From the Bottom of Everything

Justin's Top 10 Albums of the Decade: 2000-2009

2009-12-18T14:35:00.001-07:00

Sure there are a lot of top 10 lists floating around right now but (of course) I don't think any of them got it quite right, so here goes. (think I'm way off? write your own damned list in the comments)

10. Old Ramon - Red House Painters (2001)

Ok, so I have a confession to make: this album was recorded in '97-98 and then caught up in business bullshit until its 2001 release, so maybe it doesn't qualify as a 00-09 decade release. But you know what? I only discovered it last year, so deal with it. Something about the repetitive rhythm of driving guitars spread out across eight-and-a-half minutes of Mark Kozelek's beautifully direct lyrics on In Between Days put me right back in San Francisco; walking along the Embarcadero, cold, February rain sprinkling down, an ocean mist stinging my eyes and the girl I love right there next to me, neither of us concerned with anything but the present. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few plane tickets to book...

9. Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer? - Of Montreal (2007)
I wasn't sure what to think the first time I heard Hissing Fauna. It felt too dance-pop and just not my style. But then I couldn't stop listening to it. Slowly but surely I was drawn in. The hyper-pop-fuzz of songs like Suffer for Fashion, Cato as a Pun and Bunny ain't no Kind of Rider were pure fun to listen to. Driving along I couldn't but bob my head along with the beat. And then, after a few days of bouncing around in my car like a schoolgirl something else happened: I began to internalize the lyrics and the songs took on a wholly different meaning. Suddenly the epic ender The Past is a Grotesque Animal didn't feel so out of place but rather the perfect ending to an album about so much more than it appears to be.

8. Funeral - Arcade Fire (2004)
When the wall of sound, fury and passion that is Funeral hit me the only thing I could think of was "How come I haven't heard of these guys before?" The brilliant songwriting that mixes somewhat melancholy lyrics with driving, impassioned musical performances was love at first listen for me. When I heard Crown of Love on an early season episode of Rescue Me and saw how beautifully the music played against powerful scenes in the show and then built up into the pounding ending, my only thought was I have to see these guys live... something I'm still waiting to do.

7. The Ugly Organ - Cursive (2003)
Just before a cross-country trip to Maine, a friend had given me a copy of The Ugly Organ with instructions to simply "just listen." Well, in the days before ubiquitous iPods and multi-CD changers, 36 hours roadtrips offered A LOT of time to "just listen" when you couldn't reach the CD case and your co-pilot was asleep. I still remember, quite vividly, driving into Bangor, Maine at dusk when The Recluse came on--maybe for the 6 or 7th time. It stuck with me this time, as did most of the album, and solidified Tim Kasher in my mind as one of the most brilliant and underrated singer / songwriters of the decade.

6. Give Up - The Postal Service (2003)
Already well in love with Death Cab for Cutie's incredible early work (as for their last two albums...) I quickly jumped at the chance to hear Ben Gibbard try something new on Give Up. It struck me as fun and infinitely listenable--a theory that would be tested over and over again in the next six years. During every party we hosted during college there was the inevitable party-playlist building session and every time it was decided "put the whole Postal Service album on." And no one, not a single person, ever uttered "ugh, change the song" when The Postal Service played. Never. Dozens of parties and hundreds of people agree: everyone loves The Postal Service.

5. Figure 8 - Elliott Smith (2000)
If I'd written this list between 2002-04 it may very well have been all Elliott. Introduced to him via Good Will Hunting, I fell into a deep obsession with Smith's darkly haunting, yet often hopeful songwriting. A string of failed relationships and my big "college breakup" helped fuel a need in me for the sort of cathartic listening that Smith's music provided. I went so far as booking time in my school's recording studio to produce my own version of a few of Smith's songs (which will remain unreleased, btw.) Eventually I began to grow out of Smith's songs--or rather--I became much more optimistic and happy but that fact remains that he still hits an emotional chord in me that few other musicians have ever managed to do.

4. Album of the Year (acoustic) - The Good Life (2004)
This album secures Tim Kasher's spot as my vote for best songwriter of the decade. "The first time that I met her I was throwing up in a ladies room stall / she asked me if I needed anything / I said I think I spilled my drink" begins the title track, which is a summary of the story the rest of the album tells about a failed relationship. "You never fell for me / you fell for how it felt / you fell for being held" begins Needy with Kasher's "let me tell you a story just like it happened" style. A stark contrast to fellow Saddle Creek label-mate Conner Oberst's often beautiful but much more metaphorical lyrical style.

3. Chutes too Narrow - The Shins (2003)
I remember the first time I heard Chutes too Narrow, my roommate freshman year of college brought it home and told me I needed to hear this. After the first few songs I said "Is this country?" and quickly dismissed it. Looking back I'm not sure what made me think that, other than at the time, nothing on my radar quite sounded like The Shins. There were stripped down and bare. No heavy guitars or crunching distortion--just straight ahead rock and roll fun. I finally came around and fell in love with them. The rest, as they say, is history.

2. Agaetis Byrjun - Sigur Ros (2000)
Shortly after I became obsessed with figuring out what the song is that play's over the final scene in Vanilla Sky, a friend gave me this album to try out and everything clicked--Sigur Ros (the Vanilla Sky song is NjóSnavéLinin off their ( ) album.) There really isn't anything or anyone who sounds quite like Sigur Ros. From their use of Icelandic and made-up Hopelandic lyrics to lead singer Jonsi's use of a cello bow on his guitar, there just isn't anyone else making music on the level that Sigur Ros is. I keep a CD in my car at all times that has the title track, Agaetis Byrjun on it. When the world seems a little too heavy and fast-paced and the stress is piling up I put the track on, take a deep breath and think, "You know what?, This is An Alright Beginning (Agaetis Byrjun translated) to a wonderful day."

1. Come on Feel the Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens (2005)
You can't help but feel it when listening to Illinoise: feel that Sufjan may be one of the most talented singer / songwriters ever to tell someone (or someplace) else's stories. While no one is doubting the brilliance of tracks like Chicago and Jacksonville, I firmly believe that Casimir Pulaski Day may be the most beautifully tragic song ever recorded. My roadtrip several months ago to see him live reaffirmed my admiration to his talent and humble brilliance. Sure, he may never complete, or even add another album to, his 50 states project, but so long as he stays true to his goofy, banjo-playing, wing-wearing, completely original self, I'll keep on feeling every bit of noise he puts out.

The Boulder Digital Works 12/10 Project

2009-12-17T09:30:00.001-07:00

Why would someone drop everything for more than a year to enroll in a completely untested program that vowed to teach the world of digital and interactive in a way never done before? The first class of 12 students in Boulder Digital Works’ (BDW) first 60 Weeks program answer that question in their new short film called The 1210 Project.

The 1210 Project is named after what will be the students’ final day of BDW 60 Weeks, December 10, 2010. The video explores the twelve students’ motivation for jumping onboard Boulder Digital Works’ 60 Weeks program inaugural voyage. Some of the students enrolled after hearing about the program with only weeks before its start. The film looks at what the students have learned, considers their hopes and plans for the program’s remaining 50 weeks and focuses on their dreams, goals and predictions.

These 12 students, who range in age from 22 to 48, have been exposed to some of the best of the best in digital and interactive over the past 10 weeks. Their brains are buzzing and the walls of BDW are bulging with possibility.

There is much work to do leading up to 12/10/10 and years of work after that, but there is no doubt there will never be a year quite like the one that lies directly ahead. Follow my fellow Boulder Digital Works students over the next year at http://bdw.colorado.edu/blogs/60weeks

Help Ad2 Denver's Public Service Campaign

2009-12-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

The poster to the left says it all, click to make it bigger and I'll see you at Cactus!

It's about to get crazy in here

2009-10-29T12:55:00.000-06:00

I've been working on a site re-design as part of a project at Boulder Digital Works. I'm just about ready to push it live. That means I'm going to screw things up and learn along the way. So be ready for a disruption in the space time continuum. If the site never comes back up again know that I must have stumbled upon some new quirk in html5 that allows for the creation of black holes. Either that or I gave it all up to work on a small farm in Iowa. Either possibility is equally likely at this point.

Sufjan Stevens rocks Madison

2009-10-18T20:10:00.001-06:00

Here's a long overdue update from the Sufjan Steven's concert last month.

Since Sufjan hasn't toured much lately, a few friends and I decided to make the trek up to Madison, WI to see him play, the closest he would come to Denver. When it was all said and done we had a great time and the concert totally rocked our socks off. Here's a sampling of what we saw: some old songs, some new, all awesome.

I have a few general criteria for what makes a concert awesome to me and Sufjan hit almost all of them:

1- Be interesting - Sufjan made some great banter between songs. I hate it when the only thing a musician says is "thanks" and then keeps on playing.

2-Give me something unique - I've already bought the album, so mix it up a little bit and give me something I can't get anywhere else. Sufjan certainly did by not only playing brand new songs but also re-arranging older ones to fit the band he was touring with.

3-Show some energy - Sufjan did a pretty good job of looking like he was into the music and enjoying himself up there. I like that.

4-Smash something - OK, maybe it's a stretch, but I really want to see a musician smash an instrument after - or even during - a show. Sufjan didn't smash anything but I guess I can forgive him.

Do you want more users or the right users?

2009-10-03T15:55:00.001-06:00

I'm a big fan of the Wall Street Journal. I became addicted to the paper while studying at the University of Northern Colorado. The college of business received a large supply of WSJ's every day and students were encouraged to grab one. I did. Every day. Towards the end of my time at UNC the paper became a talking point at the beginning of most of my classes. Professors were encouraged to use the WSJ as sort of a real-time textbook of sorts to augment what we were learning.

After graduating I was left with a conundrum: how to feed my addiction to the WSJ's reporting without breaking the bank. Subscriptions to the WSJ are prohibitively expensive for someone graduating into a recession with uncertain at best job prospects. So I did what most of my generation does: I went online. That was until I realized that many of the articles I wanted to read required a paid subscription.

Over the next several months I learned to get my info elsewhere--from sources that were free. Then I got an iPhone and installed the WSJ app. I was in love again. That was until earlier this week.

Upon opening the app for my several-times-a-day check of what's happening in the world, I was greeted by a message telling me that the WSJ app was going to a paid subscription model as well.

All of this got me thinking about the relationship between users and a service. Is it better to have more users or the right users? (this statement assumes that those users willing to pay for your service are the right users and that you can't have it both ways, i.e. having lots of users means having many that aren't your ideal user)

Services like the WSJ that have chosen to make users pay for content have seemingly determined that it is better to have the right users...or have they? Perhaps they've simply decided to generate more revenue regardless of whether the people they want reading their content are or not.

On the flip side there are a lot of examples of sources of content that are simply happy to have lots of users. In fact, many major blogs derive part of their value from having such a large and engaged following that is adding comments and interacting with their content.

I'm not sure that either way is right or wrong but I do feel that companies need to be thinking about questions like this when they decide to go to a subscription based model or when they likewise go to a free model. The old method of merely thinking about profits and losses is less applicable today. Today it's about users, engagement and content creation.

So what do you want? More users or the right ones?

Boulder Digital Works

2009-09-07T21:49:00.003-06:00

I found out last week that I'm amongst the 16 students admitted to the first class at the Boulder Digital Works. I'm excited, and nervous, and excited some more all at once. It's an incredible opportunity, one that I see as a potentially life changing.

If you're not sure what Boulder Digital Works is you can find out more on their website. Simply put, it's a school for developing future digital leaders. With partners that include a who's who of the digital advertising world it is definitely a program with potential. Huge potential.

Right now I'm figuring out how to pay for the tuition ($25k, and because it's not a degree bearing program, most government loans don't apply) pay for living expenses while attending and still kick ass in the actual program itself. It's going to be a tough balance of debt, work and school.

The whole thing has the potential to weigh me down for the rest of my life with debt or put my career into overdrive and launch me into the sort of places I've only dreamed of.

I'm hoping that by leveraging the things I can control (my hard work, effort, etc) I can overcome the things I have less control over (my lack of money, the economy, etc).

One thing is for sure: it'll be interesting.

20SB Blog Swap: the state that i am in.

2009-07-29T07:01:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! I'm Erin and I usually blog over at the state that i am in. Justin and I were paired together for the 20sb Blog Swap, so we're swapping blogs today. Yes, I am aware that the blog swap was last week, but we just couldn't get our acts together in time. Oops.

Anyhow, since Justin writes about advertising, I thought I'd share what I consider to be a fairly off-putting piece of advertising. Observe:

The women who use this razor walk past bushes that magically get trimmed down. Ummm, just what are you implying here Schick? I mean, the bush reference is obvious, but is that really the best way to get the ladies to want to buy your razor? I can tell you that from my perspective, I certainly wouldn't buy it based on that commercial. I might even go so far as to deliberately not buy it because of the commercial. I just really don't want to equate my personal hygeine with bush trimming. Even if that's what the product is intended for! Certainly, I find the commercial amusing, but I don't really think it does the best job of selling the product! What are you thoughts on this commercial?
- Show quoted text -

Next Creatives

2009-07-20T11:16:00.003-06:00

The New Denver Ad Club and Ad2 Denver have teamed up to bring young creatives the opportunity to sharpen their skills and strengthen their spines. Next Creatives is a program where creatives get briefed by top Denver area CDs (like Mike Sukle of Sukle, Gregg Bergan of Pure, Norm Shearer of Cactus, and Jonathan Schoenberg of TDA to name a few) then work their ass off to create the next big idea. All along the way they get feedback that actually makes them better, not just some nice words.

Next is free (to paying members of Ad2 Denver or NDAC, but you're already a member, right?) and applications are due August 5th for this first round.

You can find out more by following @NextCreatives (and also request a few choice words be given as a smackdown to someone on twitter) or by emailing nextcreatives@ad2denver.com

To see what nice words get you, take a look at these videos below, then apply to Next:

Steal this Idea: #2 - Making Radio Relevant Again

2009-07-13T09:28:00.000-06:00

You know all those crazy ideas you have? The ones that are really cool and maybe even revolutionary, but you would never be able to do anything with them. Maybe they're for an industry outside your own or an industry or company that doesn't really solicit or care to hear new ideas. We'll normally I'd just file them away in a lonely corner space of my idea file but now I have a place to let them free. So go ahead, take these ideas and make them happen, I dare you.

Ok, got an idea here that has two potential implementers: big radio (looking at you, Clear Channel) or small-indie-start-up net radio Jelli.

Right now, traditional, broadcast rado, kinda sucks. It's been sucking for a long time and it's only gotten worse with competition from I-know-exactly-what-you-want-to-hear-next, algorithm driven, internet radio. But maybe there's a way to improve the traditional radio experience and leapfrog it ahead of internet radio. Ok, at least catch it up.

Radio, like all the other so-called "traditional" media, is mainly a one-way communication channel. Sure, listeners can call in to make requests (and as of late, email or tweet them in too) but for the most part it's a DJ blathering on about something semi-relevant while queuing up the next corporate-mandated song. Since you (as the listener) have little input over what is played we tend to gravitate towards the station that plays the most of what we want to hear, thus freeing us from switching stations every other song while we're driving.

What hasn't hit radio yet (that I'm aware of) is the social, web 2.0 revolution.

Enter a service like Jelli (which I've mentioned before) that makes radio much more social. Now you're not just a listener, but an active participant in voting up what you want to hear next, voting down what you don't and chatting about what's currently playing with fellow users.

What happens is that traditional radio licenses (or develops on their own) a platform like Jelli's for their stations. Remember that one of my main criticisms about Jelli when I reviewed it was that you had everyone (and their musical tastes) in one room. As a result no one really got to hear what they wanted consistently. With an existing radio station that problem is taken care of as the filtering is already done. Those who listen to an indie rock station aren't going to be looking for Celine Dion. Those who listen to a classic rock station aren't going to be looking for, well, Celine Dion either. This puts listeners with similar tastes in pools together and lets them decide what is played.

But wait! OMG! How will radio make any money without ads!

The great thing about a platform like Jelli is that you are checking the home page a lot. It's updated constantly to reflect the ever changing votes determining what's played next so you are always paying attention, unlike other internet radios. This presents a fantastic opportunity for advertising to be inserted that will more than likely be looked at. And since you have additional information being captured (what's being voted up or down) you can make some assumptions about who's listening and serve them more relevant advertising. Got a lot of punk rock being voted up? Serve up an ad for a skate shop or tattoo parlor (obviously a stereotype, but you get the idea.)

But what about those listening in their cars, do they get a commercial free listen? I don't know, I can't solve everyone's problems all at once so I guess some things are going to have to be left up to those who implement this idea.

What about payola and all that cash that record labels pay big radio to play the same six songs over and over again? Fuck it. Seriously. It's time for radio to reinvent itself and obsolete itself before something else does. (I attribute the quote of "Obsolete yourself before someone else does to a Wall Street Journal about Netflix from a few years back regarding instant viewing. Smart thinking.)

The end result of all this is that radio stations get more engagement with its viewers, more two-way interaction, possibly more relevant advertising (which should lead to more effective advertising) and a path forward in our increasingly digital future. Who's gonna be the first to jump?

Steal This Idea: #1 - Smarter Cars (and everything else)

2009-07-06T09:09:00.001-06:00

When Democracy isn't What the People Want

2009-07-05T19:03:00.002-06:00

Recently I've given Jelli.net to see if it lives up to its promise to be the future of internet radio. The difference between Jelli and, well, just about every other internet radio is that Jelli opens up the playlist to its users and lets them vote on what is next from anything in their catalog. At first thought, this seems really cool. The thought that (for now) it's just you and a few dozen other users sorting through the catalog and pulling out and voting up the best of the best is pretty appealing. Ideally this would be a great way to discover new music. Sort of like sitting down with your BFF of Music and sharing iTunes libraries on a rainy afternoon.

In reality, Jelli is like that point in every party where everyone's had six too many and wants to hear THEIR favorite song. So every 30 seconds someone else is grabbing at the ipod "No, dude, you gotta hear THIS!."

And this is where Jelli fails. You'd be hard pressed to put three people in a room and have their musical tastes match up, let alone dozens of random people from all over the net. What happens is lots of crap you don't want to listen to (at all, not just stuff you've never heard before) mixed with the occasional track you love because you sat there and voted it up and rocketed (each user can send a track to the top, called rocketing) and generally spent 10 minutes voting down other songs to finally hear what you want.

But it's not all bad news. I think there's hope for Jelli if they are willing to segregate people out a little bit. Make separate "rooms" for various genres, thus semi-guaranteeing that you are surrounded by people with similar musical tastes. This eliminates the Metallica fans from having to deal with the Celine Dion fans and visa versa. Yeah, maybe that limits your exposure to diverse music, but there's a reason I (and presumably you) don't listen to the Adult Contemporary / Top 100 FM radio station - you know what (specific) genre you like and you want to hear a few hits you know and some new stuff you don't.

Another use I could see is traditional radio stations (that already have their niche / genre set) adopting the Jelli platform for requests and determining their playlists, even if only during a certain time. 105.3 FM in San Francisco lets Jelli control its playlist every Sunday night from 10-midnight. With Jelli's integrated chatroom and constantly updated voting it'd be a great way to re-engage listeners and you could easily display some ads (like what you would normally hear) alongside the music to keep the revenue coming in. And unlike other net radio sites, Jelli encourages you to keep watching its page since it constantly is updating.

It'll be interesting to see where the future takes Jelli, perhaps a larger user base will make it better as the crowd ebbs and flows with support for various genres / artists. In any case, it's a good step forward for internet radio. For now I'll stick with my iTunes library, but I'll keep half an ear on Jelli just in case it turns into something worth listening too.

The Real Laptop Hunters

2009-06-19T06:18:00.000-06:00

Funny or Die spoofs the MS "Laptop Hunters" campaign from CP+B with some hilarious results:

Laptop Hunters: Jake - watch more funny videos

Do you REALLY want to hear from me?

2009-06-17T20:34:00.000-06:00

Busy night for me and @CeramicErin so we picked up some take and bake pizzas from Papa Murphy's. I noticed something weird about the included coupon sheet.

On one side was the suggestion to give them feedback on your experience and get $1 off.

On the other was a $2 off coupon. No work required.

I wonder which one most people do?

We live in an age where feedback is more valuable than ever to corporations. Every day thousands of consumers interact with them through new mediums like twitter and thousands more through more traditional means like phone surveys. Corporations should realize the value of those willing to reach out to them and reward them for their time. Rather than give me the lowest value coupon they offer for taking five minutes of my time, Papa Murphy's should offer free breadsticks or similar side with my next order. By giving me a side item like that they can give me greater value (worth $3.99 or whatever) that probably only costs them half of that. Now that's a win-win.

The Cactus Bike From Work Bash

2009-06-12T14:30:00.000-06:00

Be there, June 24th. Proceeds benefit Wish for Wheels.

The gap between ability and taste

2009-06-01T07:52:00.000-06:00

Ira Glass of NPR's This American Life talks about the battle young creative people have between their ability and their taste. What a great insight.

The Odell Brewing TwitterBrew

2009-05-27T23:40:00.001-06:00

One (of the several) projects I've been working on lately that is consuming my life (in the best way possible) is brewing a beer via twitter for Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, CO.

After having the idea back in January, I worked with Reel Motion Media to pitch the idea to Odell's. In April we finally began bringing it to life and the rest is well documented history (search for the hashtag #odelltwitbrew to see the history on twitter.)

If you're reading this before 7am MDT on 5/29/09 go vote for your favorite label design for the beer.

And now it's all culminating in the release of the beer, Blackbird, this Saturday May 30th at the brewery in Fort Collins. You can see details on Upcoming or Facebook.

I'd love to see you at the event. If you find me and tell me you read about this on my blog I'll buy you a pint.

I'll be sharing more learnings from this project in the future when I have time to reflect on it. Stay tuned.

The Death of Mediocre

2009-05-24T11:51:00.000-06:00

I'm not interested in about 95% of everything Hugh Macleod (gapingvoid) publishes. Ironically, it took him publishing an article about how 95% of advertising is dreck to get me to realize that. The 5% that I am interested in is so powerful that I wade through the other 95% to find it. But I'm not here to discuss the merits and pitfalls of following Hugh, well actually, I am, in a way.

There's a fascinating video in Hugh's latest post with Clay Shirky discussing "Gin and the Cognitive Surplus" at Web 2.0 in San Francisco. And this is what really got me thinking.

(read the transcript here)

What Clay is talking about is the shift from media as consumption (i.e. watching TV) to media as producing, sharing and yes, still consuming but to a lesser extent. He estimates that Americans spend 200 billion hours watching TV in an average year. If the whole of Wikipedia represents 100 million hours of human thought then all that TV watching is equal to 2000 Wikipedias being created each year, if all of that time was shifted to something else. Of course, all of that time isn't being devoted to other projects, but even a small shift can create big changes. Think of all the things you see on the internet and wonder "Where did they get the time?" Well, there's your answer.

So back to Hugh, and his 95-5 "dreck intolerance" principle. If we take and combine it with Clay's thoughts, what do we get?

We get people moving away from TV due to the fact that 95% of it is shit, or dreck. We get people moving into other realms, for example the net where 95% of it is still shit, but it's a much bigger pile overall. I don't believe that anyone can claim to even have read 5% of the net. You'd be hard pressed to have even viewed 1% of all of the sites that are out there. Compare this to the fact that most of us have seen 95% of the channels offered on TV (even the obscure cable ones.)

What you get is the internet as a giant filter. There are so many sites you can possibly go to, you can only possibly go to a small handful.

Therefore, you only spend time going to those that interest you.

And thus, the internet filters out the dreck, the boring, the mediocre, even the very good for the most part (look at all those Youtube videos with 10 views.) That is the shift that Hugh is talking about when he discusses what is really killing advertising (as we have known it.) Watch TV for a few hours (as Hugh mentions) do you think any of those ads you saw would garner more than a few thousand views on Youtube, where people have a choice in their consumption? Most likely not. And yet they are still produced because too many people in too powerful a position still believe that the public is a consumer waiting to be force-fed.

Those who understand that every eyeball has a choice, that every input must pass through a filter, that people want to share and interact with what they consume and that modern media consumption is no longer a well-balanced plate but rather a limitless buffet of choices, those are the people who will prosper in the future.

The producers, whether they be ad agencies, bloggers, or something else, who continue to survive on mediocre output will find that their days are numbered.

Mediocre is dying a slow death.
Thanks for taking the time to filter through the dreck and find this post.

Justin McCammon Portfolio Update

2009-05-22T13:07:00.000-06:00

A new, updated portfolio reflecting some of my more recent work.

Justin_McCammon_Portfolio_April2009.pdf

The Wish for Wheels Radio Spot

2009-05-13T22:55:00.001-06:00

I've been working on the public service campaign for Denver's Ad2 club a lot lately. Like a lot, a lot. Here's a little sample of some of the work coming out of that campaign, a 30 second radio spot for Wish for Wheels that I wrote and produced. Big thanks to Coupe Studios in Boulder for helping us get the spot recorded, mixed and sounding awesome.

Art & Copy

2009-04-30T11:37:00.000-06:00

Should probably be on every ad-person's must-see list:

ART & COPY trailer from Baldwin& on Vimeo.

Welcome Egotist Readers / Despisers

2009-04-28T11:32:00.000-06:00

If you read / hate / worship the Denver Egotist you might have seen me in the "please, please, please hire me. someone, anyone!" section. Welcome, feel free to browse around the site.

You can find more samples from my portfolio here.

You can see some of my favorite posts here.

You can contact me at justinmccammon [at] gmail.com

Jimmy Dean Entertains, but Will it Sell?

2009-04-27T05:02:00.000-06:00

I'd been looking for this spot for a few days now. Finally it popped up on Adpulp. I love the quirky, "I Heart Huckabees" atmosphere they're creating with this campaign:

But then Adpulp has to come along and point out that the above spot sells the category, not the specific product.

Well shit. I have to admit they've got a point there. But it's just so damn entertaining to me. Let's look at another spot from the campaign:

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. We've got a benefit, albeit a vague one, but Jimmy Dean will make you full. That's at least something they can lay their claim to.

Now here's another spot:

Ohhhh. So now Jimmy Dean makes you happy. Happy Breakfast. Maybe that's a new saying, sorta like "Happy New Year." In any case, it's all coming together for me now. Jimmy dean fills you up, keeps you full, and gives you a happy breakfast. That sounds pretty good.

And the campaign continues with lots of similar commercials.

I like that there are so many variations on this one concept of the sun and cloud / planet / moon cast. It's great. So few brands have big coherent campaigns like this anymore. So many are doing a little something here then jumping to something else over there and then to something different.

There's also a few webisodes of interviews with the sun, moon, cloud, etc. Looks like they were added a couple years ago. Is this campaign really that old? Maybe I'm just out of the loop.

Shooting yourself in the foot

2009-04-19T06:22:00.001-06:00

Earlier this week the people behind The Pirate Bay were convicted of piracy crimes in Sweden and sent to jail for a year. Of course, the media industry is calling this a big win over illegal piracy of their precious copyrighted materials. I call it delaying the inevitable.

The RIAA, the MPAA, the whomever thinks they should sue the fuck out of their customers next group, you are all sorely short-sighted.

Bottom line: Piracy will continue until legal alternatives are actually useful.

I could drone on about all the bullshit that has gone on with copyright infringment in the last decade or so, but I think we all know the story by now. Instead, I'll try to offer some insight.

Example of the problem:
One of the few shows I watch regularly on TV is Rescue Me. It is easily one of the most well-written and thoroughly interesting shows to be broadcast in a long time, but I digress. I choose not to pay for cable, so I have to rely on streaming internet sources for my Rescue Me fix since it plays on FX. Turns out that some dumbass at the network decided that the streaming episodes on Hulu should come out eight days after they play on broadcast TV.

Eight days.

Now if I'm an avid fan, and I have friends who are avid fans and I want to discuss episodes with them you have completely broken down my means to do so in a timely manner.

So what do I do? I bit torrent the episodes the next day. It takes about 20 minutes to download and I can watch them in HD without commercial interruption. I'd gladly save myself the hassle and watch them on Hulu with commercials, but they aren't available when I want them. So they lose.

Solution:
Make the episodes available online at the same time it is broadcast. Build in a chat room functionality. Get me engaged with other fans. Maybe get advertisers to sponsor special promotions to engage us during the normal broadcast commercial breaks. Make it a community.

Remember how CNN and Facebook teamed up to stream the inauguration with a live chat with your FB friends next to the streaming video? Bring that sort of engagement to TV shows. Let me crack jokes alongside SNL. Let me use your networks so you can more accurately gather stats about who watches your shows (and make nielsen families a thing of the past.)

The alternative is that the big networks drive more and more fans away in seach of better solutions. There is no reason why the big networks shouldn't implement something like what I'm suggesting. In fact, it's in their favor to capture and grow these online communities now before consumers form habits of getting their media fix from someone else.

Think long term solutions. Offer your fans what they want, when they want it.

Obsolete yourself before someone else does.

Odell Brewing Brews up the First Twitter Beer

2009-04-16T17:25:00.000-06:00

Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, CO has decided to brew up the first "Twitter Brew." The beer's style, ingredients, tap handle, etc will all be chosen by followers of Odell's twitter. A few people have pointed out that 21st Amendment Brewing in San Fran did a twitter brew this spring, but it would seem to have been a twitter brew only in name, not in the way it was produced as the Odell version will be. Pretty cool stuff. From the press release:

A Twitter Taste in Your Mouth

Odell Brewing Releases First Twitter Community Brew

On May 30, 2009, Odell Brewing will release the first Twitter community inspired brew.

Followers have until April 19, 2009 to tweet their suggested beer styles for the first Twitter Brew poll. Subsequent polls will be conducted to determine beer qualities like color, strength, body, and hop character. Twittering beer lovers can also tweet ideas for beer names and tap handle designs.

The voting will end on May 8, 2009 and brewer, Jeff Doyle will then brew the Twitter Brew on Odell Brewing’s Pilot brewing system. “There are so many people who are interested in brewing but don’t really have the means to do it,” said Doyle. “The Twitter Brew will give them the chance to get involved with the whole process.”

Twitter brewers can try their beer at the brewery’s Tap Room during the tapping party on May 30, 2009.

Odell Brewing is a proud sponsor of the Cicerone Certification program and an award winning brewery, nationally and internationally: 2008 North American Beer Awards – gold medal for 5 Barrel Pale Ale. 2008 World Beer Cup® – gold medal for IPA, silver medal for Double Pilsner, silver medal for Cutthroat Porter. 2007 Great American Beer Festival® – gold medal for IPA, silver medal for Easy Street Wheat, bronze medal for Extra Special Red. 2007 Stockholm International Beer Festival – bronze medal for 5 Barrel Pale Ale. 2007 Australian International Beer Awards – silver medal for 90 Shilling, silver medal for Cutthroat Porter, silver medal for Easy Street Wheat and bronze medal for 5 Barrel Pale Ale.