Duck, It's Bob Garfield's Annual Best/Worst Pageant!

Bob Garfield's annual list of ads he "loved" and, even more important, "hated" is out today. While every pro in adland pretends to dismiss Snarlin' Bob, all hope to avoid his disdain. And if one of their spots ends up on the list of Bob's 10 favorites, then it's sure to get noted in the creative director's bio.

From the advertisers' point of view, the most unfortunate thing about Garfield's list is that those who belly-flopped at the Super Bowl last February get to see ancient history resurface. Admit it, you had forgotten just how bad those GM and Snickers spots really were, hadn't you?

Jack Flack often agrees with Garfield, primarily because the grouchy Bob-centric Garfield almost always insists that the purpose of advertising is to build the brand in a way that actually sells the product. (Which begs the question why the Wendy's wig-shtick is on the wrong list?)

Meanwhile, one of AdAge's other year-end lists, identifies a complaint Jack Flack has heard from many marketing reporters over the years, as Jennifer Rooney identifies "Ethographic Prowess" as one the top-10 issues on the minds of CMOs.

"Actions speak louder than words." There's a reason why this is a saying that's old as time. How many times have we been told that focus groups are dead and it is not enough to just listen to consumers, that instead we must watch them, carefully, cautiously and deliberately? We must observe whether their actions and their words line up. We have to understand consumers' mind-sets. Get inside their minds. Watch them in their native habitats. As if they were a newly discovered albino goat in the Italian Alps. Got it.

Yes, most new CMOs can't understand it when a reporter doesn't start scribbling furiously when told that the company is now taking the radical approach of "starting with the consumer." Maybe there's a connection between that naivete and the fact that Rooney's top issue for CMOs is CMOs getting canned more frequently than their C-suite counter-parts?

As the cliche goes -- Jack Flack will alert the media.