THINGS YOU CAN'T SAY ON A BUSINESS CARD

If you saw me last month, chances are you heard what happened to me with these guys over my misguided use of a very cool business card.

It's a Hugh business card that says: "Quality isn't job one, being totally fucking amazing is job one"

I chose it for a few of reasons:

1) I think it is true
2) I thought it had stopping power
3) I thought it could turn viral
4) I like the word fuck
5) I believe it pays off to take risks

I also had a back up card that did not read so scandalously; I used that one when I thought my "fuck" card would not be received well.

I did not get the uber-cool-2-year-6-months-at-4-IPG-agencies-in-NY-program job, maybe because of my card.

I was right about number 3

I was wrong about number 5, at least in this case.

My viral card made it over to the side that I figured would not appreciate it. Long story short (It's a short story), I got a distressed call asking me what I could have possibly been thinking distributing a business card with the word "fuck" on it.

Today I saw this business card, from this company in the UK.

I wonder how many clients they have passed by with a card like that... I wonder how much money they have made with a card like that...

SETH SAYS DON'T STOP

This is a copy and paste straight from the master --


Done.

What happens when your inbox is empty?

What happens when all the agenda items and all the incoming emails are cleared?

Time to go home.

A job well done. Congratulations, you earned your paycheck.

This is the factory mindset that has been drilled into us since kindergarten. You get assignments, you do your best, and you finish them.

It is at this point that we draw the line between workers and entrepreneurs, between people who work in marketing and marketers.

The challenge is NOT to empty your inbox. The challenge is not to get your boss to tell you what to do.

The challenge is to ask a two part question:

What next? What now?

Asking is the hard part.

Seth Godin

Hugh

DO THE RIGHT THING

Thanks for the pic,Chuck

Choice is a capitalist, and therefore American, institution. Our system is built on the idea that, if given the choice, consumers will choose the best product, will support the best politician and live the best life.

That's survival of the fittest (option)

I heard on NPR, this morning, about a recent study that says that there are two types of people:



Maxamisers and Satifyers --

The study followed both of these groups as they left college and searched for a job.

As you could guess, Maximizers put the maximum number of options on their plate for weighing.

Satisfyers chose from a much smaller group of choices.

----------

Maximizers, once they finally made their choice, made more money at their jobs (like 25% more), but they tended to be more depressed, anxious and all around unhappy -- Satisfyers made less, but were happier.

----------

Turns out that choice may not be all that good for the human condition.......blasphemy!

----------

Sounds about right to me.

Advertising is not about choice.

The brand-culture/culture-brand landscape is all about cutting out unnecessary choice. Good brands are signals in the fog. A strong brand takes a stand, and is unmistakable, it is recognizable, it is unapologetically itself

Take a look at Twinsumers.

Basically, we use other peoples brand signals, that we think align with our own, and judge other brands we are not familiar with by our Twinsumers compass.

-- is this new?

One of the google definitions I particularly like of Culture is: a set of learned beliefs, values and behaviors the way of life shared by the members of a society.

How about this one:

The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon man's capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.

or

learned behavior of people

I have never been a big fan of tradition, customs or those sorts of soul crushing incarnations of culture - but - culture as an eliminator of the superfluous? That's a culture I can get on board with.

So now it is clear to me, culture exists to combat the negative effects of choice! Or, rather culture exists to make choice meaningful to give us meaningful choices.

Choice + Culture = Meaningful Choices

Culture is your learned values and actions shared by a society. A good brand facilitates this learning by being a signal for people to read in the fog of superfluous choice

Values and Actions + Reading the Signals = Culture

that means:

Choice + (Your Values + Brand) = Meaningful Choices

Thanks advertising!







--P.S. a lot of advertising sucks, seriously.

I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING

You're thinking, "GMAC, I love all of the jokes we make at our late night NSAC meetings, but how can I immortalize them on my computer screen?"

As usual, We Deliver. Here are your desktop backgrounds.

(Click to download)

HOW TO GET AN "A" IN CORY'S ENTERTAINMENT MARKETING CLASS

Clerks 2 is coming out soon.

I saw the trailer in Scary Movie 4.
This is it.


They are doing this online promotion on YouTube. The best part is that what makes Jay and Silent Bob movies so good (except Jersey Girl of course), its that "we don't really care if you like what we make, we are going to make it anyway and you will like it" attitude. The YouTube video actually insults the person watching it, directly. Then makes fun of the distributor, YouTube. What follows is a behind the scenes clips that look a lot like a late night NSAC meeting - just insert computer lab with no windows and weird guy named "Skeet Skeet".

DOWNLOAD SEXY DESKTOPS FROM CIRCLE ADVERTISING

(Click to download)



(click to download)



Thanks Job, see you on Monday when you attempt to describe your genius to us.


That's Job -->

YOU'VE GOT THE RIGHT IDEA

Fo' Real knows what he is doing. Clearly.

So does Rob, if he gets a job at his internship at MTV media sales

Turns out we all do, except Job and Pooli.

Advertising manager is ranked as number 11 on MONEY's Top 50 Jobs In America.

Public relations specialist ranked 20, Account Exec ranked 29, Writer (like as in Copy__) ranked 25.

Creative, Art director, and Insane Creative Genius (Chapman has at least 2), did not make the list.

The best job, at #1, is Software Engineer, but don’t worry, we all make more money than them.


Thanks AdFreak

ADDY GOLD OR ADDY BEST IN SHOW? HOW ABOUT BOTH

Congratulations to last years NSAC team for winning OC Addy Gold and Best in Show for this spot from our campaign.

Sexy.

UPDATE: YACHT ROCK IS GOOD

Really, check out Yacht Rock on Channel 101. It is one of the Prime time Shows. Start from the beginning, it's worth it.

CHANEL 101 KEEPS SLUTTY VIRAL VIDEO'S HONEST

You may have heard about YouTube, or Turbo Nick ( Nick as in Nickelodeon )

Two major viral video portals you may not know of yet are Channel 101 and Channel 102. Think of these sites as the localized, viral video equivalents to The networks.

Here’s how it works: anyone can submit a TV show pilot (up to five minutes long). Every month the shows are screened for live audiences in Los Angeles (Channel 101) and New York (Channel 102), and viewers can vote on which shows to renew and which shows to cancel. The top five shows then become the “prime time” lineup, while the losing shows are cancelled forever. At the next month’s viewing, the prime time shows test new episodes against a new selection of pilots, and so on. Plus, you can download episodes you like to iTunes and syndicate those series you like through iTunes Video.

Its about time someone took these viral videos an honest woman out of them, eventually we will need to filter out the crap for consumer generated media worth watching. This seems like a good try.


Thanks, Trendcentral Newsletter!

THIS JUST IN: IF YOU CAN DO THE ROBOT TO IT, IT'S PERFECT

This just in from the Intern Desk:

Today I sat in on a meeting with the WB music Team and the good creatives down here at the internship. They were talking about possible new music to use in upcoming spots for a discount 20-something retailer (rhymes with Bold Snaily) and another upcoming Cell Phone provider (Their name is the same as the Toyota Tundra in Australia - a dollar to anyone who can guess that, except Jeremy or Ashley.)

From the CD with a semi mullet as the Flaming Lips' song "The Yea Yea Yea Song" plays, "This is perfect, if you can do the robot to it you know it's perfect".

He then proceeded to do the robot.



Also established at this meeting: Paris Hilton's new CD is probably not going to be a total flop. It was produced by Dr. Dre's protégé and it has very little of her singing. Mostly just her faking Orgasms and talking. One WB exec described it as "Clubby".

Then a joke was made about Paris Hilton being easy.

All agreed.