Author Archive

King St. Q&A w/ Adam Beilman

Friday, January 6th, 2012

Adam Beilman is an AAE at SaatchiNY. For more info on his background and sports enthusiasm, be sure to follow him on Twitter @thebeils. He offers the most insightful commentary on The Buffalo Bills of anyone we know.

WHAT DO YOU DO AT SAATCHI & SAATCHI?
I’m an Assistant Account Executive on Head & Shoulders, but I suspect some people might think I’m still an intern …

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
I was a ride operator – specifically the Mind Eraser at Darien Lake Theme Park. Nobody ever died on my watch.

EDITORS NOTE: Here’s a picture of young Adam working said job -

WHAT LED YOU ON THE PATH YOU’RE ON TODAY?
I was a diehard basketball fan growing up, and would have asked mom to buy anything with Michael Jordan’s face on it. I recognized at a young age that advertising really worked when I felt the compulsive need to buy Gatorade. Shortly thereafter I realized advertising was also a real-life job you could have.

SECOND EDITORS NOTE: Here’s a picture of Adam standing in front of the famous Michael Jordan statue in Chicago -

WHAT ARE YOUR LOVEMARKS?
The Buffalo Bills, Guinness, Adidas, Ray-Ban, and yes, Gatorade

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE AD (ALL TIME OR CURRENTLY)?
There’s a common theme developing here:

IF YOU NEVER HAD TO WORK AGAIN, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO DO?
Start refining my (very unimpressive) golf game now to be ready for the PGA Senior Tour in 30 years.

FAVORITE PLACE YOU’VE BEEN TO?
I haven’t been that many cool places, and in fact have never lived anywhere outside of New York State. I’d like to visit every continent in my life. Except Antarctica. Screw penguins.

WHAT’S YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION?
Does my Twitter account (@TheBeils) count as a possession? Because I don’t know how I could live without it.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE YOUTUBE VIDEO?
“I wanna kiss you.”

WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU MAKE REALLY WELL?
Breakfast. I’m a terrible cook for the other meals, but I own a griddle, waffle iron, several frying pans and two toasters for the most important meal of the day.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WARM-WEATHER NYC ACTIVITY?
Running down the Hudson through Riverside Park. It’s my backyard.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHTIME SPOT NEAR THE OFFICE?
Dos Toros – but I’m usually too lazy to walk there and end up at Chipotle.

WHAT’S YOUR GO TO KARAOKE SONG? (COME ON, WE KNOW YOU HAVE ONE).
I have a paralyzing fear of singing in public. That being said, if I had to do Karaoke, I’d go with an awkwardly self-censored version of some Biggie song, as I know all the words to several.

WHAT’S THE BEST MEAL YOU’VE EVER HAD?
Despite roots that are nowhere near Italian, my mom makes really great meatballs. My cousins started calling them “Auntie Balls,” and the name stuck.

IF YOU COULD BE THE WORLD RECORD HOLDER OF ANYTHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I’d like to go around the world in 79 days. That would be a record, right?

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CREATIVE PURSUIT?
Naming fantasy and rec-league sports teams. Past entries include:

- We Fancy Huh?
- The Mexicutioners
- Jim Boeheimian Rhapsody
- Morning Norwood
- Ray Rice Guys Finish Last (an ESPN award winning name…not kidding)

WHAT BLOGS/MAGAZINES/BOOKS/PAPERS/WEBSITES CAN YOU NOT LIVE WITHOUT?
I’m a really big fan of Chuck Klosterman. “Eating the Dinosaur” is great, but so is everything he writes for my new favorite blog, Grantland.com.

WHAT’S THE LAST GREAT EVENT YOU WENT TO?
I saw “The Book of Mormon” a couple months ago. I’m not sure what a Tony is, but it should have won all of them.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?
I was a shy kid, and my dad always reminded me that “the squeaky wheel gets the oil.” Now, I’m really good at complaining.

WHAT’S YOUR GREATEST NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE STORY?
I once won a spelling bee by correctly spelling sarsaparilla. It’s root beer-like drink commonly found in the Southwest and in Central America. It’s pronounced sas-pah-rill-a.

Category: King St. Q&A

Head & Shoulders “Mane Man”

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

A new football season brings a new round of advertising from Head & Shoulders “mane man,” Troy Polamalu. Men will go to any length to get legendary hair, from borrowing Troy’s shampoo to borrowing his hair altogether.

Troy’s third season as a spokesman for H&S also brought some hi-jinks. Madame Tussaud’s unveiled a wax figure of Troy at their museum in New York last week, but some visitors in LA were led to believe that the statue was completed this summer. The video’s had great success, picking up over a million hits already.

Category: Clients, Creative, Film & Television

We’re All Apprentices

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Rishad Tobaccowala

Starting today, we’ve officially declared this week Events Week on Hudson/Houston. Be sure to check back every morning for a preview of our Advertising Week involvement and some great recaps of cool stuff happening this week. Kicking us off today is a guest post from Adam Beilman, who’s offering up the most useful bits from last Thursday’s DigiDay: Social conference.

The theme of Digiday: Social was “The Social Media Operating System” – how we can connect with consumers in an environment completely connected by social media. The conference featured a day full of discussions, panels and keynotes from industry pros. Through all the talks, a few overarching themes emerged:

WE’RE ALL APPRENTICES
Despite being invited to the conference to speak about their experience with social media, several were quick to point out that there really are no scholars. Social media is constantly evolving, and we’re all apprentices. The only way to master it is to use it yourself, and to use as many channels as possible. This is the only way understand both the tools and the people who use them.

LIKE VS LOVE
One of the biggest flaws in determining social media success is the number of “likes” a brand page has. All a “like” really is is an initiation for a brand to engage with you in some way – not a measure of your engagement. The most successful brands in social grow their following organically and are sought out because they are genuinely loved. There are many ways to earn or to buy “likes” – what matters is holding a fans interest and turning that like into love.

NO BUCKETS OR SILOS
Multiple speakers emphasized that traditional media silos have broken down. Social isn’t and shouldn’t be mutually exclusive of other channels – it is parts paid, earned and owned media. Use the space you own to tell stories, build communities, and drive brand advocacy among your fans.

Paid media on Facebook can allow you to reach the friends of your fans. Reggie Bradford of Vitrue explained that “Sponsored stories are the future of Facebook advertising.”

Once a foundation is built, surprising and delightful movements or social media stunts can create earned coverage and generate even more following.

CONTENT IS KING
As Rishad Tobaccowala of ViVaKi put it, “social media is not just a place to share…it is a place to discover.” People are looking for and are finding interesting content on social channels. You can never count on virality, but people will share things they find interesting and useful.

Walgreens proves this; their mobile app allows users to refill prescriptions by scanning the barcode. Why wouldn’t fans share an incredibly useful, free branded service? Expedia, another brand represented at the conference, held competitions with attainable prizes which made it too easy to invite friends and to come back every day.

PEOPLE ARE AT THE CORE
Don’t innovate for the sake of innovating. You need to understand your audience and create something that they actually want. It doesn’t make sense to use digital displays with QR codes if your target doesn’t use smartphones.

Begin by asking: “why did our fans like us in the first place?” These people are a powerful force. The companies that realize that they are marketing through them and not at them are the ones that will win.

Finally and most importantly, digital media doesn’t change the fact that consumers are analog – they make decisions with their hearts. Lovemarks will become more meaningful than ever.

Category: Digital & Interactive, Events, New York