We were saddened to hear the news of Steve Jobs passing today. We offer our condolences to his family and friends. His battle with cancer was well known but we were hopeful he might be able to experience a longer retirement since he stepped down from his role at Apple. We in the creative field of advertising and design feel a kinship with the innovative spirit of this man. The way he continued to bring astonishing new products to the world until today was impressive.

Many of us have had a lot of experience using Apple products. I remember when I was studying design back around ’90 at MICA that we had some of the first Apple computers. I used the original Mac to create an illustration that was printed out on a dot matrix printer. Macs were less immune to viruses back then and our whole computer lab was shut down for a month from an attack. I continue to use Apple’s products now and rely on my trusty iMac.

We were drawn to the “think different” philosophy created for Apple Computer in 1997 by the Los Angeles office of advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day that drove Apple’s product creation. Their products worked better for design and publication back then and continue to do so today. Here’s hoping Apple will continue in the direction that Mr. Jobs envisioned. Let’s raise a toast to a truly creative spirit.

In the marketing world being “the first” is an incredible thing. Whether it is being the first brand in a niche product category, the first to use a new media strategy or the first to make a creative new ad claim, people take notice. Firsts also provide tremendous competitive advantage. The only thing worse than being second is blatantly copying the brand that did it first. We’re talking to you Dairy Queen!

If you haven’t seen Dairy Queen’s latest campaign – take a look. For me, it’s a little too close to Old Spice’s campaign. We all know how popular and successful Old Spice’s use of the sarcastic new icon was with the over-the-top irony of their spots. They scored a huge “first.” They came up with a creative strategy that really worked to grab (and hold) the attention of their target audience. It was so popular many of the spots went viral, topping the most watched YouTube video charts. So I can certainly understand why someone in a board room at Dairy Queen must’ve thought – let’s do that! And granted, the two brands aren’t even in the same product category, but still – did they really think the copycat campaign wouldn’t be obvious? And the worst part? Others (like Edge Shave Gel) have starting shamelessly jumping on the bandwagon.

Lesson learned: do your own thing. Sure, plenty of people say there are no more new ideas out there; that everything we come up with has probably been used in some way, shape or form at some point over the past 100 years (even if we don’t know it). Maybe that’s true in many cases, but that doesn’t mean we’ve lost our ability to create new and impactful advertising. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t use creative ideas and strategies from great campaigns that are already out there. We should be inspired by the great advertising around us, not take the easy, copycat way out.

One hundred years ago today, the Father of Advertising was born, and we at TCA are tipping our hats to him. While the big party is going down in Cannes, people all over the world are celebrating one of the most influential figures in advertising, David Ogilvy.

Want to join us? At do100.oligvy.com, Ogilvy & Mather will turn your Twitter profile picture red, Ogilvy’s favorite color. Or just keep up with the hashtag #DO100 to see other’s tributes to the inspirational ad man.

And if you aren’t sure why the world is stopping to honor a stove salesman turned “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry,” take a look at his bio – or even better, get some nuggets of wisdom straight from the guy’s pipe at Inspire Me David.

Two of the little things I’ve been working on lately are drinking more water and improving my posture. In order to help myself keep these goals top of mind, I used a very simple tactic: Post It Notes (real original, I know). I put one-word notes on my monitor to remind me to sit up straight and refill my water glass (or drink the one sitting on my desk, still full from 2 hours ago).

The first day was remarkable; I corrected my posture at least a dozen times and drank 6 glasses of water. The next few days I still found myself correcting my posture and drinking more water. But by the end of the week the impact started to fall off and by the second week the notes had no effect whatsoever.
I finally realized the problem – my brain adapted to the presence of the notes and after a while just filtered them out and ignored the cues to work on my goals. It’s an unfortunate application of the power of the human brain. I became immune to my own surroundings, without even trying.

This whole experience got me thinking about the minds of consumers today. They work exactly the same way. We all know advertising is ubiquitous. We live in a world where target audiences of every shape and size ignore marketing and ad messages daily. I just never considered how easily consumers do so without even trying. Overexposure has caused the consumer brain to easily tune out even the most intrusive ads. The question is how do you ensure your marketing efforts aren’t just another post-it note that people can ignore? The answer is what it’s always been.

Step 1 – Understand your target audience in deep and impactful ways.
Step 2 – Be strategic. About what you say, how you say it and where you say it.
Step 3 – Be creative. About what you say, how you say it and where you say it.

I’m not expounding some new insight or wisdom here. This is nothing new, I know. But it’s worth taking a look at your strategy and making the necessary changes to get consumers to change their behavior. Then you’ll have consumers that will listen to your message (and maybe have better posture, too!).

Here in the office, we are always coming across interesting or intriguing pieces of ad work. It often spurs a moment or two of discussion. This one got us talking.

Often times, anti-fur ads are extremely graphic in nature (like this one – but beware, it is intense), alienating both the target audience (people who wear fur) and people with weak stomachs. People are prone to stiff arm the ads that make them feel uncomfortable or that cast them villains in their own lives. The anti-fur ads below are a bit different – they drive home the point without being too graphic. And because of the mannequin nature of the characters in the ads, consumers can become detached in a way that allows us to get the message without being alienated.

What do you think? Are these ads successful, or do the graphic anti-fur ads work better?

Via I Believe in Adv.