Well, this was somewhat interesting. If we can go all the way back to a few weeks ago, our scribe  Bob Marshall, in one of his weekly, epic The Pitch recaps, recapped the battle between NYC-based shop Conversation and Charlotte, NC-based BooneOakley for PopChips. Well, let’s fast-forward to recent times and tell you that we were pitched the opportunity to see what happened after the fact with this one particular episode.

According to the folks at Conversation, “the ‘Year of Pop’ website actually happened , and while we aren’t pursuing “The Greatest Viral Video Ever” we are still integrating user content in our campaign for [PopChips].” Great, but while we expecting something more matter of fact via a little Q+A on what’s happening from said episode’s star and Conversation founder Frank O’Brien, what we got was this:

So, how has life changed for Conversation after The Pitch?

It’s been nuts. We’ve had to increase our security detail because of all the screaming fans outside our office every day. Now we know how John, Paul, George and Ringo felt (only it’s been even crazier than that). David’s working on a new t-shirt line and Alex has been gone for a while since being out on tour with DJ Pauly D. We’re trying to fit time in for President Obama, as well. We didn’t even know he was a fan of the show (Biden too), but he has been BEGGING to stop by. Maybe we’ll squeeze him in sometime this fall.

Read more

To sum up our literally 52-hour experience at SXSWi this year, we decided to just break down a couple of things that came to mind in terms of notes, what stood out and what was learned. Well, first of all,  yours truly literally flew in Saturday afternoon, dropped stuff off at the Embassy Suites on South Congress, got the press badge, and then met up with a certain partner-in-crime of mine here named Bob Marshall.

Read more

Hat tip to our own Bob Marshall for the note regarding the BBDO NY tweet above, which basically explains it all. Denny Haley, in case you were wondering, was a 21-year BBDO vet who eventually took on the dual roles of CCO and president/CEO at the MN office once Bob Thacker resigned back in 2004 (FYI, Thacker eventually came out of retirement a year later to serve as SVP, marketing at OfficeMax and is now working for a nonprofit organization in Chicago). Anyhow, as the tweet says, Haley’s successor is Neil White, who’s been serving an SVP at BBDO Minneapolis for three years. Prior to BBDO, White held account director posts at the likes of BBDO Canada and JWT.

Update: Well, here’s more from the BBDO camp. It’s not an immediate departure as Haley will be transitioning his workload over the next few months and White actually won’t take over until early next year. The new BBDO Minneapolis boss will be aided in his soon-to-be new role by the office’s ECD, Brian Kroening.

Regarding Haley’s resignation, Troy Ruhanen, BBDO chairman, the Americas, says in a statement, “This has been a difficult decision for all. No one wants to see Denny leave.  But if there is anyone who has earned the right to retire on a high, it is Denny.  For more than 20 years, he has poured his heart and soul into BBDO and its clients, helping to grow our Minneapolis office.  He leaves BBDO on a high, and we are fortunate to have someone of Neil’s caliber to succeed him.  We wish Denny all the best of luck…knowing, of course, he will still only be a phone call away.”

Last Friday, our own Bob Marshall wrote up an item about Ogilvy’s new ad for Kotex and suffice to say, he received some backlash including comments such as “the piece Bob wrote is fucking stupid” to “The idea of ‘periods’ doesn’t make me ill. Your writing does.” Well, readers such as “jackieiam5″ weren’t alone in their opinions of Marshall’s piece, which also provoked quite the response from a friend of a friend named “Kathryn.” It’s brief and to-the-point, so without any further ado, we give the floor to her:

“It’s Monday, and that means it’s time to talk about the incredibly offensive
post that ran on Friday AKA how incredibly gross and vomit-inducing
women’s bodies are. Don’t worry, if you puke now thinking about periods,
it’ll feel okay — you already threw up twice this weekend from binge
drinking, plus once on Friday when you had to contemplate the fact that
women bleed from their vaginas every month. Sorry you find one half of
the human race so repugnant. Would you like to throw a “smells like
fish” joke in too?

For the record, yes, there are generic tampon brands. You also missed o.b.,
whom you probably blocked from your consciousness since they’re
applicator-free and that means touching a (POSSIBLY BLOODY) vagina in a
non-sexual way (EWW).

Ironically, enough, this campaign is about combating the attitudes on display in
Friday’s post – Mr. Marshall even notes that Kotex’s campaign fights the
idea that “a successful period is one that doesn’t seem to even happen.” For nearly
100 years, menstrual product marketing has been about sanitizing women’s
bodies, and finally a mainstream marketer has stepped up to be an
advocate against period shaming. While having your period can sometimes
be uncomfortable and yes, messy, it’s part of being a woman. What it’s
NOT is dirty, shameful, or something that we should avoid talking about.
Give props to Kotex for keeping an open dialogue about this, and also
for showing women in advertising as something other than sex objects or
mommies.

Happy Valentine’s Day. Bleed red.”

image