Make Your Own Animated Cartoon

A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
Mannequin American views and guidelines on marketing/PR trends, news from the world of puppets and ventriloquism, bits of humor and other interesting but useless information. I post every Tuesday and Friday. For information on this puppet's background, go to http://www.dale-brown.com/.

On Their Way Home

Dale and Leslie have turned about (that's nautical talk) and are heading back to port at Captiva Island. They should be home this weekend ... maybe.  The B&M employees who stayed behind have a pool on how many days Dale and Leslie were out to sea before Leslie tossed Dale overboard.  

No Blog on Sept. 2^nd
Just a heads up that I won't be posting a blog on Tuesday, Sept. 2^nd. (I didn't want you to worry that I'd gotten locked in my suitcase or something.) I know that most of my readers will be busy catching up on work after the 3 day weekend and I don't want to be among the scores of RSS feeds and emails that you have to wade through. I'll be back in touch on Friday, Sept. 5^th. 

Edgy Energizer Print Ads Win Awards
Under the tagline "Never let their toys die," Energizer UK depicts kids in various states of, uh, toyless engagement. The campaign won top accolades in Press Advertising at the Cannes International Ad Festival. They're a tad edgy, but attention getting none-the-less.

Here are two of the first four ads in the "Never let their toys die" series. To see the other two ads, click here.

Is Office Casual Reverting to Office Formal?

Now that corporate casual is abundant on all sides of business, it's time for contrarian types to switch-up fashion. And how do you rebel against casual? You go Mad, of course. Some office workers in New York, most notably those who work in ad agencies, are already wearing skinny ties and fedoras as a result of watching the new hit TV series Mad Men. That just goes to prove that no one is more susceptible to advertising than ad people. I wonder if their HR people will approve those fancy cut glass decanters?

Vroooom

Our friend Jeff Perkins recently got behind the wheel of an Indy Car at the Indianapolis Speedway. Here's a photo of him just before he took the track. Lucky guy. And he kept the shiny side up!

Make Your Own Cartoon! It's Easy


Our magician/ventriloquist friend Glen Chelius tipped me off to this very creative and fun Web site, http://www.goanimate.com/. If you're at all creative, this is a great place to waste a few hours. Just click on "Watch Our Demo" and you'll be hooked. It's so easy, even a dummy puppet can do it.

It's a free site, but you have to "join" to create an animation. Don't worry, they keep your information private. You can watch the animations of others without having to join ... and some of them are really entertaining. If you make an animation, be sure to send me a link to it. I want to see how creative my readers are.

Only in America

Atlanta officials have agreed to scrap road signs warning of "Men at Work" or "Men Working Ahead," after complaints that the signs are sexist. All signs will be replaced or altered to read "Workers Ahead." I've driven past construction areas and I'd say the word "Workers" is still misleading. I think the signs should read, "People Standing Around Ahead."

Ventriloquists and Beavers

A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
Mannequin American views and guidelines on marketing/PR trends plus bits of humor and interesting but useless information. For information on Chip's background, go to http://www.dale-brown.com/.

What's a Jib Sheet?

Dale and Leslie continue to learn the ropes, or I should say, the "lines" of sailing while on a 48 ft. yacht in the Gulf of Mexico. That's not them in the photo, though. No one has seen or heard from them in 3 days so we had to use models for the photo. I don't know where Dale and Leslie are ... but I'm sure they're alright. I mean what could happen ... storms, pirates, fire, falling overboard, tipping over, running out of wind ... I don't know, I'm not a sailor and I'm not a water log. But I'm sure they're okay ... unless they actually ate the food that I packed for them.

Meet a Canadian Vent
Below is a photo of Canadian ventriloquist Neale Bacon and his Beaver puppet (I neglected to ask the Beaver his name) with Dale and Louie. I don't know who created Neale's puppet, but it's really a great character. Neale is a family entertainer with a lot of great puppets including a really funny Pig. Here's his web site.

Speaking of "Canadians" and "Beavers" ... one of my all-time favorite TV commercials features both "Canadians" and "Beavers." It's for Molson beer and it demonstrates that Canadians have better senses of humor than Americans. Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y09YOkVmGg0 to see it. This commercial would never be allowed to air in the States. But I laugh out loud every time I see it. I wonder if it was the inspiration for Neale's puppet? I doubt it.

Neale took the top photo of David Turner during the Saturday Night Show at this year's Vent ConVENTion. David designed and built his figure, Harley. It's a great puppet and Dave's routine with Harley is very entertaining. Click here to go to David's Web site.

By the way, Dale's popular book "Making It Up As You Go ... Ad libbing and Audience Participation" is back in stock. It's based on the lecture he gave at the Vent ConVENTion two years ago and contains great how-to advice along with lists of stock "ad libs" that vents can have in their back pockets to use when the right moments arise. Go to http://www.dale-brown.com/ to order the book.

Interesting Art
Barnaby Barford creates art pieces using primarily found objects and turns them into sardonic and humorous sculptures.  Here are a couple of pieces from his collection called "Private Lives." The fact that I like them probably shows that my sense of humor is a little "off."

Above: Mary Had A Little Lamb

Above: Dear lord, for what we are about to receive make us truly thankful.

Come on, that's funny! (Don't tell Dale that I posted this.)

Using Marketing to Promote Value
Marketing is nothing more or less than an exchange of value. It's just common sense that if you give a little, you'll usually get a little in return. But to quote President Harry S. Truman, "If common sense were so common, more people would have it."

Let's just say that the idea is to use marketing to offer prospects something they'll want as opposed to hitting them over the head with messages that they'd rather ignore. If the value offered by the marketer is different and exceptional, then the customer will pay back the marketer with loyalty and brand evangelism in good times and bad.
 
Take the T-shirt company Threadless. It has built a reportedly multimillion-dollar business in eight years by encouraging its customers to submit original designs and vote on the shirts the company will print. The "value" is customer engagement and originality. An old product with a new slant. Brilliant.

Adult Tree Video

A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
Mannequin American views and guidelines on marketing/PR trends plus bits of humor and interesting but useless information. For information on Chip's background, go to http://www.dale-brown.com/.

I'm Still Here - But Dale's No Where in Sight


Dale and Leslie are sill aboard this sailing yacht in the Gulf of Mexico getting sea sick, fighting over the helm, getting sea sick, learning how to sail and getting sea sick. At least that's the way I picture it. So I collected the following tidbits before they casted off.

Classy Underwear Commercial

(I got this photo autographed!)

Who knew there was such a thing ... a non-sexual, artistic women's underwear commercial? No bulging cleavage. No alluring grins. No enticing smirks. No gratuitous camera angles. No bootie-bearing thongs. Just women dancing and lucky Fruit of the Loom guys amongst a stage full of women. It's tasteful and it works.

On the other hand, Kmart says it's more fun in your undies. That is if it were made up of perfectly toned, 20-something hotties. Compare the two commercials and see which one you think is more effective.

Tree Porn

To save the earth or something Green Piece produced an ad titled "Come together for Forests." It's tree porn, short and simple. Click here to see the video. Then please explain to me why someone had to make this commercial. But trust me, it's one of those things that you'll want to forward to all of your friends.

Create a Meaningful Service

Way back in 1900, André Michelin created a driver's guidebook to France to help drivers find the best restaurants of the country while keeping their cars in good shape. It included addresses of places such as gas stations, garages, tire repair shops, and public toilets. Set up 108 years before Cities by Foot... a guide created by Crocs to give pedestrian explorers online walking guides ... the Michelin Guide remains a quintessential example of "marketing as a service." It educates customers while enhancing their lives and it does so in a highly relevant manner ... with no hard sell.

It's difficult to create a meaningful service for your customers and prospects if you don't know all that much about them. And while some might choose to follow President Truman's advice to "Always be sincere, even if you don't mean it," it is essential to have a genuine insight about the passions and miseries of your target universe. Genuine insight will uncover a service that matters, a service that your customers and prospects will truly appreciate.

This is How to Sell Motorcycle Insurance

Most people associate "insurance" with the possibility of having an accident ... so it's not something motorcycle riders want to give much thought to. But Allstate comes off as supporting the "dream" of owning a motorcycle. The Allstate Garage offers a stimulating example of Marketing as a Service at this very unique Allstate Garage Web site.  

You can get an insurance quote and have fun building yourself a customized bike in 12 easy steps. This in-depth site also features:

• scenic routes that can be viewed and mapped out for riding, courtesy of Google maps
• safety tips
• a forum to share riding experiences and
• a calendar page of local and national events.

While I was putting my custom bike together, Allstate offered up tips on getting the right kind of insurance. Since I was customizing my dream bike I didn't find their "helpful hints" annoying in the least.  Check out the Web site and learn how to entertain, inform and market all at the same time.

(It's not your eyes. The cartoon is hard to read. Dale's gone and I'm not an accomplished "scanner." Sorry.)

Why Women Love to Hate Skinny Models

A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
Mannequin American views and guidelines on marketing/PR trends plus bits of humor and interesting but useless information. For information on Chip's background, go to http://www.dale-brown.com/.

I'm Not Here
I'm on vacation. Actually, I'm home. Dale and Leslie are on vacation. I'm house sitting. So if you want a beer, come on over. I'm taking time out of my vacation to write blogs to make sure that you continue to be informed and amused. I hope you do the same for me someday.
 

First to Leslie and Dale. After Dale retired from racing he searched for a new hobby. His choice ... sailing ... more specifically, sailing a 48 foot yacht. Unfortunately, he has never been on a sailboat in his life. So he and Leslie are at a three day introductory sailing boot camp this week. Then they will board a 48 foot boat like the one pictured above, and will live aboard that boat for 8 days while learning how to sail. Assuming that they don't kill each other fighting over who will hoist the mainsail, they should come back tanned and seaworthy. At least that's the plan. (I neglected to point out to them that they will be sailing in the Gulf of Mexico during peak Hurricane season. Oh, well, I'm sure they'll figure it out.)

No Wonder Women are so Difficult to Understand

Ladies, have a look at this ad featuring skinny supermodel Kate Moss. How does it make you feel? Let me tell you how it makes you feel: It makes you hate your own body, but really want to purchase that handbag Kate Moss is advertising! What am I, psychic? No, I'm just a Mannequin American telling you what the advertising industry discovered in a breakthrough study about skinny models. Women love to hate themselves and keep coming back for more. Hey, don't kill the messenger ... I'm as surprised as anyone.

The new study found that "ads featuring thin models made women feel worse about themselves but better about the brands featured." They make you despise your own "normal" body, and "subconsciously" try to correct the situation by buying the brand that's advertised.

The Villanova professor who ran the study ferreted out just what advertisers bank on: masochism. "The really interesting result we're seeing across multiple studies is that these thin models make women feel bad, but they like it," he said. "I'd be cautious about using models in advertising that wouldn't maximize the attitudes and evaluations of the advertising and the brands," he added.

No telling what this means for Spanx.

PSA's Can Be Done Well

Campbell-Ewald has done some pro bono campaign work for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The commercials define parental responsibility down to the simple act of spending time with the kids. The 30-second PSA is sure to put a smile on your face. Even these wooden lips cracked a smile. Now I have to go get some touch-up paint. Check the PSA out here.

In the Opposite Direction


I'm not the type to get outraged by "sin." I figure we all do it to differing degrees and with differing amounts of humiliation and repentance. But I must admit that even I was surprised to learn that a rather effective ad for an over-the-line service had appeared on ESPN. It was for the Web site AshleyMadison.com, which is a sort of a Match.com for extramarital trysts. Are you kidding me? The tagline: "Life is short. Have an Affair," is repulsive even to me ... and I'm hard to repulse. ESPN needs to get some class. Oh that's right, it's saturated with overpaid athletes who think they're important. That's about as "un-classy" and repulsive as it gets.

Egotistical Marketing Doesn't Work
One thing I've learned working in marketing for over 25 years ... you "people-types" love to talk about yourselves. In brochures you tell other people-types how wonderful you are and blather on about your innovative products and excellent services. It's all about you.

Want a tip? Your prospects don't care about you. They care about themselves.

For content to be effective, it has to be about your targeted audience, not about your company or your services. Don't talk at prospects; talk about prospects. People love to discuss themselves. They love hearing about themselves even more. They want to feel as if someone cares... as if someone is listening to and acknowledging them.

People want to hear you hearing them.

Can You Hear Me Now?

A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
Mannequin American views and guidelines on marketing/PR trends, news from the world of puppets and ventriloquism, bits of humor and other interesting but useless information. I post every Tuesday and Friday. For information on this puppet's background, go to http://www.dale-brown.com/.

If You're Not "Clicking" at Work, "Click" at Home
According to my tracking software, more than half of my readers don't "click" on the links that are highlighted throughout each blog post. What?? I try to include links that will educate, entertain and make readers "water-cooler-worthy" conversationalists.

I understand that many of you read this "research-oriented" blog at work and you may not be allowed to view videos. If that's the case, view them at home. They're worth it. (The link in the following article is a great example. Don't miss it.) Links to web sites and general information are put here to inform, educate and sometimes provide a smile.

By not clicking on my links you're depressing my research team whose feelings are easily wounded. (... and whose bonuses are based on "clicks.")

If Your "Network" Shows Up for Real, It's Really Funny

This is clever and it made everyone in our office who previewed it, smile. In fact it's so clever and entertaining that I'm surprised that Verizon hasn't done more with it. In the video, a guy is standing in a park and he makes a call from his cell phone. When he turns around he sees the entire Verizon network crowd from the TV commercials behind him. The group follows him around the park while he's trying to explain to his friends what's happening. The closing tagline reads, "Where will The Network show up next?" This could become interesting if they do more of them.

It's a bit sad that this video has been on YouTube since July 15 and it only has 5,282 views. I think they need to learn how to do a better job of promoting what is to this point, a viral campaign.

Who Can I Sue?


A new Web site called Whocanisue.com will launch in September with a multimillion dollar marketing push. The site will match plaintiffs and attorneys and it's currently seeking attorneys to participate.

Here's what the founder says about the site. "The name makes it sound nefarious, (ya think?) but it's not," said Curtis A. Wolfe, a practicing attorney and CEO of Whocanisue.com. "There's a need in online legal marketing for a solution that's not just a directory service." Wolfe then poked himself in the eye with a swizzle stick and immediately filed suit against the stick manufacturer, the liquor company, the bar, the bartender and his wife who had paid for the drink. (Okay, I made that part up.)
 
The site will allow users to peruse content about their legal interests and potential claims and take a 5- to 10-question confidential screening "path" that lets them know if they're qualified for a particular claim. As consumers complete their questionnaires, they'll receive up to five ads for attorneys in their local area who bid on those ad placements in real time. The user can then choose an attorney and connect with him or her via instant messaging or phone.

Sort of reminds me of the joke, "Q: What do you call 20 dead attorneys at the bottom of a swimming pool? A: A good start." My apologies to Ron Petak and the handful of other non-ambulance-chasing solicitors.

In Marketing, Change for Change Sake is Costly
Marketers have a tendency to get tired of their successes far sooner than customers or prospects do. The reality is that when you hit upon a really good marketing program, you need to stick with it for awhile. Maybe you can't foresee a 100-year-plus commitment like Michelin has, but how about more than a decade? American Express has offered exclusives for gold- and platinum-card members for more than 20 years. And scores of company's have used "mascots" for decades to help people immediately associate mascot visuals with particular companies. There's nothing wrong with periodic upgrades to ensure that your marketing bucks never stop working ... but don't change just for change sake.

Broken Link

I know. I know. I received several emails informing me that my link to the spoof Guinness commercial just went to YouTube, and not to the ad. I'm sorry. And I now have a good gauge on the types of links my readers prefer ... those that go to half naked women.

I think the link broke because the ad got pulled and re-published. As I said before, the ad illustrates the pleasures of multitasking among friends ... while naked. Guinness is acting like it's really upset over the ad. Meanwhile the brand is getting worldwide publicity with few complaints from normal people. And trust me, Guinness is not "really" upset about it.

Click on the link above and try again. I'm pretty sure it will work. 

His is Bigger Than Yours


A Russian billionaire has christened his futuristic superyacht 'A' so nothing can precede it in the list of all-time great vessels. Andrey Melnichenko, 36, had his boat custom-built so he and his wife can traverse the world's oceans in luxury - and cast-iron safety.

Launched by the same German company that built the Bismarck, the 390 ft. steel yacht is like a modern-day dreadnought. The razor-sharp bow will cut through Arctic ice. Clamshell doors at the rear open upwards, James Bond style, to release two 30 ft. speedboats. It burns an economical 700 gallons of fuel per hour. The bed in the master suite rotates so the inhabitants always have the best view of the ocean ... (wouldn't it typically all look the same?)

In short, the guy went overboard for this boat. For more info on all of the amazing features of ‘A,' go here.

Depicting Murder is Okay ... Showing Skin, Not so Okay

We all know that it's okay to blow up stuff on TV, kill and torture people on TV and show gruesome details of all types of real-life accidents on TV. But show a fleeting glimpse of a human body part and the country freaks out. This is America after all, and in America nudity is bad. Nudity is something to be shunned. Sex is bad. Sex is nasty and should never be thought about. Put a potato sack over it. (Never mind that most of us will never kill someone, but most of us are likely to have sex. It's still better to show scenes of the former and pretend the latter doesn't happen.)

Anyway, that's why a new advertising campaign featuring Eva Mendes for Calvin Klein's Secret Obsession has been banned, after being deemed too risqué for TV. Now if she would have killed someone in the ad that would have been okay.