Disqus - Latest Comments for TomMessner

Re: End Piece: “The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear It’self…” - AgencySpy

TomMessner — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 06:32:45 -0000

FDR's real medium was radio.
Here's the opening line of his first Fireside Chat:
"Tonight I would like to talk to you about the subject of banking."
But so many people were out of work (25% unemployment) that he was able to hire some pretty good playwrights (Robert Sherwood, for one) to write his speeches.

Re: Obama Outspends McCain on Ads Slash the World is Ending - mediabistro.com: AgencySpy

TomMessner — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:04:11 -0000

Part of the excess comes from Obama's opting out of the Federal funding
money and caps that candidates, since Watergate, have worked within.
Amusing instance of the first time a candidate actually broke a promise BEFORE he was elected.
I'd hate to be a resident of Philadelphia these days, barraged with negative commercials, pollsters calling, Acorn volunteers dragging you to the polls to vote twice or thrice. The dangers of living in a battleground state.

Re: Sarah Palin and the Real Digital Revoltion

TomMessner — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:08:46 -0000

I think he said 400.
2,000 random Bostonians would have been too much for a reverse-elitist such as Bill.

Re: Flashback: Reagan Vs. Mondale And The Power Of Consumer Insights - mediabistro.com: AgencySpy

TomMessner — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:44:13 -0000

I worked on that campaign.
This is nonsense.
The last two weeks--three weeks in fact--of the campaign focused on two negative spots I did that attacked Mondale on his promise to raise taxes. And a positive spot that showed Reagan on a train tour in which the country purportedly was thanking him for the first four years of his presidency. The former work was produced in September; the latter work was mostly a re-editing of Riney footage with a new Vo written by Jim Weller.
The only moment of doubt was after the first debate in which Reagan had done poorly. That was early October, around Columbus day. Once the second debate was over and Reagan had put away Mondale, the only mistake they made was sending Reagan to Minneapolis on Election Eve to try to grab the 50th state, then the only one in doubt, Mondale's home state.

Re: The DON’Ts Of Advertising Agencies: The Black Folk Edition - AgencySpy

TomMessner — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:40:58 -0000

Interesting satire, piece of irreverence I'd like to recommend : George Schuyler" Black No More. One of the last books of the Harlem Renaissance.
His dedication is interesting enough:
"This book is dedicated to all Caucasians in the great republic who can trace their ancestry back ten generations and confidently assert that there are no Black leaves, twigs, limbs or branches on their family trees."

Re: Bullshit On Cannes: Ghost Ads, Cannes Farms And Cannes Itself Isn’t Going To Listen To The Industry - AgencySpy

TomMessner — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:14:44 -0000

From an entertainment standpoint, better that Cannes not do any checking and leave the agency enterers on their honor or honour, as the case may be.
For an agency to really benefit from a Grand Prix award, it needs to be small and independent yet large enough to afford the entry fee, the airfare, the hotel room, the champagne, the dry cleaning bills. Otherwise, it's not news and things move along and then it's time to enter again. And the cycle of the large holding companies toting up their lions continues on. Until 1986 I always thought awards were the only way to break out of anonymity for creative people. In the archive of an annual or in a mention in Phil Dougherty's NY Times column.
There was a time before that when awards meant immediate financial return to the creative team and attention from the local ad community, whether New York, London or Minneapolis. I hope that's still true for the creative team.

Re: Charlie Rose and the Floating Citgola - mediabistro.com: AgencySpy

TomMessner — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:57:22 -0000

Hugo Chavez (head of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and, as such, CEO of Citgo) probably contributes to PBS, being the benevolent dictator that he is.

Re: http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/campaigns/obama_picks_biden_for_08_veep_mccains_response_ad_92424.asp?c=rss

TomMessner — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:08:30 -0000

Interesting notion: trying to find a Republican Obama. Perhaps:
Lindsay running for Mayor of NY in 1965 and Reagan running for Governor of California in 1966.
They are both dead, and one of them would be ineligible because he of the Constitution and the other switched parties in 1972 to run for President.
Can't think of a contemporary equivalent.
Romney, I suppose would come close if he were a more compelling speaker and had less experience and was adored by Newsweek and NBC and could win a Presidential Primary beyond Michigan and had moves to his left as deft as Obama slides to his right.

Re: Power Fix

TomMessner — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:59:39 -0000

I mean You as in the alan wolk ranking of trade journals...

Re: Power Fix

TomMessner — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:58:50 -0000

I think I asked this question before, but (in the absence of an answer) I will pose it again:
Where do you rank Ad Age?

Re: Copy Conundrums - mediabistro.com: AgencySpy

TomMessner — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:45:36 -0000

"With great honor" would get a better grade in Latin class.
Some years ago, in addition to cum laude and summa cum laude, some Jesuit schools added egregia cum laude for folks who did the honors program.
But the post made me laugh as just a few months ago, I was on a college site and referred to fellow student from long ago as someone who was the only summa cum laude grad we had. And, yes, the automatic guardian of sensibiltities....exed out the cum. "Censor vincit omnia," as they now say.

Re: Copy Conundrums - mediabistro.com: AgencySpy

TomMessner — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:29:51 -0000

As in, "graduated Magna With Laude from Harvard?"