I regard a great ad as the most beautiful thing in the world.

- Leo Burnett

I went to the University of Iowa Museum of Art last weekend and saw this statue – Bob’s Big Boy. I love it. I love that this is the part of the ’special exhibition’ at an art museum that has a Picasso and a Pollock.

Being in the ad businesses I realize that I spend a lot of time looking at and evaluating ads. Then I looked at my walls at home and I realized that I spend even more time than I originally thought. I have an old Westinghouse ad over the stove and a Guinness poster in my office. To me, great advertising is great art. The converse is also true. Think Warhol’s soup cans …

Now let me be clear – I’m not saying that if you make it pretty ‘n artistic it’ll be good enough. Actually, I agree with another thing that Leo said:

Fun without sell gets nowhere but sell without fun tends to become obnoxious.

The Point? A simple equation for the narrow line(s) between art and science (and soft sell and hard sell) that great advertising must tread. And a couple great quotes from one of the great advertising men of the 20th Century. You can get more Leo quotes here and more info on the man from the company that still bears his name. Incidentally, the Leo Burnett site does a better job of infusing a brand with the soul of its founder than any other site I’ve seen. From quotes and stories to dynamic timelines and video, you leave with a clear picture of the man and the legacy he’s left behind.

Last night I caught the founders of Cereality, David Roth and Rick Bacher, on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. Now this truly is a remarkable concept – a bar/cafe that serves cereal. Not high-end, gourmet cereal. Just plain ‘ol Apple Jacks, Lucky Charms, Frosted Flakes, etc. But you – the customer – gets complete control of the experience. You can lay down a bed of delicious Golden Grahams, top them off with a few Cocoa Puffs, and add toppings like bananas to boot.

And the innovation doesn’t stop at the door. They’ve invented a user-friendly (and environmentally friendly) container with a clever spoon that has a flue in it for sucking the sweet, cereal-flavored milk (left). This is a perfect example of taking an activity that users love and building an experience around it. And you don’t sit at a table either. You stand at kitchen-island like counters.

Roth and Bacher came up with a winning concept. All of the parts already existed. All they had to do was connect the dots. Oh, and the pisser? They peddled this idea around to all of the cereal companies to solicit partnership opportunities and all they got was “good luck.” All except Quaker Oats, who was an early supporter and gave these innovators some start up cash. (There should be an award for companies that serve as “business angels” and support ideas like this but because there’s not I’ll lay off complaining about the oat smell in Cedar Rapids.)

The Point? It’s real “in” right now to talk about how companies like YouTube are changing the landscape of business and culture but this kind of shift can happen offline as well. Companies like Cereality are taking what’s successful about YouTube – an experience custom-sculpted around the user – and applying it successfully offline.

There was a great segment yesterday on CBS Sunday Morning talking about retail strategies for the holiday season. CBS’s Anthony Mason gets advice from two of my favorite marketing gurus – Seth Godin and Paco Underhill, retail anthropologist (love that title) and author of Why We Buy. And don’t think the segment only applies if you’re selling sweaters at the Gap or other holiday goodies. The retail tenets outlined apply to your online store as well. This story and Underhill’s book can be instrumental in refining your both your physical and online retail experience.

There was a great story on All Things Considered last night about the in-store artists that Whole Foods employs to create their unique signage. They employ them full time and provide health benefits. Wow. Read or listen to the story and if you’re not already familiar with them, learn more about this remarkable business.

Just a quick note to let you know that I’ve made a couple of modifications to the WesterBlog. The biggest is that I have enabled commenting (you have Larry Miller and his persistent lobbying to thank for that). Just remember to be nice and let’s get some conversations started.

Not so new but worth a mention – I’ve also added category labels for my postings so now you can search for all of my rants by subject (located on the top right hand sidebar under the heading ‘Labels’ – just below my ugly mug). Enjoy! And if you are enjoying, feel free to comment.