Sometimes I Rhyme Slow, Sometimes I Rhyme Quick.

It’s pretty much the same at every agency, clients want stuff by yesterday. We’re approaching the holiday season, as bleek as it seems there’s still advertising to be done, and that means quick turn-arounds and tight deadlines. It actually doesn’t change much throughout the entire year, which leads me to wondering, why do we always do everything so quickly, and what’s at risk when we need it ASAP?

I’ve been a fan of strategic planner, Russell Davies, for awhile now. He always has great insights into strategic planning, which everyone at 160over90 does quite a bit of, even if it’s not in their job title. Watching the current economic situation over the last week Davies’s post about Fast Strategy seems incredibly appropriate. He even links to a great article over at The Atlantic regarding McCain’s own confusion on tactics versus strategies. A great lesson to be found in both of those articles.

Miami Ad School Portfolio Review: NYC

Greetings to all the cool cats we met last week at the Miami Ad School portfolio review, kindly hosted in NYC by Dentsu. Really enjoyed all of your work—all except for that guy that filled half his book with ads condoning hickeys, which made not a lick of sense.

Sorry we can’t hire all of you, but keep reading this blog. After all, reading about us may likely be better than sharing an office with us. Especially the morning after one of our delightful happy hours.

Since at least two of you seemed interested, I’ll be sharing some portfolio tips in some upcoming posts. They’re mostly things you probably heard already, since I’m recycling them all from a bunch of old heads who don’t know how to blog. But at least they’ll be compiled in one easily searchable database called The Internet.

You Will Never Feel Lost Again.

Well, that may not be true – but whilst driving all over God’s green and gray earth on a rainy Sunday yesterday, I realized something.

Soon – relatively (of course, of course) – there may not really be such a thing as getting lost while driving. Or at least we’ll realize a certain diminishing of those instances. There will likely be some sort of GPS in every new car, there will likely be GPS on almost every phone, and you and I will likely reach our destinations on time, more often. At that point, I suppose we will no longer be able to use “got lost” as a valid explanation for our tardiness – though I never really preferred that excuse anyway. After all, an individual admitting to getting lost is acknowledging that he or she is either incapable or inept! Who wants to bear that mark? But I digress; allow me to recover my course.

With a retreating cold in my head, a growing hunger in my belly, and an inconspicuous hangover seeming to permeate all primary body regions, I was nonetheless optimistically listening to that song “Wrestlers” by Hot Chip. That’s when my phone died, along with all hope of not getting unduly lost on my drive to 8 locations in the greater Philadelphia region. “How” I wondered “will I ever deliver these ad kits without the commanding voice of my mobile phone’s global positioning system?” Fortunately, I remembered the master Google Map we created, that I had, and retrieved it straight away from my man-bag. Boy scouts always come prepared.

Car packed with ad kits / Notes for blogging while sitting in traffic

In the end…  (more fun and some photos of the work after the jump) MORE

My idols.

A nice little NYT op-ed piece featuring my two favorite curmudgeons, Statler & Waldorf.

Photos by Eric Liebowitz.

Read My Lip Sync

I was thinking, which is something I do on a regular basis. What did Milli Vanilli do that was so wrong? I’ve tried to put myself in their shoes — which is a lot harder than it sounds. I think they wore Doc Martens.

Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus (R.I.P) didn’t do anything wrong. It was their faulty recording device that began to skip during a live performance, thus revealing the truth behind the beloved group. Most people didn’t even notice OR care. I mean, who doesn’t love seeing two German male models dancing in tights or doing chest bumps. I mean I don’t, but some people like that, especially during the 90’s. I mean, older people were weird from what I can remember.

All I’m saying is that I’m glad recording technology has continued to advance to the state that it is in now. Allowing musical artists to have flawless performances is important, and everything, I just wish Milli Vanilli had been given a second chance—Ashlee Simpson did. Just imagine what other great songs the two guys who were singing for them had scribbled on napkins or in rhyme books. The world will never know. Shame on you media.

Underconsideration Considers Us

So I am about two and a half months late on posting this but better late then never, right? Several months back we began working with The Athlete’s Foot (TAF). We inherited a new logo and name from their previous agency and were asked for our immediate help on their summer POP campaign. After completing the assignment we got a little love from underconsideration. Check it out here.