At the risk of sounding totally out of touch, I watched my first complete episode of MTV's Pimp My Ride last night. The show is hosted by rapper and Columbia recording artist, Xzibit and showcases the work of West Coast Customs, a Los Angeles body shop. In a nutshell, the show's producers find the worst rust buckets on the street, Xzibit shows up and let's the vehicle owner know their ride is about to be pimped, or …
Branding May Be Sick But It Ain’t Dead
Hugh over at Gaping Void has been carrying the torch for the idea that "Branding Is Dead." It's a hot topic, if the long list of comments he generates is any proof. Here's my favorite response to Hugh's claim: "You're making an assumption that branding is all about advertising so that if you do shitty advertising you're not branding. Nothing can be further from the truth, in my opinion. Branding is what your …
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Another Dinosaur Dismisses Blogs (And Misses The Point)
"As the election campaign unfolded, operators of some of the internet …
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Conspiracy Theory Informs Ad Campaign
James W. Walter, an eccentric millionaire from Santa Barbara, Calif., who over the years has financed programs promoting voter registration in low-income neighborhoods and prison reform, has recently taken a growing interest in the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks. In fact, Walter is so interested he opened his wallet to the tune of $3 million in order to finance a national ad campaign pressing for the reopening …
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Manifesto Destiny
Seth Godin--blogger, marketing guru and author of several famous books--had another in a long line of great ideas last summer. With the help of some smart and motivated interns, Change This was born. Change This publishes manifestos that call for positive social, cultural or economic change. Today my manifesto, New Tactics | New Tools: Marketers Embrace the New Democracy of the Web is now available on the Change This …
Trib Exec Uses Big Words To Minimize Blogs
"I read blogs, I think about blogs, I shake my head in wonderment at the bloggers' seeming indefatigability. But, more to the point, I shake my head in disappointment at how, in taking advantage of the Web's freedom to post a perspective, many of them fail even to aspire to the pursuit of perspicacity. That is, they publish because they hear 'something' from 'someone' who is 'reliable.' Sorry, not good enough." -Owen …
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Fallon Crosses Ocean For New Leader
Five months after David Lubars departed Minnesota for Manahttan, Paul Silburn has been hired to head Fallon's creative department, reports AdAge. Silburn is well-known for his work on brands including John Smith beer, Adidas and Lockets throat lozenges. In 2000, while at Publicis' Leo Burnett, London, he was the art director and copywriter for a John West canned salmon ad in which a fisherman fights a grizzly bear …
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Adweek Educates Slow Learners
"Oh, you ask, what's a blog?" -Catharine P. Taylor writing today in Adweek Is advertising a home to cutting edge creative people busy developing new and better ways to reach an audience? Or is advertising the province of self-important yes men (and yes women) focused on little more than preserving their place in the world? Given that the industry's trade journal of choice felt the need to publish an ABCs of blogging …