If only creating great advertising were as easy as matching the right color tops with bottoms.

Google announced last week their intent to buy Teracent (below), which claims to make better banner ads by swapping ad elements (words, pictures, that sort of thing) based on various factors like time of day and the such.

Financially speaking, Google says their acquisition of Teracent is “immaterial.”  I’d say immaterial goes well beyond the finances.

If I made $24 billion last year on direct response advertising like Google did, I’d probably look for ways to make more, too.  Applying hard core direct techniques to banner ads, like Teracent purports to do, sounds like a no-brainer for the direct ad world.  People click on blue more than red?  Kill the red, add the blue.  Count the money.

But this isn’t going to advance the ball at all in terms of attracting the billions and billions of dollars waiting on the sidelines for online advertising to start making people FEEL differently about brands and products.

Adding insult to injury, Teracent says it can automate and optimize not just the creative but the strategy.  I don’t imagine many of our clients are ready to dump our planning department for the Teracent strategy module, but it highlights one very important point:  if we in the ad agency business aren’t adding creativity, innovation, ingenuity and inspiration to everything we give our clients, we’ll be automated out of the equation.

We’ve pulled a few iBAVs over the past couple years.  I’m posting a few of those slides here.

Look at the difference heavy internet usage makes for XBOX compared to Nintendo (below).  Considering the XBOX focus on online/connected games, it makes sense.  Is there a need to “over-index” in digital if you’re Nintendo to offset the perceptual disadvantage?

And consider the substantial lift Scion gets from heavy internet users compared to Toyota (below).  Does that argue for tapping heavy internet users as a “vanguard” audience for Scion?  What would that do to the communications/messaging/channel strategy for them?

Viewing clients’ brands with an iBAV filter may show opportunities and/or risks that warrant additional strategic thinking and/or action.  Check it out!

First time I’ve seen something quite this comprehensive (above).  They say “case studies,” but that’s liberal.  “Links to” is more fitting.  But even still, it’s a handy and quick compilation that includes examples from many of our clients, including:  Accenture, BAE Systems, Bayer, Chevron, Dell, Mattel, Rubbermaid, Virgin America and Xerox, and some large client competitors, including Crest, General Mills and Nokia.  Click on the pic above to get to the link, or click here.  Companies are listed alphabetically, with links to the social media efforts right there.

1)  Create a strong campaign idea (You Know When It’s Real), leading to a celebration of the food and, in this case, BACON!!  Turn wendys.com (above) into a brand platform that drives people into a participatory (social media) experience (Turn Your Love For Bacon Into Cash — below).

2) Create games, contests and content to get and keep people involved on the Twitter page/feed, expanding the “follower” base (below).  They’ve created a bunch of little, easy-to-accomplish tasks they release every few hours or so.  The first x-number of people who perform the tasks get points.  “Bacon” is always part of the task and must be included in the Twitter posts.

3) Integrate social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to expand and deepen reach and participation, leveraging the more robust website-like aspects of Facebook pages within a social media context (as opposed to a corporate website).  Here, Wendy’s posts the leader board for the competition while also linking fans and newbies to other parts of the Wendy’s social media experience (below)

4) Get a nice writeup in AdWeek (below)

5) Get the blogger community cheering for your brand (below)

6)  Sell more burgers.  Time will tell, but I bet this will be a successful campaign overall for Wendy’s and for this product.

We’ve seen this before.  In 1920 Dr. Dolittle encountered a new breed called the Pushmi-pullyu (pron. “push-me-pull-you,” below).  It went nowhere.  Coincidence?

For fun, here’s my POV on this:  Do I think we can do much, much better in making interactive advertising light years more interesting and engaging than most of the dreck out there?  Yes, absolutely.  Do I think advertisers will tolerate skip-able ads?  Absolutely not.  Please share your thoughts.

Dr. Dolittle was great fiction.  Here’s a fact:  advertisers won’t pay much to have their ads ignored.  And remember, somebody has to pay for all the great stuff we get on the Internet because it costs real money to create it.  The writers and producers and techies who make it all possible must actually get paid so they can buy food and iPhones.

There are two ways we can pay:  with our attention to advertising or with a credit card.  Note that hitting the “skip” button on ads didn’t make the list.  Google, if I’m reading between the quotes right, thinks the problem is the ads themselves.  Ads suck so badly people don’t want to watch them.  So, they reason, we’ll create a system that gets folks to make ads that people WANT to watch.

When I go out for dinner, I get a bill.  Now, that’s where I really wish we had a skip button.  “Sorry, I do not WANT to pay for that dinner; it just wasn’t that good.”  Alas, paying is mandatory.  It must be.  The same is true on the Internet.  Not paying for things that cost money to create is an unsustainable model.

If we want to consume great content, or great steaks, we’re going to have to pay for it, somehow.

A 29-year-old with a 73-year-old dad posts funny things his dad says on Twitter, gets over 700,000 followers, a book deal and now a CBS sitcom.  Here’s the Twitter feed (warning, very adult language):  http://twitter.com/Shitmydadsays

We’ve seen talent and content cross media already, from TV to YouTube and back again, but this is the first I’ve heard of a Twitter post making it to TV.  How to monetize online video/content is a big issue.  Friends of mine in the venture and media businesses believe digital is best-used today as an incubator that sends talent/content across the chasm into mainstream media (film and TV), where the big money is currently.  This story will bolster their beliefs.

Here’s today’s press release on the story from Yahoo! Finance (http://bit.ly/3vOFvu):

From Twitter to TV: ‘Shit My Dad Says’ Lands Sitcom Deal

Justin Halpern could probably move out of his father’s house right now.

In just three months, the 29-year-old has become a pop-culture phenomenon thanks to his Twitter account, shitmydadsays. Halpern’s tweets about his 73-year-old dad — who makes unintentionally hilarious, profanity-laced comments like “Either take the strawberry and stop bitching, or no strawberry, that’s the deal” — have attracted 715,000-plus followers, a book deal and now, a TV show on CBS.

The network has tapped Halpern to co-write the multi-camera family comedy with Patrick Schumacker, the Hollywood Reporter says. CBS also recruited David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, the team behind “Will & Grace,” to executive produce; and of course, the title will be cleaned up to remove the S-word.

Halpern’s concept is brilliant in its simplicity, and CBS is wise to build a comedy around it. Although people talk about the death of the TV sitcom — gone are the days of “Seinfeld,” “Friends” and “The Cosby Show” — CBS has established itself as a destination for comedies that are broad yet smart, even family-friendly.

Some shining examples: “How I Met Your Mother,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” “The Big Bang Theory” and yes, “Two and A Half Men,” which is strangely comforting when your brain hurts at the end of a long day.

Even with a great idea and tons of buzz, there’s still a slight chance CBS could pull the plug on Halpern’s show. To demonstrate it can succeed, Halpern must write scripts as sharply absurd as his father’s commentary. He must also participate in the casting process, and recruit actors who have really good chemistry — if all else fails, the dynamic of the cast can compensate for a bad episode or two.

If Justin needs to find a good dad, we can offer ours! (Just kidding, Dad, if you’re reading this.)

Any ideas for who should fill that key role?