Rethinking Out-of-the-Box in Modern Marketing

by Rick Moore, Owner and Founder of Mad Genius

It’s that time of year again—boxes are everywhere! Boxes of all shapes and sizes, carrying things big and small. And when they come in the form of a present, getting into a box can be exciting.

In the marketing world, however, the word “box” tends to have a negative connotation. Over the years, I’ve been part of many meetings where the goal was singular: to think outside the box. Think big. Think bold. Think glorious thoughts that will expand the client’s horizon and help them rise above the clutter. Like opening a present, it’s exhilarating and fun. True genius can’t be bothered by rules and the confines of a silly box, right? 

Well, I disagree.

As a business owner, I love the adrenaline created by outside-the-box thinking. It’s delicious. It’s intoxicating. It’s (cue obligatory seasonal metaphor) the eggnog of any creative business endeavor. I also know all too well the frustration when I’m forced to admit—sometimes to myself—the truth, that the box is there for a reason.

What is the Box?

The box may contain a tone, a direction, a set of goals, and/or simply a budget. It needs to be respected. What business wouldn’t love to have a great Super Bowl commercial that people are raving about on Monday morning? And what advertising agency wouldn’t want to create it? It’s easy to come up with great ideas when money is no object (or at least easier). 

The real genius is in presenting a great idea that can and should be created. Does your marketing budget allow for a million-dollar production and a five-million-dollar media spend? If so, let’s get to work! If not, is it really a good idea to expend time and energy “what-iffing” the project to death? Instead, focus on creating great marketing that you can afford to see to the finish line. Budgetary parameters don’t have to constrain genius thinking; in fact, they tend to inspire it.

Don’t Hide Your Budget

I get it: it can sometimes be scary to share a budget. Knowing your budget parameters helps your agency keep you from throwing darts at a chess board. From an agency perspective, it’s not about outspending your comfort zone, it’s about using the experiences and expertise we bring to the table to guide the allocation of your precious resources.

Your money isn’t spent once you share your budget. You’re still the one in control. If you love the ideas your agency presents right out of the gate, great. If not, we work together and try again. Communicating your expectations and budgets early will always get you the best results.

You are only as good as your weakest link, so don’t let it be your marketing.

Good to Great

The 80/20 rule is very real when dealing with the quality of advertising and production, now more than ever. When I started my first business over 23 years ago, I had to make some very difficult financial decisions to get started. Providing a level of quality I could be proud of required a sizable investment—close to $300,000. It was cutting edge at the time and allowed us to make a lot of clients very happy.

Much has changed since then… The technology is exponentially better, cheaper, and more accessible. People’s expectations are much greater, as is the amount of money required to exceed them. I’m pretty sure an investment of $10,000 today could produce a spot no less than a hundred times better than what I was able to with 30 times that amount. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a limited budget that can be considered good. “Good” is the standard anyone can achieve these days. What does it take to be great?

That gap between “good” and “great” is where the 80/20 rule really comes into play. For 20% of your budget, you can make something good. It takes the other 80% to make it great, to make it stand out. That commitment can be a bitter pill to swallow, but it’s the difference-maker. The time and expertise it takes to polish a product to truly be the best it can be is what enables you to break through the clutter. Setting the bar that much higher is what elevates your brand and gives your customers the confidence they need (or want) to commit to you. You are only as good as your weakest link, so don’t let it be your marketing.

Trust the Experts

I’m a firm believer in surrounding myself with people that are better than I am. That’s why Mad Genius isn’t called The Moore Agency. I’ve always said if something is not bigger than me, I don’t want to be a part of it. I’ve been fortunate to have great success in building a team that supports my vision of something that is bigger (and way better) than me. I trust them to do great work, which allows me to do what I do best: dream. The same should be said for your relationship to your advertising agency.

Whether it’s Mad Genius or another creative partner, trust them to do what they do best so you can concentrate on what you do best. Share your vision, your expertise, and your budget to give everyone a chance to succeed. Define the box. Some boxes may be more elastic than others, and the box can always grow, but it should always be respected and even—dare I say—embraced.

Define Your Box with Mad Genius

Are you looking for a creative partner to share your goals with? Get in touch with Mad Genius and let’s go from good to great together.

For over a decade, marketers have had their eye on the effect of the second screen when it comes to media consumption and advertising. 

86 percent of internet users use another device while watching TV. That’s better than 8 out of 10 people who are looking at and interacting with content on another device while sitting in front of a television. Some might call this multi-tasking. Some might say it serves to show how distracted we are in 2020. 

It’s also called opportunity. Beautiful, content-fueled opportunity.

A Technical Aside

Your first screen and our first screen may not be the same. Many people consume television content on their televisions while many others consume television content on their smartphones. For the sake of simplicity though, we’re going to assume the first screen is television.

What is Second Screening

Let’s define our terms. The “first screen” is whatever device you’re watching tv on, whether it’s a television, computer, tablet, or phone. So, if you’re watching television content on a television, that device would be the first screen and a smartphone might be a second screen. And by “might” we mean that there is a statistically significant chance that the second screener is second screening on a smartphone. 

Second Screeners by the Numbers

The majority of second screen users are 18-24 (79 percent), but it is common for older generations to follow this pattern as well. In fact, 68 percent of 24-34-year-olds and 60 percent of 35-49-year-olds report using a second screen when watching TV.

Second screeners are 30 percent more likely to discover brands via recommendations and comments on social networks, and 50 percent of viewers use social media for product research.

Television advertising alone does not have the same impact that it once had because of the constant distractions from mobile devices. 

But it’s not all doom and gloom for marketers. Please don’t throw in the proverbial towel over the interstellar domination coming from mobile devices and their effect on your audience’s attention; this is where a new arena of opportunity lies. 

The Advertiser’s Best Friend

When our target audience uses multiple screens simultaneously, we marketers are handed the opportunity to show them creative on the second screen to reinforce the message coming from the first. We get to show them one touchpoint of our brand and then quickly show them another touchpoint all in one sitting. There’s even the possibility of targeting them with creative that is personalized to them which is more effective at driving action than a brand-building ad on TV. Second screening empowers TV viewers to take immediate actions both during an ad and after seeing an ad. 

Imagine your most ideal customer is streaming The Bachelorette, and then your ad plays because you’ve done some pretty great targeting in your video campaign. That ad has its intended effect: it mesmerizes the viewer. Then they notice the well-placed QR code on the screen and, obviously, has to know more about your brand. So, the user snaps the QR code and is taken to your perfectly-designed landing page to learn more. Congratulations. Your strategy worked. You landed a visit to your landing page while your ad was playing. 

86% of internet users use another device while watching TV.

How to Capitalize on Second Screening Opportunities

Adapt your retargeting efforts

As advertising grows with the advances in technology, more and more marketers are embracing the second screen revolution by integrating the second screen into their media strategies. By retargeting their audiences soon after their television creative airs, consumers can be up to 72 percent more likely to convert within the next 24 hours.

Nail the media strategy fundamentals 

Understand your audience: We know, we know.. you’ve heard about the importance of understanding your audience so much that you’re blind to this language. We understand. But not taking the time to do this well will certainly leave you, at best, unprepared, or at worst, wasting your advertising budget. Neither are good. For second screen media especially, it’s essential that you have a clear understanding of how your customers are engaging with their first and second screens as well as what their relevant digital habits look like.

Understand how your audience engages with your content: The moment your audience connects with your brand, they begin to determine its value. How can you tap into what your audience is thinking? Consider their on-site behavior using tools such as Google Analytics. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube also have free tools that provide useful insights into how your audience is responding to your content and navigating from your media channels to your website. Understanding this audience behavior flow can lead to understanding how and where it can be improved upon, both in your media channels and on your site.

Seek for precision: It’s imperative that your audience have a positive experience every time they engage with your brand. This makes precision vital when it comes to targeting your audience on specific mediums with specific messaging. To say it plainly, create platform-relevant content that speaks directly to the second-screen channel that your user is on. Audience engagement data is worthless if you don’t make choices that align with the insights your data provides. 

Are you looking for a media partner to help you get the most bang for your buck? Contact Mad Genius to get started.

If you’re in the market for a partner in the advertising world, you may be asking yourself, “What’s in it for me?”

Although there are countless benefits to pulling in the help of an agency—whether it’s for a new website or an entire integrated marketing plan—knowing your strengths and those of your business are key to making the best move.

If you’re on your agency journey, here are some things to think about.

Objectivity and Perspective

You obviously know your business best, but this can lead to the blinder effect, where internal input and opinions are the only ones driving the bus. Hiring an agency allows you to step back and see your brand and business from a different perspective. A good agency should be sharing creative and strategy from an objective point of view. With clients and businesses in various fields and industries, an agency has a unique advantage to know what has (and hasn’t) worked for other companies in similar situations.

Hiring a good marketing firm allows you to focus on what you do best: running and growing your business.

The Never-Ending Digital Journey

The media world, especially digital, does not have a finite end point. Nor does an initial success mean that the same triumph will automatically happen the following day. Staying on top of the ever-changing transformations in media is a nonstop job.

Having a dedicated team of media professionals whose only job is to make sure your campaign runs smarter and faster each and every day can make or break a business. And unlocking key insights from your campaign and knowing what to actually do with the data can result in breakthrough opportunities and successes. 

Maximizing Budgets

Are you spending too much on outdoor media and not enough on social and digital? Would focusing more on the right sales tools for your teams to succeed in the field be more cost effective than running that print ad again?

Hiring the right agency allows you to utilize an agency’s experience in maximizing your budget and putting your dollars to work where they will perform at max capacity.

Focus on You

Hiring a good marketing firm allows you to focus on what you do best: running and growing your business. At the end of the day, your time is your most valuable commodity. Investing in yourself and allowing an agency to handle the details can free you up to focus on your day job, literally.

If you’re wondering whether or not it’s time for you to team up with an agency and would like to figure out what that relationship might look like, get in touch with Mad Genius today.

by Rob Bridges, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder of Mad Genius

The Good Ol’ Days

Everything we know about branding, we learned from Baby Boomers. Their attitudes and perceptions were shaped from the unfettered optimism in the dawning days of television. Their buying impulses were honed through the escalating ad budgets of the ’70s. And their emotional drivers were triggered in the unbridled avarice of the ’80s. They informed all of the immutable laws of advertising.

The Immutable Laws of Advertising

Indeed, some of my favorite practices for brand building still hail from this heyday of old school advertising mastery:

• Key Messaging – What is your brand’s undeniable truth?
• Positioning – Why should I choose your brand over someone else’s?
• Creating a Value Judgment – Is your brand experience worth what I paid for it?

If you could address these core tenants, then you were well on your way to building a strong brand in the minds of Baby Boomers everywhere.

Generational Shifts

The problem now is that the Carol and Mike Bradys of the world are in their retirement years. Their house and cars are paid off. They’re not in school. For their revolving household purchases, they’ve long since made up their minds which brands get their polyester the brightest, their perms the bounciest, and their smiles the whitest. 

What was once the largest consumer buying index is waning. And with it, the so-called immutable laws of advertising.

Here and Now

The new consumer buying index (Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z) responds differently to advertising stimulus. Why? Consider that these generations of consumers grew up with access to all of the world’s accumulated knowledge at their fingertips. OK, so they use this incredible access to watch cat videos and rage debate with complete strangers. But they also fact-find, read product reviews, discover trends, compare and most importantly: seek opinions. The blind taste tests of yesteryear lose their ability to impact credibility after reading hundreds (or maybe thousands) of negative rants on Twitter.

It means that to tap into the hearts, minds, and wallets of Selena and Justin, there’s a new core tenant to successful brand building: Smuggling – How can I sneak my brand into your life?

You can’t communicate to today’s audience through one-way channels any longer. You have to engage in conversations. You have to be transparent. You have to be topical. And you have to stand for something other than your own financial position.

Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z consumers have an infinite capacity to filter information. For them, truth is more important than credibility. Or rather, it’s the foundational support for building credibility. As consumers they are high-maintenance, skeptical, and demand constant engagement for loyalty retention. If you don’t, it’s not that your brand isn’t considered… it’s that your brand doesn’t exist.

The Long Game

You don’t control your brand any longer. In fact, you never really controlled it to begin with. The truth is that your brand exists only in the minds of your customers. Whatever they believe you to be, is exactly what you are. Everything else is simply marketing.

Prior to the days of cute kitty videos dominating consumer consciousness, it was a lot easier to influence perception. With enough budget, advertisers could command awareness. Water cooler conversations were guaranteed following a high-profile campaign launch. Cue the SNL parody of Spuds MacKenzie.

Today, there are countless conversations between millions of people going on every day about your brand. Are you participating in the conversation? Are you building influence? Are you cause activating? Are you generating momentum? Is your brand relevant to their life? If not, then it will become increasingly harder for you to reach new customers and open up new market share in the future.

One last thing before I let you go… Carol and Mike just joined Instagram and are looking at TikTok.

If your brand is struggling to move out of the Brady’s sunken living room and into the devices of discerning, young consumers, drop Mad Genius a line.

Do I Need a “Google My Business” Page?

• Increase your local search rankings
• Show up on Google Maps
• Radius of your business service area
• Show that you are “Veteran-led”
• Connect Google Ads to your profile
• Location-based targeting

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve heard of Google — the #1 ranked search engine, with an estimated 1,800,000,000 unique monthly visitors. A staggering number, don’t you think? Indeed, that’s roughly 72% of the world’s market share in search. So, naturally, if you own a business or provide a service, you need to not only appear on Google…you need to be able to manage how your business shows up on Google.

That’s where Google My Business comes in.

Google My Business allows you to manage how your business appears on Google Search and Google Maps when people perform a local search. In addition to such items as your business name, hours, and location, Google My Business also offers free tools like 360 interactive Google Virtual Tours, ways to display photos associated with your business, products, and/or work culture, and ways to engage with your customers.

If you haven’t yet created a Google My Business profile, hop to it! It’s easy: https://www.google.com/business/

New Features from Google My Business in 2019

Never one to stand still for long, Google has made some additional changes to Google My Business we thought should know about.

Announce Your New Business

In November 2018, Google My Business augmented its existing online tools with an announcement feature for new businesses. What this means is that new, yet-to-be-opened businesses can now announce within Google Maps when their business will open its doors.

Why is this important? Essentially, if you are a new business, it enables you to begin building brand awareness and an online presence prior to opening. In the words of Allyson Wright of Google, this helps businesses “be ready for business on Day 1.” If you’re interested in this feature, visit the Google My Business Help Center.

40,000 searches are conducted on Google every second. 75% of internet users never scroll past the first page of search results. Google My Business enables your business to be found quickly.

Add or Edit Your Service Area

Another change to Google My Business involves what Google calls “service area.” The service area feature is designed to help businesses better define themselves online to local customers as either a business that visits or delivers services to customers at their location (but don’t serve customers at a business address) or as a business that both serves customers at a business address and deliver to customers. [Learn more about local service area settings here]

Need Help?

Try Googling your business name. Is your business showing up? If you are, great! If not, Mad Genius can help walk you through establishing your Google My Business profile. We were the first full-service advertising agency in the state of Mississippi to become a Google Partner. We assist businesses with auditing and improving their online presence in addition to a full range of digital advertising services, including:

• Search Advertising
• Display Advertising
• Mobile Advertising
• Video Advertising

What do you get when you combine 15 captivating speakers (each one a visionary innovator, educator, cultural-creative, and change-maker), add the talented Maranda Joiner as emcee, bookend the event with stirring musical performances, and host it all in the new state-of-the-art presentation space in the Two Mississippi Museums complex in downtown Jackson?

You get the fourth TEDxJackson, that’s what.

For those people who have been living in a hermit cave and don’t know what TED is, TED is an acronym for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. With the inspirational mission of promoting Ideas Worth Spreading, TED began with what was supposed to be a one-off conference in 1984. By 1990, however, the vision took root for TED to become an annual event.  

Since then, TED has expanded to include numerous annual events with an international footprint. Speakers follow a specific TED format when presenting and topics range from the science and medicine of tomorrow to developments in business and global issues like human rights, the impact of climate change, and cross-cultural literacy.

Where TED’s focus is international, TEDx events are independently organized at the local level to help share visionary ideas that spring forth from within specific communities, or that can impact them for the better.

Enter: TEDxJackson.

This year’s TEDxJackson had an array of great speakers reflecting on the theme of #TheNext200 years in Mississippi. Speakers included editorial cartoonist Marshall Ramsey, who also talked about the two cartoons he did of Barbara and President George Herbert Walker Bush, which went viral; Holly Lange, Founder and Executive Director of the Mississippi Book Festival, Mississippi’s own #LiteraryLawnParty, who shared about the wild success the festival has seen, and which is now broadcast live nationally every year via C-SPAN; and, W. Ralph Eubanks, award-winning author, former director of publishing for the Library of Congress, and visiting professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi, who took up the controversial-yet-timely topic of the prolific photographic  footage documenting the links between white supremacy and the Confederate saltire found on the state flag.

For a full list of the 2019 TEDxJackson speakers, visit: http://www.tedxjackson.com/2019-speakers/

NOTE: We’ll make an update in a month when TEDxJackson adds videos of all of the talks from the 2019 TEDxJackson to their website.

Video Is Still King

It’s not exactly a newsflash: statistically, video content gets more engagement than anything else on Facebook. Video and animated ads get more engagement than static ads. Animated video content in posts gets more engagement than a static image post or text-only post. What’s more, 2017 is the year in which the latest Keiner Perkins Internet Trends report (http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends) predicts that 74% of all Internet traffic will consist of video content. In this environment, it’s only natural that Facebook would provide brands with new ways to incorporate video into their brand storytelling.

 74% of all Internet traffic in 2017 will consist of video content.

Enter Facebook Video Cover Photos

Treasures From the Field

What began as an April’s Fools joke is now the current fascination of the Mad Genius labs. The multi-layered smartphone app, Pokémon Go, is a global phenomenon and a case study in taking an already beloved, established brand to the nth level.

A quick Google reveals nearly 5 thousand articles written in 4 days by international news outlets. After sorting through thinkpieces on viral technology, reporting on mishaps and safety issues, and profit projections for Nintendo, there isn’t much to add to the digital ether that hasn’t already been discussed.

That being said, we would like to share what we’ve seen so far and how it relates to our work as Mad Geniuses:

Pokémon Go’ Beat Daily Usage for Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat

In its single week of existence, downloads of Pokémon Go have hit 15 million, and users are spending more time on it than any other app. To people familiar with the video game industry, though, the brand didn’t come out of nowhere. Pokémon is one of the biggest video game franchises in the world, and its success for the past 20 years means there is more than one generation of devoted fans. For years and years, Pokémon developed the base-level brand awareness that lead to the Pokémon explosion we’re currently witnessing.

Pokémon Go is an “overnight sensation” that took 20 years to build. Slow and steady wins the race.

Simple, Intuitive Design

Pokemon Go is simple enough that players who cannot navigate video game menus or even know what a Pokemon is can still catch them all. The only skill you need is being able to swipe the Poké Ball at your Pokémon, something that barely even qualifies as a “skill.” The game is a natural extension of the computer that’s already in our hands. We’re dedicated fans of simple, easy to use products, and Pokémon Go is a good reminder of how well that works.

Randy Parker Unable to Catch a Jigglypuff

Impeccable Timing

School’s out for summer! Could you imagine kids bundled up like Randy from A Christmas Story, braving patches of black ice in order to catch a Jigglypuff? He can’t put his arms down! It’s cinematic, but it’s not safe or advisable.

Pokémon Go’s July 6th launch was precise. We are outside the most during summer months, adults typically go on vacation, and kids are out of school. Scheduling the launch of content remains uniquely important for businesses, whether we are holding back the release of amazing work we’re excited to share or working around the clock to meet crucial deadlines.

Local Engagement

In 2014, performance artist Miranda July launched an app called Somebody – a complex, GPS-based messaging system where users personally delivered messages to strangers after accepting the challenge in the app. Around 10,000 messages were delivered in the year the app existed. This kind of experimentation – one that uses digital systems to augment reality, has never caught on like Pokémon Go. By using real-life landmarks and precisely accurate aerial maps, Pokémon Go users are given an easy way to tap into a community and socially engage as little or as much as they want. With their phone as their console, indoor gamers who typically play behind monitors at home are now playing with their opponents in person.

At Mad Genius, we work to keep abreast of new ways to improve location-based digital marketing and look forward to seeing how Pokémon Go can be used. The app is already being used heavily by the restaurant industry, bringing in players by using “lures” to fill their dining rooms with Pokémon.  Some players are marketing themselves by using the app to try and find dates. Marketers have all sat in meetings pondering how to deliver real-world traffic for businesses and events. Little did we know that the answer was digital cartoon monsters.

A Rattata Gets Captured at Mad Genius

A Personal Pokémon Note

I took a break yesterday afternoon, and instead of petting our office dog and refilling my water, I went outside. After walking up down the street in front of the office hoping to see a Pokémon with no results, I felt disheartened. I could see that some were nearby, but they were a little too far to walk. Suddenly, Mad Genius producer Kevin Slark stuck his head out of the front door and yelled, “Do you have any incense?” I yelled,”I hate incense!” back to him, not realizing that players earn “incense” in the game, and they can use it to lure Pokémon to their location. After activating my lure, I caught the menacingly cute Rattata. You live and you learn.

The 50th year of what has become a cultural phenomenon is in full swing this morning. Break rooms across the country are a-buzz with as much banter about Weiner Dogs, Ryan Reynolds, and birth-inducing Doritos as they are about Denver’s beat down of the much-favored Panthers. Mad Genius is no exception. The Labs have voted and our favorites are in. (Check out this year’s slate of ads here.)

But first, at the 50-year mark, it bears asking: How in the world did a profession that has routinely ranked between Politician and Ambulance Chaser in annual “Least Trusted People” surveys become, if only for one night, so popular—and profitable?

In Super Bowl I, the average price of a 30-second commercial was $37,500. Last night, the average cost for one second was over $166,000.

As TV viewership and Super Bowl ratings soared in the ‘70s, leading brands like Coca-Cola and Budweiser took quick note and invested not just in air time, but in commercials actually worth watching (instead of skipping to get another cold one from the fridge). Think Coca-Cola’s Hey Kid, Catch!,  the iconic Budweiser frogs, Apple’s 1984. It obviously worked, or we wouldn’t be where we are today: People actually look forward to watching the ads as a key part of the biggest shared party in America. Talking animals, iconic imagery, celebrities in unexpected roles, real laughs and sometimes real tears. As media and technology progressed, ads became digital, viral and social with exposure and experiences far beyond that Super Bowl itself. And that’s how it happened. Ad agencies pushed further, writers wrote better, designers designed better, brands took more risks, directors directed better, ideas grew bigger. And we rewarded them for making :30 seconds worth our time with our wallets and our loyalty—which, fortunately for your brand, is a process that doesn’t necessarily have to wait for a big game to begin.

Here then, is the Mad Genius list of the Top Ten Super Bowl 50 Ads:

1. Avos In Space – Avocados From Mexico
2. Weiner Stampede – Heinz Ketchup
3. Ultrasound – Doritos
4. Storm’s A Brewin’ – Death Wish Coffee
5. 4X4EVER – Jeep
6. Walken Closet – Kia
7. Find Your Magic – Axe
8. A New Truck To Love – Honda Ridgeline
9. Drop The Balls – T-Mobile
10. Super Bowl Babies – NFL

“Anybody wanna feed Scott Baio?” Where’s the love for #AvosInSpace? 

by Joe Smiley
Copywriter

Life is all about choices. Chocolate or vanilla. Paper or plastic. Cats or dogs. When it comes to our four-legged friends, perhaps you fall into both categories – that chunk of the Venn diagram that braves both litter and slobber – but chances are you consider yourself one or the other. It’s a schism that’s long divided this great nation, but here in the advertising world, our allegiance is clear: we love dogs. We ab-so-lutely adore them. We put them on billboards, web banners, and TV screens. We make them bark for cheap beer and wag their tails for even cheaper Mexican food. They’ve been a steadfast ally of our industry since time immemorial and there’s no sign of that relationship losing steam. Why, you ask? One could simply chalk it up to trainability, but I like to think it goes deeper than that.

You see, advertising isn’t just about selling stuff; it’s also about forming an emotional connection of some kind with an audience. Advertising’s only effective when it relates – and just about nothing relates to more people than dogs. They span the political spectrum; they cross socio-economic lines; they break racial and cultural barriers; and they do well with young and old alike. Even those who claim to not like dogs – whatever that means – still enjoy looking at dogs. And that’s because we see ourselves in them. They have emotions. They have looks. As George Carlin once pointed out, dogs have eyebrows which give them expression, while cats, on the other hand, “look at you coldly, as if they’re testing new eyes.” And that range in expression is key when promoting everything from low, low prices to luxury cars. If we’re lucky, it makes you feel something. And if our client is lucky, it makes you buy something.

So, with that in mind, what are some of the best dog-centric advertisements? I consulted the Labs with that very question. The responses were varied, unexpected, and all-around Genius. Here’s a sampling:

Dogs Playing Poker

Long before the world had Joe Camel, we had a few dogs sitting around a table playing poker and enjoying a smoke. Originally commissioned to sell cigars, this series of paintings serve as one of the rare examples of an advertising concept that took on a life of its own and burrowed its way into the American pop culture landscape.

Alex the Dog – Stroh’s Beer

Spuds MacKenzie may have been Budweiser’s “original party animal,” but just a few years prior, there was Alex from Stroh’s Beer. What’s interesting about this spot is the amount of screen time Alex the Dog gets. When using an animal to schlep a product, you typically want the audience to see it as much as possible. But here, the success of the spots rest on what the audience doesn’t see. Bold choice.

Singing Puppy – K9 Advantix

Getting an audience to remember the selling points of your product isn’t easy. But catchy jingles always help. (Nearly twenty years later, I still find myself humming this every now and then) Cute animals are a major asset, too. K9 Advantix went with both by repurposing a classic melody for a pint-sized pup writing home from summer camp. Who knew a song about fleas and ticks and other bloodsucking parasitic critters could be so delightful?

Nipper – RCA Victor

Much like Dogs Playing Poker, the below image began as a painting, this one titled His Master’s Voice. But it quickly found its way onto the logos for numerous record companies in the early 20th century, most notably RCA Victor. It’s easy to see why. Everybody knows the head tilt. It’s the moment when a dog hears something inexplicable that registers on an emotional level, a moment of knee-jerk, primal intrigue. And as humans, we kinda experience this sensation with music, too. When we hear something we like, it grabs us. For whatever reason, it captures our attention and pulls us in. We may not know why, and we may not be able to put it into words. But when the right song or piece of music hits us, it’s like magic.

Herding Dog – Guinness

Anybody who’s ever owned a dog knows who the real master is. It’s not the human. It’s the pooch. And this spot for Guinness showcases that eternal truth in grand fashion. While most spots struggle to hold an audience’s attention for thirty seconds, this one does it for over two-and-a-half minutes. And it’s racked up nearly five million views since going online. That’ll do, dog. That’ll do.

And if you haven’t already seen her, there’s an up-and-comer in the business you should really check out. We think she’s pretty great. But then again, we might be slightly biased.