Executive Creative Director
Deutsch LA
1) The push to :15s as being the new norm for many brands. As brands try to achieve reach in a fragmented media environment – seeing more and more a desire to only do :15s. This forces everyone; clients, agency and production, to really prioritize the messaging. Less real estate. Less messaging. The challenge is this often isn’t easy. It worked well for our Diet Dr Pepper Lil Sweet campaign – because in the 5th year of the campaign, we have a finely tuned strategy and have built enough equity in the character. But launching new campaigns with limited real estate is a challenge. The opportunity is that when you only have 15 seconds to state your case, you ought to stand out, which could open the doors to more creatively dynamic work.
2) Obviously, the new AirPods spot was beautifully done. I love what AT&T has been doing mixing genres in their “More For Your Thing” campaign. The Skittles Broadway Play was super entertaining. Personally, I loved Robo-Cop as Colonel Sanders for KFC. And more recently Bud Light’s Area 54 can. Very topical.
3) Trying to think modular and “use every part of the Buffalo” when it comes to production. Besides a shift to :15s – there is such an appetite from clients to feed the content beast, ie: :06s, bumpers, different social channels, etc… We work with production and business affairs to make sure we are being efficient, but still allow us to create more content from almost every set up on our already tight shoot days. In our newest campaign, “The Adventures of Dr Pepper” we worked with our director, Taika Wahtiti, to devise a modular :30 second launch spot. The first :15 seconds acts as an intro to the campaign. The second half is more of a traditional :15 second spot. This allowed us the option in edit to easily create our :15 second lift. It worked out great and gave us more real estate to introduce our new campaign and character.
4) I think heading into an election year the social conversation will continue to take a turn into some very divisive and serious areas. And how brands decide to either engage or not will be interesting. I think many will choose, rightly, to stay out of the fray. This political landscape will be heated. But if I had to predict the immediate future, everyone will be talking about the return of “Fansville,” Dr Pepper’s Clio-Award winning College Football Campaign.
5) One recurring theme I notice is that Apple wins lots of awards. But seriously, I think the bigger brand work, and cause marketing, from brands like Apple and Nike are always going to garner more of the prestige awards. It’s just the nature of things. Similar to how certain movies attract awards as well.
6) It starts with asking to see more reels from filmmakers with diverse backgrounds. And digging a little deeper than the usual sources. I know it’s on everyone’s mind, but I think as an industry everyone could be doing a better job.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More