I Want to Be Cool About This

cesspool of Sin Radio Spot

About a month ago, a state senator in NC referred to Asheville as the "cesspool of sin". It was very judgey and ridiculous. He made no real point except to alienate an entire city to whatever point of view he was trying to make and now my fair city has actually positioned itself as the "cesspool of sin" which is super fantastic.

Now my favorite station in town has just released a promotional campaign for a fundraiser by one of my favorite on air personalities, the host of "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" on NPR, Peter Segal has produced this spot for WCQS that actually says "stay demonic Asheville."

Sigh.

Why?
WHY.
It just continues the anger, the fight and has crafted a feeling of alienation by this bit of nonsense. I want to laugh and look past it. But my conscience is pricked by this and I dislike it. I think it is poor positioning and branding simply as an ad campaign. But moreoever, I would like to acknowledge that I am a sinner trying not to contribute to demonic activity. What choices does ts ad campaign leave me with? It sounds like 1. Don't fund the station & 2. Don't listen. Neither of which I want to do.

I can take a tongue in cheek poke of fun. I am all about irony. I get it. This just feels undermining and like someone got too loose with the copy at the end of the promo.
In fact, this actually feels like being poked with a stick. A really sharp one.

Gold Medal Advertising

Last Saturday night, we attended the American Advertising Federation Awards in Asheville (or the Addy's) because Big Bridge had submitted some of our work from this past year to be considered by the Asheville Advertising Federation.


We ended up winning TWO Gold Awards and a Silver for work we did this past year, which is to be considered a big deal in our field. They are sending on the Gold Award projects to the Regional Competition.

This is just one small piece of the collateral that won a Gold Award.

We were really proud to have been recognized for this work and especially by other "professionals" in the biz....

It was a great night and hopefully it will lead to more business for us!

Go Big Bridge!

Cover Girl

I haven't blogged about this experience yet because I didn't really know what was going to come of it.

But about six weeks ago, I was contacted by a local women's magazine Verve and they asked me to be a part of a story that they were doing about women in advertising. They were wanted to play off of the show Mad Men call it Mad Women.

Of course, I was thrilled!

For one, just to be IN a magazine.

But also for my business to be highlighted would great for us.

And I love the show Mad Men.

It's what we call a "Triple Threat"

I happily accepted and waited to hear from the reporter, then about the photo shoot.

About a month ago, we did the photo shoot in a downtown office building. It was me and four other female ad executives at competitive ad agencies. Some we work with, some we work again and some we never see just because of different markets.

But it was really fun to get to be a part of. We spent several hours trying different shots and getting "glammed up." It wasn't quite what you picture when you watch a photo shoot on tv. It was pretty down and dirty, but I had a great time and enjoyed myself.

Ever since then, I have had a hard time blogging because well-I wanted to talk about it :)

But the issue came out this week and so here it is!

I was really happy with how it came out.

It was nerve racking to be in charge of so many people's "images" and then to have so little control over your own.

Matt made the comment that the woman to my right looks like Samantha's mother on Bewitched. He's hilarious.

Go ahead. Call me your cover girl :)

The issue is not up on their website yet. I am guessing it will be by the end of the week however. There are more pictures, but perhaps they will be on there. Check back for the link later!

Bo Knows

Last night, Ben and I were talking and he shared with me that he found an old family picture in which he was wearing a "crazy shirt" that said something like "BO Knows" on it. And then these words came out of his mouth...

"I don't even know what that means."
At this point the room sort of started spinning for me.
I mean, really? You don't know who Bo Jackson is?

For one thing...he might be the reason that I am IN advertising.




Bo-you don't know Diddley might still be something that I say in my head sometimes.
Right after this was when Jordans came out and the rest as they say is HISTORY.

I had Bo Jackson's rookie baseball card when I was little and thought I was the coolest in the world. We lived in Kansas City and LOVED the Royals for a small window of time.
I mean we were all about Bo Jackson and so was the rest of the world.

From Wikipedia:
"Jackson was the first athlete in the modern era to play professional baseball and football in the same year. He was the perfect spokesman for a shoe geared toward an athlete actively engaged in more than one sport at a time or with little time between activities to switch to sport-specific footwear."

He hurt his hip while playing football for the Raiders, did rehab and came back but never to full strength.
But his campaign remains in infamy.
AdWeek named the Bo Knows campaign as one of the best of the Nineties and it definitely endures.

And that ladies and gentleman is why Nike shoes cost $180.
For Toddlers.
Minimum.

Being an ad wiz and all...

Has led me to LOVE this blog post over at list of the day.

Click on the link and laugh over the fact that all of these got through committees of well-meaning people.

http://listoftheday.blogspot.com/2008/05/unfortunate-company-logos-of-day.html