So I asked AI to create a bunch more with the same formula — This headline in AdAge caught my eye this week: Rami Malek Meets Catherine Deneuve in Cartier’s Glossy Ad Directed by Guy Ritchie Merit of the spot aside (it struck me as sort of meh), the headline made me laugh. It’s the sort of lazy Mad Libs let’s-throw-a-bunch-of-celebs-together that passes as…

What I learned from my year-long 2022 New Year’s Resolution — Eight years ago, at the beginning of 2015, I made a New Year’s resolution to write a personal note to every one of my LinkedIn contacts. It was a giant pain in the butt AND oddly rewarding. Plus, the article I wrote about that experience got a lot of attention. …

End-of-the-year music picks from a middle-aged dad — Here we go! My annual list (year 13!?) of my favorite albums released over the past 12 months. Last year I realized that I was spending an awful lot of time agonizing over rankings for a list that nobody is really waiting for. So instead of worrying about which album…

Highlights include delightful musicals, a tilting world, great comedy dialogue, and a bevy of can-related campaigns — When you put out a marketing creativity newsletter every Friday, it forces you to keep tabs on all the new ad campaigns that come out each week. Looking back at everything that caught my eye in 2022, here are my top 10 favorites. (Of course, we’re proud of the work…

It’s our 18-month-a-versary. Here’s an agency update, some recent WINS and FAILS, and a look ahead to 2023. — Agency SOS has been open 18 months as of today. Since 20% of small businesses fail within the first year and that number jumps to 30% by the end of year two, we’re going to take a minute to give ourselves a little pat on the back. (pat, pat, pat) …

Creative inspiration for the modern marketer from the past six months — Each Friday, Agency SOS puts out a short email newsletter with three things that caught our eye that week — campaigns, PR stunts, art installations, branded entertainment, and other inspiring bits. Lots of marketers get so mired in the day-to-day on their own brands, they often miss interesting ideas that…

Define your “Why,” find your brand voice, and get your stakeholders on the same page — “Brand strategy” might be one of the most overused phrases in marketing. But we run into problems all the time because everybody comes to the table with a slightly different definition. – CMOs and CEOs with different agendas – Agencies pitching ideas that aren’t quite right – The PR folks are telling…

A lament for marketing leaders, the need for more time to talk, and the false promise of “best practices” — Marketers, how’s your creative literacy, these days? The agency side is filled with unabashed ad NERDS — students of great advertising campaigns and the latest in marketing creativity. What about the brand side? In my experience, CMOs, marketing directors, and brand managers fall into one of three categories:

How brand managers can get more effective campaigns from their creative partners — You know the old saying: garbage in, garbage out. It’s extra true at the start of a marketing project. If you don’t get “the brief” right, you waste time, money and end up with the aforementioned “garbage.” There are approximately 438 million articles out there about “good creative briefs.” …