Price Sells Downright Proud Anniversary Cars…

August 18, 2010 in Advertising, Branding, Creative and Design, Des Moines, Iowa, Marketing, Social Media, Traditional Media
Tags: Advertising, Charles Gabus Ford, Dewey Ford, Marketing, messaging, print, radio, Stivers Ford, tv

I’m going to have to pick on Stivers Ford during this post. I’ve been to their locations and have always been treated well and had a pleasant experience. Unfortunately for Stivers, that experience doesn’t translate in their marketing messaging. Worse yet, Stivers has so many messages in their marketing efforts it’s hard to know what the [...]

DSM: SUSHIBOMB

August 3, 2010 in Advertising, Creative and Design, Des Moines, Direct Marketing, DSM: SUSHIBOMB, Event Marketing, Iowa, Lessing-Flynn, Marketing, Social Media, That's Kinda Cool, Traditional Media
Tags: 80/35, bacon, bacon fest, blog, Chris Hanson, Des Moines, des moines sushi bomb, dsm: sushibomb, event, facebook, jess held, MediaCom, sakari, Social Media, spencer anderson, sushi, Traditional Media, twitter, youtube

Going to Des Moines’ sushi restaurants has become a frequent occurrence for many of us at Lessing-Flynn. We’ve turned non believers like Jess Held and sushi virgins like our former intern, Spencer Anderson into brand advocates of all things sushi. About six months ago, a few of us from Lessing-Flynn were having lunch at Sakari, a fairly new and [...]

Dream Big Grow Here – Supporting Iowa Entrepreneurs

July 30, 2010 in Advertising, Creative and Design, Direct Marketing, Iowa, Lessing-Flynn, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, That's Kinda Cool, Traditional Media
Tags: Dream Big Grow Here, grow your business in Iowa, iowa business, Iowa Entrepreneur, myentre.net, UNI

We were excited when our friends at UNI’s MyEntre.Net, Iowa’s online community for Iowa entrepreneurs and small business, asked us to help design and launch a campaign to give away $1000 a month to an Iowa entrepreneur or small business owner to help grow their business in Iowa. The contest site can be found at [...]

Kids Hawking Health Insurance

July 21, 2010 in Advertising, Branding, Creative and Design, Marketing, Public Relations, Traditional Media
Tags: Ally Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield, E*Trade, financial industry marketing, health insurance marketing, healthcare marketing, honesty in marketing, marketing with kids, sincerity in marketing, Trigon

There’s been a mini-revival lately of companies using kids in their advertising (the new campaigns by Ally Bank and E*trade are good examples).  When done well, kids can portray honesty and sincerity – something that definitely makes sense for brands in the financial industry, but also for the image issues facing the healthcare industry brands [...]

California Considers Advertising License Plates

July 19, 2010 in Advertising, Branding, Creative and Design, Marketing, Self Promotion
Tags: 2pac, california, department of motor vehicles, dmv, electronic license plates, license plates, non-traditional advertising, san francisco, senate bill 1453, smart plate, transportation, weird advertising

(press play, then read) California knows how to party, but will the lyrics change to California knows how to advertise?  The state of California is so broke the state legislature has passed Senate Bill 1453 and if the Assembly passes it, the new law would commission a study of electronic license plates for advertising and [...]

Who is The Des Moines Egotist?

May 17, 2010 in Advertising, copywriting, Creative and Design, Des Moines, Iowa, Marketing
Tags: ad agency, adam lackey, andrew clark, bit method, Cat Rocketship, Dan Fish, Des Moines, des moines egotist, Integer, Jason Lacava, josh fleming, justin brady, Love Scott, Matt Meszaros, Onpurpos, Revenge of the Nerds, Scott Rocketship, Shopper Culture, Strategic America, The Brand Chef, The Ogre, Tom Porter, Trilix

So I get this email. Click it and read it. Couple that with the fact that I’ve only been asked about the identity of The Des Moines Egotist ten times a day for the last two weeks. If you haven’t heard, there’s a new kid in town. A blog for all things creative in Des [...]

Worst of the Week: Jess Held at the NOVA Awards

May 14, 2010 in Advertising, Branding, Creative and Design, Des Moines, Event Marketing, Iowa, Lessing-Flynn, Marketing, Public Relations, Self Promotion, That's Kinda Cool, Worst of the Week
Tags: Ag Leader, american marketing association, Best of Show, Hellman and Associates, Iowa, jess held, Lessing-Flynn, Marsh U.S. Consumer, nova awards, pella corporation, Shazam, The Members Group, transvestite, Trilix

Never before has winning a marketing or advertising award led us to a Worst of the Week nominee … until today. The Iowa Chapter of the American Marketing Association held their annual NOVA Awards last night, recognizing some of the top results-driven marketing ideas in Iowa. The show, themed “Results are Beautiful” featured beauty queen [...]

Is the Internet Turning Pink?

May 4, 2010 in Advertising, Creative and Design, Marketing, Online Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
Tags: campaign, estee lauder, facebook, jess held, Lessing-Flynn, Marketing, marketing to women, Social Media, women in social media

Women have more than established their presence in the world of social media. Some recent survey data of male and female use of social networks: Facebook: Male: 43% Female: 57% Delicious Male: 48% Female: 52% Flickr Male: 45% Female: 55% Myspace Male: 36% Female: 64% Ning Male: 41% Female: 59% Twitter Male: 43% Female: 57% [...]

Paul Lessing: Give George a Rest – We Take the Blame

May 3, 2010 in Advertising, Creative and Design, Des Moines, Iowa, Lessing-Flynn, Marketing, Paul Lessing, Traditional Media
Tags: ad agency, ad agency role, admen, Advertising, advertising history, advertising people, Des Moines, engraving, Iowa, Lessing Advertising Agency, Lessing-Flynn, Paul Lessing, printing

One of the things which is contributing largely to the gray streaks on the noble domes of advertising men is the inability to fix the blame for a piece of faulty work.  The printer says he didn’t have the right kind of cuts.  The engraver blames the printer.  Both agree that the copy writer turned [...]

Worst of the Week: Diesel

April 30, 2010 in Advertising, Branding, Creative and Design, Marketing, Worst of the Week
Tags: Be Stupid, Be Stupid campaign, Brett Favre Wranglers, Diesel, diesel jeans, expensive jeans, Marketing to youth, People Magazine, style queen, trying too hard

This week’s Worst of the Week was recommended by a 20ish year-old, Europe-dwelling style queen who just happens to be a relative of one of the Ad Mavericks.  Yep, she’s from the same audience that the campaign targets – an easy-to manipulate, youthful wannabe who believes her Fabio is just outside the dressing room door, [...]