What would make you pack up your bags and fly somewhere exotic? I doubt many of you heard of Marrakesh and even if you did, would you want to go there? Moroccan National Tourist Board created an amazing marketing campaign which consists of 34 different films, in “first-person” point of view, at the interactive website- www.marrakech.travel.

See you in Morocco!

Lots of controversy going around this video. My question to you is: What do you think? Is Google building an evil empire to totally control your life? Or just providing you with value?

Here is my short little thought: Google has the balls to do what no other private or public company would do and that is invest money in things that don’t make money or don’t make money initially but will provide tremendous value to it’s users. What would our world be without Google or it’s services it provides?

A great company that you can compare Google with is Virgin. Is Virgin evil? maybe

But in regard to privacy concerns, I think Eric Schmidt is right, if there is something that you don’t want other people to know, then you shouldn’t do it in the first place. Or at least don’t do it on their platform.

The world has changed.

When we think of advertising agencies, we instantly think of traditional print and TV ad campaigns that many of us are no longer paying attention to. And whenever I think of CEO’s of the advertising giants that make these campaigns, I think of old men who are hoarding their advertising profit margins and are resistant to change to the new ‘unsexy’ world of decreased margins in the digital space.

However, I am completely wrong. Industry leaders like Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group (2^nd largest advertising group), and Maurice Levy, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe (4^th largest), are fully embracing the digital world and are transforming their agencies into digital power houses.

I was really fascinated after I heard Maurice Levy speak in a recent Cambridge University podcast, From National to Global, where he discussed the importance of digital in the future. And Mr. Levy is definitely putting money where his mouth is. Even in horrendous economic times, Publicis Groupe has been able to outperform the industry by a large margin and is currently positioned number one in the industry after raking in $4.8 billion in new business wins for the first nine months of 2009. In a recent interview for EBM after Q3 revenue announcement, Maurice credited this victory to the growing investment in transforming Publicis into an all-digital agency, saying that this investment is already starting to pay off.

Currently, digital accounts for 21.3% of consolidated revenue and Publicis hopes to grow this number to 25% by next year and to 100% by 2015 (the 100% was a joke ). But I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the master plan after-all, as Mr. Levy certainly believes in the power of the internet or as he likes to refer it to as the power of digital. Maurice truly believes that digital is changing our society which can be seen through the tremendous growth of social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and how they have  impacted our culture. At the end of the day, advertising is all about society and if advertising agencies want to succeed, they have to reflect the society through its campaigns and mediums where people absorb information on a daily basis. Like it or not, the future is in digital and this is exactly why Publicis Groupe is slowly being transformed into an all-digital agency.

My only question is- will most agencies follow suit? Or will they keep ignoring the paradigm shift that has already happened?

I would recommend listening to the full Cambridge University podcast featuring Maurice Levy below to fully understand Mr.Levy’s genius.

levy_national

Traditional media is not dead, YET. The above chart from Silicon Alley Insider shows how compared to the same period a year ago, overall U.S. ad spending declined 15.4% during the first half of 2009, Nielsen reports. Internet had the smallest decline (-1%) and surprisingly, ad spending in Cable TV actually increased by 1.5%.

Contrary to the popular belief of social media evangelists, traditional media will not die. It will live but not in the same condition it did before. Traditional media (magazine, newspaper, TV, radio, etc.) in its glory Mad Men days can be compared to a young, popular, jock we all knew in high school. He had all the energy, praise, and women at his feet. But as he got older, muscles faded, praise was hard to come by, and if he was lucky he might have ended up with his high school sweetheart. The glory days are definitely over, but he still lives an average life today.

Traditional advertising will always have its place and it can still be very effective.  The increase in Cable TV spending is no joke. In recessionary times, people are more likely to watch regular cable rather than its premium counterparts.

Hence, I would like to introduce to all of you a new category to this blog – When Advertising Works. This category will feature traditional advertisements that really make the mark, get our attention, and hopefully get us spending as well.

Ally Bank TV Commercials -BBH NEW YORK

You have probably already noticed these humorous ads created by BBH New York. Ally Bank ads very effective through their portrayal of the unfair practices of the greedy banks that we all have become accustomed to.