Crowley Webb Blog

The i-House, iPod compatible.

By Zack Schneider

Clayton homes is reportedly about to start marketing its manufactured home, the i-House, for a scant 100,000 dollars, according to Jetson Green.      

You could either have 250 iPod Touches, or a new, nearly 1000 square foot home that features a butterfly roof with a rainwater catchment system, bamboo flooring, decking material made from recycled content, efficient windows, and optional solar paneling.

When’s the last time you saw a zebra with a nice rack? That’s what I thought.

by Liz Maimone

I swear I wasn’t going to post anything today and then Pete goes and sends me this. It’s simply too weird not to share.

Best thing I Found On a Monday.

by Liz Maimone

I love DQ’s ice cream cake. I especially love it on my birthday (which just so happens to be today – wink, wink.) So it only seemed fitting for this little piece of fun (View) to be today’s Best Thing I Found On A Monday. As an added bonus, I thought I would share where I saw it. It comes from my second favorite blog about advertising, copyranter. He’s funny and mean. I even asked him to marry me once but he didn’t answer. OK, so there ya go, I really gave you two things today. Did I mention it’s my birthday?

Best Thing I Found On A Monday.

by Liz Maimone

Mondays are horrible. They remind you that you wasted your weekend and they last way longer than Fridays. I don’t know how, but they do. This evil stepchild of a day needs something good and this is the best I could come up with. Don’t pretend you’re not excited. So without further ado, I welcome you to the first installment of Best Thing I Found On A Monday. What is Best Thing I Found On A Monday, you ask? Well my friends, it is a weekly tribute to the best advertising-related thing I find on the Internet. On a Monday. That’s the twist. And since it’s Monday, and this is its first entry, and it’s on a blog about advertising, I think we all know today’s winner. Stop back next week when the real fun starts.

Ads of the World

Look for us on Ads of the World: Advertising Archive & Community. The great folks at adsoftheworld.com have been kind enough to run our feed on their site. Support their project by stopping by, and keep your eyes peeled for CWA work.

Damn you ©, damn you.

by Liz Maimone

I get it all the time, “So what do you do for a living.” My reply nine times out ten, “I’m a copywriter.”  One of two reactions follows: a blank stare or “So you, like, trademark stuff?” It’s become rather apparent that most people outside the business have absolutely no idea what a copywriter is, let alone what one does. Therefore, I found this entry necessary. You see we’re not “typical writers.” The thought of penning a novel or even a story over five pages is enough to make most of us want to cut our wrists with a dull butter knife. We’re not awesome at grammar; in fact we like to put periods in the most. Inappropriate. Places. Ironically, the very word to describe what we’re best at – concepting – isn’t even in the dictionary. (Seriously, look it up.) Sure I’m speaking in generalizations here, but the fact is many copywriters don’t consider themselves writers at all, but rather idea people. Yes, we write the words in the ads, but our real craft is thinking of the ideas that deserve words in the first place.

Ah, I feel better already.

Make Me Fall In Love With You And Then Rip My Heart Out With No Explanation Lager.

by matt low

Back in the year of dyslexia, 2002, Molson Canadian introduced what they called “Twin Label Technology.” This essentially consisted of irreverent phrases on the backs of bottles designed to spark conversation and ultimately get people to drink the beer. Well, it worked on me as Mr. Molson intended. Labels such as “I Don’t Live With My Mother, She Lives With Me Lager” not only got me to say, “Hey, look at this!” to friends, but also enticed me to consume Molson.

Now, it’s not unheard of for someone to become emotionally attached to an alcoholic beverage. But a beer label? Well, I have to admit I was. I found myself buying more and more 28-packs of Molson not only for what I convinced myself was a great beer taste, but also for the amusing labels that awaited me inside each. Molson ended up creating more than two hundred and thirty in all. And informal research (I talked to a bartender) revealed that the sale of Molson increased during their run.

And then, without warning, they were gone.

It took some getting used to. Instead of the juvenile wit of sayings like “I’m Trapped In a Beer Bottling Plant Lager” I was just treated to sweaty brown glass. The beer inside suddenly didn’t taste as sweet. Sure the inflated sense of self-worth that comes with the consumption of four to five was still there, but something else was missing.

And now Molson seemingly realizing the error of their ways has returned with new labels that pose such poignant questions as “Would you prefer to never pay for gas or to never pay for beer?” and so on. At first, I thought I’d be into them and my love of white and red beer labels would be ignited once again. But something’s still missing. It’s just not the same. Would I prefer the backs of Molson bottles remained blank or that they contain B-version labels that remind me of what I’ve lost? The former, indeed.

We started with a book.

Helping an organization that promotes literacy in children was something we were honored to do. We began with an identity for Project Flight, and then created a poster series that presented the end result of a child who was started down the right path through books. The primary focus of the campaign was to secure donations that would help the worthy cause remain operable. We also wanted to make people think about how they might positively affect a child’s life. Our efforts proved to be successful, as Project Flight reported a surge in donations and plans to expand their efforts.

Note: Crowley Webb received the inaugural Buffalo News Community Cares ADDY® Award for this campaign in 2008.

Good news gives birth to more good news.

We recently learned that an invitation we designed for a special event won a Silver ADDY® Award from District Two of the American Advertising Federation (AAF). We won at the regional level, meaning our creative went up against creative from agencies in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, DC.

Cool.

What’s equally cool is that we created the invitation for a celebration involving four ladies who are near and dear to our hearts. When the concept was born one winter evening in art director Katie Hazel's office, we believed it was a winner.

This latest news is proof positive.

When did Apple release the MacBook Giraffe?

by Chris Muldoon

Usually I just flip right past the ads in Sports Illustrated. But this one caught my eye – unfortunately, not for a good reason. Look at it for a second. Doesn’t something seem freakishly wrong with that picture? You know, like the computer monitor being about double its natural size? It’s probably the most airbrushed photograph in SI since the swimsuit issue. It’s so poorly done it just looks bizarre. GM, I think you need turn-by-turn navigation back to reality.

Incidences of mailing fish way down in New York State due to law firm’s print advertisements.

That’s right – it’s illegal to send trout via parcel post in New York State. It’s also criminal for barbers to cut hair on Sunday. Want to take a frog from its pond? You’d better not between October and June. Don’t even think about removing the mark of origin from a pair of pants. And yes, it’s unlawful to dress up a mule in serviceman’s clothes for the purposes of entertainment at parties.

Okay, that last one was fabricated just now. (Could you really tell?) But the others are indeed laws on the books in New York State. They were the basis for an ad campaign we created for Phillips Lytle. An ad campaign that landed Crowley Webb Best of Show at the WNY ADDY® Awards this past Friday night.

About a year ago, Phillips Lytle decided they wanted to tout their depth of knowledge in New York State law. We did so via print ads that featured these arcane laws paid off with the headline, “We really, really know New York State law” and complemented by whimsical illustrations. We won Best of Show for our efforts – our third time doing so in as many years.

Phillips Lytle wasn’t the only client who brought us good fortune. Crowley Webb won a total of 14 Golds and 32 Silvers for clients that include Praxis, Project Flight (a literacy initiative), M&T Bank, and Burchfield-Penney Art Center. We were also awarded The Buffalo News Community Cares Award for a Project Flight print ad.

Yes, this year’s ADDY show certainly was kind to Crowley Webb and our clients. It almost makes us want to engage in a dance contest for longer than eight hours. Which, of course, is illegal.

______________________________________________________________________________

And now a word from our sponsor:

"If there ever was an example of the perfect partnership between client and agency – this is it. Everyone who works on our brand 'lives' it the way I do. The belief in the brand comes through in all that comes from Crowley Webb. The campaign that won Best of Show is truly amazing creative, and is the kind of work that has given Crowley Webb the status that it has today."

Rebecca E. Farbo, Chief Marketing Officer, Phillips Lytle, LLP

Ahh, the morning commute in D.C.

It’s 7:24am inside one of the busiest subway stations in D.C. Harried commuters are bustling here and there, all with one goal – to get where they’re going as quickly as possible without incident. Yet, there he sits with the most serene look on his face. He isn’t in any rush. Nothing’s troubling him this fine morning. He has a plan. And, well, he’s a photograph on a poster.

Roger is part of more than one hundred ads blanketing the Verizon Center in Washington. There are backlit dioramas, a giant floor graphic, and banners and posters that cover walls, platforms, and seven-foot pillars. It’s all part of the Station Domination component of the Comfort Zone campaign Crowley Webb created for M&T Bank. The message – you’ll be comfortable planning your future with M&T. Roger and his cronies certainly are.

To reinforce the message, street teams were employed to distribute palm-sized, squishy replicas of our comfortable chair. They’re perfect for relieving stress, holding your cell phone, finding the number to contact M&T to begin the process of planning your future, and pretending you’re a giant.