“I’ve been spending much time with ad agencies and focus groups lately and can only conclude that–with some exceptions–they are mostly clueless. Three years ago they had a traditional knowledge about consumers but didn’t know much about social networking and web 2.0 technology. Today, most of them don’t know about consumers and don’t know much about social networking and web 2.0 technology either. Mainstream ad agencies have one refrain–one message to their corporate clients–do social networking, do social networking, do social networking.”

“For some time now, Crispin Porter & Bogusky has been the hottest ad agency in the country. It’s won massive accounts like Burger King and Volkswagen. It’s been “Agency of the Year” at the Clio Awards for two years running. And I sort of hate it.”

“An interesting tidbit from Guy Kawasaki’s wrap-up of his first full year blogging. The key part is bolded. Note that his blog has been consistently between the 35th and 45th most popular in the world, according to Technorati … 2,436,117 page views for an average of approximately 6,200/day … Total advertising revenue: approximately $3,350 = $1.39 cpm.”

“I’ve used advertising at this site since its inception. The income keeps me motivated to provide quality content. I experiment with different ad formats from time-to-time, but I try to keep them as innocuous as possible. My greater concern is screening inappropriate advertisers. Because the words ‘get rich’ are in the name of the site, Google Adsense frequently sticks ‘get rich quick’ ads in my articles. I hate this.”

“How to make sure people will pick up your ad? Put it inside a lost wallet. This one from Sao Paolo is for their version of Wall Street Journal (I think). Wallets were scattered around the city and contained a sticker that said something along the lines ‘You found the wallet. Now find out how to fill it up’.”

“Think dove’s ‘campaign for Real Beauty’ generated a ton of buzz for relatively little expense? You haven’t seen anything yet… With not a penny of paid media and in less than a month, ‘Dove Evolution,’ a 75-second viral film created by Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto, for the Unilever brand has reaped more than 1.7 million views on YouTube and has gotten significant play on TV talk shows ‘Ellen’ and ‘The View’ as well as on ‘Entertainment Tonight.’ It’s also brought the biggest-ever traffic spike to CampaignForRealBeauty.com, three times more than Dove’s Super Bowl ad and resulting publicity last year, according to Alexa.com.”

“The spot: Singer John Mellencamp leans on the fender of a Chevy pickup, strumming an acoustic guitar. He sings, among other things, ‘This is our country.’ Meanwhile, a montage of American moments flies by: Rosa Parks on a bus. Martin Luther King preaching…”

“Amigo is a service that matches advertisers with online newsletters, and vice versa.”

“The problem with advertising press online and offline is that they report on advertising. It’s a fundamental flaw. Advertising is not where the game is at anymore. Advertising has become a tactic while client side marketers look at how companies act as a brand as a whole — and communications is just one of many tools. You can’t completely fault the ad press totally — they feed off an industry committed to making one way communications rather than valuable brand-customer dialog.”

“The best and sometimes the worst around the globe.”

“The Ad Age Small Agency Diary is a blog devoted to the daily realities of life within America’s small advertising agencies. It’s a frank discussion of the highlights, lowlights, challenges and controversies faced by agency executives in the trenches.”

Advertising news, ideas, crits, etc…

“A database… For copywriters, clients of copywriters and those who for itself the copywriter. Always it is useful to look, that is thought already up on a theme which you interests. The database can give new ideas for copywriters or keep them from inventing already thought up, to copywriter’s clients…”

“Men are tired of their portrayal in advertising, according to a new book by Michael Buerk. But images of men behaving stupidly is not the only cliche which irritates writer John Camm.”

“When discussing Product Placement with clients - it’s alway important to keep things in perspective. Below you will find a listing of how much an advertiser has to pay for each 30-second commercial time they buy during any given series.”