AdLand Round Up 2004- The Year In Review

Toodle-pipski 2004. Bonjour 2005.

2004. What a year. In the US, advertising saw more than it's necessary share of presidental-esque concepts for the likes of Snickers, Miller, Net Zero and others. There was the Superbowl and the infamous halftime wardrobe malfunction. Olympic madness came and went.

We saw Lee Clow get a Lifetime Achievement Award and the deaths of Maxwell Dane (of DDB), Colin Millward, and Madge the Manicurist, R.I.P. People selling Lions, Viral marketing POZZ, and even a copywriter and an art director auctioning themselves all on eBay.

We survived the hoopla of Advertising Week in NYC, watched Apple and Guinness bring back old ads, Dustin Hoffman do the Graduate for Audi, LL Cool J helping Volvo go from safe to cool and then a change to life documentary ads, Beckham shilling Adidas, Pepsi, and his soul.

Roman Coppola directed BK's Ugoff ad, Juan Valdez opened coffee shops, Dave was out and Mr. Wendy in, and then Dave was back in and Mr. Wendy out, McDonald's replaced their golden arches with a question mark, India used sex and humor to sell. We had rats in Quizno's subs, good feelings for Old Navy's fashion, and some interesting characters for Target, McDonalds in Japan, and Glenfiddich.

Oh and the controversy! David Bedford sues the number/118 118, which also won an effectiveness award. Donald Trump trying to trademark "You're fired", which thankfully didn't happen. Ogilvy London got hijacked and then ASABAILEY jumped the shark. We also saw the corruption scandal at Grey Global Group NY hit a new low and a Canadian agency try a new way to pitch for new business.

Advertisers were in fear of cartels as advertising agencies in Australia and Norway when they began discussions for creating rules/guidelines for pitches. There was also a bit of news with women stereotypes in ads, woman can buy it but not sell it, marketing to women a no-brainer that marketers don't get, and Flicka stepped in to teach girls to question media.

The popularity of TiVo and TiVo-like devices has caused ad folk to freak out and start a blurring of the lines between advertisement and editorial, paid links in editorial, stealth advertising and ad creep, and use of undercover marketing tactics. Funnily enough, near the end of the year, even TiVO began shilling with pop-ups and avoiding ads might become illegal. All this lead to The Hidden (in Plain Sight) Persuaders debate.

And all this chatter has brought about a return to the ABC's of advertising with "ground-breaking" concepts like "Budget constraints often lead to bad advertising choices". Also PR companies showed their fear of blogs and there was the question of regulation for word of mouth marketing. Hegarty told us thou shall not shill and we also learned that sex no longer sells, although Calvin Klein is still not getting it.

AdLand brought you some neat-o exclusives as well. In 2004 we unveiled of The Claymore Project, gave you a HSBC Lowe retrospective , reported on copyright being protection not a threat, and a detailed look at the Catfight between Miller and AB, again, and again.

We also began our new "Spotlight On" series and showed you the best of TBWA Lisbon, Portugal - The blogging ad agency and 86 the Onions. Plus interviews with the likes of Justin Kirby and a look at the invasion of the advertising blogs.

Still want more? Then continue onto AdLand Roundup - The Ads

Or go back to the It's that time of year again - here comes the AdLand roundup.