Last week Dove aired a spot that was vastly different than their successful Campaign for Real Beauty. Much like the show, the Dove Mad Men spot was set inside an ad agency, circa the 1960s. Two male copywriters were struggling with what to say about the soap when a pretty “secretary” brings them coffee, apologizes for speaking out of turn and gives them some great copy points (Dove makes my skin feel soft, smooth and clean, soap doesn’t). They decide that they have nailed it and can play golf the rest of the day.

This week Breyers did something similar where a male copywriter is struggling for ideas when his boss comes in eating ice cream and gives him all sorts of ideas on how to promote the great taste. Both times, I stopped and watched the ad (twice in the Dove case).

Word on the street is that parent company Unilever plans to give the same treatment to its Hellmann’s, Klondike, Suave and Vaseline brands during the coming weeks of the show.

Not sure if these program specific ads will provide a noticeable increase sales, but it sure is an innovative way to engage a small group of fans who are incredibly passionate about a show about advertising.

And kudos to the folks at AMC for continuing to find innovative and engaging ways to weave actual advertising into the show. Last year had a huge story arch with Hilton Hotels and even had a Conrad Hilton character challenging the folks on the show to come up with advertising for certain properties (wonder if anyone ever tracked if bookings went up?).

David Stutts | E-mail | Twitter | Blog | SlideShare | LinkedIn

As noted in the International Journal of Information Technology and Management, “Stories are universal, crossing boundaries of language, culture and age. They mirror human thought. All evidence from neurology and psychology leads to the conclusion that humans think in narrative structures. Concepts conveyed in story form – more than ideas explained with logic and analysis – imprint themselves naturally into human minds.”

When you think of your favorite advertising, I’ll bet you there is an interesting story line that drives the communication. Remember why 1984 won’t be like 1984? And today, storytelling is more important than ever. With so many marketers fighting for space in our brains, great storytelling seems to be the way to win the war. The most recent example is obviously the Old Spice guy. Or, more appropriately, the story of the man you wish your man smelled (or looked) like. And good stories have the power to grow. Sometimes even taking on a life of their own. And in the social arena, it can happen in the blink of an eye. So as marketers, we have to be able to respond quickly to help fuel the story fire. Kind of like idea arsonists.

And for all of you naysayers out there proclaiming that the :30 second spot is dead, I say you’re dead wrong. A good story can start anywhere. On the street. On the web. And yes, even on TV.

So the next time you’re wondering how to get someone’s attention, tell them a great story. As the poet Murial Rukeyser wrote, “the universe is made up of stories, not atoms.”

photo credit: Lubs Mary on flickr.

A new writeup in MediaPost got several of us talking today about the increasing importance of agile methodology, a software development system built on the idea of close collaboration.

Here’s a summary from MediaPost about how digital agency Razorfish is expanding its agile approach to include teams on the client side:

The idea is to launch projects faster than they could be going through the traditional approach of developing projects to completion before going live. The Razorfish Agile practice led by CTO Ray Velez involves a training program for CMOs to adopt the rapid-prototyping techniques internally as well as understand them better in working with Razorfish.

“CMOs are letting go of their obsession with producing one-shot campaigns based on a single idea,” said Velez. “The agile test-and-learn approach is becoming especially popular as CMOs respond to pressure to prove their value constantly through innovation.”

If you’re unfamiliar with agile development, you might want to check out the brief “Agile Manifesto” that started it all.

The agile approach is all about results. It focuses on empowering developers to do whatever it takes to get to better results faster and more efficiently. It’s revolutionizing the way software is developed, and the idea has been spreading into other knowledge-based industries.

Here at Luckie, we’re using an agile approach with more and more of our daily work. Interestingly, you could even consider our direct-mail work for AT&T as agile. We create something, test it, and then go through all the small changes needed to improve the work. That’s the basic idea behind the agile approach. Short iterations designed to constantly improve and deliver the best results.

In our digital practice, we use the agile approach on all large scale projects, such as our recent redesign of BayerAdvanced.com. We develop functional products that we then continue to build out over time. The first release (initial launched product) includes only the basic set of necessary features. Updates then add additional desired features and more advanced functionality and content over time.

The opposite approach is to build everything at once and deliver it all at once. Of course that can take a long time before anyone sees a working product. The end result is that if it doesn’t work as everyone expected, it can take much longer to make changes, while also increasing costs.

Using an agile approach by doing the work in smaller batches, in shorter periods of time, allows the team to adapt to changing requirements. Adjustments can be made much more efficiently, and costs can be controlled. Plus, the quality of the work can be better assured. It’s better all-around for the teams doing the work and for the client.

For another example of the agile approach, you don’t have to go much farther than the main Luckie hallway, where our digital team has a “stand-up meeting” each morning. So for all our colleagues who have to squeeze past us in the hall … remember, it’s for the clients.

Bill Abel, Director of Digital Development | E-mail | LinkedIn

Photo credit: cliff1066 on Flickr.

“We are very proud to grow our long-standing relationship with AT&T through additional assignments,” said Mike Murphy, SVP and head of Luckie & Company’s San Antonio office. “And, in these economic times, we are especially pleased to be expanding our staff at Luckie, both in Birmingham and in San Antonio.”

Rhonda Richards
Rhonda Richards is Luckie & Company’s newest proofreader. Rhonda is a Birmingham native who graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Birmingham-Southern College with a double major in English and history. She worked in the publishing industry for 15 years at Southern Progress Corporation. Rhonda has a custom PT Cruiser with flames themed after Brian Setzer & The Stray Cats that has won trophies at many car shows. She also cruises around on her pink scooter and even belongs to a scooter club that meets for coffee after work each Friday.

Max Daily
Max Daily Jr. had been with Luckie’s direct marketing division as a “permalancer” since October, and in April became a full-time production manager.  A graduate of the University of Alabama, Max has worked for both BellSouth and Southern Progress. He enjoys landscaping, reading and painting – on canvas, not walls.

Mary Jane Carney

Mary Jane Carney left behind her intern status at Luckie to join the AT&T team in April. Now an account coordinator, Mary Jane is a UAB graduate and has lived in Birmingham for three years. She enjoys taking her dog Coco on long walks through the park, watching movies, and traveling to see family. Mary Jane is a retired ballet teacher who says she enjoys shredding it up on a snowboard, has a bug collection, considers herself a sour candy expert and really loves Diet Coke.

Sue Hill
Sue Hill is one of three new additions at the Luckie & Company San Antonio office. An account executive, Sue graduated from Texas State University with a degree in Mass Communications-Public Relations. Sue previously worked for Direct Hit Data as their business analyst. She and her husband, Orenthal, have an 8-month old daughter. They also share their home with a dog, a cat and fish. Sue says she likes to bowl, enjoys Jane Austen movies, and is a hopeless romantic.

John Fleming
John Fleming has joined Luckie as a data account manager. For the past five years, John worked for PropertyInfo Corp., supporting their electronic recording product. AT&T is a family thing for John – his wife Stacy is a Senior Marketing Manager for the company. If he had any free time, John says he would spend it playing various musical instruments or working on one of his classic vehicles. He adds the secrets to his happiness are rock ‘n’ roll and a Chevy V8.

Lon Varns

Lon Varns has joined the San Antonio office as a marketing analyst. Lon’s sharp mind and attention to detail will serve the AT&T team well, as does his experience as an operations analyst with BBVA. Lon says he likes to read, camp, hike, swim, hunt, and play golf. He prides himself on being a red-meat and potatoes kids of guy who thinks barbecue sauce is a necessity that should be a requisite on any fully stocked table. He also likes watching college football, riding horses and building stuff.

Rebecca Russell
Rebecca Russell has worked for both accounting and media in her 16 years with Luckie, and now has moved to the direct marketing group as an account coordinator. Rebecca lives in Odenville and enjoys photography, traveling, birding, cooking and gardening. Rebecca is an animal lover, and the last cat she acquired was found in front of the Luckie building, crying in the boxwoods. She lured him out with part of her sandwich, and he joined two other cats that share her home. And yes, that cat’s name is “Lucky.”

Kristen Puett

Kristin Puett moved on up from Luckie Underground to join the team as an account coordinator. While Kristin has spent her time with Luckie in broadcast production, she came with prior experience in account management, both at The Richards Group and Scout Branding. Kristin is an Auburn graduate with a degree in Radio, TV and Film, and interned at Conan O’Brien in New York City, where she once rode an elevator with Dolly Parton and got to carry her stage hair. Kristin and her husband Ryan live in Birmingham with their daughter and cat.

Other recent hires in Birmingham include Senior Developer John Cobbs and Design Director Markus Beige.

To learn more about Luckie’s expanding capabilities, contact Business Development Director Brian Wright through any of the channels below.

Brian Wright, VP/Business Development: E-mail | LinkedIn

David Griner

When 5,400 digital professionals gather on Wednesday, June 9, to kick off the annual Internet Retailer Conference and Expo in Chicago, one of the first featured speakers will be Luckie & Company’s own David Griner.

Griner, Luckie’s Social Media Strategist, was asked by event coordinators to share his perspectives on recent social media promotions in the retail industry. He will be presenting alongside Dan Shust, director of emerging media for Resource Interactive in Columbus, Ohio. Their discussion is titled “Two Thumbs Up (Or Down) On Social Media Efforts.”

“It’s a really exciting time to be talking to this audience,” Griner said. “Facebook, FourSquare and mobile applications are redefining what it means to ‘shop online,’ and I’m sure this will be a lively discussion.”

You can read more about the presentation — and even see some cool case studies that didn’t quite make the cut — over on Luckie’s social media blog, The Social Path.

David Griner | E-mail | Twitter | LinkedIn | SlideShare

The only thing more popular around here than Altamont’s performances are their posters, designed by Rich for each and every show. Today we thought we’d share a gallery of their self-promotional masterpieces:

To show your love for Luckie’s lords of rock, become a fan of Altamont on Facebook and be sure to catch their next show.

This video was created by architecture student Keiichi Matsuda as part of an assignment to analyze “the social and architectural consequences of new media and augmented reality.” Via AdFreak.

Here you’ll find a veritable treasure trove of marketing insight, news and well-reasoned discourse. Or at least that’s the plan, until we get so busy that all we end up doing is posting pictures of window wildlife and regrettable executive fashion decisions.

Barring that, you should probably expect to see a mix of new work, client case studies, trend tracking, big announcements and random topics that caught our fancy. And hopefully it’ll all pay off our mantra to “Re-Think Everything.” Unless, of course, we decide to rethink that. In which case, all bets are off.