I’ve joined the ranks of the business owners and opened up my own shop – Switch Advertising.

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To the 10,000+ people who have read this blog thank you.

I wanted to ask a brilliant and independent mind on advertising how he did it; how anyone can be small and independent and build an award-winning advertising agency.

Personally, I think I wanted to hear that strong investors or a rich background with industry connections made Bensimon-Byrne what it is today. That’s the kind of answer that would have excused every small agency struggling to keep above water in our holding-company-owned world.

The answer I got was surprising to say the least, and on a day when TOY in NYC has died an early death I think it’s an answer worth sharing.

Jack’s answer was humble:

We were five people working out of a small agency. I think the one thing we got lucky and did right was the day we were called by a potential client in the rental car business. He had heard of us and wanted us to submit for the RFP.

I made him commit right then and there that if we produced the best creative, we would receive the account. I did not want to create a full pitch and then lose because our agency was too small to handle the account. If we were big enough to submit a proposal, we were big enough to handle the work.

The Bensimon-Byrne team did in fact submit the best creative.

The client was hard pressed to admit it, but they were too small. But, they had promised to take a risk and the creative was there. 13 years later that same agency has created some of the most effective creative advertising in Canada.

Risk and Commitment – the two words we never hear often enough from clients and agencies alike.

To see a little bit of what Bensimon offers its clients look no further than RecycleMe.org:

An internship for CP+B just sold for $17,655 on eBay, which I’m sure will help give Black, Hispanic, and low income voices a needed bump.

Coke Zero produced a spot over a year and a half ago with W&K: It’s pretty much amazing and only ran in Brazil.

It’s a weird world out there.

Print yourself about a 1000 extra business cards and head down. You’ll need them,

And if your a junior creative, the opportunities abound,  Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Ogilvy in New York, Proximity Atmosphere and Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness to create a value ad for juniors.

Check out the video to find out more:

For more contest info: click!

For more on Ad Week NYC: click!

Now there is more on the BioShock2 ambient and digital advertising.

Long story short it’s brilliant:

Mmmm Canadian Pride.

That pain would be creative character and create office culuture like this.

I don’t care what you think of the work or the hype.

Every office should be this much fun.

Toyota iQ has used a car to create a font.

I have to give credit to Toyota here, using a similar technique for a down market car takes some of the thunder out of a premium brand is a strong strategy in a ubiquitous category  like automotive.

Then creating something I can take home and use, is something I wish more advertisers would seriously consider. I own this font now. I’ll use it but it will be forever tied to the brand that created it.

iQ just became part of the dialog – by creating content to fuel the consumption of content.

Not by the combination of witty picture with funny headline that your average Creative Director wants to see from young creatives book but by the zany consumer first schemes of the movie and television industry.

Seriously. We talk a good game about putting the consumer first but I can’t wait till every product is as daring and as strategic as those of our film and movie marketing brothers.

Right now, this very second the internet is awash in the creation of content to fuel the consumption of content.

Wrap your head around that.

Creating content in a verity of media and public spaces to encourage the consumption of revenue generating content.

Welcome to Hype Machine 2.0

The hit television show Lost brought commercials to a comic con. An event awash in marketing messages. This backwards strategy has payed off large and might never show up at Cannes.

Meanwhile at the San Diego Comic Con Disney created a fully interactive world and photo experience for guests.

Locally an abandoned Queen Street store front has been converted into a Harry Potter Set for the upcoming film.

These brave souls are rewarding their consumers and honestly making them apart of the experince.

I’ll even admit that I never watched a potter film, or Lost, but both of these experences caught my eye. I’ll consider them in the future.

For to long marketers have acted like the guy with a gutiar at a house party. Demanding the attention of the room and making it impossible to have a conversation. I hate those guys. It’s really hard to charm someone when your fighting with Under the Bridge for the 100th time.

Sometimes when I see great work on the internet, I still can’t shake the feeling that some CD’s are still bringing their gutiar to the party. Sure sometimes it works and you get a sing along most of the time you just still look like a wanker.

If we are commited to social spaces, we need to be commited to the people that make up those social spaces. Put down the gutair and hire an event planner or two – then get really crazy and let them into the creative breif.

Seriously.

Poke Quick Draw Championships