Hoo-Hoo-Hoo

From the three wise men, two not-so-wise, one wise woman and one woman named Wise - we wish you and your family a Merry Christmas.

Image up your retail

No project goes without love at HRW. Not even those freebie-coupon ads you get in the mail each month. And in a Great Recession, it's even more important to lay out price points with pride and making sure the brand is alive and well in every medium. After all, if it's intended to be seen, it may as well be entertaining. Hear that, air duct-cleaning service place?

When Liberty Mutual has an accident

Sometimes web ads that invade content are cool. Sometimes they aren't. This one's just plain squirm-worthy. Before you say "Too soon, Liberty Mutual?" their cracked-screen animation had been used long before this. It just was never this, say, 'ill-timed.'

For an insurance company, you would think they would've predicted a possible bad outcome to using this technique. Maybe they should have called out keywords or sent some sort of automatic instructions to the webmaster to take some of the risk out, so as not to allow the brand to be commit such a faux pas. After all, if anyone should be taking extra steps for the responsibility of managing their online image, it's Liberty Mutual. That's their policy anyway.

Deck the halls with disco balls

It's the most wonderful time of the year at HRW. Can you guess who's been naughty and who's been nice? And don't forget to vote for our doing-more-with-less decorating here.

Illuminating history of light art

Popularized by Sprint in its beautiful "Dreams" commercial, light art has once again appeared mostly in cameos in a few commercials this holiday season. This has spurred a discussion around the nest here about one of the original inspirations of the light-pen-as-art element - a series of photos taken by Life magazine's forward-thinking photographer Gjon Mili of Pablo Picasso in 1949. That's sixty years ago for those scoring at home. Just unbelievable images. And they don't even move.

Cracking the barcode

With the increase in self-checkouts in retail stores, Design Barcode presents a unique and disarming opportunity to brand the purchase decision, or just give your loyal patrons a little lagniappe.

It's also a good idea for those oversized boxes that are small enough to put in the shopping cart, but too big to roll down the conveyor belt. Computers, lawn equipment, HVAC, grills, artificial Christmas trees. And how cute would it be for a baby furniture manufacturer to add a little fun to the barcode that mom and dad are throwing their back out trying to find so it can be facing up when they checkout.

Of course, form must follow function when you're tweaking the purchase process. That's why the folks at Design Barcode develop and test their designs to conform to worldwide barcode standards such as UPC-A and EAN-13.

It might even bring about a resurrection of promotions requiring proofs of purchase. Now if they could just do something about QR codes.

Yes, Christina, it's still possible to sell-out

Used to be music celebrity endorsements were hard to come by. To be seen as selling out seemed such a risk that at least such stumping was generally few and far between. But those walls have long been torn down. Probably around the time Sting was doing Compaq commercials.

These days, people don't really care if Gwen Stefani and Jay-Z peddle for HP. Especially if the concept is entertaining and unique. Or if Justin Timberlake is part of an ensemble cast for Sony. He is half of the Barry Gibb Talk Show after all.

But Christina Aguilera's spot for DirecTV proves that selling out is alive and well. It just takes a cheesy script and a talent that's willing to send pride on a potty break to read it.

"I'm savin' the world...from cable." Aw, snap.


The chintzy production value compared to Beyonce's and the Black-Eyed Peas' commercials doesn't help either.

Cougar Woods

Can this Tiger change his stripes?

Happy Thanksgiving!

From your turnkey connoisseurs.

She's a sweetie.

Think non-traditional and take the competition for a ride

Continuing our 'take it to your competition' theme of the week, we share this simple idea where Volkswagen literally takes the fight out to the parking lot.



For all the rhetoric about "do you know what's being said about your brand online?", it's important not to overlook the impact participating in the outside world can have on the consumer conscience and competitors' nerves.

So think: Where can you ambush your competition in the wide open? What public spaces can you use to tag your competition? Where are they most vulnerable?

The answer will take the competition for a ride and consumers by surprise.

Thought bubbles hang like the sword of Damocles, awaiting their next victim.

Banish your competition to the Island of Misfit Toys

The iPhone - the Charlie-in-a-box of the gift-giving season. Seems hard to imagine that this too-cool-for-school gadget could ever possibly be equated with the mistakes from Santa's workshop, but Verizon is working hard to position the iPhone as just that.

Verizon's argument is oversimple: Sure it's shiny and cool and does a million things, but when you look at the chink in the armor that is the comparably poor coverage AT&T offers nationwide, the iPhone might not be quite so automatic for the people. (Unless, of course, your city's covered just fine, in which case why wouldn't you go for the gadget of the millenium?)



What can you learn from this? Well, maybe, just maybe, that first-to-market competitor of yours has a functional oversight. Maybe that best-thing-since-sliced-bread service of theirs lacks the meat to be worth the hefty price tag.

So don't bury your head in the sand. Cross-examine the competition. Exploit their weaknesses. Find a hole in their story and find out how your product fills it in. Cast a shadow of a doubt on the competition in strategic ways to slow down their momentum. You'll give customers pause and cause to consider you as a smart alternative.

Were you a Halloweenie?

Hope you weren't too scared by the economy and had a few treats for your audience this Halloween. It's really one of the best times to ease your way into the consumer conscience with some fun soft-sellin' before the holiday hard-sell.

North Face escapes the pedestrian

Just thought we'd highlight some cool ideas from the Philippines. These ads were done for The North Face for their 'Escape the City' campaign. Nice to see some risk-taking illustrations out there. It would be cool to see these animated with a kind of heavy hip-hop beat scoring the chase.

HRW gives you our Hollywood look-a-likes.

At our recent anniversary luncheon we played the always fun "Who would play you in a movie?" (These are the "nice" results.) Can you guess who's who, or better yet, solve the puzzle?

H1N1...2....3....4

Laughter is the best medicine? That's..what..you..think.

Aus-some animation

It's no secret that we love the Aussies. And in a world where type animation is so often used as a creative crutch anymore, it's refreshing to see it used as an enhancement to a concept instead of in place of one.



What is remarkable is that it's good, and they showed every word spoken (usually a personal pet peeve of mine with this technique). It's true-to-concept for a writer's festival where no word is taken for granted.

But remember when Donatos hit us with one of the first real doses of typographic animation in the new millenium? We were like, "Whoa. That's nice." Now, everyone and their brother has a "type spot." But if you're just panning the camera across a script and tilting a few words here and there for 30 seconds, then you should just pack up your Ford F-150 and go home.

Of course, there is the Girl Effect - the exceptional exception that proves the rule. And the exception that proves how vital music, pacing and simplicity are when you're trying to break down complicated subject matter to inspire action. Plus, with no V/O, it follows true to the golden rule of TV: "Try not to say what you're showing or show what you're saying."

Other exceptions I've overlooked?

Cause marketing, just 'cuz

Children's Miracle Network has teamed up with Xbox to give away a gameroom to one of the country's children's hospitals. The decision is based on online votes. Currently, Riley Hospital for Children is in 6th place with 10 days to go.

So if you're wanting to find out a fun way to help one of the city's great causes, vote early and vote often.



What creative twists can you put on helping causes to foster relevant and meaningful win-win situations with your products?

Giving WTF a bad name

The Wisconsin Tourism Federation is fed up. It appears the Web has destroyed the innocent meaning of its abbreviation. In fact, the blogosphere has teased the WTF in such a WTF! fashion that last week the organization took action. Henceforth and forthwith, the Badger State will be the home of the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin. The group cited the need to "rearrange the words in our name to provide a sequence that would no longer distract from our long-standing mission." TFS, TFW.

On the other side of the coin, the World Taekwondo Federation is steadfast, seemingly begging people to make fun of them in an effort to keep up on their skills.

In related news, the Lower Montana Area Orchestra, the Hungarian United Youth Association and Forwarding Metropolitan Librarians were all unavailable for comment.

9 dictionaries you've never opened

A tried-and-true rule of thumb is to write what you know. Of course, successfully marrying looming deadlines with wild imaginations requires finding the shortcuts to knowing a little about a lot, so you can craft a unique voice for your unique concept. Here are nine resources for words and phrases you never knew were exactly what you were trying to say.

1. Talk the Talk: The slang of 65 American subcultures

So you've decided to plunge your audience into a different world. Maybe one that you yourself aren't that deeply informed in. Don't just scratch the surface with a word or two you picked up watching Mystery Science Theater 3000. Add some authenticity to your scripts by getting a little silly with the slang used by those in the know from tattoo artists to flyfishers to online gamers to stamp collectors and more.

2. The New Joys of Yiddish

You have to ask? Sometimes when writing for broadcast or video, rearranging word order is a great way to present dialogue in a new and entertaining way without having to dig up some lost words from Samuel Johnson's dictionary that may go over your audience's heads (not to mention your creative director's).

The idea here isn't to grab words like "kvetch," "schlep" or "ibbledick" per se, but to take a cue from the beautiful arrangements in Yiddish syntax to make your wit more acerbic. Here you'll find eloquently backhanded phrases ("Smart, he isn't."), comical cries of dismay ("It shouldn't happen to a dog.") and the difference between ahA! and Aha!

3. How to Speak Southern

A classic from my grade-school days, this borderline exercise in dialect can easily be dismissed as a humorous detour, but it can also be a useful look into how pronunciation and accent can add life to voiceovers especially in radio and podcasting where so much relies on the talents' reads.

4. Urban Dictionary

This mostly user-generated online reference is funny, irreverent and topical. And in paperback. Here you'll find words and phrases that are signs of the times and sometimes even ripped from the headlines. ("Hiking in Appalachia" ring a bell?) Subscribe to the Word of the Day, and it'll unlock your mind to try to outdo the urbanites yourself, especially where the idea is there, but the word they've offered up isn't quite right.

5. How Not to Say What You Mean

Euphemisms are what make language fun. And oftentimes, you don't need to know what one means beforehand if surrounded by the right contextual clues. Again, another opportunity to dig deeper into what exists and maybe come up with one of your own phrases that's even better. And more branded.

6. Knickers in a Twist

Go beyond "guv'nuh" with this guide to British slang. It may even inspire your own take on Cockney rhyming slang. And remember, a clever idiom from across the pond can spice up even the most American of commercials, so you don't have to try to spoof Austin Powers to be funny. Please.

7. Baby Name Wizard

Searching for a good, believable character name? Try the Baby Name Wizard. Of course, the original online version is the true gem - a graphically inspiring resource that allows you to search by name or by year back to 1880 to really capture the essence of a certain time period with the Baby Name Voyager. Not to mention, it offers some sweet eye candy for creating dynamic user experiences.

8. Oxford Dictionary of Physics

Sound smarter without actually being smarter by swiping a few well-timed words or concepts from this tome.

Or if physics isn't your bag, try one of its companion resources in chemistry, math, astronomy and zoology among others. Who knows, you may learn enough to write a relatively unfunny hit sitcom.

9. Writing Dialogue

OK, so we're cheating a little, but this resource is a simple way to remind us how smart and succinctly real dialogue is written. It's a great guide for keeping conversations crisp, especially in our world where you only have seconds to sell your story.

I bet Packer fans think this is just HILARIOUS.

In honor of the big game tonight, here are some classic outtakes from the Brett Favre "cold feet" commercial. Hey, if he's up for this, Eggo Waffles should give him a call. Note the green screen monitors in the outtakes before a generic boat montage was inserted in post. Makes me wonder what would've been better inserted into the final....Maybe his retirement press conference(s)? A Wrangler commercial? Footage of someone in flip-flops? On second thought adding something clever would've taken away from the concept. Right? Can't decide.

(The finished spot will play at the end.)

Don't get blindsided by Sidewiki

With Google's release of Sidewiki, your web site is no longer in its own comfy cocoon, free from the slings and arrows of disgruntled consumers. Now anyone can put notes for all to see on any web page. No comments. No problem. Surfers and surfettes can see what people think of your site and your company on a public discussion board that, to date, will not be moderated.



Of course, it's Google, so algorithms based on unclear, yet surely infallible variables will determine which user comments are the most relevant and therefore deserving of the coveted top positions. Other users can vote on a comment's helpfulness or report it as spam/vulgar/tasteless.

Also, as it stands now, users or (more likely) webmasters who believe the comments step on their copyright are encouraged to file a DMCA copyright complaint. This appears to be an attempt by Google to head off the wave of public dismay that brought 1999 start-up Third Voice to its knees - one of the first attempts to incorporate this kind of discourse on the web.

Will Sidewiki be a consumer trump card? That is unclear, especially considering that the honeymoon period for this unmoderated intrusion on millions of web sites is surely going to be short. (We anticipate an opt-out or opt-in feature in the near future that can be placed in a site's code.) But for now, it looks like bad companies and disappointing products have less of a chance to hide. So for the rest of us, just keep on putting your best foot forward and don't suck.

Best Cubs ad ever

Typesetting and retouching aside, this ad taken out in the Chicago Tribune earlier this month may be the best way for those lovable losers from the northside to be remembered for their century of futility. Certainly more memorable than the '09 Cubs themselves. Wonder if Bartman will be the godfather?

Just based on brand loyalty, would you rather your brand image be that of the perennial machine that is the Yankees or the perennial punchline that is the Cubs?

Macy's soft launches holiday shopping season

We knew it was coming. The quiet murmurs have been heard throughout the retail advertising world as to when could the Christmas shopping season kick-off without annoying the collective consumer conscience.

Macy's has the answer. The campaign has hit the airwaves with subtle holiday references: the office party, vintage shots of the Thanksgiving Day parade. But the kicker is this spot showing Macy's as part of American culture since 18-blah-blah-blah from I Love Lucy to Johnny Carson.



Now they would be remiss if they didn't reference the greatest commercial ever - Miracle on 34th Street. But how much Santa do we need in September? Bob Hope singing in a Santa quartet, the classic Kringle with Natalie Wood, Snoopy donning his Macy's Santa hat. Macy's didn't even really spread them out.

But we do have to hand it to them. By stringing those images along with the other non-holiday related clips, they manage probably the only way to bring up Christmas without overselling it, relying instead on the power of suggestion - the oft-overlooked art of psychology in advertising.

Macy's may have found the answer to conjure up Christmas without turning off consumers. We'll just have to wait and see if they have better results reminding America what a pop culture icon it is than Chevy did.

A Tyler Hansbrough sighting

Hey, Pacers fans. If you haven't seen the new AT&T commercial with the little girl who has lost her dog, you're missing Tyler Hansbrough's commercial debut. Of course, if you have seen it, you probably missed it anyway. Let's just say his eyes are the only things that give him away. Here's the proof, so you can win/lose that bet you just made with your buddy.




Trivial trivia:
- Spot was shot at Chapel Hill, home of Hansbrough's alma mater UNC.
- The address on the flyer - Poplar St - is a subtle nod to his hometown of Poplar Bluff, MO.

Is your spot hot?

While it's always popular to look for what's next, it behooves most of us to better understand what's already out there. As social media's analytical tools are more finely tuned, old stand-bys prove their worth.

Take YouTube, for example, the Elvis of social media. A true original, perhaps surpassed numerically by Twitter (social media's New Kids on the Block) among others, but still the King. And why? Because of simple insightful tools like Hot Spot.

After your video gets enough views, YouTube can show you how hot your spot is compared to other videos of similar length. Do viewers watch the whole thing? Do they replay certain parts? Do they run from your yawnfest? All can be deduced with this simple tool.


The people have spoken: Peeling out in a Mustang rules. See our hot spot.

It's a great reason to always put your commercial on YouTube (doesn't look like Vimeo has anything like it yet). You can look at what's working, what's not and, budget-willing, make some strategic tweaks to what's online and on-air to make it better the next time. Or at the very least, put that magic in a bottle and the mistakes on the shelf for your next broadcast endeavor.

As Mr. Blutarsky once said, "Don't cost nothin'."

Horsin' around

A little fun to usher in the new NFL season.
Go Colts! Already ahead of Tennessee in the division.



Like it? We've got more great ideas here.

Cool as a Cucumber

Maybe we’re a little partial to the name (spelling aside), but here’s a toast to the artisans at Hendrick’s gin. Its infusion of cucumber and rose petals gives this Scottish small batch distillery a unique taste and quite the cult following.

Even more unique is this promotion of elegantly-wrapped cucumbers, a main garnish in many of their cocktail recipes. (Best to save your “wrapped cucumber” jokes for a less sophisticated crowd).

Each meticulously-designed wrapping is printed with 6 unusual cocktail recipes. They are sealed with a sticker and placed in wooden produce crates ready for delivery–- accompanied by a bottle of the potent potable, we would assume.

This makes the case that print is not dead, but when used wisely, can even be cherished. I would have a hard time throwing away such an attractive and useful piece of printing.

So, take note…. the next time you need to make a mundane gift or garden-variety vegetable look more expensive:

1) Wrap it in pretty paper.
2) Place it in a wooden crate.
3) Call it a day.