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Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing, Maybe. Let me see if I got this straight. Four weeks ago there was no such thing as "DoubleThink" except in the great Eric Blair masterpiece ( "1984.") Now "DoubleThink" and it's "A Cool American" campaign are being written up in the ad trades and I'm getting e-mail from Stewart Elliott of the New York Times and Kenneth Hein of BrandWeek. Not only that, a very nice lady from AdWeek picked up lunch this past Monday. |
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Plus the readers are saying:
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I'm a good copywriter but it seems like my art directors are always having more fun. They go off on photo shoots and get to cast hot models. I get to dig around on the web and go to boring client briefings in smelly factories. How do I change careers-Bette W. Chicago |
| And former Coke people are saying "more power to you!" Such is the power of changing Perception to Reality. "DoubleThink" is now real. We've taken it from a brain fart to a group of like minded creative folks, to a team with a mission, to an exercise in global branding, to a news story, to a free lunch. |
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Buy the latest Art director's Annuals and steal ideas just like they do. Learn Quark and, Photoshop. Stay late and build your AD portfolio on your AD's G4. Get a new wardrobe. Learn to smoke dope at lunchtime. Get a new haircut. Send your book out. See how much less they pay Art directors. Then get over it and get back to work.-HW |
| The question on everybody's lips is, "What comes next? Well, of course the big question on the lips of all the press folk is, "What does Coke Management think about "A Cool American?" Well let me say right here and now, don't confuse me with anybody who gives a rat's butt wipe about what Coke Management thinks. If they have the time to mouse around on this website with their company swirling round the porcelin bus, they should all be put out to pasture. |  |
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This column has nothing to do with people like Mr. Fruit (CMO)and Mr. Isdell (CEO). These guys are up on the bridge running the ship. This is a column for the Chief Petty Officers who happen to look to port side and see the iceberg comming up fast. This column is for the guys scoping out the life boats and saying maybe there is something I can use on my next tour of duty. That's not to say that there are not a lot of people in the marketing department at Coke ( according to a guy who works there and swore me to secrecy.) She told me that they all had one burning question in common, in their Coke Cooler chat's. "What do you think they're gonna do for television?" Well, they won't have long to wait. The television executions for "A Cool American" will be unveiled next Wednesday. To put it mildly, the "Cool American" spot is off da hook. Working For A Living. Every now and then, I actually have to get up off my ass and go into a client's office and put in an honest day's work. The past five days were like that. Ad agencies play fast and loose with their work day. The Global 1000 enterprises that I work for, don't allow for such a caviler attitude. This past week I was expected to show up at 9am and take work home when I left at 7 each night. Just like any other high-priced manager on the team. During those 10 hour days, I left the house at 7:30 am. Sweated through the rush hour traffic snarls that make life and work in the city a cursefest. Swilled down a Coke and a muffin before the first meeting of the day. Worked my brain to the bone, non-stop 'til noon. Grabbed something equally unhealthy at the company cafeteria and took it back to my desk, to get ready for the mid-day crisis that was sure to walk through my door before 2pm. Multitasked my way through meetings, conference calls, fire drills and death marches. Kissed up to the command structure. Became known as "that guy in Carole's Office." Used my cell phone because I could not for the life of me figure out the seven didget billing code to use the phone on my desk. Became driven insane trying to get my computer to send print commands to a document printer that was in the same hemisphere as my temporary office. Wore a security badge at all times. Didn't go to the bathroom because every door locked behind me and I would not be around long enough to be given an acess pass. Got and lost my e-mail because Earthlink Web Access e-mail sucks the big weenie. In other words, I had to deal with the stuff that most of you take for granted every day of your working lives. How quickly we forget what it's like to live and work in America, when you happen to be self-employed. After this past week's experience I have a few things to share with you who work from 9 to 5. First and foremost, realize your dreams and hopes of doing or developing or creating something that will allow you to quit your day job. If you don't love what you do for a living, what you do will ultimatly make you hate your life. Get that screenplay out of the drawer and bring it back to life. Take that music, photography, Gormet Chef class or whatever and kickstart your way to a change for the better. If the corporate life style suits you then embrace it like a Samurai. There are a lot of people out there who are fired but don't yet know it, because the budget to replace them hasn't been approved or the proper excuse hasn't been found or just the damn paperwork hasn't caught up to them. Get your damn ear to the ground, Bosco. Find out where you stand and take one step sideways before the piano drops. Finally and most importantly. Love your family more than your job. They will be the only ones on your team when it comes to an end. And it will come to an end. Bank on it. Head count is the one thing keeping your boss up at night. How can she do more with less. In the past five days I did the copy and art direction on 14 commercials, 10 print ads, one 5 minute trade show film, and one in-store display. In the past five days the guy working in the office down the hall did the copy on trade ad. I report to the same person he does. No matter what you do for a living, there is somebody out there like me who will out gun you at every turn. The minute that apples to apples comparison is made by your fearless leader your paycheck is at risk. This is not a scare tactic. This is a fact of life. Kiss your babies. Bring flowers to your wife. Rock your husband's world. In business, the only thing that counts is family.
On Being A Good Sport. There were a number of casualties at the past Olympics that no amount of misplaced "security" could have prevented. The greatest of these was the U.S. Basketball Team. What a bunch of losers. "Personally, I think the NBA is image-challenged. I don't think some of the players at the Olympics sent the right signals," said Sam Sussman, vp and media director at Starcomm was quoted to say in the copy of AdWeek I got during my afore mentioned free lunch. Well duh. Didn't send the right signals? those million dollar crybabies were a disgrace on so many levels it boggles the imagination. I give Iverson his right to wear gangsta braids and jail tats like he's all that and a bucket of nails. Fine. But when did it become Kosher for Professional-ranked atheletes to go up against amature ranked atheletes in global competition in the first place? Let alone, whine about getting their ass-kicked. In 2002 they placed sixth. Pitiful. Their coach Larry Brown gave the excuse that they only had two weeks to practice as a team. Excuse me, but when did the NBA start playing a year long season? Was I out of the room when that happened? What became of the so-called "Dream Team?" Les Winkler of the Southern Illinoisian's wife( Illinois High School basketball coined the term "March Madness") put it best. Mrs. Winkler said that the 2004 Olympic Basketball team was a "Miracle in reverse." Hell, a couple players, including team captain Allen Iverson, were suspended for the Olympic team's first exhibition game for blowing off practice. This is a team that lost to Puerto Rico. If Puerto was a state it would have the lowest per capita income in the nation. This tells me these millionaires couldn't hold their own in a pick-up game in East Harlem. But this column is not a sports column and what I know about basketball I learned from shooting 15 commercials with Karl Malone. ( Malone hates the game, never watches it and refuses to talk about it.) This column is about marketing. Starcom's Mr. Sussman also said that the situation wasn't dour enough to have any of our clients say that they don't want to advertise in NBA telecasts. So you take the Olympic fiasco, the Kobe vs Shaq travisty and put them against the sliding demos for men 18-45 on the networks and you have what many on Madison Avenue are touting as the "Ultimate Reality Show." Remember when competitive sports was held up as a symbol of all that was good and right with the American way of life? As Arsenio Hall would say, "Hmmmmm?"
Stay Tuned. |
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