Jaffe Juice

Hollywood takes a page from the porn playbook

I noticed a novel new way to entice absent moviegoers back to the box office. My TiVo showcase offered me the opportunity to watch the first 4 minutes of the just released action movie, Stealth. Obviously the idea here is to show a bit of skin to the audience (and what better way than an action-packed opening sequence...remember Saving Private Ryan?) and have them salivating at the mouth wanting more....

P.S. Any puns with box office are purely unintentional.

The Big "Stormy" Apple AKA Take Dump, Be Inspired

On Wednesday night, close to 200 people crammed into Pressure in New York City for the final Battle for the HeArt Creative Roadshow.

The venue was way cool...but the sound was....gee, how should I put it....hmmm...well....IT SUCKED! That and the torrential downpour which demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lars Bastholm is in fact from another planet, or at least is able to channel the elements. Such is his mastery of all things creative!

Funnily enough...the sound was absolutely perfect in the restrooms for some reason. Many people came back to me afterwards maintaining that THAT was the reason they stayed so long in the restrooms. Yeah, right!

It's kind of ironic of course that in our business, where technology is part and parcel of everything that we do...that often times, it gets in our way and even becomes a distraction. Think about it....form and function. Pressure: great venue for a party, not so much for a conference...but a parference, well that's another story.

Before I get into the highlights from Lars' and Doug's speeches, I just want to take the opportunity again to thank our sponsors for making this whole Battle a reality. Without your generosity, commitment, support and belief in myself, the "Battle" brand and initiative, and most importantly the Creative Community, we would and no doubt will continue to wander through the creative abyss searching for inspiration and answers: About, DoubleClick's Motif, Klipmart, MarketWatch, MSN, Reuters and Unicast. Also a thank you to our media sponsors: Adweek, the Webby's and AAAA's.

P.S. Don't forget to enter MSN's Creative Awards!

So here are the takeaways from Lars and Doug:

The Phenomenon called Ferg

Last night the Battle swung by Dallas for its second round. The 2004 show was one of the highlights of the tour and I will never forget the heated, passionate debates that ensued long after the battle concluded in the Mansion Bar. There is a ton of enthusiasm and passion in the Dallas market and it was a pleasure to come back and see so many friends from the likes of Click Here, TM Advertising, Southwest Airlines, Tribal and the list goes on...

And then there was a Ferg. Put it this way, you had to be here. He's one in a million all right and pulled no punches as he spoke from deep within his heart on creativity, interactive and pretty much whatever else came to his mind.

Ferg's opinion is that the new definition of creativity = the old definition of creativity, and by that he means, it's all about the idea. Some of his pointers included:

• Ideas first, technology second: "nobody cares that you're using Flash 7...I don't care about any of that crap. Technology is not the idea, the idea is the idea."
• Get interactive involved early. This is a big concession and a hugh shift forward. "For the longest time interactive traveled coach." And addressing James Hering, the MC for the night and SVP, Integrated Marketing at TM, "Interactive is important. I get it...I get it. Now leave me alone!"
• Reimagine the creative team: "Make traditional creatives and interactive creatives work together. Throw in a flash wizard or a media person into the mix and see what happens."
• Let consumers interpret your idea: "It should be painfully obvious by now that we don't have a lock on the idea business

Only 1 to go...the Big Apple: NYC on Wednesday evening. No excuses New York. No, "I never knew about it" - join the battle today! It's growing in passion and momentum as we speak and you can be a part of it too. Register today at www.battlefortheheart.com

Walking the Talk (Bravo)

In this week's Adweek (subscription required...although the article could appear on their site for free), there's an article about Web companies - like AOL - redeploying their adspend to a more web-heavy mix.

To this I say BRAVO and "I told you so." I wrote about the need for AOL to move from a CBS to a CRM strategy, and it seems like they're doing just that.

It's both strategically and tactically sound whichever way you look it. Strategically: what kind of message does it send out if you're going TV heavy on a Web-centric product? Especially with a media company, it screams disconnect. Tactically: the shortest distance between exposure and action is the click of a mouse, so from an ROI standpoint, there is less inertia and thus more propensity to act in an online state of mind.

During the dot com boom, you just had a bunch of greedy ego-driven little f***ers who wanted their 30-seconds of fame, especially on the Stupid Bowl. Today, the game is different and there are smart and savvy marketers making common sensical decisions (finally)

Bad news: there are still too many companies that go TV-heavy with Web-centric products and services: Apple, HP, Napster etc. etc. etc. - get with the program(ming) dudes.

Tampons, Tundra and TV Week (An Interview)

I was recently interviewed by Television Week after the Minneapolis Battle for the Heart on the subject/themes of my book.

Also featured are Minneapolis and Chicago Keynoters, Chuck Porter and PAul Tilley.

The full article follows:

Last Call for Creatives

This week, the Battle for the HeArt winds up and heads for home with its two final shows: Dallas on Monday and New York City on Wednesday.

Apathy and mediocrity are common bedfellows. Neither are welcome at the Battle for the HeArt.

But you are. So request your invitation today.

Even Warlocks aren’t protected from discounts

Here’s a thought about the unbelievably hyped, anticipated and purchased phenomenon – the new JK Rowling Harry Potter incarnation: The Half-Blood Prince – inarguably the most successful book release in history (second probably to the Bible, but I wasn’t there so I can only speculate at best)….WHY THE HELL DISCOUNT IT?

Amazon slashed 43% off the cover price before it even hit the stands. Why? Did they think it would get bad reviews? Did they think someone would give away the ending (Voldamort is the bad guy) Or are they just too far gone and locked in their never-ending story of Wal-mart like discounts?

Perhaps if JK has called it the Full-Blood Prince, she could have got her asking price :)

The Kiss of Life

The last time I visited the Great American Music Hall was 2000. It was an afterparty for some obsolete and defunct dot com after an @d:tech conference.

So much has changed....for starters, we were discussing creativity last night which wasn't exactly something that anyone cared about back in 2000.

Patrick Kiss, Managing Director at Butler Shine Stern & Partners keynoted and he delivered a really great speech which showcased some fantastic work for a number of clients...in particular the great Converse Gallery. 

Court is in Session

The Battle for the HeArt made its annual West Coast stops in LA and San Francisco this week.

On Tuesday night, we swung by Shutters in Santa Monica where a record-breaking crowd of over 200 came to celebrate creativity. You can read the review in iMedia here.

Court Crandall, Partner at Ground Zero, keynoted and Doug Schumacher MC'ed.

Here are some highlights:

You gotta love the MSM irony

Last week, I blogged the viral iPod Flea commercial which seemingly was only available on New York Times (that is until I got stuck into a few search engines)

Today I went there again...as I was following a link I was sent. What was just too ironic for words was the fact I had to see a 30-second spot before I got to view the spoof ad. In one moment, the two worlds of old marketing and new marketing hurtled into each other and both were left with bumps and bruises.

I'm not really sure what to say about this...I know advertising is supposed to endorse content. I also know that (good) advertising can be content - or at least perceived that way. That being said the whole experience was just a bit icky....it's kind of like seeing your parent's kissing (with tongue)