Coast, opens in the Luigi’s location the first weekend in May. Owned by Tony & Sue Berkhofer (he was the chef at West Lake Clam & Chowder House).

Ronjo – got a bronze job and is becoming a swanky hotel called Beach House.

Gosman’s Restaurant has a new chef! Dave Piacenti, who’s worked at ENE and 1770 House.

Goldberg’s Bagels is opening where Dr. Cannon’s old office was. Just around the corner Kathryn Nadeu’s been working her magic! Her new organic (and lovely smelling) hand spray is for sale at Moonlighting In Montauk.

Sloppy Tuna has an all-new second floor. The bar, now upstairs, has amazing views. New chef, Reed Lucas (a local) is doing a beach menu and a raw bar.

The Village Deli (aka “smelly deli”) got a big makeover. New tenants are the folks who own Fish Bar…we can’t wait. On the other side of the building, Chris Coleman is opening Saunders Real Estate’s first outpost in MTK.

La Bodega, owned by Paulette Davis and Julia Prince, is replacing Plaza Restaurant.

Lawrence Cook is asking everyone to come out July 21 and support the original locals – he’s the guy behind the new American Indian Museum and he’s trying to raise $750,000 to make it happen.

Sam Joyce, formerly of Gosman’s can now be found at Sammy’s on the dock where Clemente’s used to be. We hear there are large and small plates priced approximately $10 and $20 and locals are loving the food.

When Pig’s Fly has flown away. Kailani is selling Montauk Coordinates necklaces and Montauk nameplate necklaces and will hold trunk shows this summer. Willow has a new jewelry line coming in.

Dominique Garsten has purchased Sangha Yoga, she’s renovating and reopening in May. We’re so glad that Deep Hollow Ranch riding stable is now being run by the Keogh family! Ditch Witch is back. (Phew!) Vintage Pink (In a Pepto Bismol color, you can’t miss) is a new antique shop, owned by Julie Miller.

OutEast will host an opening for local artist Dalton Portella May 19th. Right next door Jesse Joeckel’s Whalebone is reopening with an expanded line of surf-inspired T-shirts, bags, hats and more.

Zum Schneider MTK, a satellite of a popular East Village bierhaus, is opening where Oyster Pond was.

We hear Lenny’s is going to be called Swallow East (and no, they are not the same folks who brought us the Sloppy Tuna! But they did just buy Surf Lodge.)

Salivar’s apparently has some issues…. and may not open this season.

Herb’s is for sale! Shagwong is for sale! Montauket is for sale! Heck, b+f is for sale… for the right price. Have a great summer, everyone. We will see you at the beach!

Did we miss some news you know about? Comment here or post it on our Facebook.

Lynn + Jill

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Late in 2010, The American Psychiatric Association announced it was probably dropping narcissistic personality disorder from its highly influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They were considering the change because narcissism is so prevalent. You can blame the Kardashians, but honestly, they’re not the only one at fault. A culture obsessed with “15 minutes of fame,” preceded her by decades.

At b+f we argue about social networks all the time. “It’s narcissism,” says Jill. “Look at me, look at my kids.” “Maybe, but it’s also a great way to connect with people,” says Lynn. Jill’s a private person and a private thinker. Lynn’s more of an extravert, had to learn Facebook and Twitter for the business, and now secretly (actually, not so secretly) loves sharing items she finds interesting. Lynn’s always loved connecting people and ideas. Jill has always loved teasing Lynn. Ok, she’s only loved it for 10 years. Before that she had her siblings.

A year ago, Facebook had over 500 million users, and was used by 1 in every 13 people on earth. over 250 million of them (over 50%) log in every day. The average user has about 130 friends (we imagine you’re far more popular than the average user). There are over 465 million accounts on Twitter and 175 million tweets are sent a day. Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber lead the Twitterverse – Gaga has about 20 million followers.

So are Facebook and Twitter examples of pervasive narcissism (not to mention 4 Square and Pintarest?) Or are they actually great tools for your business and a way to stay in touch with family, friends and your date to your senior prom? Yes, all of the above! For some businesses, Facebook, is a smart way to reach customers and Twitter is a great way to stay on top of breaking news and establish yourself as an expert. If you want to start a revolution, (whether it’s the Arab Spring, or the Save Ditch Witch protest of 2011) social networks are fast, free ways to galvanize your community. Tell us what you think. Post something on our wall. Lynn will read it. Jill… not so much.

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Do you love the fact that you can swim in our bays? Do you appreciate our beautiful trails, the osprey nests and wildlife out here? Wonder who fights developers and encourages lawmakers to make decisions that protect the environment? And who do you think is in the classrooms and on the fields turning students into future stewards of our environment?

Group for the East End! We’d heard of the Group, but honestly didn’t understand how profound an impact they have on the quality of our lives. After meeting with their president, Bob DeLuca and a talented and committed team, we learned that without the Group, this place would be commonplace.

We want to send out a big thank you to the Group. And, if you live on or love the East End, we want to ask you to thank them, too. Please visit the new website we just created with them, find out more about how they’re protecting the nature of the place you love. We think you’ll want to become a Groupie, too!

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OK, true confession. We don’t love football. In fact, pretty much the only football game either one of us has ever watched is the Super Bowl (unless you count Friday Night Lights). Now here’s a real shocker, even thought we both make TV commercials, we rarely watch them. Just like millions, we’ve invested in technology that allows us to fast forward – but once a year, we can’t wait to watch commercials!

Why do people get so excited about Super Bowl commercials?

Jill asked me this question just the other morning and Kris, a designer who works with us called in from the other room, “because they’re more creative.”  Aha! They are. If you want to excite people – creativity is key. But just because something’s creative doesn’t make it good, or worth the $3.5 million in air time a thirty second spot costs. Remember the gerbil that got shot out of a cannon? Uh huh? Do you remember what brand it was for? We don’t either.

We think the best commercials are entertaining, intelligent, relevant, and actually tell you (or even better sell you) the brand’s benefits.

Based on those criteria, here’s our take on some of the biggest winners and losers from super bowl 2012:

Hyundai Genesis Coop: A

Funny, unexpected, involving, original and shows off the car’s benefits beautifully. Great casting, too.

CLICK ON THE HYPER-LINKS TO WATCH THE COMMERCIALS ON YOUTUBE.

Chevy Camero Happy Grad:  A

Fun. Funny. Relevant. Hate to say it but they get away with people going berserk over their product in virtually every scene. Get this: Not done by an agency, but created by Zach Borst, a 26-year-old filmmaker from Long Island.

ETRADE: A-

Terrific example of a great (ongoing) ad campaign that has built the brand, these spots are amusing, attention getting can’t wait to see what they’ll do next. In this case, the line “Ya know, everything can cost upwards of…” line is brilliant That said the speed dating was a bit odd.

Hyundai Veloster: A-

Car’s too fast for the cheetah and the trainer isn’t fast enough?! We laughed out loud.

Budweiser Prohibition Ends! Lynn: A-/ Jill: C

Lynn: Beautiful production, product as hero, anthemic.
Jill: Just not that entertaining (By the way, Jill’s a beer, but never a Bud drinker).

sketchers: A-

Perfect for the audience. Who doesn’t love an ugly French bulldog in sneakers? A pithy exchange between him and a greyhound could have made it an A+.

DORITOS Dead Cat:  A-

A bit predictable and sophomoric but funny (Even to a cat lover).

Chevy Silverado: A -

We both like competitive tone, Jill likes the Twinkees, too. Made Thom Fleming (The Giants and Jill’s biggest fan) want to buy a Silverado – and he’s their market.

TIMEWARNER Cable: B

We love Ricky Gervais. And the special effects were cool. Never really think of TWC as bringing you everything from Facebook and Twitter to Showtime…

Fiat: B

Beautiful girl. Cute car. Dorky guy, amusing but wanted it to be better than it was.

Toyota Camry: Lynn: A-/Jill: B

Lynn: Beautifully told, simple story. Non-clichéd interesting images. Emotional and relevant because it’s “everyman’s” car.
Jill: Yes, good imagery, but not an A as I’ve seen it before.

Samsung: B+

Ridiculously over the top but it kind of what Super Bowl ads are supposed to be so it worked for us.

PEPSI Elton John: B

Universal concept, great production values, and the product is the hero. Using the winner of the X factor and a character from Glee along with Elton John and Flavor Flave appeals to all ages – (as does Pepsi.) Totally in keeping with the Pepsi brand but not as exciting as their spots used to be.

H&M David Beckham: B

Calvin’s been here before, but we can’t lie, we don’t mind looking at David Beckham, but not many of the men we know liked this spot.

BUDWEISER: B (Eternal Optimism/CULT “Eternal Optimism”)

Pepsi may have done something like this years ago but this was cool. Great music.

Dannon Greek Yogurt “The Tease”: B

Funny send up of the typical yogurt spot. “Possibly the best yogurt in the world” – possibly the most mediocre tag line we’ve ever heard.

Volkswagon: B-

Dog gets in better shape so it can chase a car that’s in better shape. Good strategy. Great dog. We like the premise, but when they pull back to reveal the Star Wars crowd watching this year’s spot at the bar, it’s too self referential. Who cares?

Audi: B-

Mildly amusing, but is anyone going to buy a car because of headlights? And are Twilight fans really your audience, Audi?

Bud Light: B-

Here we go – again. Great rescue dog but we’ve seen this spot for Budweiser, for Coors, for decades. Derivative, but at least they’re helping rescue dogs.

KIA Jill: B-/Lynn: D

This spot has all the right ingredients but it tries too hard and the recipe failed. Imagine what Gerry Graf would have done with it.

TaxAct: C

Totally Free? How ‘bout totally borrowed interest, but very cute kid. Wonder if people will remember or care.

Met Life: C+

Charming. Sweet message. So much unrealized potential.

ACURA: C

Jerry Seinfeld is renowned for his collection of Porches, why is he doing this? There’s not a line in the spot that is as well written as his show was. (But he does elevate the material). We wanted to really laugh and we really wanted to like the spot, sorry, Jer.

Lexus The Beast: C-

Beastly weak. Great production value for absolutely nada.

“Masters of Style” Gillette Fusion ProGlide Styler: C-

What a waste of talent and money. We love these actors. It would have been nice if someone had written something interesting and filmed something stylish.

Honda CRV (Matthew Broderick): C-

We’re not wild about Matt, and honestly this ad nearly put us to sleep. That said, we get the strategy: For middle-aged people (i.e. Ferris Bueller fans) the CRV is a fun car, so go out and live your life in it.

Hyundai “Anthem”: C

Huge cast, huge production dollars, all to let me know that the designers at Hyundai aren’t that creative. Guessed that by looking at the cars.

Go Daddy: F

BADVERTISING on every level. We hate these spots. Sex may sell, sexism doesn’t. And we want our cloud to be strong and reliable, NOT STUPID!

Toyota Camry: F

What a waste of money. Completely borrowed interest. No product benefits. Bummer. (By the way an Ad Age Blogger loved this spot. That’s what makes horse races and Super Bowl Blogs.)

Spots too boring or expected to grade: Ford, BMW, GE, Budweiser Platinum, Breakstone, TelaFlora, Toyota’s Eli Manning, spot, and others.

Well, you know what they say about opinions – we hope you enjoyed ours. A few other random comments and observations: This year you could have called the Super Bowl the car bowl. Twenty-five percent of the Super Bowl commercials were for cars – what does that say about an industry that was in the toilet just 3 years ago? It could also have been called the been there done that bowl. Where was the breakthrough idea that we’d never seen before? Why are so many commercials SO AVERAGE when advertisers spend over a million on production and over three million dollars on thirty seconds? We’d like to suggest every advertiser have to pay 1 percent of what they spend on production (including talent and music licensing) and we’d like to see the NFL and NBC donate 1 percent of what they earn in air time to rotating charity, annually.

Related Topics: Elton John, Jerry Seinfeld, Matthew Broderick, Montauk, Super Bowl 2012, Super Bowl 2012 Commercials, and matthew broderick super bowl ad

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In 1984, Steve Jobs changed all that. Click here to watch comercial. His Apple was built for us “creatives”. Design mattered. Fun mattered. Music mattered. Art mattered. Macs were intuitive, Iphones were smarter, and Ipads turned octogenarians and babies into believers every minute of every day. Genius is an overused word, but Jobs was pure genius, there’s no way to eulogize the man. Look around your home, your office, your world, at all the products you love. Do you know the names of the CEOs of the companies who made them? It is remarkable to feel so much loss and sadness and to see it echoed all over the Internet by millions of others, like us, like you, who didn’t know Steve Jobs, but knew he changed the game, changed our lives, changed the world.

Today, when so many people are “thinking the same” let’s remember, moving forward, to think different. (Or for you grammarians, to think differently.)

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Who you were with.

Who you knew who might be in danger.

I moved here on September 1, 2001. The morning of September 11, I was living in an East Hampton rental with no TV. A friend instant messaged me saying a plane had hit the WTC. I assumed it was a small Cessna, until my phone started to ring like crazy.

Jill was editing a TV spot. When she got back home to Montauk there was great surf, but she couldn’t bear the thought of enjoying it while so many people were suffering. Unable to face a scarred Manhattan, Jill didn’t venture into the city for six months. A few days later I returned for meetings and was devastated as the Jitney headed towards the tunnel, Ground Zero was still smoldering and my “true South” was gone. I felt lost. Haunted by the people searching for their loved ones. And my thriving work as a freelance writer was gone indefinitely.

September 11, 2001 changed history. It also changed this place we call home. Quaint villages became year-round communities. City slickers gave up Manhattan for a different life. School enrollments expanded. New businesses grew. The Internet was in place. The impetus was there.

Ten years later, life has changed. blumenfeld + fleming wasn’t even a dream then and is now a nine-and-a-half year old reality. I met our first client on the beach the day after the towers went down. I doubt we’d have spoken if it hadn’t been for 9-11. On September 11, we both were grateful to be here. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed.











What do you remember? How has your life changed?

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In May, the manager of Prudential’s Southampton office called us. He’d heard us give a presentation on branding hosted by Hampton’s Magazine. He wanted to brand himself – make his name better known. “Are you sure you can do that? Don’t you have to stay within Prudential’s campaign?” we asked. “No, I’ve spoken to Dottie. I have permission to go outside the campaign.”

Great! We were all over it. In less than two weeks we turned around a campaign. We presented to the client and the Prudential marketing team in Bridgehampton.
The campaign was approved by all.

The first ad ran Memorial Day weekend and our phone started ringing. “Did you do that ad, it looks great!” “This is the publisher, we LOVE the ad!” The client’s phone started ringing. “Great campaign!” “Very attention getting.” So attention getting, he got a call from one of the owners of the company. “You’re fired.”

Why did he get fired? The corporation says it’s because the ad violated corporate ad guidelines. He (and we) had been assured that he could go out of the guidelines. What really (really!) happened is a mystery, and the resolution will probably occur behind closed doors. We thought we’d share the campaign you would have seen had it run as scheduled. We never thought it would result in anything other than raised awareness and sales.

Tell us what you think. And call Lynn for a print campaign that’s sure to get noticed! 631 668 0007

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1. Strategy. Don’t even get started without one. As much as you’re chomping
at the bit to start designing, wait and answer these questions: Who are
you talking to. What do you know about them? What is the main point
of difference that they need to know about your product or service?

2. Look at the competition. Don’t do something that exists (Doi! It’s not
flattering, it’s copying.) Learn how people in the sector are communicating.
You don’t want to be inappropriate, arbitrary or irrelevant but you don’t
want to blend in. It helps to have a good name to work with. Make sure
you don’t look exactly like another company.

3. Color. Color has to do as much with the category as the brand personality.
Of course don’t do the same color as your competitor! We tend toward
simple, pleasing, 1-3 color logos. Clients often tell us their favorite color is
green, but that doesn’t mean that’s the right color for their logo. For Race
Lane we mirrored some of the colors of the room, and kept the palette
very ‘Hamptons.’

4. Font. Font is your tone of voice. It conveys whether the company is
elegant, strong, restrained, conservative, bold, energetic, organic, hip,
(cheesy, cutesy). Font tells all of those stories, it’s about communicating
the brand’s personality. For Hampton & Co. we had a whimsical Jack
Russell representing the beach and chose a more conservative font to
anchor it in the tradition of the Hamptons.

5. Be Memorable. Think about the category benefit, or your product
or service’s benefit. Think about the company’s first initial to dial up
distinctiveness. For Endeavor, a sophisticated restaurant holding
company, Jill used the tines of a fork to create an E. Even the tines’
placement – upward, for energy and aspiration, are intentional. For
Aquatica Aviation, Jill created the A by having a seaplane ‘fly through it’ creating motion.
For HelpCare, the H actually ‘hugs itself,’ conveying warmth and support.

6. Does it pass the T-Shirt test? Does your logo make you proud? Will it work
on a T-Shirt, the side of a truck, your website and your business card?
These are some of the award-winning logos blumenfeld + fleming has
created in the past 8 years.

Click here or call 631 668 0007 if you want to learn more about how we can help you build a distinctive and memorable brand. Tell us what your favorite
logo is. And if you know someone starting a business, pass this on!

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The magazine, Homes of the Hamptons, says their readers’ average household income is $626,000. Dan’s says their readers’ average household income is $381,000. According to Saunders, the average price first quarter for homes in 2010 for the Village of Sagaponack is $6,053,571. And Range Rover of the Hamptons sold 254 Range Rover HSE last year…. starting price is $79k. Not surprising when you realize that Alec Baldwin gets $150,000 for one Episode of 30 Rock (and that’s not counting residuals!)

These statistics could make you feel woefully inadequate, but for many of us who live and work here they’re actually good news.

Manhattan movers and shakers take over our charming hamlets from July 4rth to Labor Day, making our towns unrecognizable (the population jumps from 90,000 to 300,000!) our roads unbearable, and our businesses boom.

We love the onslaught! (though you might not believe it when we’re behind the wheel of a car.) These Prada wearing invaders rely on the builders, restaurants, retailers, caterers, banks and other businesses that rely on us to make them stand out.

So for those of you lucky enough to be in the elite demographic of the Hamptons, SHOP ON! For those of us lucky enough to live and work here, keep smiling and lay off the horn!

If you want to reach folks in the fabulous Hamptons, we know how to get their attention. email us! or call 631 668 0007 and ask for lynn.