Attended the launch party for Mogul Media Advertising Agency (Club Clau - Scott and Josh's latest endeavor) last night and came away from it a bit perplexed yet happy I was there to see whatever it was I saw. Well, the ladies were there of course and I am pretty sure I know what I saw on that front. Regardless of the view, the room was simmering with expectation and anticipation. In typical Clau-ology, you came away not quite sure what just happened but glad you were along for the ride. We don't typically go out for a night of discussion on media and advertising so it was a nice way to introduce their concept.

The night began with an open bar and a mingle session with the designers, photographers, web-a-holics, videographers and great food from Bluegrass Gourmet. As we all meandered through the flyers, ads, web pages, and video monitors, I noticed a square hole in the wall with a talking head - the head says "write down the first thing you think about Head & Shoulders". I wrote down my second best tag line and moved over to the open bar. What is interesting is that it made me stop and think about the brand. Hey, maybe I like this shampoo... uhm, not really. Anyway, you must give it to the guys, advertising is everywhere we go and there is no chance we can get away from it, and this was a fun way to be involved. What happens when you see an ad? There may be people who say they ignore it all together, but those people are dirty dirty liars. Their thoughts on obscure approach verses "in your face advertising" were definitely interesting. Kinda like the classic DDB Volkswagen "lemon" ad. Check out Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan.

Almost every ad today pushes you to the product whether you like it or not. Can we not sell a product without throwing it in your face? On a recent client meeting, my client took a look at a well designed ad with a nice graphic of bamboo tactfully placed on the ad in a stylistic manor. He said something that cut right through the crap. "Buddy, I am not selling bamboo", he said, which is absolutely true. He is selling food. We were attempting to create a design that pulled in the audience and took a more creative approach, but we missed the boat - sushi boat in this instance. So we design ads that pull people in, this is just the way it has been done. One of the first things that Josh said in his speech hit exactly on this point. Everyone is ready for the pull, nobody expects the ad to push away. Club Clau pulled but also pushed people away, it was annoying, it was everywhere but damn it you wanted to see what was going on behind that rope. Same reason I went to the launch last night, besides the fact it is kinda my job to be there, I just wanted to see what is next.

All in all, it was a very interesting launch and for those who were paying just a bit of attention. You knew that there was something under the surface that you got but didn't quite get. What's next? Well, my friends, I do not know. I do know that we will find out in the next 40 days, if you are at all interested.