The Blog
The importance of having a breadth of knowledge and a sense of curiosity.
Al Navarro, CCO & Co-Founder Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve no doubt heard of The Roots, the Philadelphia rap group that serves as the house band for Jimmy Fallon’s version of “The Tonight Show.” Arguably the most famous member of The Roots is Amir...
Observations and opinions from the show floor of one of the largest trade shows in the country.
Al Navarro, CCO & Co-Founder If you are at all into cars, and maybe even if you aren’t, you’ve no doubt heard about SEMA — the Specialty Equipment Market Association trade show held annually in Las Vegas. Even though it’s not open to the general public, the show is...
Why Companies with Internal Creative Departments Still Use Ad Agencies
Al Navarro, CCO & Co-Founder One development I’ve noticed over the 15 years Mint’s been in business is that many companies have started or expanded their own in-house creative department. Brands like Target, Hyundai, and Fidelity all have in-house creative departments...
The Top 5 Mantras That 15 Years of Mint Has Taught Me
Author, Eric Schoenfeld CEO If you build it, they will come. When it’s a company that you helped co-found, it certainly makes you loyal to whom you work for! I think the longest position that Al, Billy or I ever held before this wasn’t more than 4 years. And we...
How A Baking Show Can Teach You Almost Everything You Need To Know About Advertising
By Al Navarro, Chief Creative Officer Source: The Great British Baking Show / PBS If you haven’t heard of it, there’s a very popular baking show in the UK called “The Great British Bake Off”. It’s shown on PBS (renamed “The Great British Baking Show” due to a...
New Local “Client Worthy” Restaurant Opens Up Near Mint HQ
When we moved our headquarters to Clinton from Branchburg, one of the things staffers were most looking forward to was proximity to a town center — and a bevy of new restaurants to try. Five years later, what was once new and different is now the norm…and we’re always...
Creator Branding in Pop Music
By Al Navarro, CCO & Co-Founder
I’m the father of two young women, one in college and one a high school senior. So I get exposed to a lot of music that I might not hear were it not for my kids. One somewhat recent song is “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd (that’s “Ear Drummers” spelled backwards). It’s a catchy (if not entirely family-friendly) song that defies categorization. While it does feature rapper Gucci Mane (what’s up with these names?), it’s much more melodic than most songs in the rap genre.
Mint Advertising wins two ADDY Awards
Clinton, N.J. — Mint Advertising, a full-service advertising agency with its main headquarters in Clinton, N.J. and a satellite office in Allentown, Pa., won two silver American Advertising (ADDY) Awards at a ceremony hosted by the Philadelphia Ad Club in center city...
Mint Advertising Wins Platinum in the LACP Vision Awards Annual Report Competition for fourth year in a row
Mint Advertising, a full-service advertising agency with its main headquarters in Clinton, N.J. and a satellite office in Allentown, PA., took home a Platinum award (the highest possible level) in the 2015/16 League of American Communications Professionals (LACP)...
Helping Lawn Doctor, Inc. Reach New Customers
Lawn Doctor franchisees from all over the country use these door hangers to reach new customers. Due to the different regions and service offerings of each Lawn Doctor location, a variety of door hangers were created to accommodate location and services offered. These...
Two big thumbs down for false advertising in movie trailers
By John Schlicher, Senior Copywriter Image Source: Milner's Blog I admit it. I’m a Star Wars nerd. I’ve memorized tons of useless trivia, like where the Millennium Falcon was docked at Mos Eisley Spaceport (docking bay 94, of course). I have a pretty impressive...
The best James Bond you’ve never heard of?
By Al Navarro, Co-Founder and CCO Source: YouTube So, the other day, I was walking through the creative department and overheard people talking about James Bond. Being a fan of both the novels and the films, I joined in and eventually the talk turned to favorite...
How to Come Up With Ideas… When You’re All Out of Ideas
By: Al Navarro, Co-Founder & CCO When I was a fresh-out-of-school junior copywriter working on Madison Avenue (well, technically, the office was on Third Avenue), there was an experienced writer at my company named Sid. And while he would often resort to puns, one of...
Colorado Ad Agencies are High on Weed. Literally.
By John Schlicher, Senior Copywriter Over the holidays, I asked my wife’s 67-year-old uncle (who resides in Boulder, Colorado and was in town visiting family) what’s been the most noticeable differences he’s seen since the legalization of marijuana in the state....
Guess Who’s Turning 15 This Year…
Time truly does fly. When they started Mint in late 2002, Eric was still a Manhattanite, Billy was single and childless, and Al had 20/20 vision. What began with 3 guys working out of Billy’s apartment on the banks of the Delaware River has grown to over 20 staffers...
Number 23 with a Bullet!
Mint Advertising was recently named one of New Jersey’s top 25 advertising agencies by NJBIZ, New Jersey’s leading business journal. We came in at …drum roll, please…Number 23 on the list — which is based on the total 2015 capitalized billings for each agency. “In...
When commerce becomes art.
By Al Navarro, CCO Last November, the Johnny Walker brand of scotch released its latest mini-movie, starring actors Jude Law and Giancarlo Giannini. Entitled “The Gentleman’s Wager II”, the viral video continues the storyline of two wealthy men (it’s unclear whether...
The pitch is dead. Long live the pitch.
By Al Navarro, CCOAt the end of 2015, I carved out a few hours to review (then recycle) the stack of magazines that has been sitting on floor of my office for most of the year. It was a mix of ad biz mags, trade pubs for various client industries, automotive “buff...