Crowley Webb Blog

Best Thing I Found On A Monday.

by Liz Maimone

Around here, Tim Hortons coffee is pretty much a commodity. So I’m sure most of you are familiar with their whole Roll Up the Rim to Win promotion. If not, well, you umm roll up the coffee rim. To win. There’s really not much to it. They give away a few cars, but mostly doughnuts.

Now here, in the land of the free, if your cup says you won a doughnut, you’re about two seconds away from deep-fried deliciousness. But that’s not the case for our sophisticated neighbors to the north. You see, apparently in Canada, you have to be smart to win a doughnut.

Much like the “no purchase necessary” clause we have here, Canadians have a little disclaimer of their own: “Canadian participants must first correctly answer a mathematical skill-testing question in order to claim a prize.”

Huh?

Well, supposedly it’s all in an attempt to not qualify as an illegal lottery. Instead of choosing not to require a purchase, they discount luck as a means to winning. By requiring winners to correctly answer a skill-testing question in order to get their prize, winning is somehow no longer random. It’s weird if you ask me. Maybe Canadians should just stick to brewing beer.

So next time you feel like complaining about the good ole’ U-S-of-A, just be happy you don’t have to add, subtract, and multiply your sprinkles before you eat them. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling awfully patriotic right now. U-S-A! U-S-A! Sorry.

Facebook is ruined – everyone panic!

by Chris Muldoon

Change. It’s the buzziest of buzzwords. Everyone wants it. Everywhere. Except for one place. Whatever you do, DON’T YOU DARE LAY A HAND ON MY PRECIOUS FACEBOOK PAGE. In case you missed it, the social networking website recently launched a new layout. And people are none too happy about it. Here are a few comments from friendly facebookers.
“Hate it.”
“Yuck!”
“Horrible.........absolutely horrible.”

And this is pleasant compared to what went down a few weeks ago. It was revealed that Facebook’s new Terms of Service agreement claimed ownership to all user-generated content appearing on the website. Not really cool on their part. But from the firestorm that it created, you would have thought they were shooting a puppy-cannon at homeless people. Apparently, people are very protective of their blurry, drunken photos.

I guess they have a legitimate gripe. I mean, it does cost a lot money to be on Facebook… oh wait. And here’s my favorite part. How does one demonstrate outrage toward a social networking site? By joining a hate-filled group – wait for it – on said social networking site. That’ll teach ’em. Just like the time I was pissed off at Footlocker, so I went down to the store and bought ten pairs of basketball shoes in protest.

So if someone seems especially grumpy lately, now you know why. It’s a tough way to go through life – relearning how to sift through status updates, not knowing where the heck your bumper stickers are, and receiving too much information about people you call your friends. If you see one of these poor individuals, do me a favor. Go up and give them a poke – right in the eye – and tell them to find something more important to whine about.

Big news: A one-man band is finally found to be useful.

No one wants to feel lame. That was our revelation when we cooked up a recent business-to-business campaign for our client Praxis. So, featuring visuals of the absurdly out-dated as metaphors, we hoped to shame Praxis’ potential clients into considering outside help enrolling patients for research studies.

The mixed-media campaign (check it out here) consisted of three posters with illustrations by The Heads of State, and three email movies with footage from when your grandfather had a paper route. And why are we telling you all this now? Well, the campaign won Crowley Webb Best of Show at the WNY ADDY Awards this past Friday night.

What makes us even prouder than a milkmaid with a new hoopskirt is the fact that this is now the fourth year in a row Crowley Webb has won this most prestigious award. We won last year for Phillips Lytle (the go-to law firm in New York State), in ’07 for Hopper’s Rush Inn (a distinguished social club in South Buffalo), and in ’06 for a company called Praxis.

This year’s ADDY show also saw Crowley Webb bestowed the first-ever Better of Show award (that the judges invented as a runner-up of sorts) for Founding Fathers Pub. In total, we took home 16 Gold and 15 Silver awards for Praxis, Founding Fathers, Phillips Lytle, ADPRO Sports, Cognigen, and Project Flight. Needless to say, we had a pretty good night, and celebrated by dancing the Charleston, sitting on flagpoles, and doing other silly things people did before we were born.

Check out all the work we were recognized for this year right here. 

Best Thing I Found On A Monday.

by Liz Maimone

If you watched any of the NCAA Tournament over the weekend, then you probably saw one, if not all, of these spots for Nike. If not, check them out. They’re super.

1 2 3 4

Best Thing I Found On A Monday.

by Liz Maimone

Home of the Twinkie Wiener Sandwich.

I'm starting a band.

by matt low and pete reiling 

Called "Carnival of Bruises."

"How ya'll doin' out there? We're Carnival of Bruises. ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR."

Founding Fathers Quiz Night In The News.

by Tricia Barrett

Check it out. And I hope to see you April 7. 

We’re big in Japan. (We’re pretty sure, anyway.)

by matt low

Recently, a Japanese website picked up our site and did a little write up on it. And from what we can glean from a Google translation, they’re really into it. And they totally get it that our site has information for the keen, creative force, and mass Understanding. Thanks for the attention, Japanese website!

Don’t worry everyone, I have the solution.

By Chris Muldoon

Forget bailouts. Say sayonara to stimulus plans. I have an idea that will bring change to America, literally. Here it is – charge $.25 every time someone uses a car horn. Confusing? Just hear me out. For starters, how often is that noise contraption actually used as a safety device, rather than an annoy-the-heck-out-of-me device?

Sure, they’re times beeping is necessary. For example, if someone pulls out in front of me and the only way to avoid a catastrophic accident is to lay on the horn, then I wouldn’t mind forking over a quarter or two. But if you’re Mr. Impatient when a light turns green, it’s gonna cost ya. If while waiting for someone in front of their house, you’re too lazy to get out of the car – then pay up.

Just think how much revenue this plan would generate. Our deficit would be wiped out with one NYC rush hour. Not to mention the environmental benefits. Surely, one science out there can devise a link between noise pollution and global warming, right?

So there you have it, Mr. President. You’re welcome. Check back next week when I solve the housing crisis (here’s a hint: it involves wool mittens, a deck of pinochle cards, and a year’s supply of ginger ale).

Best Thing I Found On A Monday.

by Liz Maimone

For years I’ve been buying Kashi cereal. It’s four flippin’ dollars a box (for a little box at that), but I really like it. In fact, as a brand, I’ve always felt good about Kashi. They’ve sort of created this image of being the food of choice for healthy surfer-type people, and I totally buy it. But unfortunately, this weekend, my little love affair with Kashi came to a screeching halt.

As I do every Sunday, I was settling in for a Lifetime movie marathon when I saw a commercial for Kashi frozen dinners. I thought the spot was pretty interesting, but what really caught my attention was the offer at the end, “Free frozen entrée at Kashi.com.” Now, for those who don’t know, I eat a Lean Cuisine for lunch almost every day. So the chance for a free lunch, and a new one at that, got me all excited. Actually, I often consider trying the Kashi ones, but always back out at the last second, usually because they’re more expensive. Finally, this was my chance to try one for free.

So without hesitation I went straight to Kashi.com, expecting to see some kind of callout for the promotion. After about 30 seconds, the best I could find was a button titled “click here for $2 off a frozen entrée.” Apprehensively, I click the button, hoping it would lead me to my frozen dinner destiny, but instead, waiting for me there, was this.

You’ve run out of free entrées? Well how about you make some more because now I’m pissed. Or how about you don’t run a commercial promising me sweet deliciousness and then try to give me a lousy coupon instead. I think the thing I was most ticked about was the “haha we tricked you” vibe I was getting from the “Darn. We’ve run out of free entrees” line. Is it just me or does that sound sarcastic?

I know, I know, I shouldn’t be getting this upset about a TV dinner, and maybe I’m being the lady at the yard sale who wants everything for a quarter, but I can’t help it. Good marketers should be prepared for crazy people like me who are going to overreact. Why didn’t they just create an alternate $2-off ending for the commercial? Well, it’s too late now, you granola-loving jerks.

The moral of the story – don’t piss off your customers, especially when you’re selling four-dollar boxes of cereal in the midst of a recession.

The Crowley Webb Blog loves Billy Mays.

by matt low

This morning, I woke up to this. It's a good day. 

I'm starting a band.

by matt low and pete reiling

Called "Party Pizza." 

"Hello, Buffalo. We're Party Pizza. ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR."