Mark Forscher

The Medium is the Message

Clever business card for Canadian personal trainer Poul Nielsen designed by Publicis, Toronto. Via Design Boom

08/28/08 by mark in advertising, design.   No Comments »

like j dilla?

I saw this targeted ad on Facebook yesterday:

Facebook ad: “Like J Dilla?”
Me: “Yes. But you knew that already because I am a ‘fan’ of Dilla on this Facebook page.”

Facebook ad: *Picture of kid kissing pig through fence*
Me: “What the…”

Facebook ad: “Then you’ll love the new Craters album.”
Me: “Ok Facebook ad. I wonder if they actually sound like Dilla.”

Facebook ad: “Download it for free…”
Me: “cool”
Facebook ad: “…from the MySpace, right now.”
Me: “the MySpace? Was this written by the George or a John?”

Facebook ad: “Get it before Pitchfork does.”
Me: “Wow this is really targeted.” *Click*

I’m not surprised to hear the band doesn’t sound much like Dilla to me. But they’re weird and interesting enough for a listen again later. Well played Facebook ad. Well played.

07/31/08 by mark in advertising, web.   No Comments »

Jerome Austria

Wow. Even though I didn’t work with him directly, I’ve known Jerome Austria was a creative genius from my time at R/GA on the Nike Basketball account a few years ago. But this confirms that his character matches his creative talent. From AgencySpy:

As we hoped, more information on the AKQA situation we reported yesterday has come to light.

We told you about a creative director at the agency who walked out when some of his team was let go. Well, the mystery addie is Jerome Austria.

…

The move apparently had something to do with ECD Lars Bastholm, “who reportedly is horrible at managing people and does nothing but send cool web links and take credit for work he had no part of.”

It takes a lot of guts to stand up for the people you work with like this, especially in the commercial design world where it’s a lot easier to keep your head down.

Check out Jerome’s portfolio for some truly brilliant integrated advertising campaigns.

06/25/08 by mark in advertising, design.   No Comments »

Advertising: Campaign or Commitment Business

“Are you in the campaign or commitment business?” Joseph Jaffe asks as he rips into Sprint, Sony, T-Mobile, and Starbucks for their “Social Media Mistakes.” Basically Jaffe’s point is marketers and brands should engage every customer genuinely by approaching marketing as a conversation (with two equal sides) rather than a one way street.

Practically what that means is: less lawyers, don’t fake it, follow through, and address customers directly. Jaffe argues for shifting money from the media budget to staff customer service representatives and to be agile as new opportunities to extend a brand appear independently from campaigns. Good stuff.

If Advertising Age let me embed their Brightcove player I would have posted the video. Here’s a link.

06/19/08 by mark in advertising, social media.   No Comments »

Big Spaceship’s Michael Lebowitz

Interesting interview with Big Spaceship’s Michael Lebowitz from mediabistro.com’s AgencySpy blog.

He studied film at Vasser, came to New York and did some things. But in 2000, at a really bad time to start a company he launched Big Spaceship.

Each year since it’s inception, the digital creative company has seen growth. Today, it pays the rent for 45 people, who in turn have developed award winning work that continues to bring in new biz, even during an economic downturn.

With so many small interactive agencies framing themselves as full service, Lebowitz has a different take:

Why would anyone expect a digital agency, which is already niche by nature, to cover the entire digital field, especially when it’s changing so quickly. When that question is answered, he said, it will be too late.

Indeed.

06/05/08 by mark in advertising, design.   No Comments »

The New York Times Has a New Front Page

Wow, I thought the full-page-take-over days were over.. but the New York times is bringing them back. I wonder what the exit rate is on this new front page.

06/03/08 by mark in advertising, web.   No Comments »