Bart Cleveland, of McKee Wallwork Cleveland, sounds like a good boss. One of my daily goals is to take a walk around the agency and talk to everyone. I really just want to observe how they’re feeling. I want to encourage an excitement within each of them to do something great. Going from good to great is like growing apples, you have to prune and fertilize and water and wait. The waiting part is really hard for me. …
Dallas Secedes From Bible Belt
Brandweek: The Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau wants to get the word out that the Texas city welcomes everyone unconditionally. The bureau's new Web site launched this week, glbtdallas.com, features content for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender travelers including GLBT TAG- (Travel Alternatives Group) Approved hotels—now standing at 16 properties—and other gay-friendly restaurants, art museums and cultural …
AOL Added To List Of Heathens
Adfreak's Tim Nudd points to AOL's new instant messaging campaign, which makes use of the phrase, I AM. Clever, right? Maybe. But it's none too appealing to the devout, who listen to the thunder shout, "I AM!" World Net Daily: AOL customer, Ian Millar wonders if any of AOL's marketing and planning directors ever went to Christian Sunday school or attended Jewish services. He points out to AOL executives that "I AM" …
Bay Area Blogerati
Average humans who start a blog load the software to their server, or if that's too complicated they sign up for one of the hosted services. Then they commence posting. And that about wraps up the startup. the Trotts Nick Denton and his Gawker crew are an entriely different beast. When they launch a new media prop, it's drinks for everyone. Everyone that's anyone, that is. …
Truth In Packaging?
[via Ilya Vedrashko] …
Truckers Cry Foul
Ad Age: Coke may think the monster truck-cum-pied piper in its Full Throttle spot plays the hero, but America’s truckers are calling it reckless and have begun a letter-writing campaign to Coke demanding the ad be changed or dropped. The spot was created by Mother/New York. “Every year somebody in Madison Avenue gets lazy and does the old scary truck cliche. This year it was Coca-Cola,” said Mike Russell, …
RSS Ads Get Clicked
Adweek: Users receiving RSS feeds are much more likely to click on feed advertising than regular Web ads, according to a new study. Pheedo, a San Francisco company that helps publishers put ads in their Really Simple Syndication feeds, found that RSS ads received a 3.2 percent to 8 percent click-through rate during a study of traffic during the fall. Banner ads typically receive a click rate of less than 1 …
A Bold Move Whose Time Has Come
Budweiser does not get everything right. They've run countless lowest-common-denominator commercials, of late. They've engaged Miller in a battle they have no business taking part in (only challenger brands stand to gain from such activities). But this latest piece of news from Media Daily News reveals that someone in St. Louis "gets it." In a move that's sure to cause a stir at ABC, as well as the other major …
Ponying Up To The Art House
USA TODAY: Critics must be thrilled that the splashiest Oscar nominations Tuesday went to high-minded yet low-budget and mostly R-rated films. But those who follow the money gave mixed reviews to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' best-picture finalists: Brokeback Mountain; Capote; Crash; Good Night, and Good Luck; and Munich. The films, targeted to relatively narrow audiences, might not attract lots …
Drive Away From The Storm
USA TODAY: Car-rental giant Hertz has changed its contracts to make customers responsible for damage from acts of nature. It told its best customers last month that they'll be responsible for auto damage from natural causes such as windstorms, hurricanes and tornadoes. In the past, it was the rental firm's responsibility. Avis and Budget are moving in the same direction. The general principle has always been that …