Twelve years ago this July, Brian Jones and Tom Dunphy brought me into Two Rivers Marketing to manage their computer systems. Immediately, Tom started singing the praises of Apple computers. He was most assuredly the resident Mac Advocate of the agency. In fact, at the time, the majority of the Two Rivers Marketing associates were on Macs. Candy-colored laptops with handles akin to a purse. They looked more like fashion accessories than computers. At this time in my career, I was not a fan of Apple products, but Tom would always remind me of Apple’s superiority when I had issues with any of the Microsoft Windows-based computers.

Fifty percent of all U.S. households own at least one Apple product, according to CNBC’s recent All-America Economic survey. Admittedly, I’m one of the 9 percent that now own five or more Apple products. A couple iPods, laptops, and an Apple TV, and I can see Tom grinning down at me in an “I told you” manner. If you’re not among the 50 percent, there’s a chance you’re thinking about an iPhone or iPad. That high percentage of Apple products in the home has also contributed to the rise of the Apple stock (AAPL).

Currently trading around $600/share — and some analysts are predicting future trading will reach $1000/share — Apple’s stock has come a long way from $25/share in July of 2000. In a recent Piper Jaffray report, young people are adding to Apple’s numbers with one-third of U.S high school students owning an iPhone. If I had a DeLorean and the necessary 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, I’d go back and tell my former Windows self to put everything into Apple stock. I think my retirement portfolio would look very different than it does now.

Why is Apple so successful? Read more »

About nine months ago, I walked by my wife, Tiffany, while she was on her laptop and asked her what she was working on. She said, “I’m on Pinterest. It’s a site for moms.” Because I am not a mom, I figured it didn’t really affect me, and went on doing “dad” stuff. Since this seemingly insignificant encounter, I’ve come to realize that Pinterest is much more than “a site for moms” and has a direct effect on my everyday life. From dinners to vacations, wardrobes to Valentine’s Day cards, Pinterest is influencing it all.

Pinterest is a virtual pin board (picture the binder your Mom shoved all those magazine articles she’d torn out…but now it’s online). You can organize images into specific categories (boards) — like favorite recipes or DIY projects. When you add something new to one of your boards, your followers can see it. Then, they can add it to their boards, like it, post a comment — and on and on it goes.

Pinterest has exploded in the last year — and marketers are taking notice. In March of 2011, there were 374,376 unique visitors to pinterest.com. In March 2012, there were nearly 18.2 million.* What’s fantastic about Pinterest from a marketing perspective is the personal connection users have with the items they “pin.” Every pin is like a personal endorsement — and has the potential to have a domino effect on the buying behavior of friends and followers. This potential is why businesses are eager to leverage Pinterest to drive traffic and sales.

The question now is should your business be leveraging Pinterest too? It all comes down to “if the shoe fits.” According to the Huffington Post, 68.2 percent of Pinterest users are women, and of those, the biggest demographic is ages 25-34 with users’ top pins falling in crafts, gifts, hobbies/leisure, interior design and fashion.** The top corporate pin boards belong to Etsy, Real Simple, HGTV and Kate Spade.**

With the economy sitting where it is, many people are trying to live within a budget — yet they still want to update and upgrade their home and their style. Pinterest offers businesses a key way to interact with these people, but there are certain best practices to consider before jumping in headfirst: Read more »

I don’t have a bottle of scotch in my office. I know that’s hard to believe, but it’s true. It’s not because I’m a recovering alcoholic, or because I’m morally opposed to mind-altering beverages or because I’m more of a gin man. No… the reason there’s no scotch in my office is much simpler. I am not Don Draper.

The fifth season of AMC’s award-winning show Mad Men starts on Sunday, March 25. And with it, the myth of life inside an ad agency will continue to grow further from reality. Now just to be clear, I love Mad Men. And I love other TV shows and movies that prominently feature advertising. Movies like Crazy People and Boomerang probably have more to do with me wanting to work in this business than I care to admit.

But let’s make one thing perfectly clear: The world these movies and TV shows depict fails in nearly every respect to capture what working in an ad agency is like. Is it more fun and relaxed than your average insurance office? Absolutely. Is it the frat-house-meets-fun-house atmosphere we see on the big screen? Absolutely not. As is the case with most stereotypes, these are based in reality, but the degree to which they’ve been exaggerated borders on the ridiculous. It’s like the difference between throwing a bullet and shooting it.

Now, exaggeration and over-dramatization are a huge part of Hollywood’s M.O. And we want it that way. Because no matter how exciting things might get around Two Rivers Marketing, there’s not enough high drama to carry a movie or TV series.

The same goes for our most popular genres — the cop show and the medical drama. I’m sure that if you ask a cop, he’ll tell you his world isn’t exactly like Lethal Weapon or NYPD Blue. And a doctor will be the first to tell you that Grey’s Anatomy was not a documentary. But, for some reason, I feel like we all collectively understand that those shows are gross fabrications. That notion hasn’t seemed to catch up with advertising yet. Perhaps it’s because it’s just not that ubiquitous.

Maybe, after the networks have rolled out Mad Men: Miami, Mad Men: Special Client Force and Madder Men, they’ll realize that we’re just not that … well … mad.

Agencies at the Movies

if you haven’t seen these ad-centric flicks, here’s a primer.

What Women Want
starring Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt
Fictional campaign tagline: “No games. Just sports.”

Like its leading man, this movie is mostly ridiculous. But the campaign they put together for Nike’s women’s division is spot-on brilliant.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
starring Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson
Fictional campaign tagline: “Frost yourself.”

These two starred in 47 movies together between 2001 and 2005. And this was one of them. So, even if you haven’t seen it, you sorta have.

Nothing in Common
starring Tom Hanks, Jackie Gleason
Fictional campaign tagline: “From your home, to our home, to their home. Colonial Airlines. Your home in the skies.”

David Basner (played by Hanks) is the creative guy I want to be. Cool, crazy, confident, sharp and a little bit dangerous. The pitch to the executives at Colonial Airlines is my second favorite pitch scene in any ad movie.

Bounce
starring Ben Affleck, Gwyneth Paltrow
Fictional campaign tagline: “It’s a HOT dog!”

Everyone forgets about this movie. Probably because it’s incredibly forgettable.

 
Crazy People
starring Dudley Moore, Daryl Hannah
Fictional campaign tagline: “Volvo. Boxy, but good.”

The copywriting is this “movie about truth in advertising” is seriously amazing. And although it’s nine kinds of nuts, the pitch scene in the mental hospital is tops in my book.

Boomerang
starring Eddie Murphy, Robin Givens, Halle Berry
Fictional campaign tagline: “Strangé!”

This 1992 flick may well have been the last watchable Eddie Murphy movie (yes, I know he was in Shrek, but that’s not an “Eddie Murphy movie”). And although it stars Halle Berry and Robin Givens (at the height of her powers, no less), 65-year-old Eartha Kitt steals the movie as cosmetics magnate Lady Eloise.