Yes, it is only October 16th and that is snow on the ground–and in the sky–here in Sturbridge, MA.
Thankfully we are all nice and toasty inside the agency!
Archive for October, 2009
Oh the weather outside is frightful….
Friday, October 16th, 2009CreateAthon Pet Project
Thursday, October 15th, 2009This year we took on a pet project for the Second Chance Animal Shelter of East Brookfield. We were approached by photographer John McCarthy of LongLeash Pet Photography in Wilbraham who generously offered to go on site to photograph some adorable dogs and cats at the shelter. I spent the day with John and our intern, Ashley LaLiberte, and we got tons of great shots that we used during CreateAthon to design a line of blank greeting cards. Then, in swooped the Print Superhero, Michael Eck, of Wolf Color Print in Newington, CT (no kidding, he really is the Print Superhero) – and he offered to print our environmentally friendly cards completely gratis. Worcester Envelope of Auburn, MA donated all the envelopes to go with the cards and voilá – our pet project came together.
We were able to donate complete sets of 12 greeting cards to the Second Chance Animal Shelter along with a promotional web page for them to sell through PayPal with proceeds going straight to the animal shelter. All funds raised will go towards helping the shelter build a new facility to better house their great animals. This is an awesome organization and these are the cutest cards you have ever seen (if we do say so ourselves). Everyone could use some blank cards – and at $25 for 12 cards (that includes shipping) you can’t beat the price! So order yourself up a dozen, it’s for a great cause!
By the way, once you see these cards, you may want some great shots taken of your own family pet. Just in time for the holidays, LongLeash Pet Photography is offering custom pet portraits. John is available to go on location to any spot you desire – in your home, to any special outdoor location, or his studio in Wilbraham, MA. It’s the perfect holiday gift.
So bad they’re good?
Thursday, October 8th, 2009Those of us in advertising (to be fair: some, not all) have traditionally thumbed our noses at infomercial-style commercials as being not strategically based, poorly produced and well, a bit cheesey. But is it possible they’re so bad they’re good? We’re all familiar with the Snuggie commercial. You know, the one where the poor woman can’t figure out how to use a blanket. We all laugh at it, but I’ll bet you mostly everyone you know has heard of the Snuggie. And, how many of us can boast ignorance of the Sham-Wow guy? A precious few, I’ll wager. Despite the egregious typo in the website page title that would make any copywriter’s head spin, they’re likely still selling. And although not exactly in the same genre as Snuggie and Sham-Wow, I just heard this radio spot for mercury safety, and sadly, I can not get the “Don’t put mercury in the trash” chorus out of my head. Which I suppose is the objective.
It makes us marketing types scratch our heads and wonder… have we been wasting our time strategizing and concepting? Is our life’s work unappreciated and unnecessary? No, I cry! For every amused viewer of these spots, there are probably five who scramble for the remote to change the channel. And for every Snuggie-type success, chances are there are countless failures we just don’t hear about. But what do you think? Are they so bad they’re good? Or just plain bad?