Official Stimulus Lab
Google PartnerIn advertising safe is not a strategy, it’s a recipe for mediocrity. Facts can bore your audience to death (see The Best Ads are Inspirational, Not Informational). The truth is, success often lies outside the comfort zone. A calculated amount of risk can make a big difference –– and that leads me to a bus,
OpinionMuch has been written since charismatic Southwest Airlines boss, Herb Kelleher, passed into the wild, blue yonder. By all accounts he was a singular personality with both a keen sense of business and humor, who once famously arm wrestled a rival to keep the ad slogan: Just Plane Smart. As a fledgling PR man, my
Opinion Tags: advertising, Herb Kelleher, Opinion, Public Relations, Southwest AirlinesIt’s a subject that has probably been debated in ad agencies since the beginning. And it’s quite an industry conundrum – the request for “spec” creative. On one hand, the opportunity for an agency to show its creative skills and communications prowess to a potentially exciting client seems too good to be true. “If they
Opinion Tags: advertising, Agency Life, Creative, Creative Services, Opinion, Pavlov Agency, Portfolio, Spec, Spec Creative, Spec WorkOur client, SIMFLO, sees water differently. So, our new website for them had to be a radical departure from the sea of sameness that dominates their industry. Unlike their static competitors’ sites, we wanted a website that flowed –– literally. To accomplish that, our dev team used Parallax Effects and WebGL to create multiple layers
Opinion Tags: Branding, Pavlov Agency, Website, Website Design, Website DevelopmentAfter graduating from college in 2004 with a degree in Public Relations (PR) and two PR internships under my belt, I was young, fresh and eager to embark upon my PR career. Even though it doesn’t seem like very long ago, it was worlds-away from how PR is practiced today, mainly because it was a
Opinion, Uncategorized Tags: AP Style, media relations, Pavlov Agency, Pitching, PR, PR Trends, Public RelationsTwo years ago, we were finalists in multiple categories for a prestigious, national PR award. There we were, in a Manhattan hotel ballroom rubbing elbows with some of the biggest brands in the world, all vying for the same prize: PR News’ Platinum PR Awards. Then we lost to the likes of Volvo, IBM, Sheraton
Opinion Tags: Pavlov, Pavlov Agency, PR, PR Daily, PR News, PR News Platinum PR Awards, Public RelationsHere’s an example of good things that come from fearless creative. Our client, ST9 Gas + Oil, gave us the green light to launch their first campaign with the headline “We Said Up Yours to Normal Upstream.” While possibly offensive, the line is perfectly on-strategy in support of the challenger brand that seeks to disrupt
Opinion, Scientific Insights Tags: advertising, Brand Strategy, Branding, Challenger, Creative, Creativity, Pavlov Agency, Rebel“Perception vs. Reality.” This is a phrase that comes up a lot in work and life, and trust me, as a design director, I could get all philosophical on you, but why bore you? Instead, let’s have fun! As a creative, I REALLY love to look at design eye candy. And when an artist crosses
Opinion, Scientific Insights Tags: advertising, CJ Henry, Color, Design, Design Director, Drawing, Eye Candy, Monochrome, PANTONE, Pavlov Agency, PhotorealismNot the product, itself, but the name certainly does: Fucking Fabulous. Is someone asleep at the wheel over at Tom Ford? For a brand that has been so carefully cultivated and maintained, like Tom’s beard, this latest product name seems ridiculous and crude. And it is lazy, like when fashion company, French Connection, changed its
Opinion, Scientific Insights Tags: advertising, Branding, Cologne, copywriting, Creative, Marketing, Pavlov Agency, Tom FordWorking in advertising, people often ask what my favorite ad or slogan is. Without hesitation, I say: Superman. You probably know the Superman mantra by heart. “Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!” Superman was marketed that way for decades, and that we
Opinion, Scientific Insights Tags: advertising, Branding, Pavlov Agency, Slogan, Superman, Thought Leader