Bob's Blog

I had the requirement to fly over the Thanksgiving holiday to help open our new headquarters, which meant I got to meet many travelers in the airports. I wasn’t going to fly back over the holiday, but I couldn’t wait to see Jane Jones and her new baby, Sean Callum. She told me Sean is South African for Bob, but I didn’t buy it. Jane is one of our first employees at The Archer Group and the delightful voice you hear when you call our offices. Happily, everyone is doing great!

While I was flying, I finished my book and started thumbing through the in-flight magazine. After a great article on Las Vegas, I turned to an ad for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. I have a real soft spot for BB/BS ever since I was a big brother while working on Wall Street. Despite being young, single and working crazy hours on the exchange floor, being a big brother gave me a grounding for what is important in life.

The ad was a very creative approach to enlist new mentors and had none of the smiley faced kids you would expect. The ad asked if you knew someone who would make a good big brother/big sister and gave you a message to photograph with your mobile phone and send on to that person.

The ad offered a compelling message with a novel way to take immediate action through picture messaging. With all of the different advertising mediums, I feel that the biggest impact comes from the merging of the mediums to the consumer. The consumer doesn’t just surf the web or read magazines; consumers frequently pass from one medium to the other, even engaging both at the same time. Effective ad campaigns like Big Brothers/Big Sisters embracing that mixing of the mediums to achieve great results!

Besides airport delays, one of the biggest things I hate is dealing with ground transportation. I make it a point to find a driver I like in each city and build a relationship with that person. He or she begins to know what I like and is able to make me feel immediately comfortable with a bottle of my favorite local wine and that day’s business paper waiting for me in the car.

On my most recent flight to speak at Wake Forest, I had the distinct pleasure of sitting next to the wonderful Maya Angelou. We started talking about her time teaching American Studies there and how much technology students had today compared to when we went to school. As the plane descended, we were having a delightful conversation that we both wanted to continue over dinner.

As we picked up our bags, my driver friend Gerard greeted me with a big smile and a ‘Good Day Mr. Archer.’ Maya chuckled that this was the first time that she felt as if she was upstaged. Gerard took both of us to dinner at a great little spot outside of town. Thanks to Gerard, they had our table ready and waiting. Maya and I went to the bar for a drink before dinner.

While we were at the bar, we ended up talking with some executives from a local company who were celebrating a new product launch. They had just launched a new gas pump that integrates Google maps into a screen on the pump. You can view maps, find businesses and print directions while you fill up. They showed us some pictures, which looked quite impressive.

After dinner and dropping Maya off at her hotel, Gerard drove me back to my hotel. I was chatting with him about the new Google gas pump. He loved the whole concept and immediately realized one advantage which I had overlooked: You can get directions without anyone in the car knowing that you were lost. I asked him if that ever happened to him. He replied “Mr. Archer, if you haven’t noticed, then I’ve never been lost.”

We both chuckled the rest of the way.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Philadelphia. Philly is one of those old american cities that has successfully bridged its old world history and the modern era. If you have any doubts, simply tour the Constitution Center. Known affectionately as ‘the city of brotherly love’ or ‘the city that boo-ed Santa Claus’, Philly got a new monicker this week as ‘The ugliest city in America’.

My long-time friend and fellow Philly-file, Bruce Willis, sent me a link to an article in Travel and Leisure magazine in which the authors claim Philly as the ‘ugliest city in America’. Bruce and I met while he was working at DuPont and I was consulting to the chemical giant. During his shoot of 12 Monkeys, we spent a lot of time playing the card game Whist in his trailer and sharing Philly stories.

While I could spend time debating the legitimacy of this article, but I rather talk about what rebel agency, Gyro Worldwide, did instead. Gyro is a long time Philly agency that doesn’t pull any punches, even taking on local businesses for the quality of their logo. Gyro took the new moniker and made a series of print ads with catch phrases including “Everyday is Halloween in Philly” and “Come visit Ugly town USA”. Gyro is going so far as placing these ads in Travel and Leisure in support of the city.

I printed out one of these ads and wrote a note on it to Bruce saying “Philly may also be the most creative city in America!”