Gateway Aesthetic Laser Clinic: Worst Plastic Surgery Bilboard Award

The worst plastic surgery billboard I've ever seen. In fact, it may be the worst plastic surgery ad too.

This is what happens when someone in the laser clinic is doing the marketing and advertising for plastic surgeons.

I've actually seen this billboard. It's along I-15 in Utah and I've driven past it a few times. Each time shaking my head in utter disbelief that anyone describing themselves as a 'cosmetic surgeon' could be attached to such bad taste. (And the actual design is worse. Quite obviously the work of a $6 an hour kid that's still in high school.) How could anyone think that this would move a woman to get plastic surgery?

The Gateway Aesthetic Institute & Laser Center is the cosmetic dermatology practice of Dr. Mark Taylor but there's usually a plastic surgeon to be found. I guess now it's 'Dr. Heidi'. According to the Gateway Aesthetic Institue's web site, Dr. Heidi is actually:

Heidi Regenass, M.D., a board certified plastic surgeon who comes to Gateway Aesthetic from Phoenix, Arizona, where she owned her own successful practice.

Dr. Regenass brings an international flair to cosmetic plastic surgery. Dr. Regenass specializes in plastic surgery procedures that rejuvenate the face and body, enhancing one’s natural beauty.

It may well be that this as was designed by Gateway Aesthetic Institute and Dr. Regenass didn't have anything to do with it. In that case I feel sorry for her. It's got to be embarrassing to have your name attached to something this crass and trite.

What the Bad Billboard Project says about Dr. Heidi's boob job billboard:

My business used to be housed in an office a few feet from this billboard. Only it was a different billboard back then. I was driving by, saw this, and felt like I couldn’t pass it up. It is poorly designed, to be sure, but I’m not sure that matters so much, at least as far as getting your attention. Whether it would actually result in increased sales, I’m not sure. Probably, since many people don’t appreciate good design, either consciously or subconsciously. As for me, I’m thoroughly offended and would certainly never let Dr. Heidi get her dirty paws on me.

Design fckr: Good advertising & funny.

I love clever advertising.

It's funny and there's an old saying in advertising. "Tickle their funny bone and open their wallet", (or something like that.)

Of course it's more tricky than anything. Someone has to actually be sitting in the right spot for the illusion to work. It's common to try to find clever solutions like this. Hard to say how effective they are but I like the clever ones.

Googles Radio Ads: Taking on the mainstream media.

From the Wall Street journal: Google selling radio advertising

"You'll be able to target your customers by location, station type, day of the week, and time of day," wrote a member of the Google Audio Ads team on the company's Inside AdWords blog. "After the radio ads are run, you will be able to view online reports that tell you exactly when your ad played."

The ads can by played on "hundreds" of radio stations across the country, Google said. Using the online interface, advertisers will be able to set a weekly budget and define their campaigns, and then Google will let customers see and alter how their ad budgets will be spent.

This is going to put Google on a collision course with the media companies. I would expect that after letting Google develop the market the larger media companies would go direct with their own solutions leaving Google with the smaller players. The larger players won't let Google have control of their inventory. This may still make sense since the aggregate of the smaller players may be substantial by themselves.

Yahoo can't be far behind. 

Advertising that entertains.

Television on a shoe string: Park City InfoChannel

Park City InfoChannel: 30 seconds of TV, 12 times a day, 84 times a week, for three months. Includes production, sound, and editing and you own the ad. How much? $1000 on Nimble. It almost sounds too good to be true.

Old media must embrace the amateur.

Clicking through my regular morning reads from my RSS feeds I came across this article 'Old Media Must Embrace The Amateur'  by Tom Glocer (head of Reuters), on the Financial Times. I have to say this is right along the discussion lines of a lunch we had yesterday with an 'Old Media' source.  Actually, I think these guys get it. Unlike some discussions we've had with local media outlets, there wasn't a 'circle-the-wagons' type mentality. Change is constant and if history teaches us anything, it's the folly of fixed defenses. Here are some of the more interesting snippits but the articles worth a read.

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