This past weekend, an industry came together for a night of glamour, awards and somewhat formal festivities. No, we’re not talking about the Oscars – although rumor has it those happened this weekend, too. We’re talking about the Addy Awards.
Sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, local Addys are sponsored by ad clubs all across the country. Ceremonies were held this past weekend in both Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas, and the Sells Agency came away winners in both competitions.
Now, we always say that we don’t create ads for the sake of winning awards. And that’s true. But we still enjoy seeing how our creative stacks up against the competition.
This year, it stacked up pretty well. In the Little Rock competition, we won eight awards – more than any other agency – including four gold, two silver and two bronze. Add in our silver from NWA, and that’s a total of nine awards for five different clients. Here are the details:
Gold – Arvest "Changing World" for National TV Campaign
Gold – Arvest "Changing World" for Special Effects
Gold – Acxiom "Jump drive Mailer" for B2B DM, Flat
Gold – Acxiom "Media Kit Mailer" for B2B DM, Dimensional
Silver – Change for the Better "Poster" for Public Service Poster
Silver – Acxiom "InfoBase-X" for Photography, Color
Silver – HealthSouth "Print Campaign" for Photography, Color
Bronze – Acxiom Corporation "Acxiomimage.com" for Micro or Mini Sites
Bronze – Centennial Bank "$100 Hot Dog Ad" for Newspaper, Fractional Page, Color
Congrats to all those who were honored. The gold winners will move on to the district competition in April. Of course, we’ll keep you posted on those results. Now, back to work creating next year’s winners.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Evolution of an Agency
We just received a phone call from a vendor that went something like this:
Vendor: “Is Sue there?”
Me: “This is she.”
Vendor: “I tried to send you an email regarding last year’s so-and-so project, and it bounced back.”
Me: “Oh, are you calling for Sue Smith or Sue Watson?”
Vendor: “I’m looking for Sue Jones.”
Me: “You’ve found her. Jones is my maiden name.”
Vendor: “May I have your new email address?”
Me: “Yes, it’s still my first name and ends in @sellsagency.com, but I work in a different department now, so you’ll want to speak with Dan about that project.“
The point is that there has been a lot of change at 513 Center Street in the past several months. Some of us have switched departments, as well as last names, some of us have received well-deserved promotions, some of us are brand-spankin’ new and settling in nicely, and one of us just moved to Denver (the rest of us could’ve done without the latter)!
Heck, even the agency has a new name. Luckily for us, the changes have been good! Even in this tough economy, we’ve had the need to add additional staff members, managed to reach the $11 million mark in capitalized billings for the first time, and business continues to move at a comfortable, break-neck speed. That’s our favorite speed, by the way.
What we’re trying to say is, we’re evolving. And we bet your company is, too. If you’d like to evolve and grow together, give us a call. We promise to make that call as unconfusing as possible.
Vendor: “Is Sue there?”
Me: “This is she.”
Vendor: “I tried to send you an email regarding last year’s so-and-so project, and it bounced back.”
Me: “Oh, are you calling for Sue Smith or Sue Watson?”
Vendor: “I’m looking for Sue Jones.”
Me: “You’ve found her. Jones is my maiden name.”
Vendor: “May I have your new email address?”
Me: “Yes, it’s still my first name and ends in @sellsagency.com, but I work in a different department now, so you’ll want to speak with Dan about that project.“
The point is that there has been a lot of change at 513 Center Street in the past several months. Some of us have switched departments, as well as last names, some of us have received well-deserved promotions, some of us are brand-spankin’ new and settling in nicely, and one of us just moved to Denver (the rest of us could’ve done without the latter)!
Heck, even the agency has a new name. Luckily for us, the changes have been good! Even in this tough economy, we’ve had the need to add additional staff members, managed to reach the $11 million mark in capitalized billings for the first time, and business continues to move at a comfortable, break-neck speed. That’s our favorite speed, by the way.
What we’re trying to say is, we’re evolving. And we bet your company is, too. If you’d like to evolve and grow together, give us a call. We promise to make that call as unconfusing as possible.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Summing-Up the Super Bowl
Advertising’s biggest day has come and gone. The general consensus around the Sells Agency is that the Super Bowl ads may not have met the public’s (possibly) unreasonably high expectations, but they still made the most of the only time of the year where people don’t even think of fast-forwarding through the commercials.
At $3 million for one :30 spot, this is not the time to blow it with mediocre creative. And, while a few did, others managed to stand out. If you need to refresh your memory, visit www.superbowl-ads.com. Otherwise, our insightful observations may be lost on you.
Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head made comic headway, so to speak, in delivering Bridgestone’s message, while the E*TRADE baby brought a friend. Hilarity ensued. Alec Baldwin was perfect as Hulu.com’s spokesperson, and was probably seen by a larger audience than every episode of 30 Rock combined. Coke Zero continued its fake battle with Coca-Cola by parodying Coke’s Mean Joe Green Super Bowl commercial from 1980. We laughed and were nostalgic at the same time.
We were mildly amused by Teleflora’s talking roses and found no creativity whatsoever in Go Daddy’s annual bad-acting extravaganza (but we did go to their website to view the “uncensored” spot, and they are now #1 in their industry – hey, we didn’t say it wasn’t effective).
While the spot itself was pretty funny, the best delivery of message may have been from Denny’s. The Sells Agency staff came close to taking the chain up on their “Free Grand Slam” breakfast offer, but thought better of the idea when we imagined how many people with time on their hands would spend the morning in search of a free meal. And they did – lines were reportedly out the door all over the country. And news coverage was priceless.
Proving that good things come in small packages – Miller High Life’s one-second gimmick worked like a charm. We were watching to see if and when it would really appear and buzz was growing before the spot ever aired. For delivering value, Miller was clearly the winner. See the ad – and some that didn’t air – at www.1secondad.com.
Overall, the result was good buzz, some funny jokes and a great addition to an already exciting game. And, of course, free breakfast.
At $3 million for one :30 spot, this is not the time to blow it with mediocre creative. And, while a few did, others managed to stand out. If you need to refresh your memory, visit www.superbowl-ads.com. Otherwise, our insightful observations may be lost on you.
Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head made comic headway, so to speak, in delivering Bridgestone’s message, while the E*TRADE baby brought a friend. Hilarity ensued. Alec Baldwin was perfect as Hulu.com’s spokesperson, and was probably seen by a larger audience than every episode of 30 Rock combined. Coke Zero continued its fake battle with Coca-Cola by parodying Coke’s Mean Joe Green Super Bowl commercial from 1980. We laughed and were nostalgic at the same time.
We were mildly amused by Teleflora’s talking roses and found no creativity whatsoever in Go Daddy’s annual bad-acting extravaganza (but we did go to their website to view the “uncensored” spot, and they are now #1 in their industry – hey, we didn’t say it wasn’t effective).
While the spot itself was pretty funny, the best delivery of message may have been from Denny’s. The Sells Agency staff came close to taking the chain up on their “Free Grand Slam” breakfast offer, but thought better of the idea when we imagined how many people with time on their hands would spend the morning in search of a free meal. And they did – lines were reportedly out the door all over the country. And news coverage was priceless.
Proving that good things come in small packages – Miller High Life’s one-second gimmick worked like a charm. We were watching to see if and when it would really appear and buzz was growing before the spot ever aired. For delivering value, Miller was clearly the winner. See the ad – and some that didn’t air – at www.1secondad.com.
Overall, the result was good buzz, some funny jokes and a great addition to an already exciting game. And, of course, free breakfast.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
A million dollar logo?
Let’s first agree that art is subjective. Your Jackson Pollock is another person’s 1st grade art project… And, so the camps are divided on whether or not Pepsi’s new logo, which is said to have taken five months and upwards of a million dollars to produce, is creative genius or just a big waste of money. It’s only their eleventh logo in 110 years of doing business and most likely their most expensive rebranding effort to-date. This led us to muse on what the client estimate for this logo must’ve looked like!
Here are, what we consider to be, the most clever and the most offensive aspects of the new logo and the pseudo charges associated with each idea:
Type Setting, $250k – the typeface has gone from its long-standing, all caps version to a more modern, all lowercase font. We like the change. In addition, the “wave” from the previous logo’s white interior band is mimicked in the “e” of the new typeface. Good attention to detail.
Pepsi Icon, $500k – According to Advertising Age, the new icons (yes, there are three of them) represent varying degrees of a smile. Notice on the bottles below how the white “wave” changes size. Diet Pepsi gets a “grin,” Pepsi gets a “smile” and Pepsi Max gets a full-blown “laugh.” So, what does that say about the drink itself? Diet Pepsi will make the consumer slightly happy, while Pepsi Max makes them laugh uncontrollably? It’s also important to note that Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max both have “0” calories and Diet Pepsi and Pepsi have the same caffeine content – so why the different degrees of happiness?
Bottle Design, $250k – In both the current bottle design and the previous bottle design, the dominant feature of each icon, the “wave,” is replicated on the plastic container. Alas, the execution of the most recognizable element of one of the world’s most recognizable brands went too far. In our humble opinion, the bottle design would’ve related better to the new logo had it stayed the same.
Take a look at the images below and decide for yourself. We think we could’ve done just as well with a much more down-to-earth budget. Oh, wait – we already do!
Type Setting, $250k – the typeface has gone from its long-standing, all caps version to a more modern, all lowercase font. We like the change. In addition, the “wave” from the previous logo’s white interior band is mimicked in the “e” of the new typeface. Good attention to detail.
Pepsi Icon, $500k – According to Advertising Age, the new icons (yes, there are three of them) represent varying degrees of a smile. Notice on the bottles below how the white “wave” changes size. Diet Pepsi gets a “grin,” Pepsi gets a “smile” and Pepsi Max gets a full-blown “laugh.” So, what does that say about the drink itself? Diet Pepsi will make the consumer slightly happy, while Pepsi Max makes them laugh uncontrollably? It’s also important to note that Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max both have “0” calories and Diet Pepsi and Pepsi have the same caffeine content – so why the different degrees of happiness?
Bottle Design, $250k – In both the current bottle design and the previous bottle design, the dominant feature of each icon, the “wave,” is replicated on the plastic container. Alas, the execution of the most recognizable element of one of the world’s most recognizable brands went too far. In our humble opinion, the bottle design would’ve related better to the new logo had it stayed the same.
Take a look at the images below and decide for yourself. We think we could’ve done just as well with a much more down-to-earth budget. Oh, wait – we already do!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
What does 2009 hold for marketers and agencies?
Interesting story in the Jan. 5 edition of the Wall Street Journal under the headline, “Ads to Go Leaner, Meaner in ’09.” The upshot is: that in times of economic hardship, marketers will be forced to do more with less and focus on getting results.
Sounds reasonable enough, but it makes me wonder why it takes a recession to get national marketers and their agencies to focus on getting the best results possible within reasonable budget restraints. That’s what we’ve been doing for our clients since…well, since we had clients.
You know, there seems to be a disconnect between how business has been conducted on the coasts versus here in the middle of the country. Giant mortgage companies were making home loans to people without requiring a down payment or proof of income or even payments against their principal. Now they wonder how things got so bad. Investment firms were buying and selling things they couldn’t even explain – many of which were basically a giant glob of the aforementioned home loans. Now they wonder why they are going out of business. And now, in this WSJ article, we read how the giant marketing agencies that have been spending bazillion dollar budgets without focusing on getting results are expecting lean times in 2009.
Reading this story makes me so appreciative of our clients and the relationships we have developed with them over the years. To have clients who are focused on getting results and expect their agency to do the same is such a blessing. As we look ahead to 2009, we anticipate that we will continue to do more with less compared to any of our coastal friends and most of our local peers. We also anticipate that we will continue to focus on getting results for our clients. After all, that’s what we do every day. No news here.
Sounds reasonable enough, but it makes me wonder why it takes a recession to get national marketers and their agencies to focus on getting the best results possible within reasonable budget restraints. That’s what we’ve been doing for our clients since…well, since we had clients.
You know, there seems to be a disconnect between how business has been conducted on the coasts versus here in the middle of the country. Giant mortgage companies were making home loans to people without requiring a down payment or proof of income or even payments against their principal. Now they wonder how things got so bad. Investment firms were buying and selling things they couldn’t even explain – many of which were basically a giant glob of the aforementioned home loans. Now they wonder why they are going out of business. And now, in this WSJ article, we read how the giant marketing agencies that have been spending bazillion dollar budgets without focusing on getting results are expecting lean times in 2009.
Reading this story makes me so appreciative of our clients and the relationships we have developed with them over the years. To have clients who are focused on getting results and expect their agency to do the same is such a blessing. As we look ahead to 2009, we anticipate that we will continue to do more with less compared to any of our coastal friends and most of our local peers. We also anticipate that we will continue to focus on getting results for our clients. After all, that’s what we do every day. No news here.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sells Agency Christmas card
Our 2008 Christmas card went out just in the (saint) nick of time. This year, we featured the staff in photos from Christmases past. Way past, in some cases. If you didn't get it, or if you've lost the link, you can watch it here. View the card for yourself and see how many staff members you can pick out.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Sells Blog
Welcome to the Sells Agency blog. Since it's a space for what's new and different with us. Of course, you already know our big news – we have a new website. Take a few minutes and see what we've added. Don't miss the case studies of our client successes or the section on our creative work. And be sure to check this blog regularly to see what's new with us. Thanks for stopping by.
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