The Latest from Red Square
Welcome to our blog. It's a place where we post stuff we like. Latest work, inspiration, pop culture minutiae, you get the idea. Enjoy.
The Football Nerds
(In the style of The Autumn Wind – The Oakland Raiders Anthem)
The football nerds are gathering
With laptops and cheat sheets in tow
Constructing rosters, avoiding imposters
Drafting men with names like Bowe
Anxiety is on the rise
Your hair turns a feeble gray
A sense of gloom inside this room
And a smell that could linger for days
Fantasy Football sounds a rallied cry
Uniting fans in song
Opponents wage war over points galore
Until the season’s final game hast won
Red Square is for Football
Echoing with boisterous cheers
We’re quite cavalier until it appears
Our star Running Back is out for the year
Here’s to the crazy ones.
Call me sentimental, but every time I watch this commercial I am moved to tears. Seeing someone succeed when the odds are against them does that to me.
Steve Jobs’ resignation this week has spurred an onslaught of reflection usually reserved for someone who has left this mortal life—not someone who just stepped down as CEO. But as so many have been quick to point out, Steve Jobs wasn’t just CEO of Apple. He was Apple.
His leadership was unique in that it bridged the gap between the business side of the business and the creative side of the business. He inspired people, and he expected more out of them. And what he got in return was nothing short of greatness.
A self-proclaimed gadget freak, I am probably one of Apple’s biggest fans. From the very first MacIntosh computer I touched in the summer of 1987 to my first generation iPod to my current iPhone, I love everything about them. I love the packaging, the user interface, the way the instruction booklet talks to me like I’m an old friend and above all else, the sheer beauty of the design.
I am currently enjoying my sixth computer, my fifth iPod, my second iPhone and hoping Santa brings me an iPad this December. And I pray that it doesn’t stop there. If Steve Jobs orchestrated his succession plan as well as he built his empire, there will be many yet unnamed iGadgets in my future—that I didn’t even know I needed, but absolutely have to have.
Fresh business papers.
If our new business papers were any fresher, you’d want to chew them like Orbit. Because we are freakish about details, love rewarding anyone who is nice enough to pay attention to us and want to bring back the art of writing on actual paper, we added some really nice details in our materials.
Most notably, our business cards are a large puzzle that comes together to form the image of the founder of our company. It’s like Voltron, but with an ad guy.
Credits: Richard Sullivan Sr. (founder/subject/sport), Ryan Lundy (designer), Ken Ziegler (copywriter), Wally Hitchcock and Diana Nichols (creative directors), Julie Palmer (print producer).
Cue the paper dolls.
Our latest round of television work for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama has just launched, and the spots feature an amazing mixture of typography, CGI and music. But to blast this work into the stratosphere of awesome, we hired some of the finest paper-doll acting talent in the business.
The result is quite different for the category—friendly, approachable and product focused. Hope you like it!
Get it fixed.
I’m a huge baseball fan—the kind who has a Fathead of Philadelphia Phillies’ second baseman Chase Utley in her office, the kind who rails against the designated hitter, the kind who looks forward to opening day the way children look forward to Christmas. I once considered moving to another state because I couldn’t get the DIRECTV baseball package at my apartment complex.
As advertising continues its march into every facet of our lives, fans of all sports expect corporate logos on just about everything. Thankfully, baseball has not embraced in-your-face ballpark advertising, at least not completely. Call me a purist, but I’m just not comfortable with Chase Utley sliding into a corporate-sponsored home plate.
What I prefer is really smart, baseball-related advertising. My current obsession happens to be the New Era campaign featuring Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski: “The Trash Talking Begins,” “One Hitter” and “Dog.” The spots, from agency Brooklyn Brothers, play out the rivalry between Yankees and Red Sox fans.
Showcasing pitch-perfect writing and comedic timing (hard to mess up with Alec Baldwin), these commercials deliver a rare moment in advertising: avoiding an overt product mention while selling the product. Although I take issue with Baldwin’s assertion that Philadelphia isn’t a legitimate sports town, I can forgive him for the laughs. It’s all fun and games until the postseason.
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