How the NY Times tells a story with visuals

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Josh Morgan

A few months ago I was discussing an upcoming graphic assignment with a client, and they said, “I’m not sure exactly what I want, but look at what the NY Times does. I want something like that.”

I just ran across an awesome short from gestalten tv. I found it on Laughing Squid, and they were referred to it by Om Malik.

A few of the points that jumped out at me:

  • According to one editor, “We always have to defend the value of the space we need.”
  • “You can’t make a great graphic unless you have great material.” Amen.
  • At about 3:30 there’s a great sequence on the building of graphic material to support breaking news
  • Does the Times have a visual style book? No, but “There’s a visual language at the Times,  but it is there is no law that governs what that visual language is. There’s just an agreement among the designers here about what works well and is clear.”

Very well done.  Check it out:

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

April 3rd, Herb Caen, my family, Mike Ness and the next generation of music

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Josh Morgan

It’s my birthday. The birthday of my maternal uncle, one of my favorite writers, and the day my grandmother passed in 2008.

I also recently learned that it’s the birthday of Mike Ness, who turned 50 this year.  Those who know me well, know that Social Distortion has been one my favorite bands for a long, long time. One of my favorite things is sharing music with my daughters.  There are a lot of songs they like, but there is one cover of a Johnny Cash classic, that makes me smile every time they ask for it:

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Herb Caen Day Redux

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Josh Morgan

This week I celebrated my birthday with my wife and daughters and her sister’s family in Chicago.  Even though I was in Chicago, as usual, my thoughts were of San Francisco.  Below is a post I wrote on April 4, 2008.

 

Herb Caen Day

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Josh Morgan

Yesterday was my birthday. It was also the birthday of the late Herb Caen. If you aren’t from San Francisco, you may have missed out on Herb. From 1938-1997, he wrote a column that ran almost every day that was full of what he called “items.” Some of the items involved society people, some were about who had dinner with who, some were just strange things and some were social issues that he cared about. What was most important was that he gave almost everyone in San Francisco a little bit of common ground. You could always make a connection with someone by referring to one of Caen’s recent columns.

When he died in 1997, a little bit of San Francisco died too. Yesterday, a little more of San Francisco died as well, when my grandmother, Lucille Clumeck, (everyone called her Mame) passed away at the age of 95. It was somewhat fitting that she passed on April 3rd. My birthday. Her son’s (my uncle) birthday and Herb’s birthday. Two of the most important things in her life were her love of family, and love of San Francisco. Her family moved there in that late 1890′s. They were living there during the earthquake and fire of 1906, and she grew up in the new San Francisco that sprouted after. She was married at the Fairmont in the 30′s, and after moving to the Peninsula to raise her family, moved back to the City in 1978 after her husband passed. She lived there as long she could.

So, if you find yourself with a glass in your hand this weekend. I would appreciate it if you could raise it to Mame. Raise it to Herb, and raise it to San Francisco.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Weber and Home Depot, yes Home Depot, show me the value of real customer service

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Josh Morgan

I am a fan of customer service.  Real customer service is often discussed, but in my mind rarely exhibited.  There’s been a lot of talk recently how ‘customer service is the new marketing.” Sure, it is. Everyone talks about it, but when it really experienced, it can be transformative for the consumer and for their friends.

I grill outside a lot.   I use a Weber Summit Gold grill that was given to me as a gift from my wife eight years ago. This is a nice grill, that if I remember correctly cost approximately $1,000, when she bought it for me for my birthday.  She bought it at a local Weber ‘dealer.’ and I was thankful.  I cook on it regularly and those that know me, know I use it for grilling and smoking several times per week.

This is my grill:

Using my grill several times per week, apparently led to both the ignighter and to the burners getting used up.

You can imagine my sadness, when I was unable to use my grill any longer due to the burners being unable to any longer being able to transfer propane, thank you Hank Hill.  I first went to the ‘dealer,’ where my wife bought the grill. I was told that “we don’t carry those any more, but maybe if you go on their web site, you can order it.”  Not, maybe let us do it for you for you, or here’s what to do.

Next, I went to Home Depot to try and see if they maybe had an interim fix, such as a universal burner I could buy and put in.  This is where I experienced my first level of true customer service.  I went to the BBQ aisle and ran into a customer service rep where I explained what I was looking for.  He said, that they don’t carry the burner and ignighter, but try calling Weber directly, and if the grill was less than ten years old, they would probably replace it.

I called Weber, provided the serial number from the grill, and with no further questions beyond my address recieved:

That is two boxes that included a brand new ignighter and two new burners:

There were three separate things that happened here:

- a ‘dealer’ didn’t know that they could have made me happy by telling me the options available to me;

- an employee at Home Depot didn’t make a sale, but provided exceptional customer service;  and

- Weber took care of a customer, and subsequently has made a customer for life.’

So, thank you Weber, and thank you Home Depot.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Agency Lessons from Mad Men Episodes #501 and 502 – “A Little Kiss”

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Josh Morgan

Image from AMCTV.com/MadMen

For the past few years, while watching Mad Men on AMC, I’ve been following up the episodes with blog posts about “Agency Lessons” that can be learned from that episode. Last week, I put them all together in one post.

Season five kicked off with a double episode that included many lessons for those of us that work in agencies:

- The episode opened with copy writers in the office of Young and Rubicam (a real world advertising agency often portrayed as the primary competitor to SCDP) dropping bags filled with water out their office window on civil rights protesters below (read the original article from the NY Times here, and yes the dialog in the lobby was real).  Don Draper and Roger Sterling follow this up with an “ad” in the NY Times that reads,

Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce

An equal opportunity employer. Our windows don’t open. We are committed to proving that Madison Avenue isn’t all wet.

They think it’s funny….until Joan Harris, the director of agency operations who is out on maternity leave, thinks she is being replaced, oh and twenty african american men and women show up in the lobby looking for a job.  Last month, I wrote about not expecting everyone to understand your sense of humor.  This is doubly important, when you are a bigot, and the times are changing, while you apparently, are not.

- The creative team led by Peggy Olson presented work to Heinz Baked Beans.  Let’s just say it wasn’t what the client wanted. Their feedback was, “It’s very artistic, and I want to be bold, but this isn’t what I had in mind when I was talking about a new generation of consumers.”  He asks, “Where’s the bite and smile?”  The standard food advertising shot making it very clear what you should do with the product and how it makes you feel.  The lesson here is that it’s always good to push the boundaries of creative but you have to know your client, and you need to have something safe in your back pocket.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.