Todd Sattersten :: Astronaut Projects

Boom Goes The Resume

Seth has a great post up titled Why bother having a resume?

There is something comfortable about the standards of a resume. You know how to fill in the blanks. The format has already been worked out. The only question left is if you are going to send it in a Rich Text Format or Word Document.

If you blow up the resume, the questions are wonderfully endless.

• What I am going to say?
• How I am going to say it?
• Is this really what I want to do?

I was describing my career to someone last week and realized the textbook method doesn't really explain who I am or what I want to do next. Today, I was looking at the description at the top of my tumblr blog and came to the same conclusion.

Every person is a sum of their experiences and certainly my mechanical engineering degree and the time at General Electric is important, but there are a whole set of new things that show better what I can do and want to do with my time.

This image is from a document I turned in for a chance at an internship with Ben and Jackie from Church of the Customer. I always liked this representation, experiences overlaid and fading with time. That collage is three and a half years old and would look quite different today.

As I look at the things that I am interested in now, there are seeds in those past projects and positions, but they would be hard to see through bullet points and required corporate speak of a standard resume.

This post should not be considered by anyone reading that I am looking for a new corporate home. Seth's post just made me think about the stories we tell other about what we do, both in form and content.

Rocketboom: $40K for first week's ads

Rocketboom's Ebay auction ended tonight and the rights to the first week of ads went for $40,000.

I have wondered with many how Amanda and Andrew were going to make some money doing this.

It seems they have figured it out...

What are advertisers thinking?

As the football season approaches again, we undoubtedly see the rise in really bad advertising. JaffeJuice was talking about ads companies shouldn't run and got me thinking more about this.

Yesterday, I saw my first Coors ad of the new season. It was playing off the famous Seinfeld episode "The Implant" (Terri Hatcher ends it with the line--"They're real and they are spectacular"). It is amazing the difference context makes. I think the Coors ad is a bunch of sexist crap. What is sad is the ad is for a somewhat cool innovation - your 18 plastic bottles come in a plastic box, in which you can just throw ice and be ready to go.

My wife always telling me that I am not the target for those advertisements. She is right, but I think fewer people are willing to listen to messages like the one Coors to playing.

Great Minds Think Alike

It seems Wall Street Journal writers Kate Kelly and Brian Steinberg share some of the same thoughts I do on media brands.

Yesterday, they wrote a piece [pg B2, sub. needed] on the upcoming break-up of Miramax Films and Disney. They think that Miramax has developed a recognizable brand and that moviegoers went to theatres to see Miramax films. They called out Pixar and Dreamworks as other brands people are starting to recognize in the media realm.

I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago directly in reference to Pixar. I don't think Dreamworks fits the bill, because I am not sure what to expect from them. They make all different types of movies. The Speilberg connection definitely helps though.

Miramax might be a better example. I personally don't go running to see their films, but I do know they take more risks with their films. Here is a list of current and recent films from the studio:

• Sin City
• Hostage
• Finding Neverland
• The Aviator

Disney must think there is something to it. They are paying the Weinstein brothers $140 million to keep the name.

TiVo No No

I started writing a post about TiVo's decision to add advertising when you are trying to fast forward through advertising.

Much better one have already been written. Read these posts from Ben at the Church and Matt at the Media Center Weblog.

Advertising is Dead?

It has been a long time since the Daily Picks on My Yahoo! page dished out something interesting for me.

This morning they delivered me IHAVEANIDEA.

Founder Ignacio Oreamuno says:

They say all revolutions are started by dreamers.

If this is true, "I Have An Idea" is one long dream. We vow not to rest until we make drastic and constructive changes in the advertising industry. Why? Because the advertising industry we want to work for doesn't yet exist.

Good starting point.

Filling the Gap

WSJ put some numbers to my post about competitors moving to fill the Vioxx gap.

At stake: Vioxx's $2.5 billion in 2003 sales. Marketers have only a brief opportunity to pounce. "People are going to go with something in 10 days, whatever period, two weeks. How long do you wait?" asks John V. Allen of Lippincott Mercer, a brand consultant. As long as would-be substitutes refrain from pointing fingers at Merck, he says, they shouldn't raise hackles.

And here are the pitches the alternatives are using:

• "Don't Let The Recent News About Your Arthritis Medicine Stop You From Treating Your Arthritis Pain" -- Tylenol Arthritis Pain


• "With All The Recent News On Prescription Vioxx, You May Be Asking What The Right Pain Reliever Is For You." -- Advil


• "Celebrex has been making people with pain and arthritis feel better for years. And now we want to ease your mind too." -- Celebrex


• "If You Were Prescribed VIOXX For Your OSTEOARTHRITIS or RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS Ask Your Doctor If Mobic Is Right For You." -- Mobic

Jerry...

There is a Q&A with Jerry Seinfeld in WSJ today [sub. needed]. The questions were under the heading "Creativity".

This is the best exchange:

WSJ: Most ad folks think the 30-second commercial is the optimal format. Your "Webisode" lasts for several minutes. Do consumers have that long an attention span?

Mr. Seinfeld: There is no such thing as an attention span. There is only the quality of what you are viewing. This whole idea of an attention span is, I think, a misnomer. People have infinite attention if you are entertaining them.

More Signs Things Are Changing.

On the top of B1 in the WSJ today, there is an article titled, "For Big Marketers Like AmEx, TV Ads Lose Starring Role."* Big companies are starting to spend their money in other places. This isn't huge surprise, but the article give some insight into what the big guys are thinking. This from AmEx chief marketing officer John Hayes when he addressed NBC's ad salesforce:

Your business model needs to change...It used to be that we bought time, shipped you the commercials, had lunch or a glass of wine together once in awhile; you took care of the quality of programming and we made sure the check did not bounce. We all sat back, checked the ratings , watched our business grow...those days are woefully over.

The article reports that TV ads now account for only 25% of total ad expenditures. Here are other ways they are spending their money: Jerry Seinfeld/Superman webisodes (here was my post on that from Brand Week), an touring photo exhibit of classic photos from past ads, and sponsorship of the Sheryl Crow Central Park concert.

*subscription needed

Please stop the madness

I am in San Diego with the family visiting my wife's sister. We took America West on our flight out here. When it was time for the drink service, this is what we found:

Tonight, it was advertising throughout the menu during our visit to The Cheesecake Factory.

I wish I could be left alone and have some peace and quiet.

Attention decision makers - the additional revenue is not worth it. I am starting to choose products and services based on the fact that I only get the product or service.

Please leave me alone.

Thank you.

A story I would tell

From Trevor Cook at Corporate Engagement:

Punctuation is important.

You can sell advertising for anything

Is anyone else tired of the CBS Dasani Sideline Cam yet?

Oscars becoming a commercial event

Maybe someone is listening.

Last month, we were talking about Super Bowl Ads and Abnu from Wordlab thought Madison Avenue should take notice of the huge audience they have for the Oscars.

I watched the first 30 minutes of the Academy Awards last night and there were a few companies that rollled out new advertising. The first commercial was a Diet Pepsi spot. It featured Jason Biggs at an Oscar party with some friends. Next was a HP + Fender ad with lots of kids trying to play "Smoke on the Water". There may have been other ads.

Now, we just need the media to jump on the bandwagon and start talking about all of the cool ads the next day.

Super Bowl Botch

I couldn't pass on the SuperBowl Halftime show.

We missed somehow missed the Jackson/Justin exposure during the Super Bowl halftime show Sunday night. CBS cut away from the shot immediately and the closest thing to a comment was Greg Gumbel joking, "I think we've had an omen that the second half is going to be a lot of raw, naked football."

Timberlake called it a "wardrobe malfunction". MTV statement was, "The tearing of Janet Jackson's costume was unrehearsed, unplanned, completely unintentional and was inconsistent with assurances we had about the content of the performance. MTV regrets this incident occurred and we apologize to anyone who was offended by it". CBS "deeply regretted the incident".

PLEASE!

First, you should go see a picture of the wardrobe malfunction at the Australia's Herald Sun.

Update: Drudge Report does better.

This was planned.

Who knows how many people were involved. You can start with Janet, Justin, and the costume designer.

They were singing Justin's "Rock Your Body" which ends with the lyric, "Going to have you naked by the end of this song". Hmmm.

This off the MTV website :

Jaws across the country hit the carpet at exactly the same time. You know what we're talking about...Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake and a kinky finale that rocked the Super Bowl to its core...MTV was Super Bowl central, so armchair quarterbacks, fair weather fanatics and fans of Janet Jackson and her pasties were definitely in the right place.

MTV doesn't seem to have a lot of regret or be backing away from the incident.

This is all about business. It's about selling records. It's about endorsements. It's about the creation and destruction of images.

First, MTV forgot this wasn't cable. This was no different than Lil' Kim with the pasty/dress from the Video Awards a few years ago. The same stuff doesn't fly when you are producing for someone else on broadcast television.

MTV won't produce a Super Bowl event again. I thought moving into live events was a good extension of their brand.

Justin was a funny twenty-something singer, who now undresses women on national stages. That makes him a target for every family group in the country. Let's see if he keep the NBA gig. Let's see if McDonald's is Lovin' It.

For Janet, I can only think it was a last hurrah. Is she still selling records?

Unfortunately, this may be just another event that people shrug off and again pushes the line further as to was is acceptable to air on television.

Super Bowl Poll Proves Point

A Harris Online Poll, whose results were published in WSJ today, says that 65% of adults polled planned to watch the Super Bowl.

Of those who planned to watch, 90% liked the commercials.

So, we aren't the only party who stops everything for the commercials.

Abnu from Wordlab commented on the orginal post that some TV exec should apply the same principle to the Oscars. You have an incredible worldwide audience for the event. Why not cater to marketers and help them launch products and ad campaigns?