At the Mortar we love plumbing the depths of experiences among our clients and offering spokespeople as expert sources. There are, however, occasions when we would counsel against such a program.

Example numero uno below:

Former FEMA Director and Director of Corporate Strategy for Cotton Companies Michael D. Brown Available for Interviews Regarding California Wild Fires

NEW YORK, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Michael D. Brown, Former FEMA Director and Current Director of Cotton Companies, one of the leading disaster preparedness and restoration organizations in the nation, is available for comment regarding the wild fires that are devastating Southern California.

Currently, the brush fires are affecting hundreds of local businesses and have forced more than 500,000 people out of their homes. Of these 500,000 people, an estimated 10,000 of them have taken shelter at the local NFL stadium, Qualcomm, vaguely reminiscent of circumstances of Hurricane Katrina evacuees two years ago.

“The agency has learned some hard lessons regarding the handling of mass evacuations especially in regard to the bureaucratic red tape that is involved in such a process,” said Mr. Brown. “This is a tragic time for many of the people of California, and Cotton Companies is working to ensure that normalcy is restored and that businesses and organizations are back up and running as soon as possible.”

Cotton has already deployed a team to San Diego to prepare recovery efforts and has a Community Assessment Team in full force.

Mr. Brown can speak to the turmoil being caused by the California wild fires as well as to some of the new processes in disaster relief efforts that will help to restore California communities. He can offer advice to residents and businesses on proper relief and recovery efforts and provide suggestions for future disaster preparedness.

Since its inception in 1996, Cotton Companies, the nation’s leading provider of disaster recovery services, has been coming to the aid of businesses and communities coast to coast with its ability to react, take charge, mobilize and execute on the spot crisis management. Cotton has responded to such high-alert disasters as Hurricane Katrina and the tragedy of 9/11 in New York City.

For real.

Hat tip to Americablog.

You may recognize the gentleman holding the cup of gourmet coffee as one Winston "The Wolf" Wolf.

He solves problems.

What, you may ask, is The Wolf doing on the Mortarblog? Did Will get careless with a firearm? Are people frantically cleaning the back seat of a 1974 Chevy Nova right now?

No.

The Wolf, as you may know, is played by actor Harvey Keitel, whose birthday is May 13th.

Someone else we know shares Mr. Keitel’s birthday.

Joe Louis? Great fighter. But not who we’re thinking of.
Stevie Wonder?  Right day, wrong guy.
Dennis "The Worm" Rodman? Dear lord, no.

We’re thinking of the newest Mortaron, Sara Eleanor Ransick.

Sara joined Mortar on Sunday, May 13, at 4:50 PM, weighing in at a very respectable 8 lbs., 1 oz.

Sara is a Taurus – we know she will grow strong like bull.

May she rebound like Rodman, sing like Stevie, have a jab like the Brown Bomber, and solve problems as dependably as The Wolf.

Remember, Sara (and the rest of you, for that matter,) the wise words of The Wolf:

"Just because you are a character doesn’t mean you have character."

Am I the only person who didn’t realize the  ElfYourself promotion was designed to promote OfficeMax as a gifting destination.

Um. That’s a long freaking road to hoe.

What kind of person gives office supplies for Xmas?

Still, reports abound ElfYourself was a huge hit with traffic peaking at 11 people a second.

And there I was thinking the whole point was to make us feel good about OfficeMax. Apparently, that is no longer a viable marketing goal.

Read more about  Elf’s success on Ad Age here. Oh and see the thing itself here.

Several blogs covered our new campaign for San Francisco’s St Mary’s Medical Center. Check them out:

St Mary’s Center Ad: A humorous approach to healthcare.
"…Of course, this ad campaign has humorously treated a very sensitive
aspect of human life and it could be dubbed as a path-breaking
advertisement in healthcare advertising.

MortarSF uses light hearted approach to healthcare advertising. Adland was the first to pick up the post. Their readers commented:

Come onnnnn. Not to be nasty, but the famous last words idea has been done a bazillion times. No, wait – quadrillion. – Plywood.

Well I like it. It feels fresh in this category and loads better than the last tagline I heard for an a & e clinic "Treat every illness like an emergency". I reckon consumers would appreciate this light-hearted approach. –  Genau

See also St. Mary’s Medical Center unveils "QuickCare ER",  Adhurl and MarketingBlurb picked up the release.