In My Humble Opinion

People here at the agency typically aren’t shy about sharing their opinions. Sometimes those opinions can be found in an interview or an article penned about a hot industry topic. Other times it might be a blog post, a speech, a book or maybe just an interesting rant.

Here’s a collection of our favorites, humbly submitted for your review.

5 REASONS WHY IDEAS ARE BETTER THAN ADS.

by Matt Williams

Today's environment requires them.
Fragmented and proliferating media outlets. Shortening attention spans. Relentless commoditization. Almost limitless access to information. Product lifecycles measured in weeks, not years. For ads, these are difficult problems. For ideas, they're limitless opportunities.

Ideas are boundless.
Ads can't make a bad product great. They can't give you a distribution advantage. They can't transform a flawed business model into a brilliant one. They can't create a new category out of whole cloth. Ideas can.

You can build a business on ideas.
Dot-com Super Bowl ads. Enough said.

Ideas make great advertising great in the first place.
Great ads aren't made by celebrities. Or million-dollar production budgets. Or prima donna directors. They're made by great ideas. The rest is window-dressing.

They're what the clients we want, want.
If companies like ours are going to survive we have to create ideas, not just ads. If companies like yours are going to thrive you have to demand them from us.

THE FREAKISH HYBRID STRADDLING THE FENCE

by Rad Tollett

Food and music aside, Texas isn’t known for its creative exports. Yes, my home state has given the world Greater Tuna, and it gladly contributes people like Jessica Simpson and Anna Nicole Smith for your viewing pleasure, but overall, Texas’ output can be summarized in an oil painting of a weathered wagon wheel resting in a batch of bucolic bluebonnets.

However, where Texas lacks in export it compensates in import, and no one institution excels more at this than The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In 2003, MFAH successfully prodded MOMA to lend 200 of its prized possessions while they were renovating their Manhattan digs. It was entitled The Heroic Century, and tens of thousands of Texans sporting big hair and big opinions stormed the event for a chance to see some of the 20th century’s greatest artists. I was one of the lucky ones in attendance, but what inspired me was not so much what was there as what was not.

THE MARKETING WAS SOUND. THE POSITIONING WAS RIGHT. BUT DID ANYBODY READ THE AD?

by Matt Williams

How to make sure your ads are effective. Hmmm. Reminds me of a Steve Martin bit from the '70s called, "How to be a millionaire." According to Steve, step one was "Get a million bucks." Step one here: "Make better ads."

Comedy aside, there are some things to keep in mind throughout the strategic and creative process. Some may seem obvious, but you'd be surprised (or maybe you wouldn't) at how many seemingly obvious things are overlooked in the rush to make the ads.