So far I'm 2.5 hours in to the 5 hour/3 day premier of Dancing with the Stars' 7th season.  There's another 1.5 hours of cha-chas on my DVR and I'll tune in for a 5th hour tonight.  The length of the first half of the season is the only negative about this show!  Does anything really need to be on for three nights in a row?  Well, maybe Entourage.  I could watch Ari scream at Lloyd every single day for a month and not get tired of it!  Anyway...

Season 7 has one of the best casts yet.  The 13 stars are: Lance Bass (member of NSYNC), Toni Braxton (remember "Unbreak My Heart"?), Brooke Burke (model and reality TV host), Rocco DiSpirito (famous chef that I've never heard of), Maurice Greene (Olympic gold medalist from back in the day), Kim Kardashian (former Paris Hilton BFF and reality show star), Cloris Leachman (82-year-old Emmy winning actress and freaking hilarious), Cody Linley (18-year-old actor on Hannah Montana), Susan Lucci (the queen of daytime), Misty May-Treanor (volleyballer that scored gold in Beijing), Ted McGinley (Marcy D'Arcy's husband on Married with Children), Jeff Ross (comedian that's somewhat funny) and Warren Sapp (former quarterback killer for Tampa Bay).

Most of the celebrity dancers busted their moves pretty well.  After seeing one dance from everyone it seems that Lance, Toni and Brooke have emerged as the faves.  Warren Sapp is right up there too.  You have to love a graceful 300-pounder.  He would make former DWTS champ Emmitt Smith very proud!  Cloris Leachman won her fair share of votes by hiking her leg up on the table in front of Bruno (the judge that you can barely understand), then sitting on Carrie Ann's lap after her first dance, and making ABC censor her reaction after she didn't approve of the scores that she received.  This cast seems to have a great mix of personalities that are going to be a lot of fun to watch.

The actual dancing is probably the element of the show that I enjoy the least, even though it is completely awesome.  I think I watch mostly to root on the celebs that I like (Go Kim Kardashian!) and for the amazing outfits everyone wears.  The must have a huge double-sided tape budget!

My prediction is that the winner of the silver disco ball will be...Toni Braxton.  The 7th season is sure to be followed by many more seasons of boogieing B and C list celebrities, but if anybody at ABC is reading this, let's try to cut this down to 3 hours or less per week.  Five hours is a little much, unless you can recruit Jeremy Piven.  Then, by all means, dance away!

Well, maybe after reading Katy's blog from Friday, you got a sense of what it was like running this office without an office.

Reminds me of the Ancient Chinese Curse - May you live in interesting times.   Boy, was last week interesting.

I spent my Sunday dodging limbs and 100 year Pin Oak trees that were falling in my neighborhood.  Lights out at 1:00 p.m.

Monday brought the scramble to connect.  No electricity at the office either.  Like others on our account service staff who were left in the dark, I camped out at the corner coffee shop to keep business moving. I quickly realized the early bird got the power outlet.  Kati Parrish, our lone Account Exec with power, set up a mini-agency with an Art Director in her home.  Jacky, Allison and I were nomads.

As homes and businesses lit up throughout the community, CurrentMarketing's and my own were way down the list.  So every day, I'd get up and run to the coffee shop by 7:00 to ensure electricity -- less than 50 yards from my own back door -- and catch up on emails, make sure clients were getting the info they needed, deadlines got met.   Associates outside the company never even felt a bump in the road.

Yes, CurrentTrack was a godsend last week.  And so many other internal lines of communication -- email, phones (forwarded to cell phones) flowed just like an average day at the office.

My goal as leader of the account service staff is to make every client feel like our most important.  So in the end, clients who didn't know our predicament conducted business as usual with us.  Clients who did know, saw our efforts to perform above-and-beyond.

And isn't that what you want from your marketing company?

The first casualty of the day.

In front of my home.

Trees all around, but (thank God) only on my lawn, not on my house.

Just a couple of doors down from me.

Saturday Night Live generally begins it season with a bang, selecting the likes of Rob Lowe, Reese Witherspoon, Matt Damon, Jack Black, Ben Affleck and Steve Carell to open on a high note. With the exception of LeBron James, they typically tend to avoid the sports stars until later in the season when they can absorb the negative reviews brought on by the non-actor in the lead role. (For what it's worth, LeBron was actually a really good host - who can argue with the Mike Underballs' PSA and the 'Best of Solid Gold?').

On the heels of US swimming phenom Michael Phelp's success in the summer Olympics, SNL selected him to host the season opener this year. I should preface this by saying that I think SNL has had its share of bad casts and questionable writing choices...but, for me, it's been better the past few years. The additions of Andy Samburg, Bill Heder, Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig and Seth Myers have done wonders for the energy of the show.

Choosing Michael Phelps for the season premiere was, in my humble opinion, a serious and easily predictable misstep. I say 'serious' because it's now set the tone for the reason. And need I remind the producers of the disasters named Nancy Kerrigan and Wayne Gretzky? Extraordinary athletes, yes...comedic actors, no. Bad timing, poor reading skills, no memorization of lines, missing marks...the list of tv faux pas goes on and on.

Michael Phelps didn't allay any of these past problems sports figures have presented for the show. With the exception of a few moments of brilliance, he was basically flat and read his lines off cards (and badly, I might add). The sketches without him were much funnier than the ones with him.
The opening sketch with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Palin and Clinton was hysterical. I enjoyed Weekend Update, especially Fred Armisen as Nicholas Fehn, the fake political commentator. And, for some strange reason, the sketch with Amy Poehler and Phelps as a couple in a restaurant with a very colorful server had me in stitches, though I have heard arguments that the server character is ripped off from Nick Kroll's 'Fabrice Fabrice'.

All in all, not a terrible premiere, but could have been much better had they chosen a host who could act.

As most of you, our loyal readers, know, our city has been besieged by wind damage with downed electrical lines, tree carnage and a lovely shortage of gas, ice and cash machines with power.

Our building has been one of the casualties this week - power was off from Sunday afternoon until last night. A normal business would fold under the lack of personnel presence - its employees would take the opportunity to vacation for the week. But not at CurrentMarketing.

We have used texting, email, instant messaging and our phenomenal traffic system to keep our workflow, well, flowing. We set up a keyword with our text service provider and all subscribed to it on Tuesday. Each day, we've taken turns checking on the power and communicating the status to the team through texts.

Email, of course, has been our primary source of communicating with one another and our clients, especially when presenting creative and media plans.

For quick turnaround on answers, rapid project movement or general chatter, we've used instant messaging through our company gmail account.

And, CurrentTrack, our internal traffic system, and our amazing traffic manager, have kept our tasks on track for the week.

So, while we have lacked a certain personal contact with one another and the usual energy that brings our shop together when we are physically present, we've had a different sort of energy that's propelled our business in light of the natural disaster. All thanks to technology and our ability to use it.

Despite that aptitude, I do have to admit that it will be nice to get back to the culture that makes CurrentMarketing so special. I can't see Dennis Bonifer giggle like a kid through my cell phone. I can't hear Pam Kreutzer scream about a bug in the bathroom via email. And I am missing Kati Parrish's Spongebob-style laugh - can't get that through CurrentTrack. It's good to be back in the building.

So, I'm pretty much addicted (at least until The Hills comes back) to a "reality" show on MTV called From G's to Gents. It's exactly like it sounds. Fourteen real-life gangstas including D-Boy, E6, Shotta, J Boogie, The Truth and my own personal fave, Creepa try to prove that they can leave their gangbanging ways behind for a new, gentlemanly lifestyle - and $100,000. Fonzworth Bentley (P. Diddy's former man servant) is there to give them lessons on the finer things and hosts weekly challenges for the G's to showcase their new skills.

During this week's episode the contestants learned how to write a resume, practiced interviewing skills and were then challenged to create a marketing plan for a new international hip-hop group called The Thunderkatz and then "present their presentations", as one contestant said, to Irv Gotti, the founder of Murder Inc. Records.

Group one's marketing plan is to create a music video for their first single. And... Nope, that's is. All the marketing that this group needs is a music video and they're set. Next.

Group two's plan is a little more robust. Their strategy included calling radio stations and DJs to solicit airplay and scheduling a concert in Miami. I'm sure making a video was in their plan too. Next.

That brings me to group three. I have to say, the point of this entire blog was to make fun of their marketing plan, but this group pleasantly surprised me. Their plan included making pages for the band on Facebook and MySpace, along with an interactive game that could be played on the sites. Hey, that might be something our office would recommend too.

It was interesting to watch people with no formal training or experience in this industry, create a marketing plan. My point is that a big part of this job is education and the knowledge you pick up along the way, but you have to have a bit of intuition and definitely be passionate about what you do to be successful.

(Also, a note to the ownership group: we may seriously want to consider hiring the winner of this competition. Go Creepa!)

Of course, everyone knows WAVE has the opening ceremonies of the Olympics tonight. So, I thought I'd check out what the other stations are offering in opposition.

WLKY is running "Ghost Whisperer" - the typical Friday night program, so nothing too crazy there.

WDRB is showing "Hellboy." Okay, I can see that too. They are shooting for a totally different audience than the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

But "War of the Worlds" on WHAS?!? WOW! Isn't the Olympics a time of international brotherhood/sisterhood (would that be "humanhood?")...a spectacle of global comradery...a beacon of light in the darkness that is the current state of the world? And the programming choice against that is a film about the destruction of the earth? Well, I guess that kind of makes sense.

Since my maternity leave is officially over, I thought I'd reprise my role of the Roger Ebert of As Seen On TV (and other similar) products. Today, I've chosen a selection of 11 items, all of which I'm sure have been on Price is Right in some way, shape or form at some time in history.

1. Cash for Gold
I need to make sure I understand what's going on with this. All I have to do is gather all that gold I have laying around and send it to some dudes...and they'll send me money?!? Scout's honor? Surely there is more to this than that. Then again, if you are stupid enough to put all of your gold in an envelope and rely on the mail to get it to these grifters and then them to send back a fat check, perhaps you deserve the simplicity of this ripoff.
Oh, and the URL has a 4 in it. Stay classy, Cash 4 Gold.

2. Roll 'n Grow
If only this product were Grow n' Roll - much more interesting, don't you think?

3. Weed Claw
I saw the name of this product and thought it was something much different than what it is. Being an avid gardener and having pulled millions of weeds in my time, I don't know why a Claw is necessary when I have a naturally-occurring (aka "free") claw on the end of each of my arms.

4. Push Up Pro
Is the push up really that complicated that you need a "professional" (at least that's what I think Pro is short for) product to help you? It's pretty much up, down, up, down. Okay, I guess there is some variation on the direction of your hands, the speed at which you move up and down, etc. But, if most 7th grade gym class students can figure this one out, I'm guessing Push Up Pro is superfluous.
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Last night I had the misfortune of walking into a TV switchback in my living room. By TV switchback, I mean one of those situations when someone else has the remote and is watching 2 programs simultaneously, switching back and forth at the most inopportune moments. Normally, around our house, the programs are usually something like "85 kids with Old Testament Names and Counting" and "Medical Mysteries: The Baby Who Was Born Inside Out", but last night the switchback was ping-ponging between the Colbert Report and something called "20/20 on We". 20/20 Ennui? I sat up straight for that one, because I was intrigued by a show about dissipation with unusual clarity.

Apparently, however, ABC has taken a cue from Dick Wolfe and is merely franchising one of its top brands. Just like the 31 flavors of "Law & Order" we see sprinkled across the TV universe on any given night, 20/20 is starting to syndicate and expand its brand's reach and frequency by broadcasting stories aimed at specific market segments. Niche broadcasting. Which seems like a lot of extra work, generating content for these new shows. As I understand it, 20/20 is a journalistic TV news magazine, so they can't really show reruns, because that isn't news. Right?

Last night, they were showing a 4 year old story about a teenager who was torn between giving her baby up to a childless couple for adoption and keeping it. Now, on other news magazine shows, they feature new stories about things that happened several years back, but this story was first aired 4 years ago. So, I'm thinking, this should be interesting; they're going to follow up with the subjects of this piece and see where they are now. Except they didn't. They slapped an awkward intro/outro on the piece and ran it as is. At least when Law & Order and CSI have spin-offs, they get different casts and storylines - they create new content.

I imagine that "20/20 on We" has a deliberate double meaning: it is 20/20 on the We network, and it is also programming for when you are so bored, you'll watch anything. Personally, I'll be watching "Dateline Insouciance".

They say that 80% of Advertising-related RFP’s (Request For Proposal) are fixed. In other words, the folks at the organization already know which agency they are going with. And often they are staying with their current agency and are just conducting the RFP to satisfy some corporate rule.

This pisses me off because folks on the agency side work very hard to create and pitch the new ideas to this potential client and it’s often all for not. Or worse, the client collects all the new ideas and decides to use a few of them over time—without paying for them.

We’ve had this experience, and have even gone back to the table—with the same client—only to be lead around the block and told “thanks, but we’re going to keep this initiative in house.”  I won’t name names. This town is too small. I’ve started a list.

There are some agencies that refuse to work on spec creative and RFP’s. They just flat out refuse. We take each one on a case-by-case basis and try to find out why they are looking and what our chances are. The work is fun because it is something new and our whole company gets into the initiative. There’s an excitement level that comes with competing and we always enjoy the rush! Plus, it’s new creative. We get to play on a new field. And of course we want to win so we do crazy things to get their attention. It’s not the additional work that bugs me. It’s the stealing that goes on. And when I speak with my friends in our business, I often hear horror stories about certain companies that go into the RFP just to steal. Shame on them. All we have to sell is our time and talent. And we prefer to work with honest and upstanding companies that have a mutual respect for us, as a business, and our need to make money too.

Got an RFP? Let me check my list. Here’s an idea: Maybe we should start a community list on the Louisville Ad Club’s website. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if some of these swindlers were black balled from local agencies and nobody responded to their RFP.

Having been on maternity leave for five weeks, I've had a lot of time (while my wee one sleeps) to watch some solid daytime TV. I could go on and on about daytime TV in and of itself, but that wouldn't really advance the cause of this blog, which is supposed to address issues of marketing and advertising ilk. So, I'll instead focus on the advertising I've seen during all of this TV watching.

First, the PedEgg. It's basically a plastic egg with a metal emery board that helps with home pedicures -- $10 for two of these things! One issue I have with this ad, other than it's thoroughly cheesy, is that I'm not sure why I would need two when there is a lifetime guarantee on one? Oh, wait, the spot answers the question -- one is for the household female and one is for the household male. No non-traditional households need bother with ordering the PedEgg, according to the spot.

Second, Free Credit Report.com. These spots are total garbage. That's the best I can say. I've seen three in the series -- all are based on this poor dunce who apparently has made a series of errant decisions he could have avoided if he'd known about and/or used freecreditreport.com. Sounds okay, right? Try again. They are all staged as if he is part of a three-man band and he sings a dreadful jingle while delivering each narrative. Bad enough, but then couple that with the fact that it's totally obvious this guy is lip synching... badly. This guy certainly is no champ at "Puttin' on the Hits."

Next, the ShamWOW!  This product is pretty neat -- my issue with the spot is that the production company couldn't bring it together enough to afford a boom mic. The talent has on a headset! I think the production company cut a few corners and just recorded this guy's performance at his booth at the state fair. And, just like the PedEgg, why does my order have to include 8 ShamWOWs? If one is so great, why do I need 8?!?

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