The Naked Blog

Is This The Best You Can Do?

The folks from GM (and Chrysler) have been in Washington DC talking to Congress about hand outs to help them survive. We can forever debate the pros and cons as to whether the government should be in come to town and tell them why you need the money, what you'll do with it,   how you won't blow it God help you - this time you mean it -you'll never do this again and on and on and on, couldn't they have done better than this????

All the money they spend non innovating the car business you'd think someone in head office could've hired a presentation coach or someone with an eye for communication.

Charts, graphs, bullet points,lots and lots and lots of copy and only one that had a photo of a car in it. 

Can't imagine being on the receiving  end of this presentation, and we can't confirm it but apparently this guy was in the front row.

Seth, Tribes and Twitter

As we've said before, we're huge fans of Seth Godin. Here he gives his perspective on a few things: Possibilities. Scale. Tribes. The power of 1000 people (1:35). And why he doesn't use Twitter (he's late to it and it's distracting - 9:20) His best quote about reasons for not using twitter is that he "....doesn't want to become a wandering generality rather than a meaningful specific...." Couldn't agree more about that or the whole twitter thing.

Cruising Globe and Mail Style

For the second consecutive year, The Globe and Mail is offering it's readers (or those just interested) a chance to travel in luxury on a customized, 14 day cruise. Last year, The Globe's Caribbean Odyssey cruise was an unqualified success (98% approval rating from guests); this year it's the Mediterranean. 

The Mediterranean Odyssey is a cruise that cannot be matched by any other cruise line or travel company; for news junkies you have the opportunity to discuss the events of the day with Globe and Mail columnists and editorial staff. And not just from afar - you'll start each day with an 'insider breakfast' where the Editor of The Globe will explain the day's top stories, the stories behind the story and what it all means. 

You'll have lunch with some of the top newspaper columnists in Canada (Blatchford, Reguly, Brown and many more). You'll dine on some the finest menu creations from both Massimo Capra (Mistura/Toronto) and Lynn Crawford (The Four Seasons/New York) and sip some of the favourite vintages of Canada's foremost authority on wine, Beppi Crosariol. 

For the historian and culture fanatic there are shore excursions to visit ancient archtethtual ruins and beautiful historical sites of some of Europe's most celebrated locales, including a private concert within the ancient ruins if Ephesus and a private tour of the Vatican Library.

One of the discoveries of the Caribbean cruise was that you were traveling with a small group of 'like minded' people; the majority of guests are Canadians who are world news savvy, interested and interesting. A true mind enriching trip that you'll be talking about for years. 

All in all, this is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And considering the agenda, the value of a luxurious, customized trip like this is spectacular. 

For more information click here. 

Need an Accounting Firm?

One of our recent new business wins was for an accounting firm based in Calgary who has just expanded into Toronto. Myers, Norris, Penny is Canada's 7th largest accounting and business consultancy.

We've been retained to help them begin their march onto the hallowed halls of Bay Street to take on heavy weights like Ernst & Young, KPMG, PWC and others. 

Tough task. Tough market. But these guys have a lot of experience, a unique positioning that plays off of their Western roots ("It all starts with a cup of coffee....") and we hope to help them make the short list of a few business deals in the near future. Stay tuned. 

Sultans of Science

Who knew that before the Wright Brothers there was Abbas bin Firnas ? And the guy who invented the pinhole camera was not Edward Land or some guy named Nikon, but a Muslim named  Ibn al-Haytham ? 

That's the gist of a new exhibition at Toronto's world famous hub for knowledge, The Ontario Science Centre. 

And in our first campaign for OSC, we were charged with creating some noise and selling some tickets to the event. 

Our outdoor campaign will turn some heads and there's a very cool print campaign along with some highly targeted sponsorship TV ads that have been created for the campaign. There's a newly designed web site coming soon too. 

The Ontario Science Centre is an amazingly interactive and enlightening place. Every time we visit we're struck by how much there is to see & do and it's all very hands on, very engaging. A perfect antidote for the X-box-video game-web surfing kids in your life. And a message for parents: remember visiting the Science Centre on a school trip? Well, that gizmo you put your hand on that makes your hair stand straight up is still there; come share it with your kids!  

We're back....

Hi. Remember us?  Naked? We're still here, just a little out of breath.

We've gone missing for the past, oh, 6 or 8 months or so. Shame on us. We've had lot's to say, plenty to show but we've been so busy getting it out the door.....you know, the shoemakers children yada, yada, yada. But thanks for your cards & letters of encouragement; they kept us going. Really. 

Anyway, we'll give it another whirl and see if we can keep you interested and / or provide you with some interesting goings on through our Naked eyes.

Here's one of the reasons we've been busy. Autohound.ca. It's the newest way to buy used cars in Canada and we did everything from the branding, naming and identity to the tv ads, web design and newspaper ads. The campaign broke on this years Superbowl telecast in Canada. 

We were very happy with the way it all turned out - a very collaborative effort; from storyboards to final edit it was all very seamless. Our way of working is to get our clients very involved in the process, right from the get-go and in this case it worked magically. 

We were able to tell some simple, engaging stories, in a fun and entertaining way to help drive awareness for Autohound. And this was all done -from approved concept to on air - in just under 3 weeks. Yes, 3 weeks.  At a cost that would shock most clients and every large agency CFO.

We've also had some good press about the campaign from Ad Age. Thanks for that. 

UPDATE (02/04/09) : Jennifer Wells has also added some flattering commentary about the Autohound campaign here.