I had just about given up on Twitter for the 2nd time. My tweets have been inconsitent and lame (though not inconsistently lame) and I’ve generally found little value. Though I do know the exact travel schedule of many a branding exec. Which is obviously helpful.
Then I came across Lee Clow’s [...]

A refresher on the premise: relevant topic, local expert, short informal presentation, your favorite Tap & Mallet beverage. What’s not to like?
For November, Jeff Gabel, Chief Creative Officer at Partners + Napier will share his observations on the “common constructs of great ideas”. Jeff is a unique package of big idea, business savvy, [...]

Digital has all the evangelists it needs, often seen walking down sidewalks staring at Iphones – i think they call it connecting. We could use the occasional skeptic.
So I was happy to come across Christopher Kimball’s piece in Thursday’s NY Times. Mr. Kimball is the publisher of Cooks Illustrated. The article [...]

On a warm Spring day in 1991, my brother Tim visited Rochester with his first new car – a Saturn S series coupe. We took it out on Kings Highway through Durand Park for a road test. Drove ok. But it looked different and Tim was really proud of it. He [...]

Join us tomorrow eve for the inaugural “20 Minutes and a Beer”. The subject is “Social Media” and the expert is Jon Brown from Partners & Napier. Info below, hope to see you there!
Where?
Tap & Mallet
381 Gregory Street
Rochester, NY 14620
What Time?
05:30 to 06:00 PM
How Much?
Free for members,
$4 non-members
Description
Join Jon Brown, Director [...]

Ok. They don’t uniformally stink. If you want to quickly assess the type of work an agency considers “great”, they can be useful. But visit half a dozen. Right now, I’ll wait here.
Struck by the overwhelming sameness? Like a template was handed out at a 4 A’s conference. Right [...]

I mentioned in a previous post (still on the office fridge no doubt) that we here at the RAF have a new-found focus: strengthening our creative communications community through programs and events that educate and inspire great work. With that in mind, 2 announcements:
“20 minutes and a Beer”
Not what you think. It’s a [...]

How do you promote local agencies and help recruit top creative talent? The Minneapolis ad community believes they have an opportunity to (re)position their city. And part of it is this website.
This is typically the type of initiative that invites loads of criticism from the snark community (and this has). But why [...]

Something to do with the Ad Council? We put on the Addies? Not sure?
We here at the RAF would like to clear this up. At last week’s retreat (boondoggle down at the Greenbrier, or was it the 4th floor at Partners?), we took the first step: agreeing to a simple statement of [...]

This week’s AdAge includes the annual “Women to Watch” list. Note Jenny Chisney‘s inclusion (nice!). Nearby is an article on GM. AdAge lined up creative directors and the like to share how they’d pitch the troubled automaker’s business. 11 experts weighed in. Each one a middle-aged white guy.
The juxtaposition [...]