FBI MEMOS
Memos from the ad agency

Working closely with our Search Marketing group, Work Media, over the last several months has really opened my eyes to the vast amounts of money that changes hands in the world of paid search advertising. We have many research tools that use technology such as web scraping to estimate who is spending how much on paid search. I’m used to the numbers now, but in the beginning, they blew me away. There are some companies that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per day on paid search advertising. If you have ever wondered why Google has so much money, there’s your answer.

But when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Search marketing is the most targeted form of advertising in existence. Your ad is only seen by people searching for keywords you choose. In other words, if you are selling spiked dog collars, and someone is searching for spiked dog collars, you’d certainly be happy to pay a dollar or so for that person to click through to your site.

We have the Super Bowl coming up on Sunday. If you are a Pepsi or a FedEx, the $2.7 million dollars you are shelling out for thirty seconds of air time is worth it, because not only is the audience tremendous, but it is one of the few times where millions of people actually look forward to watching the commercials. However, when you do the math, you could buy $7,400 per day for an entire year in highly targeted, paid search advertising for that kind of money. I expect that the marketers buying time on the broadcast will also be buying keywords related to their ad creative. If they’re not, they are missing a huge opportunity to convert the passive experience of watching a TV spot into an active customer connection.

We think that the rumors of the impending death of the thirty-second TV spot are greatly exaggerated. And if you are looking for an advertising agency to do your Super Bowl spot for next year, by all means, give us a call. We still believe in the power of TV. But remember, it’s a brave new world out there. Incorporating search into your overall marketing plan is a great opportunity to make sure your message is getting to the specific people you want to hear it.

Bobby Frank and I just got back yesterday morning from our trip to the NAMM show in Anaheim, CA. NAMM is the organization that used to be the National Association of Music Merchants. It is a convention of manufacturers of musical instruments and accessories who set up booths for the folks who buy such things, like music store owners and buyers.

We were there supporting the work we did on the booth for RODE Microphones, out of Sydney, Australia.

We managed to find two Aussie girls now living in LA, Szilva and Shelly, to act as hostesses during the show. Here I am giving them a pep talk.

You see a lot of musicians walking around at NAMM, many of whom are only famous inside musician circles. (”Isn’t that the guy that played keys in Flock of Seagulls?”) We saw Danny Seraphine, the drummer from the early days of Chicago walking around. He was one of the main influences for both Bobby and me to start playing drums. (Both of us attribute the four bar solo from “Make Me Smile” as pivotal in our initial instrument choice.) So I took Bobby’s pic with him. Danny is on the left. They look like long, lost cousins.

Here’s a photo of Lita Ford. At least, I think it’s Lita Ford.

I listened to a group called Synergy Brass Quintet at the Conn-Selmer booth. They played Rossini’s Overture from “Barber of Seville”, which most of us remember as the soundtrack to Bugs Bunny’s “Rabbit of Seville.” This photo is of their French Horn Player, Jon Hurrell, and his very distinctive hair style.

And finally, speaking of hair, NAMM is known for it. There are tens of thousands of aging rocker dudes who haven’t cut their hair in decades milling about. In fact, much like a company might say “our staff has over 200 years experience” I decided that the NAMM show has “over 1,000,000 years of hair.” I also coined the phrase “Crystal Male” which is the distinctive straight hair down to the belt look that a lot of rocker guys are know to sport. There were mohawks and braided beards and pink hair and green hair and half-shaved heads and any other style of hair you could imagine. Then, there was this:

All in all, it was a good show, there’s a funny story involving blue duct tape, a big magnet, a two-block ride in a stretch Hummer and maybe just a little bit of alcohol. But sometimes, you have to let what happens at NAMM stay at NAMM.

I don’t know how long FedEx has been using their current logo, but I suspect it has been at least 10 or 15 years. The trucks and boxes are everywhere, and I have seen the logo thousands and thousands of times. A seven-year-old pointed out that there is an arrow between the E and the x. All these years of seeing it, and I never saw it. Now that I know it is there, it shines like a beacon that can’t be ignored.

Well done, FedEx logo designer.

Bobby Frank and I are going out to California this week to the NAMM Show in Anaheim. We are supporting a booth we designed for a new client, RODE Microphones, out of Sydney, Australia. We’ll also do a little networking while we are there, as the music business is one of our specialties.

So I went to weather.com to plan my packing. No surprise, it’s going to be 70 during the day and 50 at night. What I found amusing was that there is a 10% chance of rain every day.

Really? 10%? Everyday? That’s just covering your butt in case somebody feels a rogue sprinkle up in Burbank.

There really is no need for weathermen in L.A., is there?

Steve Martin in L. A. Story

A friend was over watching some football the other day, and he mentioned how bad he thought the Coors Light campaign using press conference footage was. I have to agree. It is ham-fisted and not very funny. But they seem to be sticking with it. He’s a version I found that I can get down with.