household name : : : blog

Quote O' The Week : Ideas

My car broke down on a trip through New Jersey last week.

The local mechanic had this taped on the wall.

I asked him if the sign was good for business or bad for business.

He just smiled and shrugged.

Where Ideas Come From: Part 2

Where Ideas Come From: Part 3

Quote O' The Day : Thomas Jefferson

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

– Thomas Jefferson, 1802.

Lee Clow Selected Tweets

Some selected words of wisdom from the Twitter page of Lee Clow, Creative Director of Chiat Day LA.

Always assume no one wants to hear what your ad has to say, then give them a reason to.

A logo is not a mandatory. Being on strategy, speaking in the brand's voice and intriguing consumers are mandatories.

A brand doesn't need a unique position in the market as much as a unique position in consumers' minds.

If your copy requires italics, your copy requires rewriting.   

"What are we trying to say with this ad" should be asked before writing the brief. Not two minutes before showing the client.

Most people don't have enough time to interact with their kids, let alone your brand. Respect that.

In our hunt for novelty, we forget that great advertising is so rarely seen that consumers already consider it novel.

You should always focus group creative, assuming your goal is creative that satisfies 30 people.

When judging an ad internally, react like a consumer first and analyze it to death later. Like after it runs.

Few things guarantee failure faster than the "safe" option.

The better the work, the shorter the presentation.

Copy & design create an ad's internal rhythm. Even if they can't describe it, consumers know when the beat is off.
 
I love clients who know the difference between input and a mandate.

Just because everyone (ad folks) is doing it doesn't mean anyone (consumers) actually likes it.

The biggest waste of time & money in most agencies is the inability to make a decision. Lead yourselves. Lead your clients.

An ad discussing negative things does not a negative ad make. E.g., every problem-solution ad ever run.

Sometimes the best visual solution is a well-written line.
 
It's not that consumers have short attention spans. It's that we give them so little of interest to look at.

No one remembers an ad they never see.

Consumers never complain about ads being too smart.

"But some people won't get this" is one of the first signs your ad might actually work.
 
"Did you consider trying this?" No, we're good enough to reject it without wasting time trying it. Your CFO will thank us.

Don't confuse a simple execution with a simple message. The former is optional; the latter, mandatory.

Nothing kills a bad product faster than great advertising.

Hope you like that straw dog because the client just approved it.

The consumer will never hear that two-hour campaign rationale you gave to the client. Work lives or dies on on its own merits.

Clients are consumers, too. They just need to be reminded.

Always read your copy out loud to ensure it sounds like the brand and not the brand manager.

Your ad begins as an interruption. Make paying attention to it feel like a reward.

A technique or look is no substitute for substance.

Few things break my heart like seeing a brilliant idea poorly executed. Always sweat the details.

Most products don't actually have a USP. That's why *we* exist.

Body copy gets read when headlines do their job.

TV spots are short. If you can't hold folks' attention for 20 secs before revealing the brand, find another line of work.

Quote O' The Day : Willa Cather

"There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before."

– Willa Cather, O Pioneers!, 1913.

Quote 'O The Day : Goethe

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marie Antoinette's Blog

If she were alive today the Royal Diaries of Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles, would be a must-read blog.

 

Karl Lagerfeld Twitters

 

65,000 people follow the fashion legend's every move...but Karl follows no one.


Karl's Tweets

Quote 'O The Day : Ahmet Ertegun

"There's two kinds of music: black soul music, and the white imitation thereof."

–– Ahmet Ertegun.

So says the man who discovered and signed both Ray Charles and Led Zeppelin.

One of the most significant figures in the modern recording industry

Quote 'O The Day : Ideas

"An idea doesn't care who had it."

Quote 'O The Day : Buffett

"If the phone doesn't ring, you'll know it's me."

Warren Buffett's parting words to the CEO of a company soliciting itself to Berkshire Hathaway for purchase.

Quote 'O The Day : Darwinism 2009

"It's not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."

As in life; as in business.

-

That Bulldog Spirit

That was the week that was...

Make Time For Confucius

"By three methods we may learn wisdom:

First, by reflection, which is noblest;

Second, by imitation, which is easiest;

and third by experience, which is the bitterest."

Confucius, by way of Yoda.

Where Ideas Come From : Part 2

 

"There is nothing new except that which has been forgotten.” So said the infrequently quoted Madame Rose Bertin, milliner to Marie Antoinette. (A Bertin creation above, circa 1778.)

Examples throughout history prove her point: During the reign of Cleopatra, Eratosthenes deduced the circumference of the Earth was roughly 25,000 miles, knowledge that would be lost for more than a millennium until rediscovered by Copernicus.

The engineer Heron of Alexandria in his treatise Pneumatica (AD 62) laid out the principles of steam power.

Consider this: The Egyptians had the technical knowledge to start the industrial revolution. What they lacked was the economic incentive to create labor-saving machinery because they relied on slaves.

(Above : His Aeolipile was at child's a toy).

Hitchcock popped up in all his films, just as Renaissance artists painted themselves into a row of heads on the fringes of frescoes.

And high upon each of the two walls of Chichén Itzá's ‘Ball Court’ in Mexico are two vertical hoops. Two teams would try to shoot a rubber ball into the hoop without using either their hands or feet. (They used their hips). The winning team were sacrificed--it being considered an honor--elevating the sacrificed's family to a higher social status.

Basketball fans say the game was invented by Charles Naismith in 1891. I say evidence trumps opinion.

 

Marie Antoinette. Blogger. Age 13. 

 Hitch's Cameos

Hero's Inventions