AdAge Names Best Ad Books Ever !

Jonah Bloom at AdAge asked his readers to name the best books ever written on advertising. As you would suspect, the usual titles came up, plus a few you might not think of. see link for details


My personal favorites include: "Where the Suckers Moon," by Randall Rothenberg. Good for a few laughs and a great look inside Weiden & Kennedy at their peak. As a bonus, it's about Subaru, the funniest sounding car ever made.

"A Big Life (in advertising)" by Mary Wells Lawrence details some of the struggles, and all of the joys, of one of the premier women ever to grace advertising. She had a lust for life, a passion for great advertising, and a true feel for the business.

"Then We Set His Hair on Fire" by Phil Dusenberry is full of business insights and more than a little bit of fun. One of the true giants in the business, and a true gentleman as well.

Oh, and anything by David Ogilvy.

Advertising, officially out of ideas.

Let's see, there are ads on / in garbage trucks, broadcast messages in school buses, and airline restroom doors. The mind of man has seemingly run out of ideas for running advertising messages. Alas, there is a company called DoubleTake Marketing. They are producing and selling ads placed on airport conveyor belts. Peeved passengers possessing no perks have ten or fifteen minutes to read the same message as they wait for their checked luggage to appear. (Those waiting for baggage at Memphis International Airport will, of course, have greater exposure to the advertising messages.) First installation is at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Look for the idea to spread quickly as airlines and airports will do virtually anything to create much needed revenue. On the heels of this news comes word that airlines are selling advertising space on computer-generated boarding passes, backs of tray tables, TV messages on safety announcements and more. There is no escape.

Fruitvertising.

Watermelons Tested As Ad Vehicles
By Amy Corr , Tuesday, August 19, 2008

In the grand scheme of fruitvertising, (not that I'm thrilled with the concept), I've always wondered why bananas were selected as the test fruit. Bananas are small in comparison to many fruits, and most fruits are already affixed with stickers, so I'm guessing it had something to do with bananas being a popular, accessible year-round fruit.

Watermelons seemed to be a good choice because the canvas to work with is a substantial one. Only drawback is, they're seasonal. Sundia Corporation, producers of 35% of the U.S. watermelon supply, is transforming its watermelons into billboards this month, with SC Johnson's Ziploc brand stepping up as the advertiser.

Ads will appear on watermelons in the Midwest and Southeast; the lone sticker is a combination of the Sundia logo on top and a coupon for $1.50 off the purchase of Ziploc containers on the bottom. The sticker is large, but in comparison to the size of the watermelons, it's similar in size to the stickers found on bananas. Thankfully, there's a tie-in between the brand advertising and its canvas.

Gear Seven Communications printed the ads and collaborated with Boxtop Media in New York and SC Johnson's ad agency, Ryan Partnerships in Chicago, on the project.

Source: Media Creativity from Media Post, August 19,2008.