Quicken Loans founder and billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert has apologized for an ad encouraging the public to “see Detroit like we do.” The only problem? Detroit is more than 80 percent black, and the ad features zero African-Americans. Gilbert said his company “screwed up badly” and that the campaign has been suspended.
This weekend, Jason Blevins at The Denver Post examined the situation at Denver advertising agency Factory Design Labs, and it isn’t pretty:
The 20-year-old ad agency with super-posh offices in Cherry Creek once boasted The North Face, Aspen Skiing Co., Sports Authority, Oakley and Callaway Golf as clients. The big names are gone, and now the agency has left several magazines with unpaid bills and raised the ire of media outlets and at least one company that paid Factory to place ads.
Jonas Temple, CEO of FDL, acknowledged some challenges in a response to the article on Facebook:
In January 2015, I returned to Factory and partnered with Bob Reimer to lead a critical restructuring of the agency. Given the very difficult financial situation at that time, Bob and I identified two unimaginable choices for our strategy: file bankruptcy or fight to keep the doors open. With considerable pause we decided, as a company, to choose the more difficult road — continuing our commitments to our clients and our staff, and to the extent possible, make good on our historical debts.
During this process we have had to trim our staff, restructure the management team, radically reduce expenses, and generally create a new company that’s very different from our past.”
Brilliant Media Strategies, a new Denver-based advertising, branding and marketing agency, has officially launched. Brilliant is the result of the combination of Bradley Reid + Associates and Stage 2 Studios.
Brilliant’s principals include Rick Wright, vice president of Client Services; John Tracy and Debbie Reinwand, founding partners; John Conn, president of Broadcast Services; Tina Lindgren, executive vice president; and David Board, director of Interactive Services.
Via Adweek; hat tip to Eric Anderson
Kmart, home of Martha Stewart and Blue Light Specials, shoots for edgy. And this is why it is important.
Nike’s “Winning Takes Care of Everything” ad campaign for Tiger Woods has spawned some copycat ads that provide a little perspective:
Ford is playing defense this week after this spec ad featuring a caricature of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the wheel of a Ford Figo with three women bound and gagged in the car’s cargo bay appeared in India. The tagline: “Leave your worries behind with Figo’s extra-large boot.”
UPDATE: PR Daily has more of the back-story on the ad that was neither commissioned nor approved by Ford.
As you might expect, the kids nails Disney and McDonald’s. But she also gets Apple and Starbucks.
Verde PR & Consulting has launched a new paid media service platform that will provide clients with online and print media consultation and planning, paid search campaigns, search re-targeting campaigns and search engine optimization (SEO) services.
Congratulations to Crispin Porter +Bogusky Chairman Chuck Porter, who will receive the Ad Club Denver’s “Silver Medal” award tonight. Here’s why he won.
The New Denver Ad Club debuted “The Fifty” top advertising ideas, recognizing the most exceptional advertising ideas as selected by nationally respected judges with no categories or rankings.
Companies named to The Fifty include: Amelie Advertising & PR, Barnhart, Burns Marketing, Cactus Communication, CCT Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, David Pahl Photography, Denver Bike Sharing, Futuristic Films, Integer, Juice Communications, Karsh Hagan, Launch and Rabble+Rouser, Location 3 Media, Red Door Interactive, Scream Agency, SpyderLynk, Starz, Sterling Rice Group, Sukle Advertising & Design, Vermilion, and Vladimir Jones.
The Fifty winning entries can be viewed at winners.denver50.com.
Our advertising friends at the Denver Egotist debate whether Chipotle was trying to be clever or if it just screwed up. My money is on screw-up.
(Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan)
Joanne Ostrow at the Denver Post assembled her annual Denver advertising industry panel to evaluate the creativity, originality and effectiveness of the Super Bowl ads. Meanwhile, the Denver Egotist was not impressed with what he she they it saw.
With 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 women claiming extramarital affairs with Tiger Woods, it was only a matter of time before someone channeled their inner 8-year-old and took a crack at updating Woods’ logo. Ji Lee does the honors:
(Hat tip: The Denver Egotist)
Did Denver’s Vail Resorts threaten to pull its advertising from Ski Magazine after the publication blogged about the death of a 14-year-old girl on one of its slopes? The New York Times reports it did.
T-Mobile wins the “Ad of the Week” award for its commercial featuring both Yusuf Islam (a.k.a. Cat Stevens), who called for author Salman Rushdie’s death for writing The Satanic Verses, and Whoopi Goldberg, who argued that director Roman Polanski’s guilty plea to statutory rape charges shouldn’t be pursued because the then-44-year-old Polanksi’s sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl wasn’t really “rape-rape.”
The World Wildlife Fund is learning the hard way what happens when you pick an advertising agency more interested in winning awards than serving your needs.
UPDATE: The Denver Egotist has a link to a minute-long television commercial based on the same concept.
SECOND UPDATE: WWF and DDB Brasil now say the ad was approved by “inexperienced” executives on both sides, and that the ad ran once in a small Sao Paulo newspaper. We all know that mistakes hurt but that it is the cover-ups that kill you, so we’ll see how long this story lasts.
Public schools are learning what companies such as Coca-Cola, Apple and P&G have known for decades … public relations and advertising work. The Wall Street Journal profiles a few – including Denver Public Schools – that are jumping on the marketing bandwagon.
Who has more credibility? Shagman or Tom Martino?
Inexplicably, the FTC is considering revised guidelines that would hold companies liable for inaccurate statements written by bloggers who receive samples of the companies’ products.
Boulder- and Miami-based ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky announced plans to lay off about 60 employees, or nearly 7 percent of its workforce, due to “the current economic climate (and) advertising budgets (that) are being reduced in virtually every industry.” It is not clear how many of the firm’s 500 Boulder-based employees might be involved.
Carmichael Lynch Spong’s Matt Wagner joined CU-Boulder professor Susan Jung Grant and Sukle Advertising & Design’s Mike Sukle to analyze the Super Bowl commercials for the Denver Post. Elsewhere, the Denver Egotist has the details on which commercials scored highest with viewers.
The New Denver Ad Club wants you to serve as an advertising referee this Super Bowl Sunday. Your ticket gets you free food and one free drink, and children under 12 get all the free tap beer they can drink. Wait, that can’t be right. Better check the NDAC site for the details.
The money quote:
“… online advertising is much less effective than online editorial coverage.”
Times seem good for Cactus. The 40-person Denver advertising agency, which touts that it has doubled its revenue in the last two years and is approaching $20 million in client billings, has just named Michael Martelon COO. Martelon is a Denver native whose experience includes working with the Islands Of The Bahamas, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and MacWorld Conference & Expo.
Denver-based Exclusive Resorts has tapped Chicago-based Leo Burnett as its advertising agency, and at least part of the Denver ad community is not happy.
Denver Public Relations Blog 