointed to marketing execs in the audience and fired off quick tips for promoting their brands online.
"L'Oréal, your business is to make women pretty. So why don't you offer a service to make women's websites pretty?
"Bell, Telus. There are forums out there where phone nerds talk about customizing and changing their handsets. Why don't you create a network for them to have these discussions in your site?
"Canon, photo-sharing sites like Flickr show which camera people used to take pictures. Why don't you create a network for people who use your cameras and offer them promotions, like free photo printing?"
But in the end, what matters most is for companies to be bold and creative, speakers said yesterday at a conference on using social networks to build a brand.
"This is the Wild West," said Oreamuno, president of Ihaveanidea.org, a social network for advertising people.
Social networks like MySpace and Facebook are very new, there are few rules, and usually, the first one there gets to the gold.
However, they represent a massive shift in how people communicate. They empower consumers to slam a brand without mercy. And they can no longer be ignored. Any company serious about being "with it" has to be willing to pour resources into it, said Rick Murray of the digital division of public-relations firm Edelman.
"You need to think about how you'll play in this space every single day," Murray said. "You can't just launch a campaign and see how it evolves. That kind of thinking is so yesterday."
It's a lesson that Cogeco Cable Inc. took home.
The cable company, which serves parts of Quebec and eastern Ontario, had dabbled in Facebook, targeting ads to university students at Queens, Windsor and McMaster.
"We only touched the tip of it," Marie-Claude Caron, Cogeco's director of marketing, said at the conference hosted by advertising magazine Infopresse.
"A year ago, we weren't even thinking about having these positions. I mean, a social marketing manager? Who knew?"
This rapid change of how people use technology to share tastes is a source of panic attacks for marketing departments that can't keep pace. Murray travels the word preaching to his clients that they should accept this reality or become obsolete.
"This is a major societal shift," he said. "We need to think from a sociologist's and cultural anthropologist's perspective."
It's fashionable for companies to say they want to have dialogues with customers, rather than relying on traditional top-down messages. But of all the brands that say they get it, only five per cent are doing it, Murray said.
"Sending an email to bloggers does not count," he said. "Putting an ad in Facebook is not a conversation."
He pointed to cold medicine Motrin, which made a site for moms with tips and news on children's cold medication. The site has a forum where they can ask questions and talk among themselves.
"You have to think about being a newspaper," he said. "Offer new snack-sized content every day."
This shift does not mark the death of traditional marketing, Murray assured. To have
a mass nation-wide reach, television spots, billboards and print ads will still have a role to pay.
But even though marketing departments will have to increase in head count, the costs of marketing will decrease, he predicts. Social campaigns are cheap, and as more resources shift online, it will pull down spending.
This should be all the more reason for companies to take chances.
"In this world of communities, you get credit for trying," Murray concluded. "You don't have to get it right every time."
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/business/story.html?id=afecd56d-ab05-4fa1-94d7-409e0930d96c&p=1
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Superbowl XLII Ads
Posted on
2008-Feb-3
at
10:02
For the benefit of the people that missed the Superbowl and for our international visitors, we've gathered the ads of the Superbowl. There was also a game played with an exciting finish (if you're a NY Giants fan).
NYG 17 NE 14
Bud Light "Breathe Fire"
Audi: "Piranha"
Diet Pepsi: "What is Love"
Salesgenie.com: "Sales Lead"
Bud Light: "Wine/Cheese Party"
Under Armour: "Athlete Training"
Bridgestone: "The Scream"
Gatorade: "Derek Jeter"
GoDaddy.com: "Danica Patrick"
Dell: "Red"
FedEx: "Pigeons"
Cars.com: "Death Match"
Tide: "Stain"
Budweiser: "Clydesdale Team"
Paramount Pictures: "Iron Man"
Toyota: "Corolla"
Universal Pictures: "Leatherheads"
Garmin: "Napoleon"
CareerBuilder: "Heart"
Life Water: "Thriller"
GMC: "Mountain Top"
Bud Light: "Language of Love"
Walt Disney: "Chronicles of Narnia"
Planters: "Unibrow"
T-Mobile: "Barkley/Wade"
Pepsi: "Justin Timberlake"
Doritos: "Mouse Trap"
Lexus: "Doughnut"
Zantac: "Cafe"
New Line Cinema: "Semipro"
Cars.com: "Witch Doctor"
Salesgenie.com: "Pandas"
Vitamin Water: "Horse Race"
Bud Light: "Cavemen"
Ice Breakers: "Carmen Electra"
Bridgestone: "Unexpected Obstacles"
CareerBuilder: "Spider"
Hyundai: "Genesis"
Disney/Pixar: "Wall-E"
E-Trade: "Baby"
Bud Light: "Ability to Fly"
NFL.com: "SuperAd"
Sunsilk: "Life Can't Wait"
Coca-Cola: "Balloons"
Coca-Cola: "Carville/Frist"
Toyota: "Big Wheels"
Bud Light: "Endorsement"
E-Trade: "Baby II"
Taco Bell: "Fiesta Platters"
Gatorade: "Thirsty Dog"
Victoria's Secret: "Model"
Amp: "Jumpstart"
Hyundai: "Tomorrow"
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Ignacio at Future Gold
Posted on
2007-Oct-20
at
03:32
Here's a link to the first of a four-part video about the Future Gold Challenge.
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Taxi & Canadian Tire Saved Me At The Border
Posted on
2007-Sep-30
at
04:56
So this past week I was travelling from here in Toronto down to the US, to visit an ad agency and prepare for another 'agency profile.' I'm at Lester B. Pearson International Airport and I'm getting ready to go through US Customs. **to our non-North American travelling readers: when travelling from most major Canadian airports to the US, you go through US Customs and Immigration before you board the plane, while still in Canada.**
Now almost every time we at ihaveanidea go through Customs, there's this little Abbott and Costello-esque routine that happens when they ask the name of our company. Instead of "who's on first?" the exchange is "who do you work for?" "ihaveanidea." "You have an idea of what company you work for?" etc...
Usually the confusion is cleared up by showing a business card. This time, however, that just made the guy at the desk more puzzled, so he put my customs form into a yellow folder and told me to go to another desk. The guy at that desk then sent me to.... the room.
Before any questions were asked, my fingerprints and face were scanned, perhaps to see if I matched up with any wanted felons. For about twenty minutes, they questioned me about my trip. Why are you only going for a day? What is it that you do? You're writing about advertising? What newspaper do you say you work for? I was told that I needed a special visa to do what I was supposed to be doing (something that's never been requested before) and that anything that the ad agency tells me on my trip is technically US intellectual property. Now I was just just as confused as they were.
Then the attention is turned to ihaveanidea itself. The customs guy couldn't grasp what purpose the site had. He asked to see my business card, and then asked me what the "SBN2" in "BRETT McKENZIE, CHIEF WRITER, SBN2" stood for. Knowing full well that telling him what it was would just be another nail in the coffin against convincing him we're legit, I sighed to myself and told him the truth.
"Soul Brother Number Two."
Which naturally begged the question "so who is Soul Brother Number One?"
"James Brown. But he doesn't work for us."
Th customs officer then went to ihaveanidea.org, and still not getting it, said "isn't this just a blog?" He the asked me to show him where I actually appear on the site. Since I wasn't allowed to look at the screen, I went by memory of what was on it. I didn't want to send him to our "About IHAI" page to find pics of us dressed as Cuban revolutionaries, so I directed them to the Taxi article I had written, which was on the home page.
The officer was still bewildered. "Taxi? What's Taxi? I thought you were about advertising."
My response: "Well, Taxi is the name of an ad agency here in Toronto... and New York," hoping the Big Apple reference would legitimize things.
"A business with the name Taxi that has nothing to do with taxis, but with advertising?"
I shrugged. "That's what they call themselves. I didn't name them."
The officer needed more proof."What do they do?"
I began scrambling to remember names of Taxi accounts and ads that would immediately resonate with this guy. Cannes-winning Short Film Festival work wasn't going to cut it. "....um, they do Viagra, the Telus ads around the airport here... Canadian Tire..."
At this point the second customs officer chimes in. "Hey, is that the agency that got rid of the stupid bearded guy that everybody hated recently?"
AT LAST! A chink in the armour! "Why yes, yes they are."
So now this second officer, who I assume has been in Canada long enough to know and hate the old spots, explains to his puzzled partner, who mentions he's only worked here for a year and a half, about the old campaign. He even acts the old spots out a bit, talking about how much of a dickish know-it-all he came across over his neighbours in the spot. I pipe in and say the guy kind of looked like Bob Vila.
The first customs officer understood the concept of the old spots, and grasped that Taxi was a real company that got rid of them. Minutes later, my boarding pass is stamped, and with a brief warning about work visas, I was free to continue on with my trip.
I've always loved Taxi's work, and Canadian Tire has helped me out in my life more often than I care to admit. But never did I dream that the two of them would save me from a body cavity search.
--Brett McKenzie, Chief Writer, SBN2
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Word Association with Ignacio
Posted on
2007-Jul-23
at
01:22
Media Circus asked Ignacio to play a little game of Word Association. We figured we'd turn it into a little game for our readers as well.
Here are the ten words/phrases given to ihaveanidea's fearless leader. Think about what these words mean to you. Write your answers down, keep them in your head, whatever.
1. Agency
2. Concepting
3. Account Manager
4. 'Edgy'
5. Truth in advertising
6. 70s advertising
7. Corporate identity
8. Viral
9. Good ads
10. Bad ads
Now feel free to compare your answers with Ignacio's right here.
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Live at the Gutter Bar
Posted on
2007-Jul-6
at
11:13
Well, the ihaveanidea team is back from Cannes, where we had a most productive week. Business meetings, working lunches and dinners, Diary of a Creative Director, and other sorts of things, all with the goal of making ihaveanidea bigger and better in the months and years to come. Still, we found time to let our hair down and do some reporting. In fact we found a way to do both at once. Presenting ihaveanidea Live at the Gutter Bar, a brief interview with double Grand Prix winners Janet Kestin and Tim Piper of Ogilvy Toronto. Keep in mind that it was the last night of Cannes, and mere hours after they won the second Grand Prix. Add the fact that we were at The Gutter Bar, and you can probably guess it wasn't going to be the most prim and proper interview on earth.
Brett and a mystery lady
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We have arrived...
Posted on
2007-Jun-18
at
05:48
After quite an adventurous journey – to paraphrase the movie Snatch, "Anything to declare?" "Yeah, don't go through England." – ihaveanidea made into Cannes on Sunday afternoon. Apparently we just missed the rain.
Ignacio, Mimi and Brett on La Croisette
The festival isn't really underway as of yet, but there are still delegates walking all around town, with many of them sitting on the terrace at the Carlton International.
Not too much excitement tonight. After walking around and seeing a few familiar faces, we called it an early night at about midnight or so... yes, midnight is an early night here in Cannes.
Rather than staying in a hotel, we've rented an apartment for the week, mere steps away from the Martinez Hotel. That means we're also steps away from the infamous Gutter Bar. Good times ahead.
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ihaveanidea deviendra comme fou à la Côte d'Azur!
Posted on
2007-Jun-15
at
03:53
Well loyal fans, it's about that time of year for the annual migration. Eels have the Sargasso Sea, Monarch butterflies have that valley in Mexico, and us advertising people have the French Riviera.
To show you ihaveanidea's commitment to the advertising profession, Ignacio, Mimi and Brett will be sacrificing their home life to attend the 2007 Cannes Lions Festival. A tough job, to be sure, but one that we're certainly up for.
ihaveanidea will be blogging our time at the festival whenever we get an opportunity. Stay tuned! And in the meantime, here are a few snapshots that Brett and Ignacio took from last year's Cannes.
David Droga, Droga5 with Ignacio and Brett
Ignacio with Joe Sciarrotta, Ogilvy Chicago and Bob Scarpelli, DDB Worldwide
Elspeth Lynn, Zig and Paul Lavoie, Taxi
Hugo Rodrigues, Salles Chemistri and Brett
Ignacio with Madeleine Digangi and Zak Mroueh, Taxi
Brett and.... um.... er...
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Getting Our Groove Back...
Posted on
2007-May-25
at
04:14
Hey everybody... wow it's been a long time since we've posted on here! We've been so wrapped up in Portfolio Night 5 and its aftermath that we've admittedly let our blog slide. But now we're ready to get the ball rolling, with more articles, more interviews and more zaniness.
But first, we had to refuel our batteries, and what better way than to stop by a charity barbecue on a beautiful day?
We popped over to Soho this afternoon to say hi to friends and to support their 4th Annual "Breasts & Weiners" Lunch BBQ in support of Rethink Breast Cancer.
A few hours later, I myself had a full stomach from three Black Angus cheeseburgers, four Cokes and an ice cream, and Soho raised over a thousand dollars for the cause.
Thanks Soho!
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I'm With The Band– Part 4
Posted on
2007-Apr-30
at
09:18
We're in the home stretch now, as Portfolio Night 5 World Tour is only three days away. Ignacio has headed to Europe, Jay intends to leave his heart in San Francisco, Brendon will be off to the Windy City, and the rest of us are holding down the fort in Toronto.
But Burn Back, they're gonna be everywhere.
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I'm With The Band– Part 3
Posted on
2007-Apr-24
at
05:22
Here's Part 3 of Burn Back's appearance on 'I'm With The Band'
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Is interactive just for code nerds?
Posted on
2007-Apr-18
at
02:01
With the advertising industry in a state of change, and this new department popping up in every agency called “interactive”, print and television art directors are no longer the only ones at the creative table. A new crop of creatives called interactive art directors are now in high demand. But does that mean that traditional print and television creatives are not welcome in the internet world? Of course not. With many agencies doing complete integration, interactive and traditional creatives are working together.
Do I need to know what php stands for in order to create great concepts for the internet? No, but a general understanding of the capabilities of different technologies is the best way to do great work. One great way is to check out sites like: http://www.thefwa.com/ - a great site for latest cool websites.
Also, a great way to see what’s cool and new in the world of motion graphics and interactive stuff are festivals and seminars like FITC. I’ve gone to the festival for about 3 years now, and have noticed that since Adobe bought out Macromedia there are a lot more print creatives coming and also a lot more seminars on creative topics.
ihaveanidea will be at the festival this year and will be reporting on it, using our code language de-coder ring to figure out what’s going on. Check out the site: http://www.fitc.ca/ for all the details.
Here are a few of the cool speakers that will be there:
http://www.gmunk.com/
http://www.lonelygirl15.com/
http://www.joshuadavis.com/
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I'm With The Band- Parts I & II
Posted on
2007-Apr-17
at
03:06
Just figured that since we've put these just about everywhere else, why not in our own blog?
PART 1
PART 2
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Burn Back-up
Posted on
2007-Apr-13
at
09:02
Portfolio Night planning keeping us going 24 hours a day? We expected that. Tickets selling like crazy in some cities, not so much in others? We expected that. People writing about our partnership with Burn Back, or asking where they can get 'Make The Logo Bigger'? We expected that too. But the YouTube link we were emailed this afternoon? That we did not expect.
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Whew!
Posted on
2007-Apr-11
at
10:01
Sorry we've been away for so long guys, but the ihaveanidea team had a little thing to get underway called Portfolio Night 5 World Tour. It has been absolutely insane for the past week or so. We were getting in touch with the other cities and agencies, we were building the website, we were putting the final touches on our contract with the legendary Burn Back– their rider is ludicrous! – all in preparation to launch this past Sunday afternoon. Yes, we all skipped our Easter dinners in order to make sure that everything would be up and running at the beginnning of the business week on the other side of the world. Unfortunately we didn't realize that outside of North America, you people take your Easter Mondays more seriously than we do. Which explains why our emails and phone calls went unanswered; you had a four day weekend.
Now that everything is up and running, we have a tiny bit more breathing room. But that doesn't mean things have calmed down. We still have to talk with all the cities involved, and that involves weird hours (we believe Jay will be starting work around midnight tonight). Some cities are a bit nervous, while others –check out Barcelona– are going full guns blazing. We're getting calls from other cities who aren't on the official list, asking how they can be added, if not now then for Portfolio Night VI. We're getting calls from the media asking for interviews with Burn Back (you mean the first one wasn't enough?) We even received an email today from someone who seemed deeply distressed at all of the iconic heavy metal "Satanic" imagery. So you know our work is far from finished.
In all of the commotion we forgot to announce the winner of the first adblogs prize. Congratulations to Ronnie Lebow, the most active adblogger in the month of March! If you haven't had an opportunity to check out Ronnie's adblog, here's your chance. It's also a good time to work on your own adblog, as the rules state that ol' Ronnie can't win twice in a row!
We'll be back with more Portfolio Night 5 news soon!
Congratulations to Ronnie (L) and his adblog (R)
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Oops...
Posted on
2007-Mar-28
at
12:24
Well that was quick. Our last blog posting invited all of you to link up with us over at facebook. Unfortunately we didn't realize we weren't allowed to set up "ihaveanidea" as a person, as opposed to a group, and facebook shut us down. Pulled the plug. Made us exit stage left even. (apologies to Snagglepuss)
So give us a bit and we'll do it right next time. We'll set up an ihaveanidea group and invite you all to join.
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Will you be my friend?
Posted on
2007-Mar-26
at
03:54
So it seems like everybody and their mother now has a facebook page (well, not my mother, she doesn't even know how to email) Far be it from us to sit idly by while this online social network goes on. It has been estimated that marketers spent in the neighbourhood of $280 million on advertising and marketing on social network sites in the United States alone.
For those who are trying to get into the whole online advertising thing, one piece of advice that keeps coming up in every conference we’ve gone to and people we’ve talked to is, experiment. Join networks, blogs, and other web avenues, understand how they work, and try new things.
So that's what we're doing, experimenting by setting ourselves up in facebook. If you wanna be our friend, just look us up and ask!
To find us on facebook search: ihaveanidea
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Breakfast of Champions
Posted on
2007-Mar-26
at
11:32
Although Jay is still bouncing back and forth between London and Amsterdam (probably spending more time in Amsterdam, knowing him) Ignacio has returned home from a week in Montreal, where he attended the 2007 Créas, an award show celebrating the best of Quebec creative. What did he think of the show? "It was amazing. The award show itself is incredible, and it truly shows that a large and strong advertising community exists in Quebec. Everybody is so friendly and ego-free, and the party lasts until the wee hours of the morning."
At any rate, Ignacio is back home, and it's crunch time for Portfolio Night 5 preparations. Portfolio Night 5 is going to be held on May 3rd, 2007, and the micro-site (and everything else) is scheduled to launch on April 9th. To get everybody up to speed, Ignacio, David and Brett had a meeting this morning over French toast and granola at one of their favourite spots for breakfast, Brassaii.
Brett, David and Ignacio
So what has to be done before April 8th? Plenty. "We're already doing well as far as production of the promotional campaign," says Brett. "but we still have to figure out what goes where on launch day."
David, ihaveanidea's newest teammate and our resident interactive guy, has mapped out a plan for the web, since most of what ihaveanidea does, including Portfolio Night registration, is online.
And Ignacio is working on connecting all the cities together, as well as worrying about translation of material for the other cities. "'Portfolio Night' va être dans 28 villes autour du monde," he explains. "Y no va a ser posible hacerlo sólamente en inglés."
Wish us luck everyone. We're sure we'll need a little bit of it.
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