News from Dick's Desk

Please wipe your feet

By: Bob Volkman, Creative Partner, Co-Founder

Welcome to our new online home and address, tdhcreative.com.

It was time for a change. Our old site generated some nice publicity for the agency and served us well. But it was flash based and started to feel a little old school. Plus, we got tired of people asking if we really worked in the grungy factory the site portrayed.

A lot of people probably think that agencies change their websites like socks, but for us self-examination is always painful. It's so much easier to build brands for others. Then about a year ago we mustered up the courage and started the process, spitballing tons of ideas against the wall. As always, client needs came first and the assignment got pushed back more than we care to admit. The painter’s house is always the last to be painted.

One concept that amused us for a while involved shooting a film about three fictional Chicago ad guys from the 60s, Madmen style, to embellish the story of our beginnings. We even created some character sketches. There was Tom Scrapinksy, the feisty writer; Dick Looksman, the temperamental art director; and Harry Diggings, the ever-curious Brit brand planner. The script was a riot even though the three "founders" eventually perished in a plane wreck somewhere near Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Good thing we finally came to our senses and decided to just focus on our work in a really fresh way. The creative process is like that. Sometimes you have to live with bad ideas for a while before you kick them out of your house.

This site was built in HTML 5 to be compatible with all new media platforms. We also did a mobile version so that busy marketing directors eager to hire us could follow TDH wherever they go.

Even though it took more than a year and a lot of arguing, the process has been rejuvenating. After ten years of building Chicago’s Craft Agency, we got to step back and look at our body of work. A lot of talented people have lent their callused hands to our mission. Hopefully, you’ll think the work holds up pretty well.

Take a spin around and let us know how you like the new digs.

And for those who are nostalgic and miss our old site, you can always visit it here at the Tom, Dick & Harry graveyard.

07.08.11

Facebook is a waste of time

By: Joe Schmitt, TDH Director of Digital Strategy

People say that a lot. And they’re right. It is a waste of time. A lot of people waste a lot of time on social media-- Facebook, Twitter, blogs. But you know what else is a waste of time? Television. People waste a lot of time watching TV. And it is for that very reason that marketers have been running commercials on TV for years.

I’ve been on the web side of advertising for over a decade now, and when I first started, the knock was that “the internet is a waste of time”. The more time that people “wasted” on the web, the more it was worth it for advertisers to figure out how to reach them there, to understand how it was similar and different from traditional advertising, and then to come up with campaigns that included digital, or that were entirely digital. When we started working with Fathead, we rationalized that social media should be their #1 medium. What's more social than sports and what better way to elicit fan passion than instigating a little trash talk or portraying Derek Jeter in a Cardinals uniform-- or even more despicable-- the Red Sox? (Check out our efforts in the "work" section under Fathead.)

In the same way, as social media matures, it’s important to understand how to reach people there as well. There are a few things social media can do very well:

1. Communicate directly with your most enthusiastic customers. People who already love you will follow, friend, or fan you. And they’re hoping you’ll tell them something. Maybe something for insiders, maybe something that isn’t in the commercials. 
2. Listen to what people are saying about you. People have talked about your brand before, but this might be your first chance to hear what they say without doing focus groups or other research. There’s a chance to learn from the lovers and the haters.
3. Deliver targeted messages to limited groups that don’t make sense to broadcast. Whether it’s area-focused Twitter feeds or geo-targeted Facebook ads, you can reach smaller groups with separate messages (and avoid sending to people outside your target) through social media.

So, yes, social media is a waste of time, but maybe that’s a feature, not a bug.

Tags:

opinion

07.08.11