Review of REI’s new TV spot

Dan Neil, one of the best writers in the land, has a great review of new TV advertisements running for the outdoors store REI, which just opened a new store at Short Pump.

The ads are also airing on TV here in Richmond.

Writes Neil:

“I have enough pro expedition gear in the garage to mount an assault on K2. Snowshoes, ice axes, climbing helmets, plastic mountaineering boots and wicking-action underwear sufficient to dry up the Red Sea.

Why? Because I’m thoroughly manipulated by advertising imagery in this category.”

It’s a must-read.

Below is one of the ads:

Martin Agency goes West

The Martin Agency is headed West.

The Richmond-based ad agency is planning to set up a Seattle office to provide support to one of their highest-profile clients.

Martin is behind the look of a new chain of retail stores being rolled out by Microsoft, which aim to rival Apple’s retail stores. The first Microsoft store opened last week in Scottsdale, Ariz., with a second slated to open today in Mission Viejo, Calif.

According to an article on AdAge.com, Martin is responsible for the store’s logo, packaging, bags, displays, uniforms and advertising. AdAge describes the new stores as “remarkably Apple-esque.”

Dean Jarrett, communications  director for the agency, said they are currently looking for space in Seattle, which is also being set up to serve another Washington state client, Bellevue-based Expedia.com.

“We got two substantive clients on the West Coast and have had people living and working out there for months for this Microsoft store launch,” said Jarrett. “We basically said to ourselves ‘We need a Seattle office.’”

Jarrett said they haven’t finalized the number of employees that will be sent to Seattle. He said there is roughly a dozen working there now in temporary spaces. The agency’s New York office has about 20 to 25 employees.

The new office may also help Martin reach new clients.

“There has been times over the years when something would come up for review that has a West Coast headquarters and that might be a negative against us that we didn’t have a West Coast presence, so we are hoping that will help us,” Jarrett said.

The AdAge article provides a few more details about the agency’s big move:

The office space isn’t finalized yet, and Martin “absolutely will use IPG space if it’s available and suitable,” said Martin CEO John Adams, but that “space is full, we’ll lease our own space.”

Leading the West Coast office will be Brad Higdon, a senior account leader and an officer at Martin. “For us, it’s essential that this office carry the same cultural DNA as our headquarters and the New York office,” Mr. Adams said. “Brad agreed to go to Seattle to build a great office and provide that cultural anchor.”

IPG is an abbreviation for Interpublic Group, the advertising holding company that owns Martin.

Longer furlough for Media General employees

A shortfall in third quarter advertising revenue is forcing Media General employees to take five additional furlough days, adding to the 10 days off without pay they were told to take earlier this year. Read more

Martin Agency lands financial services account

Richmond’s Martin Agency has been selected to launch the branding and marketing campaign for the U.S. division of Sun Life Financial.

The campaign, expected to launch in the fourth quarter, will be the first online and broadcast ad campaign for the U.S. unit of the Canadian financial services firm.  The campaign will also include corporate sponsorships and print media.

The budget for the campaign was not disclosed.

“Getting consumers to take a fresh look at a venerable brand is among our favorite assignments, and we’ve had the good fortune to tackle similar projects for ‘household’ names like Walmart, GEICO, Hanes and UPS,” said Bruce Kelley, partner and vice chairman of the Martin Agency.

The U.S. division of Sun Life is based in Wellesley, Mass.

Tell them you Mean Business!

Recycled: This story first ran in July 2008.

You’ve seen the commercial.

The video is grainy, filtered only in black and white. Two insurance adjusters are attempting to enjoy a leisurely dinner when their peace is interrupted by an urgent text message. The younger, for some reason balder adjuster, relays the bad news: “It’s that law firm again, about the settlement demand.” He shows the message on his phone as proof. Read more

Beware of Twitter squatters

Earlier this month we ran a series on how local businesses are using social media. In some cases, the tools are effective and cheap ways to reach targeted customers. But they can also allow any rouge individual to speak on behalf of the company. And in that sense, the battle for public opinion keeps getting trickier.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that companies have had to be on the lookout for imposter-twitterers, people who claim to be a company, such as Exxon Mobil, but are just tweeting spam.

From the article:

Exxon Mobil Corp. has found at least two unauthorized Twitter accounts under variations of its name. Twitter — a networking service where users create profiles and send out short messages, or “tweets” to their followers — terminated one of the profiles last summer. An Exxon spokesman says the oil company is considering what to do about the second profile, which it discovered several weeks ago.

The dangers of this are obviously that a company could loose control of a message more quickly than ever. Imagine if I started an account called DomminosGuy12 and tweeted “Still molesting the pizza dough here at Dominos.” Imagine the firestorm that would create, a PR disaster.

You can read the first part here of our investigation here.

Martin Agency finalist for Expedia account

Expedia.com is shopping for a new ad agency and The Martin Agency is among a group of three finalists, Adweek reports.

The three (the other firms are from New York and Boston) were selected from a group of six agencies competing for the creative duties on the travel site’s ad account. Final presentations are expected to take place in July or August.

Expedia’s major media spending totaled $59 million last year, down 28 percent from 2007, according to the article.

Is it me, or are there a ton of marketing firms in this town?

We’ve been reporting a lot lately on marketing firms that seem to be sprouting up left and right. (Click here and here.) We’ve received several more news releases about others and haven’t had time to learn about their stories.

But the timing seems indirectly correlated with demand, and that could pose trouble for the new firms and the ones they’re competing with.

The Martin Agency said yesterday that it was cutting 24 jobs. In October, RightMinds made cuts. At the time, chief executive Chris Thurston told me, “I’ve been through downturns and recessions, and this is by far the worst.” And that was in October. The pain is likely going to be worse in the next quarter. Almost half of companies cut their advertising budgets in the fourth quarter of 2008, a quarterly survey found, with spending set to fall even more in 2009.

So how will this play out? Will prices for creative services be driven so low by an oversupply that workers leave the industry? Or, on the positive side, might this be an opportunity for local businesses to get a better price on marketing services?

Most of these firms will be chasing local clients, after all.

What’s the deal with that radio ad?

The RBS Ad Report Card:

Certain voices are instantly recognizable. Think Bob Dylan, James Earl Jones and John O’Hurley. That last guy isn’t particularly famous, but his voice is. He played the catalog honcho J. Peterman on Seinfeld. Perhaps you’ve also heard him on local radio station 98.9 Liberty, spouting 5-second tidbits about Richmond and how the station “plays anything.” Read more

Former Martin Branding partner launches own firm

Local marketing consultant Jake Crocker has left Martin Branding Worldwide to start his own firm, Crocker Strategic Marketing.

Crocker was a partner and director of brand marketing at Martin Branding. He left in December and decided to go into the new year with a new beginning as his own boss. Read more

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