Advertising Is Good For You

Abercrombie & Fitch is mean. And creepy.

Michael Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, explains why the clothing retailer won't sell XL or larger clothing to men and women:

In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either. 

This is what Michael Jeffries looks like. I don't dare comment on his looks. He'd probably sue me. Or his plastic surgeon would.

But wait, there's more. 

The Smoking Gun published a list of rules everyone must follow when traveling on Abercrombie & Fitch's corporate jet.

It's hysterical. And more than a little scary.

For example, the male flight attendants are not allowed to button up their shirts. 

Actually, "scary" doesn't cover it. How about creepy?

All the rules come from an Abercrombie & Fitch manual that, according to The Smoking Gun, "was recently filed in U.S. District Court in connection with an age discrimination lawsuit brought against the Ohio-based clothing firm by an ex-pilot."  

And, yes, the rules are for real. Bloomberg News confirms it.

Trust me on this

When someone says

“I don’t want to point fingers,”

get ready for a sh*t storm.

Just a couple of ad guys shootin' the sh*t

From a New York Times article about hot sauce marketing.

Colin Drummond, senior partner and head of planning at Ogilvy West: There are people who get hot sauce, and those who don’t... (Tabasco is particularly interested in those) we call ‘zesties,’ who share a zest for life and the food they eat.

Peter Kang, senior partner and executive creative director at Ogilvy West: It’s kind of like life turned up to 11.

Click here to read the whole article.

Frank Gehry's poster for the 54th Grammy Awards

Architect Frank Gehry designed this poster for the 54th Grammy Awards.

Interestingly, Gehry put models of buildings he's designed into the poster — that would be the poster that is supposed to be promoting the Grammys.

Neil Portnow, president and CEO of The Recording Academy, says:

We are thrilled to announce our collaboration with world-renowned architect Frank Gehry on our official artwork for the Grammy Awards and the opportunity to further the Academy's dedication to celebrating the arts in every discipline.

Click here to see a collection of music posters.

 Via AdFreak

Digital Ninja: sad and all too true

This gives you a pretty good idea of what working in ad agency can be like these days.

Click here to watch Digital Ninja.

Created by Mat Bisher and Jason Schmall.

 

Most overused buzzwords in press releases

Search and PR strategist Adam Sherk has compiled a list of the 98 Most Overused Buzzwords and Marketing Speak in Press Releases. Here are the top ten:

 

For the rest of the list, and to learn how Adam Sherk compiled the list, visit Adam Sherk's blog.

CEO of JWT, New York is "hugely excited"

Referring to JWT's new Experience Department, New York CEO David Eastman said:

This newly created division is a reflection of our agency's mission to put digital at the forefront of all of our clients' businesses. We have two fantastic centers of excellence in London and New York, headed up by two of the most experienced and exciting minds in global digital thinking, and we are hugely excited to launch this next phase of JWT's worldwide development.

Another kind of wordsmith: the double-talker

This week, I was in a conference call with seven people, one of whom is a master of deflecting responsibility.

After the rest of us cobbled out a plan of action, we asked if he agreed with us. Here is his reply.

This guy's also a consummate finger-pointer when things go awry. Try to contain your surprise.

Dumb Things Marketing Folks Have to Say: Hershey's demonstrates

Hershey's is introducing three varieties of candies modeled after its Reese’s Pieces: Almond Joy Pieces, York Pieces and Hershey’s Special Dark Pieces. In a New York Times article about the new candy, a Hershey's spokesperson says (presumably with a perfectly straight face):

"Consumers needed something that was easy to snack on when on the go."

Thank heavens. Hershey's is rescuing us from the difficulty involved with eating cookies.

Coke calls it a 'vibrancy drink' (probably because it sounds more palatable than 'carbonated fruity milk beverage')

Coca-Cola is test marketing a sweetened fizzy milk beverage that comes in four fruit flavors: Citrus Burst, Peach Mango, Very Berry and Tropical Colada.

Ray Crockett, a spokesman for the brand, said "We created what we call a vibrancy beverage here. A sparkling milk-based beverage."

If you'd like to try Vio, you'll have to go to NYC where it's available in very limited distribution."

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Believe it or not, 7-Up had a similar idea in the 1950s.

Source: Slashfood

Sage advice from a CEO on what to put on Twitter

"Basically, I treat every Tweet as if there was a flattering or unflattering photo of me broadcast on CNN and the words that I'm typing are right beneath it... I've probably deleted more Tweets than I've written."

-- Ian Schafer
CEO, Deep Focus

Source: AdWeek

The first of my favorite 2009 Bullshit Phrases

Economic contraction.

The phrase 'economic contraction' has probably been around for a long time but it seems like it's getting thrown around an awful lot these days. Mostly by people trying to soft-pedal our horrific economy. Like the financial analysts and reporters who should have, but didn't, see it coming. And ad agency heads explaining the need for layoffs.

Ad people going to Cannes may leave their bathing suits at home this year

According to an article in Advertising Age, despite the troubled economy, advertising people are expected to attend the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival this year. They'll just try not to enjoy it as much.

"The tone will be very different," said Richard Pinder, chief operating officer of Publicis Worldwide. "Entirely focused on learning and improving."