The STL Egotist, a blog about advertising and creative stuff, recently had an off-day when they decided to slam two local Ad players; Schupp Co. and Ad Saint.

Schupp Co. is an agency that has been around for a long time and does a lot of point of sale and other general advertising (Remember the KTRS missing Cardinal Birds… that was them). Schupp designed(?) a logo for the Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Ad Saint, another STL advertising and creative stuff blog, was contacted by the Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired to run a story on their new logo, which they did.

The egotist basically took fault with the fact that for what they (and I) am sure was a pro-bono project, Schupp phoned the logo in. Meaning it really isn’t very good, or more, could have been a lot better. And then The Egotist kind of threw some fighting words at AdSaint for writing a post about this lame logo.

I have worked on projects like this, and know first hand that its generally the clients that limit the project (concept and execution). I also know that where the real money is saved on a Pro-bono client is not the creative effort, but the account sales effort. The mentality that, “They’re not paying for this, it’s not worth our time to fight with them.” Designers are the ones who spend the extra time and effort polishing feces, and then they are the ones that are pointed to when the logo sucks.

So, Egotist, have a little compassion. If Schupp roll’s out a campaign they are sure will be a Gold Pencil or a Lion, and you think it sucks… say so. If they cook a Pop Tart, I don’t need you guys to explain to me why they should have made Blueberry instead of Smores. As for AdSaint, call them out on bad stories if you want. Maybe that competition will yield deeper digging, more content and better insight for me.

In the meantime, I say we turn this whole frown up side-down!

Designer Throwdown!

The Place: www.blindlogos.tumblr.com/

The Weapons: Illustrator, Coffee, Ice Pick

The Logo: Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Click here and upload your better version of this logo:

(Egotist mystery writers, lets see your skills too)

Best logo gets lunch at Blues City on me!

Fight!

PS > I’ll narrow the logos down, and then let someone a lot cooler than me pick the winner.

You’re damn right it is!

Your Lucky Day from Dan on Vimeo.

Rider Strong in a short film about atheism… maybe hell… maybe lottery tickets. I don’t really know?

As soon as I saw Shawn take out a man that look remarkably like Mr. Feeny with a hand gun, I wrote this post.

I’ll keep watching now. You do the same.

Saw it on Devour again.

This video and sport(?), Mallakhamb, reaffirms how the Indian people brought about the Kama Sutra, and why they will take over the world with their countless armies of triple-jointed contortionist climbing gymnast soldiers… all hoped up on Chaat!

I surrender.

Saw this on Devour… my newest addiction.

Here are some videos I made for the newly launched 4ORCE Digital website.

I’m digging the tunes from Big Boi with ‘Sutterbug’ and Kid Cudi with ‘REVOFEV’.

Check’m out, and check these out:

AND

Here are some O’Charley’s pre-roll spots I did for ESPN.com.

I have a problem.

My name is Rob. I have a Hood Internet addiction. Two posts in two days brought about my moment of clarity.

That said, this Mixtape which I downloaded yesterday (and am just listening to now) is incredible.

Hood teamed up with Anatomy Magazine to produce Side A of their Great American Mixtape

I won’t lie, it didn’t hurt that they mashed two of my all-time favorite songs. Lil’ Troy – “Wanna Be a Baller” and and T.V.O.T.R. – “Wolf Like Me”. That may not even be a great track, but to me it the most incredible thing I have ever heard. I nearly fell out of my chair when it kicked-off.

Here it is:
07 Lil’ Troy (feat. Fat Pat and Yungstar) x TV On The Radio – Wanna Be A Wolf Like Me

Anyway, while I work on finding a new musical experience, you enjoy.

Did I mention Side A and and B of the Great American Mixtape is FREE when you opt in to Anatomy Magazine.

If you guys don’t follow and download all the new Hood Internet tracks like I do, you might have missed a lot over the past 6 months.

Good News! They (with help from “the fine people of Mishka…“) just released a new mixtape called Trillwave.

Mashups featuring everyone from (of course) Kanye, Phoenix, The Flaming Lips, Royksopp, Genesis, Diddy, Jay-Z, Yacht, Maps and about 20 others. All of which add up to one hell of a ride home from work, roll out to the bars or domination at a house party.

Anyway, enjoy the Mix Tape, and go see The Hood Internet when they come to your town. You won’t regret it.

Childhood obesity.

I feel like I hear that term a lot these days. There’s a lot of blame to go around for it. Lack of activity, digitally focused society, poor parenting choices, bad nutritional education, hormone injected everything, and a super ‘PC’ mentality that discourages condemnation of a childs weight for fear of onsetting body or diet issues.Parents and friends just assume that kids will grow into or out of it, but by the time it’s a real problem, it’s too late.

But, I think king among all these reasons is that food tastes so damn good. McDonald’s food in particular. McDonald’s isn’t every 5 year old’s favorite restaurant by coincidence. Sure they give out toys, and they have play places, but it’s the food that kids, I, crave(d). Steaming hot cheese burger (hold the onions), plenty of the best tasting fountain Coca-Cola, and those golden salty sticks of joy. The consistency of McDonald’s grub, which revolutionized the food industry around the world, is the perfect fit for kids with discerning palettes, huge appetites and price conscious parents.

But, this is not news. There has been push back from every side, and McDonald’s is the target of a lot of bad PR and public health scrutiny. Are they the fall guy for the main reasons child obesity is the issue it is (mentioned above), i don’t know, like I said there’s a lot of blame to go around. I do know that over the past 10 years the company has responded to public outcry through their marketing, restaurant design and products. Commericials featuring active lifestyle choices, larger more dynamic play-places or none at all and “Healthier” food options. Small steps, but things they can point to in the event of complaints.

But, last week, I saw this:

A 20pc. Chicken McNugget with a Dreamworks ‘Shrek’ theme. 9pc. Ok, but 20pc. A Shrek sized serving, for a Rumpelstiltskin sized person? Child?

It might not seem like a big deal to you, but a lot of bells and whistles went off in my head. At 12, my McDonalds food of choice were the McNuggets, 20pc to be exact, but that wasn’t marketed to me. I made that choice based on math and my genetic need to make poor decisions based on value…

“Wait I can get a 9pc. for $3 or a 20pc. for $4. What? Am I an idiot. 20pc please, lot’s of BBQ sauce and a supersized milkshake. Thank you!”

But for two companies so children focused to put there brand and stamp of approval on 20pcs of hormone stuffed fried chicken pieces is extremely surprising to me. More surprising is that there hasn’t been more public outcry. Maybe the “nagging-wife-effect” has taken over, and the world is just zoning out all the noise as it relates to McDonald’s being unhealthy. I hope not. My guess is that the fact they were suppling children with toxic Shrek-themed glasses probably, and rightly, overshadowed this misstep.

I wonder if McDonald’s has any corporate marketing positions open at the moment?

My last note, or, question on the subject is what’s up with the Chicken supply in this country right now. McDonald’s, on top of this Shrek 20pc. thing, just launched a 50pc McNugget. I’ll say that again… FIFTY pieces of McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets. At the same time, Hardee’s, a great client of my agency, just launched hand breaded Chicken Tenders, and are pushing them hard right now.  Let’ see, Grilled Chicken and Chicken-as-the-bread chicken sandwich from KFC. All this begs the question, have the hormones finally succeed in growing T-Rex sized fowl? Is the movie ‘Jurassic Park’ currently occurring in Arkansas at Tyson Foods?

Somebody call Jeff Goldbloom!

Check out one of their more recent spots from TBWA\France:

Wow, right? Gorgeous, smart, effective… right? Wait, effective on who? Me? But what can I do to stop the death penality. I mean, I can use my imagination. I can go out and get petitions signed. I can contact my senator. I can send money to Amnesty International. Ahhh… there’s the rub.

I’m not saying that Amnesty isn’t a viable and necessary organization. They are, no question. Their work to fight for or free those wrongly or inhumanely incarcerated is invaluable. My concern is that their amazing ads compel me to donate and be done.

Tell me what to do. Circle the wagons, charge the troops, finagle your Facebook friends. How we can we convince those that are most for the death penalty that it is not humane. How can we speak directly to the father of a murdered and raped daughter? How can we speak to a woman whose religion mandates such punishment in response to a crime against God? How can we convince a Congressman, Prime Minister or President to take swift action, wehn their constituents demand capital punishment?

Answer these questions, and we’ll find true effectiveness. But, in the mean-time keep making amazing ads. Every person you inspire is one small step toward insight and action.

Here are some more work from Amnesty through out the years:

I could go all day.

Do your part. Donate.

I wanted to attempt this style  in February, and being Black History Month I chose the Rev. as my muse.

His face is made up of the words of his epic Lincoln Memorial “I have a dream…” speech.

Take a look. I am having it framed as I type.