Brett Ratner on turning brands into film stars

By Georg Szalai

Director Brett Ratner discussed the risky business of integrating brands into movies Thursday, using his current Beverly Hills Cop project as an example.
  "It's a huge priority for Paramount," he said. Eddie Murphy will need to drive a car in the film, and Ratner said he has to figure out which one. Rather than doing a deal with a carmaker and trying to force the product into the story, Ratner said the process must work the other way around. "What are my needs for the story?" he said in describing his search for an organic solution. "What car do I need that can become a character in the movie?"
  Ratner was speaking at an Advertising Week event in New York on the topic of "consumer attention in a media-saturated world." He argued that forcing a soda bottle into a movie scene makes it seem like a prop and yields no branding effect because viewers block it out. "It must be a character embedded in the story," he said, recounting how he wanted a Porsche 928 as a young man because it played a key role in Risky Business.

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September 24, 2009 | Comments (0)

Mark Cuban and Martha Stewart

Chatting before the Future of Media event.

September 24, 2009 | Comments (0)

'I have the largest penis possible.'

—Quentin George, chief digital officer at Mediabrands, expressing frustration over Internet ads targeted to him.

'I'll have to hand my title over to you.'

—Matt Freeman, CEO of Betawave, responding to George's declaration.

September 24, 2009 | Comments (2)

Ogilvy on saving the world through advertising

By Eleftheria Parpis

In a testament to the belief that advertising can change the world, Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project, told an Adverting Week audience on Wednesday at a three-part discussion on climate change and corporate social responsibility: "If the 'Hopenhagen' campaign started a year ago, we might have a climate bill in Congress."
  The recently launched "Hopenhagen" campaign is a United Nations-driven global campaign created by Ogilvy Worldwide that aims to "create a people's movement," said Freya Williams, senior partner and planning director at Ogilvy. The multimedia effort urges people to get involved by becoming citizens of "Hopenhagen" at Hopenhagen.org and signing a petition urging politicians to "seal the deal" at the United Nation's Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, this summer.

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September 23, 2009 | Comments (1)

Mark Cuban tells media people they could learn a little something from drug dealers

By Steve McClellan

An Advertising Week session on Wednesday focusing on the future of media, produced by Mediapost and moderated by Wired editor Chris Anderson, quickly evolved (or devolved) into a battle of the quipsters. Digital impresario Mark Cuban (shown here) got things rolling as he made his case that media companies that give away their content for free will be losers in the long run. Offer a sample to hook consumers, and then upgrade them to subscriber status, he argued, adding that it's technique that "drug dealers have been using for years."
  Asked later in the session why he thought live sporting events and venues would remain viable as a new generation of home-entertainment devices offer better-quality viewing experiences—without the hassle and expense of attending in person—Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks, replied that sports venues offer an outlet to "scream and yell and jump up and down. You can't do that anywhere else." Without missing a beat, Rob Norman, CEO at WPP's GroupM Interaction responded, "Obviously you've never been to one of our budget meetings."

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September 23, 2009 | Comments (0)

The shortage of digital talent in advertising

By Brian Morrissey

It might seem like doom and gloom on the jobs front in the ad industry, but there are some who are still in demand, notably digital talent. Check out the jobs sections of shops like R/GA, AKQA, Organic and others, and you'll find dozens of openings. MDC Partners organized an Advertising Week panel to shed light on the difficulties agencies have in recruiting and retaining digital talent. The biggest problem, according to participants: Techies aren't that crazy about going to work in agency land as opposed to startups or tech giants like Google. "There's a talent pool out there, but they're in spots we're not looking," said Darren McCormick, digital agency cultural lead at Microsoft. Instead of ad schools, these app developers are as likely to learn the tricks of the trade during Mountain Dew-fueled coding sessions in dorm rooms, added Scott Belsky, CEO of creative talent network Behance. This is a problem even for the hottest of agencies. Jeff Benjamin, executive creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, said recruiting these individuals involves more than padding salaries. It's about making advertising a cool and rewarding career choice. "The question is, How do you position the agency as something exciting for these guys?" he said. Even with next-generation ad schools like Sweden's Hyper Island, agencies aren't belles of the ball. Instead, the biggest demand comes from "traditional network agencies," according to Mattias Hansson, CEO of Hyper Island, yet that's among the least appealing options to students. Benjamin spoke to us after the session (see above) about the talent shortage, how to overcome it, and what's the one question he asks everyone he interviews.

September 23, 2009 | Comments (12)

'We have a lot of highly engaged jerks.'

—Suzie Reider, director of sales and marketing at Google, talking about the rabidly rude commenters on YouTube.

September 23, 2009 | Comments (0)