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Many years ago, I started my advertising career as a humble-if not hack-copywriter, penning newspaper ads for a downtown Cleveland department store called Higbee’s (and later Dillard’s), which ironically occupied the very space that will soon house slot machines and Black Jack tables. I’ll be the first to admit that writing these ads was more robotic than creative. Even so, I have to admit to the thrill of tearing through the Plain Dealer every Sunday morning to see my “Men’s Shoe Sale” headline in gigantic type across a two-page spread.

Besides the $5 an hour, which was about the same amount I paid for parking, this experience gave me a springboard into the advertising agency business. However, there things became a tad more demanding because we needed to concept actual ideas. To this day, I strongly believe that being a copywriter or creative director is one of the most challenging jobs out there. Because, basically, it involves having to come up with fantastically original ideas with a gun to your head. Every day.

A couple of weeks ago, I was perusing a Newsweek magazine and came across a piece entitled, “31 Ways to Get Smarter in 2012.” My first thought was that this would have come in mighty handy when I was the poor writer starting every day with a blank sheet of paper in front of me. Nonetheless, there were a few tips I found appealing even now, mostly because they didn’t include drinking pomegranate juice or doing aerobic exercise.

In no particular order, they are:

1. Throw away your Smartphone. Incessantly checking your messages disrupts focus and saps productivity.

2. Get your news from Al Jazeera. A 2009 study found that viewers were more open-minded than those who got their news from CNN.

3. Eat dark chocolate. It’s reported to have memory-improving flavonoids. (Not sure what they are, but they sound good, right?)

4. See a Shakespeare play. Reading the Bard has been shown to engage the brain, but watching him can’t hurt either.

5. Eat yogurt. Studies on mice suggest probiotics are good for your brain, not just your stomach. (I have yet to see one rodent eat yogurt.)

6. Stop smiling. Experiments have shown that frowning makes you more analytic in your thinking. (Note to creative folks: We never expected you to smile.)

These are things I wished I’d known back in the day. But it’s never too late to boost your brainpower. I believe I’ll start with the dark chocolate.

I went back to my alma mater on January 21 to watch the Ohio University men’s basketball team take on its nemesis visiting from Miami University. Looking around at the impressive green-and-white clad crowd that nearly filled the 13,000-some seats of the Convo, I couldn’t help wonder how this rivalry ever got started — and how it became so heated. I did a tiny bit of digging, but couldn’t really find an answer. And, actually, it doesn’t really matter. I think they simply develop. You just have to have that one team you love to hate. And that’s great. It makes it a lot more fun for everyone involved.

And, actually the same thing goes for teams duking it out in the corporate world. Over the years, some great rivalries have developed which have led to some pretty interesting battles in the arena of marketing and advertising. Here are a few brands which have been pretty obvious about their mutual dislike of one another.

Burger King vs. McDonald’s: I’ve easily eaten more McDonald’s fare than Burger King’s in my life, even though I’ve appreciated the King’s advertising more, especially in recent years. Guess you can never underestimate the power of convenience.

Pepsi vs. Coke: Though I’m not sure I could tell one from the other in a blind taste test, this battle has spawned some of the more interesting competitive advertising over the years.

Miller vs. Budweiser: While it hasn’t really erupted outwardly in the form of advertising, anyone on the inside will tell you that these brewers spend a lot of time in boardrooms planning each other’s demise.

Ford vs. Chevy: These two auto giants seem to have hung up the gloves as of late. Of the two, I’d say Ford is winning now, with its new and improved lineup and commercials made a bit more interesting with Mike Roe pimping cars and Denis Leary doing his trademark tell-it-like-it-is VO work for their trucks.

Hertz vs. Avis: Not the most exciting battle out there, especially in recent years. I wish they both would try harder.

Hallmark vs. American Greetings: Okay, this rivalry falls under the category of “Battles I’d Love To Watch.” While these two “expressions” giants are in the business of making nice, I can only imagine the great shots they could take if they’d train their creative firepower on one another.

Viagra vs. Cialis: Speaking of battles I’d like to see brought to life in some competitive advertising, I’d love these guys to go at it, so to speak. The stuff you could do with this rivalry would be priceless — truly SNL worthy.

The CW, typically known for shows about models, vampires, troubled teenagers and troubled teen vampire models will be venturing into the realm of “extreme” game shows this summer. With the recent success of oddball physical challenge shows like Wipeout, one cannot blame them for trying. But can they come up with something fresh?

Well, no. Actually, the network plans to revamp the age-old parlor game of musical chairs — taken to the extreme. Contestants will have to go through physically-demanding obstacles to claim a chair before the music (provided by a live band) stops. While the show’s name was originally the oxymoronic-sounding Extreme Musical Chairs, the network decided instead to call it Oh Sit! Come on, you should’ve seen that coming.

So if making an extreme version of a childhood game works, what’s next? I have a few thoughts.

Pin the Tail on the Don King Exact same premise as Pin the Tail on the Donkey, but you’re trying to pin the tail on Don King while promising young boxers beat you mercilessly.

The Floor is Lava Just like you remember it as a child, contestants must jump from couch cushion to couch cushion as if the floor was made of lava. But in this show, the floor is made of lava.

Duck, Duck, Buse! Gary Busey chases contestants around in a circle until he becomes tired or gets work somewhere else.

Dread Rover This would work a lot like Red Rover but everyone is equipped with a chainsaw. Extreme!

What Time is it, Mr. Wolf? Contestants ask Wolf Blitzer what time it is. Actually, this show isn’t very extreme at all.

I spent last week at the Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego with our client, FMC Professional Solutions, at their National Business Meeting. It was a tremendous week full of celebrating the successes of 2011 and planning for 2012 and beyond. There were a number of guest speakers throughout the week who each enlightened us all in their own unique ways. One particular speaker mentioned “game changers,” and he wasn’t talking about an interception run back for a touchdown during an NFL playoff game that turned the game in one team’s favor. The speaker was talking about product innovations as game changers. Some product innovations change the world, others an industry and others the fortunes of a company. The mention of game changers got me thinking about some historical game changing product innovations. There are millions of them, but here are a few that quickly come to mind:

The Wheel — dates back thousands and thousands of years, but is still roughly the same device as originally conceived. The wheel is quite possibly the biggest game changer ever. Where would we be without the wheel? We wouldn’t have cars or bicycles or even wheelbarrows. What an amazing accomplishment.

The Light Bulb — also goes back quite a few years. Not thousands, less than 200 in fact, but still quite a long time. And it, too, has changed very little. Again, where would we be without the light bulb? We’d still be lighting our homes with candles and Christmas trees would be a lot less festive. The light bulb was truly a remarkable invention.

The Television — has only been around a little more than 75 years, but still functions in much the same manner as its earliest versions. Before television, families would crowd around the radio to listen to their favorite programs. With televisions, things that were previously only envisioned were now right there on the screen. This game changer has provided a fabulous source of entertainment and learning for families. It’s almost magical.

There are millions of other examples; the computer, the laptop, the tablet, just to name a few of the more recent, but I want to bring this back around to FMC Professional Solutions. While they haven’t come up with the next wheel or light bulb, they’ve developed a game changing way to detect bed bugs, the Verifi™ bed bug detector. This simple device offers pest management professionals a better way to find bed bugs. And that’s a real game changer if you’re in the pest management industry.

I’d love to hear what comes to mind when you think about game changing product innovations. Please comment with your favorites.

In September, I mentioned that Rick and I had traveled to Minneapolis to work with photographer Jim Gallop on a very exciting client shoot. The client, DAP Products, was about to unveil its newly unified series of sealants and adhesives – known as the DAP Spec Line. Its tagline, “What the Job Demands,” speaks to how the products are uniquely named to match the various spec standards required across the construction industry. The DAP® DYNAFLEX™ 920 offering, for instance, is named for the ASTM C920 spec the product meets or exceeds with regard to installing siding.

Each ad in the series features the headline “Every job has a number.” Knowing we were shooting photos for floor joists (the 3498 product), windows (812), and siding (920), we worked with Gallop to craft images that were subtle, realistic, and appeared as though the projects themselves were calling for the product their respective specs required. What amazes me about each picture is how they all came together. Though the three shots look quite realistic, they are all the result of a mix of actual, on-site construction and Photoshop wizardry.

The 3498 shot, our first of the three-day session, brings together images of the built-out joists, the two workers, the house/lot, the sky, the truck — even the flooring on the truck. All pieced together seamlessly.

Using the floor joist set from the 3498 ad, Gallop’s crew added walls to prepare for the next image. The final 812 shot combines a ground-floor image (with real windows placed in the position you see) with pictures of the immediate dirt in the foreground, and – most impressively to me – a second story composited entirely from one wall segment used earlier when shooting the ground floor.

The least edited shot came last – the 920 image. The construction crew reworked the 812 set to give the appearance of a more finished house, and we all took turns assembling (scattering) the scrap that you see in the foreground. Gallop added the worker in the background and the result is what you see here.

While the shoot only lasted a couple of days, it was a real treat for me to see Gallop in action, both on-set and at the computer. He provided an often witty play-by-play of each of his Photoshop moves, working as quickly and professionally as I’ve seen someone work in a retouching environment. His work ethic was unbelievable, and he wouldn’t hesitate to use everything and everyone at his disposal to get the shots right. His impressive portfolio and client list is a testament to that drive.

It’s 2012. You know what that means, the end is nearing. Just kidding. Or, perhaps not. What if the Mayan predictions were correct? Let’s forget, for a moment, that it may actually mean it’s an end of an era and not the end of the world. What if it were confirmed that the Earth would cease to exist as we know it come December 2012? How would your New Year’s resolutions change?

I imagine they would shift dramatically. I highly doubt the few priceless days we have left would be spent pinching pennies or kicking one’s own butt in a Crossfit class. I polled some of the Melamed Riley crew with the same question and this is what they gave me:

I would resolve to make someone smile each day. – Darla

Convert to the metric system. – Joseph

I would definitely eat my weight in kalamata olives. – John

I would spend the whole year gorging on chimichangas in order to build up enough mass to fight the apocalypse side-by-side with Mac from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” – Patrick

Spend a month touring around Ireland via bicycle. – Bill

Eat my way through Paula Deen’s Cookbook. – Nicole

I would still try to lose weight but I would do so on a liquid diet only — specifically pina coladas consumed exclusively on a beach in the Caribbean. The weather should be great there on the last day if I make it that long. – Dave

Hey I’d probably pull the classic zombie apocalypse response, hit the bank, nab a soccer mom mini van, and travel all across the United States picking up friends all along the way for one last ride of my life. – Brian

This is tricky, because I anticipate that if EVERYONE knew the world would end in 2012, everyone would be quitting their jobs, commerce would implode and we’d all be living in some sort of savage dystopia. Suspending belief and working under the assumption that the rest of the world would keep operating as if everything was fine, I would resolve to spend the year (and my life savings) seeing all of my favorite bands on tour, no matter where in the world they might be. So I’d see Death Cab for Cutie in Perth, Radiohead in Rome, etc. I’ll be seeing Tool in Boston this month, so maybe I’m on my way? – Steph

My resolution would be to take a trip around the world stopping at every continent. – Janis

What would be your resolution?

One of the first ways marketers segmented consumers is based on generational age groups. The idea is that shared experiences, especially in the coming of age years, create bonds in values, beliefs and attitudes (and sometimes music) that are shared by the group throughout life. This basis for segmentation has held up well for decades with many marketers today targeting the 50-to-64 crowd not as seniors, but rather with an understanding of the mindset of Baby Boomers. (Some are getting it right and some are way off.)

A new market segment is now emerging to compare and contrast with the Baby Boomers, GenX and Millennials. The segment is made up of teens 13-to-19 and is becoming best known as the iGeneration (also known as Generation Z and iGen’ers). The “i” signifies the media devices they are using, iPhone, iPod, iPad, etc., and that these technologies are very individualized. Until recently, this group was lumped in with the Millennials and expected to share that generation’s characteristics. This is no longer the case.

Compared with the tech-savvy Millennials, iGen’ers are becoming tech-dependent as they were born into a digital world. They are growing up with mobile devices while their Millennial counterparts grew up primarily with PCs and clumsy laptops. With the world at their fingertips, these teens show a level of texting, multi-tasking and media consumption that far exceeds that of any other cohort segment.

We are getting to know how to reach this generation through media, but is there a defining mindset that we can tap into? What values do they, or will they share? In what ways will they be different from the Baby Boomers, GenX and the Millennials? Each of these previous cohort segments share distinctive traits that have carried through life.

By experiencing important social movements, prosperous times and a youth-oriented culture while coming of age, the Baby Boomers are idealistic, forever young and prone to reject authority.

Through their experience with Watergate, both parents working and a faltering economy, GenX is characterized as being independent, pragmatic and mistrusting of institutions.

While cutting their teeth on computer keyboards and being raised by doting, child-centric parents forcing all forms of formal group activities, the Millennials are confident, optimistic and team-oriented.

As an important consumer segment, can we describe the mindset of the iGen’ers as clearly as we can for previous generations? What will be the lifelong, defining nature of a group most frequently described today as:

Speed demons
Open books (private only in money matters)
Shortcutting the language
Seeking individualized experiences
Unengaged by traditional schooling techniques (like books)
Into creating their own content
Early adapters who expect innovation
Multi-taskers
Always present in a social way
More in touch with global issues and cultures

Do any of these descriptors, all driven to some degree by technology, matter that much? Can we use these behaviors to shape messages that will resonate with this audience? What about the tough economic times, climate change and the terrorism they are growing up with?

It seems to me that researchers and “experts” are more intrigued with naming this generation than really trying to understand it. They are putting far too much weight on technology with little consideration for life experiences. Being tech-savvy or tech-dependent does not define what is important. If we really want to “get” these teens, we should take the time to understand their dreams and challenges – offline.

I agree that they will not be the same as the Millennials, but we are a long way from knowing how they will be different. As one iGen put it in a recent thread:

“We can’t really define our generation yet because the oldest of us (that’s me) are still defining ourselves. Plus, we’ve had little impact on the world yet. As a generation, we basically are unimportant so far.”

What do you think will make them important when they become adults?