Happy Halloween

Fickle Fickle SEO

I’m having more SEO problems. It appears I have a certain love/hate relationship going here with Google. Most of the time I’m at around #3 for English Copywriter, but for the last few days, I’ve been right off the map.

Curses. I’ll make a few tweaks here and there and we’ll see how it goes.

English Copywriter Pick of the Week

via videosift.com

Up for some Scrabulous, Mr. Peanut?

Microsoft just signed a $240 million deal with Facebook. If nothing else, this tells us that this little networking site has something to offer in terms of advertising potential.

The thing about Facebook is all the little applications you can download. There are a lot of really dumb ones, but some are kind of cool.

These applications have been dreamed up by random entrepreneurs looking to build up databases. That’s fine, except for the spam. I just don’t get why the big brands haven’t jumped onboard yet, but to do more than just collect names and interests.

The way I see it, you could create a Facebook character to represent the brand (and most brands already have a character in mind). Then build up a network and involve them in games, riddles, puzzles, and all the while offer the latest promotions etc. through the one-on-one interaction with your audience.

Ah, we’ll see.

English Copywriter x 2

Here's another one from the mouse.

Spectators at the Beijing Olympics Warned to Watch their Lungs

Identity Crisis

My little mouse has been busy.

Here's the latest: I am not a plastic bag.

English Copywriter Pick of the Week

So simple.

Weather Schmeather

My latest article is out. I wrote this one with Maria.

Weather Modification at the Beijing Olympics

Influential Speakers Take II

Keeping with the theme of pivotal pitches, here’s another.

It’s one thing to give a persuasive speech for new business or funding, and quite another to speak, off the fly, to one very angry mob.

This is a speech given by Robert F. Kennedy in Indianapolis on April 4, 1968, the night of Martin Luther King’s assassination.

All over the United States riots had broken out upon hearing the news.

Now, he had to announce King’s death to a mostly black audience in a black neighborhood.

The speech he made was off the cuff, to a crowd on the verge of rioting.

That night, race riots broke out in 60 cities, but not Indianapolis.

Some attribute that fact to this speech.

Master of Puppets

Here’s Mr. Rogers winning $20 million for PBS in about six minutes.

Talk about a persuasive speaker.

Howard and I agree. The guy can pitch. And that I need to speak more slowly when I present.

Perhaps we need to throw down some poetry Rogers-style mid-presentation as well.

Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death

Hong Kong has to be the most convenient city in the world. Anywhere you want to go is within a ten or fifteen minute cab ride. And a ten or fifteen minute cab ride costs less than $40, which is like $5 Canadian.

Any type of food is right at your doorstep (at least if you live in Causeway Bay). And you never have to look far for any kind of service, be it optometrist, dentist, doctor, or a haircut.

Coming from a small town with three traffic lights, where the closest McDonald’s is an hour and a half drive away, it’s a bit surreal at times.

Here's a shot from my roof. Dig the old school buildings mixed in with the ultra-modern skyscrapers.

English Copywriter Pick of the Week

Pure candy.



So ridiculous it's good.

Back at It

Alright, that was easy to fix. I'm back in the listings.


Here’s another one from Happy Slip.

Dee-sas-tar

This is Happy Slip. Maria loves her.

It's pretty amusing stuff. I've been saying 'Dee-sas-tar' all day. Mostly because Google's banned me again...Ar! Dee-sas-tar! I'll have to sort this out - keep an eye out for some serious damage control in the next couple of days.

Ahhh Advertising

The sad reality of my job.

English Copywriter Pick of the Week

Another oldie. I absolutely loved this ad when I first saw it years ago.

The Steady Progression

Some people go from advertising to making music videos. Then, they go from making videos to making films.

Either way. Here are a couple of great ads that would make cool videos.





Here are a couple of cool videos that would make great films.

Probably Maybe

There’s nothing like having a word all your own.

Ad critics aside, it’s a marketer’s dream.

Take Volvo and safe. McDonald’s and fast.

But Carslberg probably has the best tagline out there:



And they use it to great effect.

You can’t run ads for alcohol or tobacco in Norway. So when Carlsberg wanted to sponsor a football (soccer) match in Oslo, they weren’t allowed to put their brand on the jerseys.

‘Simple’, said they, ‘we’ll just put: Probably….’

People got it. Loved it even.

The other day, I was watching ‘Pursuit of Happyness’ with Will Smith. I wasn’t a big fan of the show, but anyway, there is one scene where they walk along discussing the difference between ‘possibly’ and ‘probably’.

Right away Carlsberg came to mind. Is there a link? Or have I been doing this too long…

Either way, here’s another in that campaign I was going on about a few posts back.

Status Report # Something or Other

It may seem that I am meandering a bit with this ridiculous mission and all, but I’ll get you up to speed just the same:

Every so often we have initiative meetings to come up more off-the-wall stuff for our clients.

Ideally, if the work is clever enough, it will get produced. And if it is great, it may even win awards.

The whole creative team presented some work. Howard and I had some pretty cool ideas.

Only one of the concepts we presented was cleared for the next phase.

So, we’ll work on it, and make it into a campaign. This is the first hurdle. And there will be many more to come. (More ideas too.)

A Few More From Brian

This is a very cool idea for Toyota Corrolla. It's not a 3D rendering, it's an actual wire frame.

English Copywriter Pick of the Week

This is very cool.