Fall Fashion by Way of the British Isles

One of our concepts for the fall package this year involved shooting in London and infusing British elements into the designs for institutional signage, web, direct mail, newspaper, consumer print and tv.

Alas, said campaign was not chosen, but here are a couple of signage elements for your viewing pleasure:


















(Designs by Pope Carlos)

SXSW Interactive Conference

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this year, but I have to recommend wading through the podcasts at http://2007.sxsw.com/coverage/podcasts/ There's some excellent information up there about many of the new innovations available for advertising and marketing (see the social media and mobile podcasts) as well as the challenges they encompass (check out bridging the cultural devide.) I definitely mean to head out there next year.

Much thanks to friend and colleague Sara Rubinow, who presented an intriguing summary.

Summertime Shopping Enticement

So, here in the retail world, we live many months into the future. You are living mid-spring and we are living back to school and fall. "What's happening in the future," you ask? Tunics again. And cures for all debilitating diseases.


I'll return for a moment, though, to your time and share with you a few pages of the oh-so-lovely summer direct mail piece, as designed by the talented Miss Melody Olbrych. Bask in the glow and then give in to the urge to buy sandals. (Digression: have you actually been in to a Marshalls Shoe MegaShop, speaking of sandals? Divine. And this is coming from someone who usually has a hard time with the whole "joy of the hunt" paradigm.) Without further ado:

The Ad Age Creativity Awards

Was my work cited as one of the 17 most brilliantly creative projects in any medium this year? Sadly, no. However, this was, after all, the first-ever incarnation of the Creativity Awards so they can't be expected to have gotten everything right.

Among other things they didn't get right: leaving the open bar open while attempting to give out the awards and facilitating a Q&A. Otherwise, though, it was relatively thought-provoking evening. The big grand-prize winner was part of the Dove campaign and featured a real woman being made up and then photoshopped until she looked like a supermodel; which is a good and valid message for the women of the world and an ironic one for the advertisers, considering making things and people look preternaturally appealing is part of what we do. But I won't tell the American public if you don't.

Rounding out the rest were, without getting too specific, a video for a primarily-fashion brand that featured nil fashion and tons of politics plus a tv spot for a car that focused on the sounds the car makes. Despite the fact that I liked both for the entertainment value, I have to stop and ask the question "Is entertainment enough?" Is a brand ever so well branded that its advertising can mostly eschew an important message about the product in favor of entertainment or oddity?

Here's what I'm thinking: no. No matter what your product may be, you've got something to say about it. If your message is that your product weird or edgy, maybe we have a different verdict. Otherwise, weird or edgy or entertaining just for the sake of being "different" is a waste of advertising dollars when you could be finding a way to communicate a message in an equally compelling manner. Even product placement in movies conveys a branding story about the product.

So, in summation, strategy uber alles. I like a little message-minded reasoning behind my advertising. I'm just saying.

Shoe Strategy

Here's a little concept I'm particularly proud of because it hit what our brand was looking for spot-on. One of the designers (Melody - it's often Melody. She's an insanely good partner for both concepting and design) and I were challenged to come up with a way to convey the key points of the Marshalls Shoe MegaShops (name not our doing) to frequent and infrequent customers. The crux of the Shoe MegaShop is that it is a much larger selection of family shoes in a layout that lets people shop by shoe and not by size. This direct mail piece was being sent to announce that the already-existing Marshalls in their area had just opened this new department.

And so, without further ado, the middle panel of copy from our "Stepped Up/Step In" concept:


(Design by: Anthony Shea and Melody Olbrych)

Thoughts on Directing Talent...

...or, Why Playing Shelby in a High School Production of Steel Magnolias Significantly Aided My Career


Having just listened to the final cut of the newest Marshalls CUBE radio spot with some senior management (rave reviews, thank you), they were struck by how the seemingly small changes in wording and intonation-directing that I made as we were recording enhanced my original script. And, actually, I got the same kind of pleasantly surprised reaction when I was working on a video series for Indiana University a few years ago. Change a few words, suggest a different emphasis and messages change dramatically.

So, of course, I smile humbly while giving myself a big old internal round of applause for putting in some quality time with the drama kids in high school. Because, what it comes down to is that you can’t write copy without inhabiting the personality of the voice. Some campaigns and companies definitely have more personality to their copy than others, but in order to write it, you’ve got to have a good understanding of that voice behind the copy -- just the same way you have to understand the character behind the lines in a play. And then, once you understand that character/personality/voice, you can make changes (or direct people to make changes) in ways that are true to that personality and message. So, I guess what it all comes down to is that I owe a certain portion of my skills as a copywriter to weeks of studying Ibsen in class and rehearsing Shelby on stage.

This also may mean I should have been less of a pain in the ass in class. Well, live and learn.

A little more about concepting...

Here was another little challenge. One of the designers and I were tasked to come up with a newspaper ad to call attention to the summer shoe selection without the benefit of an actual event. Read: make our standard institutional message compelling. And I think we did.

Here are our three concepts (designs by Melody Olbrych):