Berta's Tap Room

As you may know, my dear grandpa Woody Berta owned a tavern in Ottawa, Illinois (across from the Post Office). While he sold the bar several decades ago, Berta's continues to serve its neighborhood tall beers and burgers on toasted buns. The pool table remains slightly askew...and local legend Woody still makes an occasional appearance.

Many years ago, my grandpa had a small flyer printed by the local Union boys. The front says "Berta's TAP ROOM" and has a drawing of a bubbly martini glass. The lower right corner reads "Air Conditioned for Your Comfort." The inside shows a map of the city limits. But the back...oh, that back! It has one gem of a poem, reprinted below. Note the creative use of the term "atmosphere." I hope you enjoy this.

When you're startin' out some evening
And the night is cold and drear...
I'd suggest you stop at Berta's
For a little "Atmosphere."

Then next morning bright and early
When the "shakes" are gettin' near:
Yeah...you're getting smarter, brother,
Woody fed ya too much beer.

When you're reachin' for the aspirin
'Cause your stomach's feelin' weak,
It's 'cause Chuck was leanin' heavy
On the bottle - so to speak.

Then you face the little woman
With those alibis galore...
When she's finished in the bathroom -
Wipin' Berta's off the floor.

But you're wrong, it isn't whiskey
That's got ya feelin' queer -
Ray just poured an over-dose
Of Berta's "ATMOSPHERE"!!

Yes, You Can.

Politics...A fine example of the power shift from marketer to you, the consumer. Digital communication platforms have made it exponentially easier to express your voice. Being famous helps. Celebrities and artists are certainly taking cues from the digital world to share their views.

You’ve no doubt heard the “Yes We Can” song by will.i.am. I love it...so full of hope. It also makes me glad to see Kareem Abdul Jabar back in front of the camera. His performance in Airplane(!) was dynamite.

Sarah Silverman has an interesting angle with her Great Schlep campaign. She’s recruiting Jewish youth to reach out to their grandparents in that dicey sunshine state we call Florida.



But let’s say you’re not famous. You can post a piece of sh*t YouTube ranting vid that will get seen by a handful of people, mostly friends. But if you instead say something smart (or unique), and you say it in a creative way, your voice will be heard (witness the crush-heavy tune by Obama Girl).

Something to Think About: Who are your grandparents voting for? Seriously. We hear so much talk of the youth vote. What about the geriatric vote? Unless marketers are pushing Depends or meds, they aren’t interested in the silver-haired generation. They don’t fall into many core demographics. So why not call your grandma up right now. She’ll be happy to hear from you, and you may just help decide the fate of our country. Fancy that.

Click Gets It

Ad Week didn’t get it. Click does. Click gets that advertising is, in Brooklyn Brother Paul Parton’s words, disposable. I went to the Click Conference on Wednesday to listen to a digitally-savvy crew talk about the incredibly smart ways they're bringing renewed vigor to digital communications. Topics ranged from social media to education to SoDA. Tina Roth Eisenberg delivered some nice live blog coverage on Swiss Miss. So rather than providing a broad recap of the similar and disparate viewpoints, I think a better use of our time would be for me to describe my three favorite takeaways:

1. UTILIZE CAPITALISM: View Clients as Business Partners



James Cooper from Another Anomaly covered this point with some dapper words. If you read my Ad Week rant last week on Big Spaceship's Think blog, you’d know I was disappointed that the focus was on branded content (sigh). James Cooper gets it. He knows that it is loads more effective and imaginative to create original content within and for a brand. Anomaly's work on Converse is an ideal example. Exhibit A: My Drive Thru, the sneaker-tapping song featuring musically-diverse artists Pharrell, Santogold and Julian Casablancas, Exhibit B: a Spelling Bee that makes ingenious use of Google, Exhibit C: A sprinkling of irreverent humor, with neighboring sites like Le Tour De Franks and Tiny Hollywood.

2. FOLLOW YOUR PASSION: Bizarre Is Good



David Art Wales, who heads up the Ministry of Culture, is my new favorite person. His presentation stood out for a number of reasons (let’s see…his awesome mom is named Mimi, he was wearing suspenders, and he told a Snoop Dogg joke when he ran into technical difficulties). So David befriended a harp player on a cruise. She told him about an old Welsh secret society called the Prudent Boozers. He ran with it and is on a mission to bring them back as a force to be reckoned with. This “wildly moderate” drinking society preaches a simple message:
Savor the first
Sip the second
Nurse the third (this is key!)
Skip the fourth

All the fun, without the hangover or the embarrassing photos. The PB campaign is highly entertaining. It also represents an entirely new take on drinking responsibly…one that shuns finger wagging and replaces it with coveted "members only" badges. Bravo.

3. LET CREATIVITY BREATHE: Listen and Learn



This final lesson comes from Big Spaceship’s Michael Lebowitz. Having grown tired of delivering similar versions of the same presentation, Michael shook things up a bit. Instead of talking about the work we create, he discussed our culture and how we innovate. Here's the full deck. That’s a lot more interesting than seeing a polished portfolio, right? Yes. So below is a recap of the ways we let creativity breathe. It’s an amalgamation of playing and tinkering, discussing and learning, and - most importantly - giving everyone the opportunity to speak up. We’d all be better off if we listened more than we spoke (right Askwith and Kosoy? I kid).

Creating an Ethos of Innovation:
1. Recognize that everyone is creative.
2. Don’t hire assholes…no matter how talented they are.
3. Hire to be the dumbest person in the room (surround yourself with smart people).
4. Give autonomy.
5. Experiment constantly.
6. Focus on your culture (i.e., fun begets quality).
7. Stay flat (see point 4).
8. Small is good (but it’s hard not to grow).

I learned that even among uber creative, indie digital agencies, the philosophy behind our creative chops is rather unique. That is a damn good feeling. Thanks to all the fine folks who made Click such a success.