Lindsey’s Daily Deal: Let Us Do Our Thing, Tequila and Timberlake, and John and Marsha

By Lindsey Campbell, Captains of Industry

Hey Captains’ readers,

Here’s your Thursday Deal:

1. Let us do our thing, chicken wing

I’m obsessed with The Oatmeal. Not the kind with flakes and a puritan man on the box, but the website with hilarious and sometimes crude comics about everyday life. This morning, I came across a comic called, “How a Web Design Goes Straight To Hell.” The comic basically describes the demise of what could have been a very beautiful and effective website due to a client and agency who just couldn’t communicate. And it got me thinking about how important the client/agency relationship actually is. The dance between the two can be a delicate one. We, the agency, want to make you, the client, as happy as humanly possible. Maybe even as happy as inhumanly possible. And not just because it’s our job to do so, but because we really want you to be successful. But what many companies don’t realize is that the road to the holy grail of kick ass work is paved in trust.

You are the expert in your field. You know how every gizmo and doodad of your phantibulator works and why it was created in the first place.

But here’s what we know.

We know how to dig around people’s heads to figure out who would spend their money on your product and why. We know how to translate how your doodads work to your audience. We know what design, language and publishing application will be best suited to relay your vision and your product’s benefits. We know. We really do. So next time you’re working with an agency, please remember that you’re working with experts who live to make your business successful. And we in turn, we will remember that the phantibulator is your baby. Your very reason for existing. And we will do everything in our power to make it look good.

Trust us.

2. Tequila doesn’t need Timberlake to be sexy

Supposedly Justin Timberlake, God bless his boy band heart, wants to make tequila sexy. Well, if you ask me, tequila hasn’t needed Timberlake the past 354 years, and it probably doesn’t need him now. But, I digress. Anyway, according to AdFreak, Timberlake directed the new 901 Silver Tequila commercial campaign spots for The Martin Agency in his effort to pump up the sex appeal for the beverage of champions. The ads are supposed to be all about the product’s ability to “liberate” one’s desires through its “uncommon” smoothness. The only thing smooth about these ads are JT’s remarkably delectable vocal chords at the end of each spot announcing the brand and tagline.  The copy is written in Shakespearian-like lingo that was lost on my ADD-like mind. I’m sure that if I watched the spot a few more times I might get the point of using such language. But, the consumer won’t watch it over and over before flipping back over to Bobby Flay’s Throwdown, so why should I? Maybe next time JT should stick with singing songs about being sexy. It works better for him.

3. Jooohhhhnnnnn. Maarrrrsshhhhhaaaaa.

There’s a lot of stuff white people like. Picking fruit. Conan O’Brien. Vespa Scooters. The list goes on and on. But one that takes the cake with both white people and marketers is finding mistakes on Mad Men.  Ad Lab found in the latest episode that the drop ceilings in Draper’s new office are looking a little too modern. According to the ceiling experts at Ad Lab, “drop ceilings were invented in 1958 and were originally glued or stapled, and the T-bar suspension system wasn’t invented until the late 1960s.” We can’t have that at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce now can we? Excuse me while I jet off now on my Vespa Scooter to go pick fruit with Conan O’Brien.

Until tomorrow,

Captain Lindsey