The Good
Although the victor of the World Cup won’t be determined until July 11^th, we already know who has won the advertising game: Nike.  Even though Adidas is an “Official FIFA sponsor”, Nike has completely stolen the show with their “Write The Future” campaign with huge buzz and over 15 million views on YouTube since it was launched just one month ago.  According to Nielson, Nike has an incredible 30.2% share of official and competitor buzz, while Adidas is a distant-second with 14.4%.

Budweiser, who is no stranger to shelling out boatloads of money on advertising, is the Official Beer Sponsor of the World Cup (surprise, surprise).  While their “Kick” ads, are only ok (one man’s opinion), their “Bud House” fully-integrated social media campaign where they have put one fan from each country in the same house and followers vote for who they like best is actually quite interesting and consumer-involved, but has yet to create much buzz.

Carlsberg, on the other hand, has capitalized on their sponsorship of England’s team with their “Team Talk” campaign.  According to Nielson, these spots have created 3.9% share of buzz, which is more than both McDonald’s and Hyundai (which are both Official FIFA Sponsors).  Just goes to show, you don’t have to be a giant to compete; you only need good ideas.

The Bad
Possibly the most talked about brand in the last couple months is BP.  With so much bad press lately regarding their royal screw-up in the Gulf, it would probably be a good idea for them to lay low for a while.  They thought differently.  BP has taken it upon themselves to become the “Official Fuel Sponsor” of the World Cup.  And not only that; they are boasting to “brighten” the games in South Africa in ads and on their Web site.

In fairness to BP, their WC sponsorship was inked years ago, but seeing them trying to promote themselves as a good corporate citizen in South Africa and around the world is just maddening.  Does anyone know the Zulu word for “dick heads”?

The Naked?
I read in an article in AdAge today that if Argentina wins the World Cup, Pepsi plans to follow the example of Argentina’s coach Diego Maradona, who says he’ll celebrate by running around naked in Buenos Aires, by selling their products with no label for a week in Argentina.  It’s a fun idea and one that has already caused major buzz in Argentina and around the world.

Pepsi has already made their mark on the World Cup with their “Oh Africa” campaign featuring soccer studs Didier Drogba, Thierry Henry, and even Argentina’s golden boy, Lionel Messi.  Even though Coca-Cola is an Official FIFA Sponsor, Pepsi has made sure they weren’t left out of the party.

If you couldn’t tell from the above, I have packed up and moved to the Windy City.  I am now working with Great Lakes Marketing Group in conjunction with the American Sail Training Association (ASTA) to promote and strategically plan the Great Lakes United Tall Ships Challenge 2010.  The GLU Tall Ships Challenge 2010 is a series of port festivals across the Great Lakes in up to 10 different ports.  There will be 25-30 Tall Ships in the Great Lakes this summer making their rounds the various ports.  Working and living in Chicago, my focus is on the Pepsi Tall Ships Challenge 2010 event that will take place at Navy Pier (downtown Chicago) from August 24th-29th.  It will be a grand event that will start with the “Parade of Sail” on the 24th, where all 20-22 ships will come into to dock with their sails at full mast.  There will be fireworks every night and we are expecting 1-2 million visitors over the course of the event.

I am also working very closely with the Tall Ship Windy and Red Witch (Chicago’s official Tall Ships) to plan and execute their 2010 marketing and advertising plan.  This year, Tall Ship Windy and Red Witch will be brought together under the umbrella “Tall Ship Adventures of Chicago”.  I am working closely with Captain Bruce Randall to initiate a strategic branding campaign. I’ll have a ton of responsibility but it’s going to be fun.

Chi-City!

Aside from work, I am getting use to living life in Chicago.  I’ve never lived in big city before (unless you count Hamburg), so I’m adjusting to the hustle and bustle.  I’m living in very interesting and diverse area of the city.  I live in Lakeview on the edge of Wrigleyville and neighboring Boystown.  There are tons of cool bars, local restaurants, and interesting shops and theaters.  We are in the dead of winter right now (foot of snow the other day), so I am really looking forward to the summer.  It will be nice to be away from Florida’s harsh summers as well, living a block from Lake Michigan will also be very cool.

After AJ finished her roller skating video, she showed me around the agency.  It really wasn’t what I was expected as it looked more like a law office than an ad agency.  AJ informed me that the office was built like that before they moved there so they didn’t have much to work with from the beginning.  However there were flurries of creativity throughout the agency for example in the hallway completely covered with graffiti tags as well as the conference room with chalk boards as walls with colorful, inspired drawings covering it.

After getting Starbucks, we headed to a quiet spot to talk.  She asked me about my projects at MASE and I asked her about her work at E79.   Evidently, there are only 4 planners in the entire agency (not a very strategically minded agency), and she works solely on the Harris Bank account.  She explained how they have branded the bank as “help”, and how she works with the creatives to create campaigns to express the brand.

We had a great talk about planning, getting a job, and advertising in general.  Evidently, she has a roommate that is also a planner who has experience at Wieden as well as Y+R, but has been jobless for the last 7 months.  It was kind of a blow to my optimism, but she gave the advice that a lot of smaller agencies don’t get people from ad schools so maybe that would be a good route to go.

We met our guide, Gary, at the outfitters home and then we followed him into the wilderness to our camp.  I was expecting a small shack or even an old trailer, but to my surprise, we arrived to an awesome camp house located right on a beautiful frozen lake.   The surrounding area was absolutely beautiful.  As a Florida boy, I haven’t seen snow in quite some years, so I was stoked to see the forest landscape with a touch of snow covering the ground.  The weather stayed absolutely perfect as well.  Although it was cold (really cold), there were clear blue skies everyday and it didn’t snow or rain on us once.

Beautiful Frozen Lake

The week went along smoothly as we hunted all day, every day and then went back to the camp at night where we spent it with some real characters.  Shari’s father, Bobby, came as well along with his long-time friend, Cliff, who looks like a “more compact version of Urban Meyer” as my Dad would say.  They are great guys and after they’ve had a few drinks provide the stand-up comedy for the night.  Along with Gary, his wife, Shannon, worked there as well as the cook.  I probably ate more there than I have in the last month.  The other guide was Leon, who is a Cree Indian.  He had some interesting stories of life on the reservation as well living in the woods of Saskatchewan his entire life.

The week went along and on Wednesday came the relative massacre.  My Dad, Shari, and Cliff all killed deer on this day.  My Dad’s was deer was so cool looking!  He had weird knobs and points all over his antlers which gave him tons of character.  Shari arrowed a really nice 9-pointer with her bow, as she taught the men how to do it.  Cliff also shot a really nice older 11-point that anyone would be proud of.  After that, it was just me and Bobby.

Dad's big buck

Shari's awesome 9-pointer

Thursday morning came and I just had a feeling that it would be the day.  I got to my stand before daylight and sat quietly for the day to begin.  As the sun crept into my field, I started seeing some does which were looking awfully weary of something just inside the tree line.  A few moments later, I saw a big bodied deer appear in the corner of the field and after looking at it through my binoculars, I knew it was my deer.  I slowly raised my gun, found the big deer in the scope, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger.  The bullet it right in the neck of the woodland beast and it hit the ground with the blink of an eye.  I was so excited, I could barely contain myself.  After waiting awhile, I walked across the field to check out my trophy.

My buck (and my ridiculous beard)

The week finished up and four out of five of us killed really nice deer; Bobby went home empty-handed.  We made the long trip back to Edmonton and jet-set back to the States.  We said our goodbyes and we all went our different ways.  All in all, it was a fantastic trip.  Not only did I get to spend time with my family in one of the most beautiful places on earth, I also got to kill a really nice 10-point buck.  I will always remember this trip and really hope I get to return again in a hunting season soon to come.

When I arrived to rainy Dublin, there were many things on my to-do list, but at the top of that list was the Guinness Storehouse.  As I approached the imposing, seven-story brick building in a gritty, industrial part of Dublin, I really didn’t know what to expect except that I would see how the famous “Black Gold” is brewed.  When I stepped inside, I was blown away by the ultra-modern design that awaited me.   As you arrive, you are almost in awe by the sight of the modern glass-and-steel interior which is illuminated by a dramatic combination of natural and artificial light. When you walk in, you climb a short, narrow set of stairs before emerging into a cavernous atrium.  It’s shaped roughly like a pint glass, with a circular pub, the Gravity Bar, at the top that glows white at night (like the suds atop a freshly poured Guinness).  Set into the floor is the contract that Sir Arthur Guinness himself signed for the brewery site — a 9,000-year lease for the price of just 45 Irish punts a year.

The Storehouse Lease

As I was strolling through the Storehouse, I was realizing something.  This isn’t just your average tourist attraction.  This is the personification of the re-invention of the Guinness brand.  After doing some research, I learned I was right.  The Storehouse was built in the year 2000 to breathe life into the aging brand.  While I was in Dublin, Guinness was celebrating its 250 year anniversary, so it’s no surprise the brand is looked at as old and traditional.  So in an essence, the Storehouse is the physical manifestation of a serious marketing challenge: to reconnect Guinness with younger drinkers in Ireland. While the brand has conquered the world (the stout is brewed in 50 countries and sells an estimated 10 million glasses a day), Guinness started to go a bit flat at home. In the second half of 2001, sales of Guinness in Ireland actually fell by 3%. Why the slip? Because Guinness, like so many other well-loved but old-fashioned products, had come to be perceived as the choice of the senior set. Ireland’s younger crowd were switching to lighter drinks: lagers such as Heineken or trendy cocktails.

After dark, the Storehouse also hosts special events that attract both locals and executives: awards ceremonies, concerts, corporate parties, fashion shows, and gallery openings.  The evening events make the Storehouse a kind of community center.  And by bringing people in their twenties and thirties to the brewery, the events help Guinness connect with the brand’s future.

My free pint in the Gravity Bar

In my opinion, the Guinness Storehouse sets the bar for brand experiences.  I feel like Guinness has definitely accomplished their task of re-energizing their brand with Dubliners and tourists alike.  When I was at various pubs in Dublin, everyone (man, woman, young, old, whatever) had a Guinness in their hand.  And I have to admit, since being back in the States, I’ve ordered Guinness a few times and every time thought back on my time at the Storehouse.

Right now, although things have gotten a little bit better, we are still in a terrible situation.  We are still involved in 2 wars, the economy is barely alive with unemployment numbers in the double digits, and millions of American still live without healthcare (including me).  But we’ll pull through it, right?  Just like after 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, right?  Wrong.  The problem today is we don’t have an enemy to rally against this time.  The enemy is ourselves and the only solution we’ve come up with so far is blame the other guy.

The New Guy

I say it’s time to forget about whose fault it is and just get started on a solution.  Although the government can only do so much, it is up to us to come together again.  If we aren’t unified, then we will stay in this crappy situation forever.  We need to stop listening to the main blamers like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Keith Olbermann and start listening to Dodge.  Yep, that’s right.  Dodge.

Last night, while I was watching the World Series, a new Dodge Ram commercial came out that I had never seen before.  The title of the spot is “Manifesto” and it was done by The Richards Group out of Dallas.  The ad’s theme is “I am Ram” and carries quotes like, “I am fueled by optimism and a can-do spirit”.  Although the commercial is supposed to be selling trucks, it is really selling something that can’t be bought.  The renewed American spirit.

So the time has come.  It’s time to stop bitching and complaining about our current situation.  It’s time to stop sitting around a waiting for someone else to fix it.  It’s time stop blaming everyone but yourself.  The time has come to come together as American people and pull ourselves out of this mess.  I’m proud to be an American but I’m tired of it being a loser.  It’s going to be tough and the road will be long, but my name is Brian, and my tank is full.

There's a map for that

AT&T is not actually disputing the comparison of their 3G coverage, but they are insisting that Verizon is painting a misleading picture that AT&T offers no coverage at all in the white space on the map, when it’s suppose to indicate where they don’t provide 3G.

This loss of market share comes very unsettling for AT&T and Apple as the holiday season quickly approaches.  According to AdAge.com, this will be the first holiday season since the iPhone released when it’s not the only viable option for a trendy smartphone.  Perhaps the biggest challenger is the new “Droid” by Motorolla, which not only runs off a Google operating system (one of Apple’s biggest competitors), but the network is provided by none other than Verizon.  At this moment, if you are a self-titled “Mac” (the cultish name Apple lovers give themselves) you might start feeling bad for their current woes.

However, I argue that Apple did this to themselves.  Although it is AT&T who is losing market share, it is at the hand iPhone sales and Apple is anything but an innocent party.  How long have we been watching the played-out Mac vs. PC ads that depict PC users as nerdy, awkward and accident proned?

It’s my opinion this is a direct effect of karma.  Karma is defined as “the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person’s deeds in the previous incarnation”.  All of those ads making fun of innocent Bill Gates and his sometimes malfunctioning personal computers has finally caught up to them.  Apple has laughed all the way to the bank and a growing market share over the last few years off the backs of these ads.  But now, when someone does it to them, they throw a fit and sue (The American Way).

I think this instance should set an example to the rest of the advertising world.  It’s like my mother always told me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all”.  It will catch up to you in the end…it’s the rule of the Universe.  Maybe TBWA/Chiat Day (Apple’s Ad Agency) and the people at Apple will now think twice before slinging mud since now they know it’s not too fun to get it in your eyes.

The Perfect Day
Justin and I woke up around 10 and left Uli’s but as we walked out of her room, her roommate walked by and gave us the most awkward look ever.  We didn’t realize how bad it would look for Uli to have 2 guys walk out of her room on a Saturday morning.  Justin and I laughed about it all the way to the train station.  We headed to Justin’s, picked up Matt and headed to the harbor for Red Bull Cliff Diving.  Red Bull was sponsoring a high diving competition where all these divers jump from the top of one the ships doing all kinds of crazy maneuvers.  Needless to say, it was awesome!

Red Bull Cliff Diving

After the Red Bull thing, Matt headed to school to do a project and Justin and I met up with Emmet, Jon and his girlfriend, Denise.  Justin wanted to take us to a curry wurst place he found so we wandered the streets of St. Pauli until we came across it.  I have to say, although I haven’t had it very much, but it was the best curry wurst I’ve ever had.

From there, Denise led us to this area of the city where artists come from all around Hamburg to contribute to this public art space.  It’s really just an alley in the middle of a bunch of old buildings covered with art.  Some of the stuff was really cool and the whole idea of public art was really cool to me.   Although really cool, Denise was telling me developers want to destroy the buildings and build new office buildings and condos, but the city and artists are fighting to keep it what it is.  I really hope this area stays preserved for a long time to come.

Hidden Art Street

As the day went on, we wandered along the streets, going into shops, taking pictures of the city and we came across Alster fest.  It was this little carnival going on with live music, games, and all kinds of great smelling treats.  After that, we stopped at this burger joint called “Jim’s Block”.  Jon had been talking about it all day so we had to check it out.  It wasn’t as good as the curry wurst but still pretty tasty.  Then we decided to all buy movie tickets to “Inglourious Basterds”, the new movie by Quentin Tarantino with Brad Pitt that is all about killing Nazis.  The movie wasn’t for a couple of hours, so Jon and Emmet went home to relax, but Justin and I decided to hang around and check out some bars.

Tasty treats at Alster fest

We went this place called “American Bar” at Happy Hour so we decided to order the coolest sounding drink on the menu, which was called a “Harvey Wallbanger”, which also became the inside joke of the night.  After a few cocktails, we stumbled into this medieval times style shop down the street.  They had these awesome toy swords and axes, along with a full assortment of armor and chain mail…so of course we had to try it all out.  After almost getting kicked out, I bought a hilarious, giant novelty pen, we met up with Decker and went into the movie.

Getting Harvey Wallbanged

The movie was incredible!  Classic Tarantino and one of Brad Pitt’s best acting jobs.  We thought it would be really awkward to watch it in a theatre full of Germans, but it was only weird when we were all laughing at certain parts when the rest of the theatre was silent.  As the climatic final scene was going on, we started hearing explosions going on outside.  As we got out the movie, we were greeted by an amazing firework display over the Alster lake right in front of us!

Fireworks!!!

After all of this excitement, we decided to finish up at Zoe’s where a group of Miami Ad School kids were.  So we went, had a few “bangers” (term we gave every drink thanks to our inside joke), and Justin and I headed out.  We split a kebab, then I got on the train, watched an episode of “East Bound and Down” (one of my new favorite shows) on my computer and fell asleep.

Ending at Zoe's with Justin and Decker

It was pretty much a perfect day; probably the most fun day I’ve spent in Hamburg.  Great people and a great city is really all you need.  I’ve always said, the best days are the ones you don’t plan and you just kinda go with the flow, and this day was the perfect example.

But, we finished it up on Thursday morning, 3-4 hours before the presentation.  And to no relief, it was the hottest day in Hamburg for the year, with a high of 94 degrees.  We presented in a room, with the whole school packed in, while the school doesn’t have AC.  It was probably 100 degrees in the room (Lourenco was sitting next to me and I thought he was going to pass out, and he’s Brazilian!).  We got the presentation over with, it went as good as it could have gone, considering the circumstances and we got the hell out of there.  Pretty much half the school had a celebratory beer at the nearby bar “Cocktrails” (it’s right by the train station, clever right?).  Then I went home and got a much needed full night of sleep.

Class on Friday was pretty light as our teacher knew we were all working on McDonalds all week.  Friday night came along and it was time to let loose!  We all started at the Miami Ad School main hangout, Zoe’s and then continued on to a few other bars.  It was maybe the most fun night here thus far, just because pretty much everyone came out and everyone was so happy to be done with McDonalds.  I finally got home around 6 or 7am.

On Saturday, pretty much the whole school was still recovering, so it was pretty slow day.  Justin, Matt, and I went to the park, played Frisbee, got a few beers, and watched the movie “Beerfest” and I headed home.  I had to get ready for Sunday which was the much anticipated soccer or “football” game with a bunch of the guys from school.

Justin and I were the first to arrive to the park and we figured maybe 5-6 more guys would actually show.  But, to our surprise, there were about 15-16 of us!  It was a lot of fun!  We played Europe vs. The Americas (the Americans and Brazilians) but we lost in a dramatic 10-9 game.  After that, a few of us went to Jim Burritos (one of my favorite places here) and then headed home.  On the way home, Justin and I decided to stop at the “Hamburger DOM” which is the biggest festival in Northern Germany for one last ride as it was the last night for the summer.  So now I have you all caught up, hopefully this week won’t be as stressful!

When I wasn’t working I have been spending my time enjoying being young and the fact that I’m in Hamburg.  Thursday night was really cool.  I got home from school before 9 (the first time in a week) so I decided to reward myself by going to have a beer before I started doing some homework.  I went to this corner bar across the street from my flat called the “Dorotheen Eck”.  I have no idea what the name means but it’s a cool little local bar that supposedly is over 100 years old and has been owned by the same family the whole time.  I had my one beer, went to pay for it, and as the German couple next to me noticed my terrible attempt at speaking German to the bartender, started talking to me and then offered to buy me a drink.

I figured “What the hell?” so I sat down next this nice old couple and enjoyed my free beer.  Well we kept talking and talking and they kept ordering us all drinks.  I must add these people we at least 65-70 years old.  By the end of the night, they had ordered me 2 liters of beer and 5-6 shots and I was terrified to see my bill.  But when I asked the bartender, she said the couple already covered it.  It had to be at least 30 Euro worth of drinks.  I was so grateful!  Hamburg definitely has some of the friendliest locals I’ve ever met.

On Friday and Saturday night (both days were spent completely at school), we all went out to a few bars, ended up at Zoe’s both nights, and had a really good time.  I can honestly say there isn’t one person I’ve met here that I didn’t like.  Everyone is a lot of fun and super interesting as all of the school is international.   Tonight (Sunday), I got home around 9 from school and finally got a chance to relax.  Now I need to rest up as this week is going to ridiculously busy with the McDonald’s fiasco going on and it’s also Justin’s birthday this week so I’m sure there are some fun times to be had.