MonKeyArtAwards

A Reader Reports

Dear Edwina,

As if the Key Arts showing of the winners online was not enough (whoops!) Now they are calling shops offering free sets of tickets. So what does that mean for the poor bastard that already bought a ticket for the published $299 price?

Signed, Mr. No Show

Is this so? Given the deep bench they had assembled for their jury pool, we find this puzzling. Goodness knows veracity is not the forte of our readers  - or this blog; but if this is the case, we'd love to know who the poor bastard is who bought that one ticket.

  

It's Not A Xerox, Dammit. It's An Homage

 

A Reader Asks: Where Did The Ethnicity Go?

Dear Edwina,

Driving around LA, bashing all of the fall-launch and theatrical key art out recently on 14x48's and bus benches this season, something really stood out to me... there are only white people featured. We all know that this is a common trend in American media, but typically there is a token Asian or Black for an ensemble cast. Tyler Perry often fills some advertising space with African American featured films. Right now, I think it's pretty shameful that it is so un-diverse out on the entertainment advertising playing field and I was hoping for some coverage on it.

Signed, Spot Color

We’re all for equality and diversity, but one should never allow social issues to cause one to lose sight of the fact that the transcendent goal in creating key art is to create the one that gets picked. If trending dictates that a troupe of young, privileged, white actors show up at the photo shoot, that’s what we're going to put on our bus sides and billboards.

Moreover, as lowly creative services apes, we have no control over what craptacular concept ends up going to finish, let alone the casting of these glorious entertainment vehicles.

One Of Us. One Of Us. One Of Us.

At long last our whiny prayers have been answered. Network and cable tv advertising has been included in this year's THR Key Art nominees.

Here is the complete list of print category finalists

Click on image to enlarge.

You Lost Us At "Self-Respecting Advertisers"

AdAge had this to say about AOL's Huffpo’s launch of HuffPost High School and its plan to solicit unpaid contributions from teenagers:

"Quite simply, AOL/HuffPo intends to monetize the work of minors earning $0/hour. On Patch and HuffPost High School, it will sell ads against content created by minors -- but it will not share advertising revenue with those minors.

Self-respecting advertisers have to ask if they really want to be a part of something like this."

What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate Cost-Effectively

Real success in entertainment has always come from word of mouth, so naturally the marketing weenies are chasing this elusive phenomenon by way of social media.

The underlying point in yesterday’s post was that all this “social opportunities” thrumming is in itself a means of diminishing the value of traditional advertising skills. It’s hard to imagine News Corp., Viacom, Time Warner, Comcast et al. wanting to continue picking up the tab for multiple six-figure-a-year-salaried art directors working on campaigns that may or may not be as effective in driving viewership as co-opting 40 or 50 million Facebook potatoes.

Still think the floodwaters aren't going to reach your floor?

They're Planning To Kill Print And Bury It In Farmville

AdWeak’s article on how Zynga games are being incorporated into DreamWorks marketing has this quote from Anne Globe, head of worldwide marketing for DW Animation: 

"We've continued to shift probably from the most traditional media, which I guess would be print, to digital which is probably up to 10 or more percent of our budget now."

Read the full article on AdWeak

Celebrating Achievement In The Entertainment Advertising Arts And Sciences

Source Code

By far the most popular topic among our readers is our Monkey See, Monkey Do category. Nonetheless, we were surprised to find this pair in our mailbox along with the message, "Coincidence: Impossible."

The comparison is a bit of a stretch, isn't it? And as Jesus said, “Let he among you that has never submitted a comp with code superimposed on a person’s face fling the first poo.”

So let us move on to our next category: Badasses In Hoodies.

Yes, But Ours Is All Caps!

Arbeit Macht Frei

Happy Labor Day to all of you who worked passionately, tirelessly and, above all, uncomplainingly over the holiday weekend.

And though it may not be clear to you, take comfort in knowing that the project that kept you apart from your friends and your family was of the utmost importance and the deadline you had was in no way an arbitrary one.