Billboards Now Interactive, Will Get to 'Minority Report' Levels of Cleverness

Interesting article from Fast Company about the coming interactivity of digital billboards. Paper and paste are gone, long live pixels!

BAM's 2009 Holiday Party

Thanks to all of the clients, staff, friends, colleagues, and neighbors that attended our Holiday Party last night. We shared some holiday cheer, and enjoyed each other's company and conversation (and some good wine and hors d'oeuvres).

Art & Copy

I recently heard about a movie called "Art & Copy", a film that is described as "a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration." I found the official website and decided to follow it on Facebook, which is how I found out that the film was being screened in nearby Westport CT. I attended the screening the other night, and I'm here to tell you that if you're in the ad biz, particularly if you're on the agency side of the biz, you just have to see this film. Check out the trailer, and hit up the website for info on screenings near you.

Thanks Lee

Visionary behind Apple's '1984' advertisement steps down

By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 01:50 PM EST

Lee Clow, creator of numerous legendary Apple ads including the iconic "1984" TV spot, has resigned from his position as chief creative officer at TBWA/Media Arts Lab.

For decades, the lab has handled TBWA's client Apple, bringing cultural cornerstones ranging from the "1984" ad that heralded the debut of the Macintosh computer to the more recent "Get a Mac" ads featuring actors John Hodgman as a PC and Justin Long as the Mac. According to AdAge, Clow, a personal friend of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, has stepped down from his position at age 66.

"Media Arts Lab was founded in 2006 to serve Apple, as well as embody Mr. Clow's vision of a new type of ad agency that makes culture, rather than just commercials," the report said.

TBWA was also behind Apple's "Think Different" campaign and the silhouette iPod advertisements, both made while the organization was under the helm of Clow. He has worked in advertising for more than 40 years, though his best known work has been with the Mac maker. Other memorable campaigns, according to AdAge, include the Energizer Bunny and the Taco Bell Chihuahua.

Lee Clow, photo via AdAge

Clow will be replaced by Duncan Milner, who has worked on Apple ads and been with TBWA since 1990. Milner has also done campaigns for Nissan, Levi's and Pedigree.

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Mac, which launched with the original Macintosh 128K on Jan. 24, 1984. It was the first mainstream computer with a mouse pointer, windowed desktop, icons and folders priced at a level that was more affordable than previous offerings, like the Lisa. The first Mac cost $2,495, while the Lisa cost four times higher.

The introduction of the Macintosh was declared with the Ridley Scott-directed "1984" advertisement, which aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVII on Jan. 22, 1984. The 60-second TV spot was made for a budget of $900,000 and is considered to be a masterpiece in advertising.

Did You Know 4.0

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

A Dozen Years... Happy Birthday BAM.

September 11th marked our 12th birthday. I'm sure that's not what you think of when September 11th is mentioned. It's certainly not what I think of. It's a day to reflect, not a day to celebrate anything at all.

But later, usually after a few days pass, my thoughts turn to how fortunate I am (and to celebrating.)

I can't help but think about how far Bob Abbate Marketing has come in our first dozen years. I'm so grateful for the people we've come to know along the way. From those first couple of clients who gave us a shot in the early days, to the terrific clients around the country that we are now so fortunate to be working with. Without you there would be no us.

It's not just our clients that have fueled our growth. Our talented staff and our strategic partners have been integral to our success. Your unique ability to think both creatively and strategically gives us a competitive edge. Jeanne, Julie, Christina, Dick, Eric, Tom, Jeff, Sam, and all that came before you, your dedication and creative spark is amazing and will always be appreciated.

Next, a big thank you to our media partners and suppliers. You are our secret weapon. Your assistance, creativity, and proven ability to think beyond CPM, AQH, dollars and clicks will always be welcomed here. You are the greatest reps in the business because you share in our belief that our mutual success is achieved only when we work together in the best interest of our clients.

I'm fortunate to be able to wake up every morning and go to work at a job where I love what I do, I love those I work with, and I love the clients we work for.

The next dozen years begins this morning. Let's celebrate!

Report: Consumers Substituting Online TV for Cable

Pew Research Center repots that a growing number of recession-conscious Americans claim they are using the Web as a cable TV substitute.

Report: Consumers Substituting Online TV for Cable

Shared via AddThis

Advertising Age: What Your Favorite Social Network Says About You

YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) — Do you Twitter? Then you are more interested in sex than the average Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn user. Like LinkedIn? You’re more likely to watch soap operas. Favor MySpace? You’re probably not into exercise.
Social networking
Photo: AP

Which social network you favor says a lot about you — and you might be surprised just what it says. A new study by Anderson Analytics is helping identify users’ likely interests, buying habits, media consumption and more for marketers. The survey studied the demographics and psychographics of both social networkers and non-users and found that “there are definite data-driven segments in the social-networking-site market, both for non-users and users,” said Tom Anderson, founder and managing partner.

Today 110 million Americans, or 60% of the online population, use social networks, and that number is fairly conservative, because instead of counting unique users or everyone who has an account, as many estimates do, the Anderson study counted only people who have used a social network at least once in the past month.

Users tend to spend a lot of time on social networks. The average social networker goes to social sites five days a week and checks in about four times a day for a total of an hour each day. A super-connected 9% stay logged in all day and are “constantly checking out what’s new.”

Social networkers’ feelings about brands online in general are more positive than the researchers thought they would be. Some 52% of social networkers had friended or become a fan of at least one brand. When asked if seeing a brand on a social network makes them feel positive or negative about that brand, an almost-equal 17% said positive and 19% said negative. The other 64% were neutral or didn’t care. When asked if they would like more communications from brands, 45% were neutral, while 20% said yes and 35% said no.

Anderson conducted the study online in June with 5,000 demographically representative respondents, and then went in-depth with 1,250 of them. With the help of Mr. Anderson and his team, Ad Age dug into the reams of stats to create the mini profiles below.

Social-network users overall
Social networkers get a bad rap for using social media to pump up their egos and reputations with “fake” friends. But the truth is, in general, they’re not super-aggressive about building networks. Almost half (45%) said they will link only to family and friends, and another 18% will link only to people they’ve met in person. That means almost two-thirds associate only with people they know offline. The fake-frienders are still out perpetuating the myth, though — 10% of those surveyed said they will connect with anyone who’s willing to connect with them.

And another myth blown: Most users are not wasting company time. Only 15% said they go on social networks at work.

Their top three interests are music, movies and hanging out with friends, and they use social media most to stay in touch with friends, family and classmates. Not surprisingly, they do more online than non-users of social media, from watching videos to reading blogs to making purchases. They are four times more vocal than non-users when it comes to commenting on discussion boards, posting blog entries and uploading videos.

Anderson’s research breaks down general social-media users into four categories: business users, fun seekers, social-media mavens and late followers. Of those, social-media mavens are the key group, not only because of their high incomes and decision-making power at companies but also because their large social-media footprints can make them brand allies and evangelists, Mr. Anderson said. Fun seekers are also an important group because they are the up-and-coming mavens as they transition from students to employees.

Non-users of social networks
Contrary to what some might think, people who spurn social media aren’t tech haters. In fact, they spend as much time as social-media fans surfing the web. But they say they don’t use social media for three basic reasons: They don’t have the time, they don’t think it’s secure or they think it’s stupid. While the first two groups — which Anderson labels “time-starved” and “concerned” — may be swayed to join eventually, don’t hold out much hope for the last group: 94% said they will never use social media.

About 22% of time-starved people said they’ll be using social media within three months, and another 27% said they probably will within a year — when they get the time that is; they’re more interested than all others in pursuits such as exercise, entertaining, music and movies.

The concerned non-users are an older demographic (one-third are retired) who don’t use social networks because they’re worried about their privacy. However, they do recognize value in social media and may join as they become more comfortable with it.

Non-users in general don’t shop online as much as social networkers, but they are much more likely to visit online retailers Amazon and eBay. They also named IAC’s IWon and HGTV as favored web destinations.

Facebookers
There are 77 million Facebook users, according to the study, and Facebook users were almost completely average in their level of interest in most areas when compared with users of Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn. Out of 45 categories, only national news, sports, exercise, travel, and home and garden skewed even slightly higher than average, and then by only one or two percentage points.

“Facebook is average because it has the most users. When stat testing, anything near the average is less likely to be significant,” Mr. Anderson said. “They are also capturing a wider range of users for various reasons, from high-school and college fun, leisure user to business and parents and grandparents.”

They are more likely to be married (40%), white (80%) and retired (6%) than users of the other social networks. They have the second-highest average income, at $61,000, and an average of 121 connections.

Facebook users skew a bit older and are more likely to be late adopters of social media. But they are also extremely loyal to the site — 75% claim Facebook is their favorite site, and another 59% say they have increased their use of the site in the past six months.

Twitterers
This is the super-user group. Twitterers are more interested than the others in many subjects but skew particularly high in all news categories, restaurants, sports, politics, personal finance and religion. They also especially like pop culture, with music, movies, TV and reading, ranking higher than average. And their buying habits mirror that. They’re more likely to buy books, movies, shoes and cosmetics online than the other groups.

Twitterers are also entrepreneurial. They are more likely than others to use the service to promote their blogs or businesses. How do they keep going? Coffee, apparently. Some 31% buy coffee online, far above the average 21% of other social networkers.

They’re more likely to be employed part-time (16% vs. 11% average), have an average income of $58,000, and average 28 followers and 32 other Twitterers they’re following. They’re not particularly attached to the site, though — 43% said they could live without Twitter.

MySpacers
They are the young, the fun and the fleeing. While MySpace users skew younger, they also said they’d used the site much less in the past six months.

The 67 million who are still there are into having a good time. They’re more likely to have joined MySpace for fun and more likely to be interested in entertaining friends, humor and comedy, and video games. They’re less into exercise than any other social group but seek out parenting information more than any other.

The content MySpace users put up is most often about specific hobbies, or pictures of family and friends. Their average income is the lowest, at $44,000, and they have an average of 131 connections. They’re more likely to be black (9%) or Hispanic (7%) than users of the other social sites. They are also more likely to be single (60%) and students (23%).

LinkedIn users
It’s probably no surprise these guys are all about business. We say guys because LinkedIn has the only user group with more males than females (57% to 43%). They have the highest average income, at $89,000, and are more likely to have joined the site for business or work, citing keeping in touch with business networks, job searching, business development and recruiting as top reasons.

Their interests reflect that as well. They like all kinds of news, employment information, sports and politics. They also more likely to be into the gym, spas, yoga, golf and tennis.

Excluding video-game systems, they own more electronic gadgets than the other social networkers, including digital cameras, high-definition TVs, DVRs and Blu-ray players.

How do they unwind? Here were two surprises among the things they’re more interested in than the others: gambling and soap operas. Some 12% seek gambling information online (vs. an average of 7%), while 10% go online for soap-opera content (vs. an average of 5%).

Consistent branding for social media marketing

Interesting piece from examiner.com that identifies five steps in creating a consistent brand in social media. http://tinyurl.com/lh6vbb

Congrats to WRKI's Ethan Carey

In an era where radio station ownership is traded like stock shares, it's amazing, make that unheard of that a radio DJ could remain on the air at the same station for 30 years. Ethan Carey of Brookfield/Danbury CT-based WRKI has done just that. Ethan has been on the air at I-95 for 30 years. He's been holding down the morning show for a gazillion years, and could probably get elected mayor of Danbury CT if he wanted to run! He's that well known there. I was fortunate to have worked with Ethan earlier in my career, and he's one of a kind. Hey Ethan - congratulations!

Red Wolf Broadcasting Purchases Hartford Radio Station

Congratulations to John Fuller, owner of Red Wolf Broadcasting on his purchase of WURH-FM from Clear Channel. It's good to see this station in the hands of a local Connecticut broadcaster. Fuller has even purchased the rights to the station's old WMRQ call letters. The station is streaming at www.radio1041.fm, although with a 50,000 watt signal you can hear it virtually all over Connecticut. John visited us here at BAM yesterday and shared some of his plans for the station with me. Keep on rockin' John!

Consumer confidence posts biggest jump since 2003

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence soared in May to its highest level in eight months as severe strains in the labor market showed some signs of easing, though Americans' mood remained depressed by historical standards.

KEY POINTS: * The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes jumped to 54.9 in May from a revised 40.8 in April, the biggest one-month jump since April 2003. * The consensus forecast was for the index to rise to 42. Fewer Americans said jobs were "hard to get," the survey found, with that measure slipping to 44.7 percent from 46.6 percent. Those saying jobs were plentiful climbed to a still meager 5.7 percent, but that was still higher than March's 4.9 percent. * "Consumers are considerably less pessimistic than they were earlier this year," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center.

New Ad-ology Study: Reduced Advertising During Recession Negatively Impacts Consumer Perception

WESTERVILLE, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than 48% of U.S. adults believe that a lack of advertising by a retail store, bank or auto dealership during a recession indicates the business must be struggling. Likewise, a vast majority perceives businesses that continue to advertise as being competitive or committed to doing business. more...

Consumer Sentiment Trending Up in May

Despite the rising unemployment rate, tempering pump prices and the 8K+ DJIA appear to be bolstering consumer sentiment in May…nearly one in three (31.2%) consumers is confident/very confident in chances for a strong economy over the next six months, rising five points from April (26.0%), nearly 12 points from a year ago (19.5%) and the highest reading since January ’08 (33.5%). See this month's full Executive Briefing here

I DARE You to Watch This Without Smiling!

From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music," comes the first of many "songs around the world" being released independently. This amazing version of “Stand by Me” brought a smile to my face, and I hope it will do the same for you.

Watch it from beginning to end—you won't regret it. This cover of Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world!

It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician named Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Elliott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley's base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz's added metal percussions.

From there, it just gets better and better: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals, which were assembled into this final final version -- all done with a simple laptop and some microphones. Amazing!

Use the Email Post link to share this with friends.

Warren Berger (NPR): Radio Offers Attractive Space For Ads

Thanks to one of my radio friends (surprise) for sending this to me...

All Things Considered, April 28, 2009 · Radio offers advertisers the last captive audience.

Click HERE

Radio ads are cheap to produce and buying airtime is inexpensive, too. You can blanket the airwaves with a slogan or jingle in a way you can't with TV.

Warren Berger's forthcoming book is Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life and Maybe Even the World.

Car Wars

First an LA Audi put up theirs, then a BMW dealer responded. Well done, BMW!

Kudos (or Bottoms Up) to CBS

Enter most TV or radio contests and you'll be in the running to win a pair of concert ticket. But win the prize in the new CBS contest and it just might save your life.

CBS Television is currently in the middle of the craziest contest ever to grace a TV screen. When I first heard about the CBS Cars Colonoscopy Sweepstakes, I though it was a goof. After all, the promo features Alan Kalter of Letterman show fame. But it's real, and it's brilliant.

The lucky winner of this contest will receive an all expense paid colonoscopy performed by Dr. Paul Miskovitz, a respected NY gastroenterologist. The winner also gets 3 nights of luxury accommodations in the Loews Regency Hotel where, according to the contest website, the winner "can prepare for the colonoscopy in luxury and dignity."

Kudos to CBS for their lighthearted approach to this serious healthcare topic. Take a look at the contest website.

So You Wanna Be in the Ad Biz?