The Wrestler

It arrived via my Netflix queue the other night. I liked it a lot. Two observations:

Sean Penn deserved the Oscar for “Milk.” Mickey Rourke was good, but he was playing himself; “The Wrestler” is essentially the Mickey Rourke story. But Sean Penn was playing someone (I’m assuming) completely unlike himself.

The other observation: Mickey Rourke would make a great voiceover. Maybe for a Chevy ad. Or a bank spot. They’re both beaten-down and primed for a comeback.

Mickey Rourke would make for a fun session. And I thought the actors I recorded yesterday gave me a peptic ulcer.

GM Does It Again

Remember when I wrote months ago about how Congress wouldn't save GM, and their big, boastful advertising voice was one reason why?

Well, they've done it again. They're copying Hyundai's Reassurance program, where they make your payments for three months if you lose your job.

Nothing wrong with that. You'd expect them to copy a program this successful.

But here's the thing: GM, in its typical chest-beating, swaggering way, says they're 'reinventing the ownership experience!' Whatever that means.

Hyundai, in all humility, says, "We're all in this together. And we think it's going to be easier to get through it with a good set of wheels."

Style matters, folks.

This Just In: Internet Advertising Doesn't Work

Read this entire article. It's long, and I know you have a short attention span. And I don't agree with all of it, or even most of it. But read on.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/22/why-advertising-is-failing-on-the-internet

I'm a Rock Star For Going to Focus Groups

Today I called my kids and couldn't actually remember what city I was calling from.

Then it hit me: Dallas!

This is God's way of telling you you're traveling too much.

I feel like I'm living that cliche of the singer singing about 'these towns all look the same.'

Didn't Bon Jovi sing that? Oh, sorry, that was 'I'm a cowboy...on a steel horse I ride.'

Yeah...that's the one.

Tomorrow, Phoenix.

JWT

People are saying the death of JWT Chicago is another sign of the city's ill ad scene. Wrong. It's a result of a poorly run agency.

I dropped by JWT Chicago a year ago to see a friend. It was such a cool space: huge windows, high ceilings, on one entire floor of the Merchandise Mart. I thought, 'this is what an agency should be.' Only it was empty; I saw about a half-dozen people, and this was on a Tuesday morning.

Now it's a ghost town, literally. Or soon will be. Is that sad? Very. Some super-talented people work there, my ex-partner among them. Is it surprising? No. I'm lucky to work for an agency run by generally smart, forward-thinking people, and there wasn't much of that in evidence in the people who ran JWT Chicago. Or evidence that the larger holding company cared about the office.

That's the lesson. Nothing more, nothing less.