Ad Blog Review (or: Why Most Ad Blogs Suck!!!)

By George Parker

Piers asked me to do a critique on ad blogs. He suggested I do a Technorati search and give my views on the top ten. Being a reasonable geezer, I did just that. Unfortunately, although Technorati lists 425 advertising blogs, most of them have little or nothing to do with the world’s most fucked up business. High in the rankings are such sites as “My other shoes are Manolo’s.” The life of an Indian chick living in London who is obsessed with shopping.” “Alias Realm.” A young woman’s insights on love and life. And, best of all, “Ultra Now.” A blog devoted to pictures of naked, gay, Jewish guys flashing their flaccid (but circumcised) dicks!

So, being an awkward bugger, I won’t review the top ten, I’ll talk about the five kinds of ad blogs that are out there, four of them suck. One doesn’t.

Ad Blogs that suck.

Blogs that merely show ads: http://garicruze.typepad.com/ad_blather/ is a perfect example. If you want to look at ads for Brazilian tattoo parlors, with the copy in English, so they’re obviously aimed at retired British bank robbers living in Rio… Subscribe to Archive magazine.

Blogs that are vehicles for people flogging pathetic consulting services, books, mouse pads etc. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ is a perfect example. OK, I know it’s not strictly advertising, it’s marketing, but a lot of advertising dumbfucks buy his pathetic books.

Blogs that are extensions of magazines: http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/ is AdWeek’s lame attempt. As the magazine is nothing but shitty ads for media, why not put the content from the blog into the mag – then close the blog?

Blogs that are ego trips: http://www.saatchikevin.com/ is guaranteed to make you gag. Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi worldwide, invented “LoveMarks” Otherwise known as “Hickies.” Read his saintly bio, then shoot yourself!

Ad Blogs that don’t suck.

Here’s a sample collection of blogs on advertising worth reading. The one’s that don’t regurgitate the same fucking pathetic Coke Polar Bear ads and all the other shit you’ve already seen a million times.

http://www.zeigermann.com/cartoonist/ A German ad guy and cartoonist (the site is in English) lots of good stuff you won’t find elsewhere.

http://creativeclassics.blogspot.com/ An Italian site with tons of good stuff. Try the Google translation service. “Hall of Fame’ becomes “Hall of Hunger.” Tons of great links to little known, but wonderful sites. Worth the effort.

http://www.freelancefred.com/blog/ Intelligent and very humorous site from a freelancer in Atlanta. He even has a book in progress you can download.

http://www.number27.org/index.html Jonathan Harris is an amazing Internet designer and original thinker. This is a Blog well worth the visit. See a superb example of his work at http://oralfix.com/home/index.html Go there now!

http://wklondon.typepad.com Most ad agency blogs are pathetic efforts that transparently shill on behalf of bean-counter management. Weiden & Kennedy, London, doesn’t do that, and isn’t afraid to take the piss out of itself.

http://www.dlutskiy.com/eblog/eblog.html All about Russian advertising. Stuff you won’t see anywhere else. Even includes tips on how to drink vodka all night and stay semi-sober. Excellent shit!

http://ad-rag.com/ Known as AdLand, without a doubt the best all round ad blog in the Universe. Lots of terrific stuff. Millions of archives. Also has a complete listing of ad blogs. If you only visit one blog, make it this. Oh… And the next one.

http://adscam.typepad.com/ Modesty forbids me from telling you how insanely fucking great this blog is… You’ll have to find out for yourself!

That’s all folks!

George Parker is an advertising creative consultant. His work can be found here and his thoughts can be found on his blog here.