Lee Dunbar

Jan

29

Tags: Just Stuff
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Dec

11

Aw, shucks! Click the link below the image to see the video. What a great way to engage your community and create a fun, viral campaign.

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Nov

4

With record low numbers in Canada last month showing just 59% of eligible voters actually getting out to the polls, there are two thoughts about how to turn these numbers around.

One tactic I’ve heard is to emulate Australia’s punitive approach — vote or get fined. It certainly gets people out to the polls, a full 95% mark their ballot.

In the States, we see a far different approach. Rather than legislation, companies step up and offer freebies to those who cast a ballot. Provide proof that you voted and you could qualify for free coffee at Starbucks, an icecream at Ben & Jerry’s, or a donut at Krispy Kreme. Seeing that some Americans stand in line for anywhere from an hour — to three or five — they certainly deserve some sort of reward for their perseverance.

Tags: Just Stuff
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Aug

14

I came across this on Slashdot. “Viewing the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony online at NBC’s Olympics website, you can see that the order in which the countries were presented was very different from the actual order of the countries in the ceremony, as listed at Wikipedia. NBC skipped roughly 100 countries ahead, then jumped back and forth, apparently delaying the appearance of the United States in its home market until later in the broadcast.” So is this a case of unreality TV?

Oh well, I guess that they might as well fake the order to increase ratings as some of the fireworks we saw on the TV broadcast of the Olympic’s opening ceremony were actually computer generated.

While it’s normal for such a large event to have performers lip-synch their own songs and it was quite evident that all the performers at the opening ceremonies of the Olymics were, China went all Milli Vanilli on us and substituted the little girl who sang the Olympic theme song with a pretty young lady straight out of Disney’s It’s a Small World because she wasn’t cute enough for International TV audiences.

It also seems that the Chinese Government faked an agreement to allow people to protest and grant journalists to have open access as a number of would-be protesters are either jailed or missing and as many as 4 journalists have been roughed-up.

We also have fake birth certificates. The latest evidence came when Associated Press uncovered a November story from Xinhua, the Chinese government news agency, reporting that gymnist He Kexin was 13, and not 16 as the Chinese are claiming, which would make her ineligible for the Games. AP found the report on Xinhua’s Web site on Thursday morning; by the afternoon it was no longer accessible.

At least the athletes are real.

Doh!

Tags: Just Stuff
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Jul

3

It’s Thursday night and you’re presenting a campaign to your client Friday morning. You’ve got nothing. Your gut is twisting. The sweat pours from your brow. You’ve drank a few pots of coffee. You’ve typed, scribbled and doodled to no avail.

Don’t worry, here are ten no-fail ways to come up with an iron clad creative campaign that your client will love.

1. The Game Show. Turn your ad into a game show parody. If you’re really clever, you will turn your product into the answer to the question. This great strategy has been used by government organizations, retailers and even car manufacturers. Bing! What is ad strategy number one Alex?

2. The Retail Rap. Have the owner of the store, an employee or even better yet, the boss’ daughter sing on a broadcast commercial. Better yet, an American Idol-inspired contest. Hey — it worked for Pepto Bismol. What’s better than a dancing pink Pepto Bismol bottle singing? A bunch of people on a stage doing their own version of course! Indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Gah!

3. Include the Family. Have the clients family members —  no matter how horrible they are —  voice the spots or appear in the ads. Especially if they are cute young kids. You likely won’t understand what they are saying and the production value is horrendous, but boy are they cute and your client can brag at the next wedding reception.

4. The Inside Joke. You’ve got that inside joke about Martha in sales? Bill in accounting? A commercial is a great time to share this with the general public. Your customers won’t know what’s going on, but you can have a good chuckle with their families’ at the next company picnic.

5. The Lazy, Stupid Male. Yep, make fun of Dad. There is no better ad strategy than to make fun of the idiot of the family. Show him breaking something, falling, building some really ugly dog house or getting caught in a fib. Nothing makes a product more appealing than a dumb man.

6. The ‘New’ Bimbo. This is the new 21 Century Bimbo we’re talking about here. Women making fun of women. Not only are ad agencies using the same creative strategy — they are even using the same actresses! That’s right, you too can use the same bimbo women popularized in commercials by Special K and Kraft Cheese — jalapeno (gel-ap-eno) in your shredded cheese anyone?

7. The Cornucopia. The oldie-but-goody rears its ugly head. Nothing more cliche than the good ‘ole cornucopia of savings.

8. The Popular movie Rip-Off. Take an expression or line from a movie and drive it into the ground. I still get queezy when I hear anything to do with “show me the money” from Gerry McGuire. I think every variation was used for years — show me the savings! Show me the coupons. Show me the buffet! Show me the exit. Ugh!

9. The Stupid Intern. No better way to make the client look good than to pair him or her with a dumb intern. The dumber the intern the better.

10. This deal is so good I have to run away from the cops. Ah yes, even heavy weights like Pontiac and IKEA have used this one. Show a customer who has just left with a product that was such a great deal that they think they will be arrested. Delightful!

Bonus Strategies

11. The Super Hero. Fighting gingivitis? Need someone to fight high prices? Along comes the super hero to save the day!

12. Insult your most important customer. I recently heard a commercial for a building materials supplier that essentially tells the man of the house to leave the woman of the house at home because they don’t have fancy cappuccino machines or nice decor. That’s right, ignore the fact that woman account for 80% of building material purchases and go right ahead and insult the ‘little lady’. I am sure the grizzled contractors coming into the store will have a chuckle with you, but I guarantee the woman sending them wouldn’t.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Just Stuff
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Jun

17

A long, long time ago I was working my first job after college at an advertising agency. One of the projects I worked on was designing the first ever, and subsequent issues of “Just Fishing”, Big Jim McLaughlin’s newsprint magazine. It was a lot of hard work, a lot of fun and it was great meeting Big Jim. He’s a big man, with a big heart, big stories and a big sense of humour.

Big Jim, recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, faces the toughest battle of his life, and now his old friends at Muskie’s Canada have set up a raffle to assist the big guy in his fight.

“Everybody knows Big Jim and what he has done as an ambassador for fishing,” said Matt Clay of Muskie’s Canada. Four awesome prize packages have been put together with the help of local vendors and are being raffled off at $5 a ticket. Each package is valued at more than $1,200 and each ticket offers a chance to win some great tackle, with proceeds going to help Big Jim with his cancer treatments. It is a small price to pay for a guy who has helped so many in the outdoor community, so I urge you to dig deep.

To purchase a ticket, please call Clay at (613) 723-9234 or e-mail him at mattclay@rogers.com.

Tags: Just Stuff, Sports Stuff
Comments: 1 Comment

 

Jun

3

The Round-Up

June 3, 2008

The City of Ottawa and ZeroFootprint, a not-for-profit corporation, have teamed-up to launch the ottawa.zerofootprint.net web tool that allows citizens calculate their carbon footprint. They also announced that they are developing a special template for festivals and events. In essence, people can calculate their carbon footprint, view tips on how to reduce their footprint and purchase an offset to become carbon neutral. The money paid to ZeroFootprint to offset your carbon footprint will be invested in companies developing green technologies.

Speaking of footprints — in today’s news an image from NASA that appears to be a footprint on Mars.

Scientists believe that we can see into the future — explains optical illusions.

Will Panama disease wipe-out the supply of bananas?

After Toshiba stepped-down (apparently) from the high def format wars, ceding to Sony’s Blu-Ray technology, many thought they were done. Now word out of Japan is that Toshiba is jumping back into the fray with a high-res upgrade to current DVD technology that provides a picture that rivals HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Is this a stroke of genius or stupidity? You could make arguments either way. The reports claim that not only is the technology backwards compatible, but it can also improve the picture of existing DVDs.

A group of students from Ottawa University is taking Facebook to task. The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), as part of a project, has prepared a brief requesting that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada investigate, what they claim, is Facebooks failure to outline how private information is used for commercial purposes.

Tags: Community Stuff, Design Stuff, Just Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Neat Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
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May

9

Seems Andrew Brash is encountering some surreal moments on this expedition. Below is an excerpt from his May 6, 2008 dispatch …

Yes, as if any year on Everest wasn’t weird, I’ve had to make special mention that this year really is peculiar. Guns, army, ambassadors, foreign secretaries…admittedly there hasn’t been much else to do but read while we wait for a certain group of people to summit this mountain on a certain route, carrying a certain piece of flaming hardware to the top. A tall order they’ve given themselves, let’s face it, and it’s the reason we’re now waiting the strangeness out in the teahouse village of Dingboche. I have to say though, that I’m glad I’m here giving this a go and not sitting on the sidelines at home. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say.

You can read the rest of this and other dispatches as he climbs to the summit.

Tags: Just Stuff, Sports Stuff
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May

5

Monday Round-Up

May 5, 2008

Ottawa Festivals launched the commencement of festival season this week at a ceremony held at City Hall. The organization represents 43 different festivals, events and fairs in Canada’s Capital Region.

Is Disney recession proof?

And then there were 4. While the Pens will take on Philly in the East, the Stars will meet the Wings in the West. What has been odd this season, is how short the first two rounds have been — the majority of the series have gone only 4 or 5 games.

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Community Stuff, Just Stuff, Sports Stuff
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Apr

29

Now here’s something that you don’t see everyday. A backpack that was reported to police as being suspicious is blown up by the bomb squad just outside of the Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney.

 

Tags: Just Stuff
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