Commentary

Sincerely Truman, The Movie Critic

Portland-based ad agency Sincerely Truman has taken it upon itself to at least try to ensure the upcoming Star Wars 7, 8, and 9 don't end up as bad as they seem to feel Star Wars 1, 2 and 3 were. The agency, which has done work for Nike and Visa, has crafted four rules "to make Star Wars great again. Those four rules take the form of a video addressed to J.J. Abrams who will helm Star Wars 7. Each of the four rules makes not-so-veiled references to what the agency feels were the not-so-great parts of Star Wars 1, 2 and 3 such as Jar Jar Binks. So what's an ad agency doing commenting on the making of Star Wars? It's all part of their quest to promote themselves as a super power in the realm of storytelling, you know, that new, new thing everyone's talking about that's supposed to be oh-so-different than "regular advertising."

And did Advertising Week teach us anything at all? We knew full well it wouldn't and that it would be rife with buzzword bingo, shallow promises and inane blather about crap that's been done twelve times before under different names. We were not alone in our assessment of the week with Advertising Age's Alex Kantrowitz weighing in  with five trends that aren't really trends at all. Big data, programmatic, real-time marketing and Marissa Mayer all take well-deserved hits.

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Leo Burnett EVP Global Executive Creative Director Shannon McGlothin has left the agency. We don't know why he left nor where he's going. AgencySpy surmises it might be due to his participation in creating this strange work  for Samsung Galaxy. 

Good news! Free beds for all agency employees! OK, probably not but Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners has been named lead agency for Atlanta-based mattress maker Simmons Bedding Co. Simmons’ previous agency was the Omnicon Group’s Martin Williams. Kbs+ will be charged with creative conception and execution of consumer advertising for the Beautyrest and ComforPedic from Beautyrest brands. Among the agency’s first assignments will be the development of advertising campaigns for upcoming luxury bedding launches.

Starcom Mediavest Group CEO Laura Desmond has resigned from Tremor Video's Board of Directors. She gave notice in August and September 26th was her last day. Desmond, while lauded for her participation on the board, isn't saying why she is leaving. Desmond has been a member of the board since January 2012 and she will be succeeded by former Yahoo EVP Global Chief Revenue Officer Michael Barrett. Some have voiced concern that Desmond's position on the board was a conflict of interest but defenders, which include Medialink CEO Michael Kassan and Weather Channel CEO David Kenney, say her participation was simply a way for an agency head to keep abreast of developments in the tech world.
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