The Ad Contrarian: How Many Cognitive Anthropologists Does It Take To Make A TV Spot?

July 05, 2012

How Many Cognitive Anthropologists Does It Take To Make A TV Spot?

I know, I know... I'm supposed to be on blog sabbatical. But I came across this and it's just too good to pass up.

CP+B just broke 2 new TV spots for Applebee's. This post is not about the spots. It's about the credits for the spots. Apparently it took more people to create this thing than Gone With The Wind. Below are the credits for the two spots. (If you think I'm making this up, here's the proof.)

Worldwide Chief Creative Officer: Rob Reilly
VPs, Executive Creative Directors: Steve Babcock, Mark Taylor
VP, Creative Director: Allen Richardson
Creative Directors: Dave Swartz, Scott MacGregor
Associate Creative Directors: Rich Ford, Brandt Lewis
Senior Art Director: David Gonsalves
Integrated Head of Video: Chad Hopenwasser
Senior Integrated Producer: Aaron Kovan
Integrated Producer: Annie Turlay
Food Shoot Production Company: MJZ
Food Shoot Director: Irv Blitz
Executive Producer: Franny Freiberger
Production Supervisor: Sabrina Mossberg
Live-Action Production Company: Moxie Pictures
Live-Action Director: Jared Hess
Executive Producers: Robert Fernandez, Lizzie Schwartz
Head of Production, Producer: Roger Zorovich
Line Producer: Laura Heflin
Director of Photography: Dariusz Wolskio
Postproduction: Plus Productions
VP, Executive Producer: Idalia Deshon
Integrated Producer: Andrea Krichevsky
Editor: Logan Hefflefinger
Assistant Editors: Chancler Haynes, Chadwick Schultz
VFX Artist: Adam Nix
Finishing Company: Method Studios
Executive Producer: Robert Owens
Music Company: JSM
Executive Integrated Music Producer: Bill Meadows
Composers, Arrangers: Joel Simon, Jordan Lieb
Sound Design, Mix Company: Lime Studios
Sound Designer: Sam Casas
Assistant Sound Designer: Matthew Miller
Animation Company: Buck
Visual Effects Company: Method Studios
Visual Effects Editor: Claus Hansen
Assistant Visual Effects Editor: Krysten Richardson
Visual Effects Producer: Colin Clarry
EVP, Group Account Director: Danielle Whalen
VP, Account Director: Scott Sibley
Content Management Supervisor: Ted Morse
Content Supervisor: Greg Paige
Content Manager: Derek Effinger
Assistant Content Manager: Alex Kirk
Business Affairs: Lisa Gillies
Talent Consultant: Michelle Thompson
Cognitive Anthropologists: Andrew Teagle, Kaylin Goldstein, Amelia Hall
Traffic Manager: Megan O'Rourke

The gig had seven Creative Directors and four Content Managers. Hard to see how they scraped by with only three Cognitive Anthropologists.

Ad Contrarian Says:

"Social Media: Tens of millions of disagreeable people looking to make trouble."

"Creative people make the ads. Everyone else makes the arrangements."

"Delusional thinking isn't just acceptable in marketing today -- it's mandatory."

"Shakespeare was a storyteller. You're a copywriter."

"Good ads appeal to us as consumers. Great ads appeal to us as humans."

"As an ad medium, the web is a much better yellow pages and a much worse television."

"Sometimes success in the advertising business requires sitting quietly and letting clients proceed with their hysterical delusions."

"Marketers prefer precise answers that are wrong to imprecise answers that are right."

"Brand studies last for months, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and generally have less impact on business than cleaning the drapes."

"The idea that the same consumer who was frantically clicking her TV remote to escape from advertising was going to merrily click her mouse to interact with it is going to go down as one of the great advertising delusions of all time."

"Nobody really knows what "creativity" is. Every year thousands of people take a pilgrimage to find out. This involves flying to Cannes, snorting cocaine, and having sex with smokers."

"Marketers habitually overestimate the attraction of new things and underestimate the power of traditional consumer behavior."

"We don’t get them to try our product by convincing them to love our brand. We get them to love our brand by convincing them to try our product."

"In American business, there is nothing stupider than the previous generation of management."

"If the message is right, who cares what screen people see it on? If the message is wrong, what difference does it make?"

"The only form of product information on the planet less trustworthy than advertising is the shrill ravings of web maniacs."

"There's no bigger sucker than a gullible marketer convinced he's missing a trend."

"All ad campaigns are branding campaigns. Whether you intend it to be a branding campaign is irrelevant. It will create an impression of your brand regardless of your intent."

"Nobody ever got famous predicting that things would stay pretty much the same."

July 05, 2012

How Many Cognitive Anthropologists Does It Take To Make A TV Spot?

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