Disqus - Latest Comments for nberard

Re: Breaking Down the Benefits of Hyper Island - AgencySpy

nberard — Tue, 03 May 2011 10:47:27 -0000

From what I've seen it's definitely overhyped, but still a much-needed portfolio school alternative. Like it or not, digital budgets are growing as broadcast is being slashed. And portfolio schools churn out junior talent incapable of building the most rudimentary digital executions. The definition of creative has changed, and so has storytelling. If you think you can't tell a story through rich media you're a dinosaur and if you think a facebook tab is all it takes to create a campaign you won't last long enough to become one.

If you feel like you need school to work in advertising (debatable in and of itself), better to go to one that teaches current and useful skills.

p.s. Human Centipede is awesome, but advertisers should aspire to be Surprised Kitty. The best and most watch 17 seconds of video this year and the biggest budget on earth won't help you recreate it.

Re: Tim misses the door, but agility saves the day

nberard — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:29:57 -0000

That's a nice axe you're grinding there, kiddo. Why not just relax and laugh at a good dude making a silly pratfall?

rest assured, everything was cleaned up...but who wants to watch that?

Re: Watch out, here comes Wonder-Woman

nberard — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:34:48 -0000

Hmm. I'm never sure what to say about stuff like this. It bothers me quite a bit that we refer to this as something novel--as if we've just started to acknowledge that women can have powerful careers, essentially run the household most of the time and that men might--gasp!--actually want to help raise their own children. I fit perfectly into this confabulated "wonder woman" profile, and this all sounds pretty quaint to me, especially the bit about the "wonder woman costume". This isn't an act or an outfit. It's what happens when a society wakes up and casts off hundreds of years of male dominance. And if a brand is just starting to acknowledged this they are way, WAY too late. Those are the same brands that thought painting a product pink and renaming it would "satisfy my emotional needs".

Ugh.

Re: Take our 2010 challenge: swap often and shop smart!

nberard — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:29:58 -0000

The H&M story blows my mind. They make cheapo clothes...not sure there's anything to "dilute" there.

On a positive note, clothing swaps are tons of fun. I've hosted a few and we donate anything leftover to charity. Everyone wins.

Re: The Ad Industry Needs Pull Its Head Out of its Ass and Grow a Pair

nberard — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:31:44 -0000

Sure, it's still about the idea, but more and more it's about the kind of ideas traditional agencies don't have. Perhaps when the focus turns to utility and valued content, clients will be more apt to listen. Can you blame them for not trusting the bloated "creative" most agencies offer up? Let's redefine what creativity is and start providing real, trackable value. That's what makes a trusted partner.

Re: There Are No "Big" Ideas in Marketing

nberard — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:49:15 -0000

You have totally nailed it here, and this is exactly why agencies should be worried. I believe utility can be immensely creative, but it's not the sort of creativity traditional shops understand--and the ideas might be coming from a developer or content strategist rather than an art director or copywriter. Traditional advertising is an exercise in ego; we must assume that people will greet the disruption with pleasure. Well, guess what? No one cares what a brand has to say about itself any more. Of all the informational sources we have, the brand itself ranks among the least reliable. That channel of influence is gone. But give me something useful and I might start listening again. And what I'll hear is that your brand understands, that you want to make my life a little easier. And I might be persuaded by that.

Re: Ikea throws away identity

nberard — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:57:26 -0000

I completely agree that visual branding is a huge part of brand identity. But so is information. And if verdana means more consistency and a better web experience for Ikea (who have a fairly abysmal site for such a global company) then that might be more important. While a handful of us in the ad biz get worked about about a font change, millions of consumers just want to know when the latest pressboard masterpiece is on sale and how to get it shipped to Boise. I'm just not sure changing a font to keep up with tech standards means brand suicide, and if it does, we really need a larger selection of web-safe fonts to play with, no?

Re: The Agency as A Community

nberard — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:05:03 -0000

One of the great things about small shops is that, to some extent, everyone does everything. There's a level of cross training that doesn't happen in large agencies, if simply by virtue of there being fewer people in closer contact. That makes a smaller agency more flexible and it also helps break down walls. Large agencies can emulate this with better internal communications structure (i.e. using Twitter or similar to encourage chatter between disciplines and levels) and serious educational efforts. Like, if you even want to TOUCH a digital project you should have to go through some sort of boot camp. This seems obvious to me, yet I constantly see stagnation due to lack of information. And that's when a smaller, nimbler shop strikes without the burden of dead weight.

Re: A cultural awakening: the new era of the Yippie

nberard — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:15:23 -0000

We can only hope 80s punk nostalgia comes next! (I think it's already brewing).

This is one of my favorite Gen Y hipster send-up blogs: http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/. Satirical, but also insightful in a roundabout way. Makes rabid use of the terms "culturally relevant" and "meaningful experience". Warning: Not always safe for work (at least, outside of advertising environment)

Re: The top 5 Ways women will forever spend differently

nberard — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:23:25 -0000

I have mixed feelings about this. I think for some people, women or otherwise, this will ring true. But I believe that, barring unforeseen circumstances like job loss, people with good financial habits pre-economic meltdown have been far less touched by the crisis. The Green and DIY movements are hardly new, but the mainstream has just recently discovered what many of us have known all along: Buying Stuff Doesn't Make You Happy. It's probably blasphemous for someone in advertising to write that, but, let's face it, we kinda have ourselves to blame for the "more is more" mentality.

On the flip side, I've scored some awesome deals on luxury items since the financial world collapsed, so in a weird way 've become more empowered to buy things I would've considered frivolous in the past.