MacDonald Manufacturing Concern

Strike Broken - Site Resuming Operations

Our long, national nightmare is over. Thanks to the crack strikebreakers at the Pinkerton Detective Agency, we will soon be resuming regular posting. But first we'll clean house a little.

See you next week.

Matt

Workers on Strike: Site on Hiatus.

The little elves that keep this operation running have gone on strike. Therefore, MacDonald Mfg. is going on hiatus until January 3rd, when our kneecap-bustin' Union Breakers arrive on-loan from GM.

As I always do during our annual holiday work stoppage, I will be enjoying this time by not thinking about advertising. I urge you to do the same.

Merry, you know, whatever.

Holiday Time

Advertising always gets so dead this time of year. The month or so between Thanksgiving and New Year's is basically one alcohol-sodden party after the next, until January comes and everyone goes in for their annual liver biopsy.

That's just one excuse for why posts will be sporadic this week. I'm actually taking something called a "vacation", which apparently involves days where I don't go into the office. It sounds almost like that mythical work-free "weekend" that people keep whispering about in hushed tones.

The Horse Mating Mystery Continues.

I'm proud to annouce that MacDonald Manufacturing Concern is now one of the top six "horse mating" sites on Google. With your help and support, I know we can overtake the Animal Mating Zone for that coveted #1 spot.

[Meanwhile, search "Matt MacDonald" and this site doesn't come up for 12 goddamned pages. Are we sure this "Google" thing is all its cracked up to be?]

Horse Mating

I just looked through my web stats and discovered that Google searches for "Horse Mating" are leading people here. May I offer my apologies to all those seeking hardcore equine pornography. We might consider a format change someday, but for the moment, we're going to stick with advertising.

Where I'm at.

Work is kicking my ass this week. Seriously. I'm crumpled on the floor of my office right now, bleeding from my ear a little. Could you hand me a Kleenex? Thanks.

Posts will happen sporadically when I'm not at the client in New Jersey, revising animatics, doing a mix, working on a pitch, doing new 'boards, attending briefings, or drinking to make the hurt go away. Apologies to my regular readers. Both of you.

Radio, the bastard medium.

Just uploaded some of my radio ads to the portfolio section of this fair website.

Generally, radio gets shafted as an advertising medium. Most creatives hate working in radio because its seen as the bastard child of TV. Until yesterday, Cannes didn't even allow agencies to enter audio-only ads for award consideration. Which is a shame if you're one of those people, like me, who believe some of the best work done in the past few years just happened to be in radio.

Consider Budweiser's "Real American Heroes" campaign, which proved so successful in radio they turned it into a television campaign.

Or Cliff Freeman's "60 Second Theater" for Hollywood Video, boiling down bad movies to sixty seconds.

Personally, I've always loved radio for the simple reason that it levels the playing field. Budgets don't matter so much as the idea and the performance. Where else can you fool people into believing you're bigger than you are? (And don't say a gay bar in Chelsea.)

Historical Ads

Check out the new collection of historical ads from MacDonald Mfg. Concern. We're sure they would have won all the Pencils and Lions in the world had their publication not predated those contests by a good fifty years.

More to come.

Welcome to the new site.

Welcome to the new site. Both of you. I'm in the process of adding content, features, and photos. So while the site may look thin as of today, it should get nice and American-sized* in the days and weeks to come. In the meantime, have a look at my online portfolio. Or just go somewhere else. Up to you.

* Fat.