USA TODAY reports that Marriott International CEO J.W. Marriott Jr., blasted hard line Republicans for their anti-immigration stance. The U.S. House on Tuesday approved legislation that would make criminals of illegal immigrants and employers who hire them, even unknowingly. The Senate has yet to debate the bill. "Do you look upon yourselves as felons?" Marriott asked the crowd of more than 600 hotel executives and …
Ambien Wakes Up To The Bad Press
There's nothing like a few weeks of TV news horror stories to get a marketer motivated. From Ad Age: Two weeks after news that taking Ambien could result in binge eating and driving while asleep, sales of sleeping medications began tanking, finally causing Sanofi-Aventis to wake up and advertise the safety of its product. And it looks like rivals won't be far behind. The print campaign for Ambien, the $2.1 billion …
Babej And Pollak Bring Their Reasoning To Forbes
Marc Babej and Tim Pollak, partners at Reason Inc. and writers of Being Reasonable, have a new gig. Forbes has brought them on as columnists. Here's some of what they offer in their first riposte for the business magazine. The demonization of selling (as practiced by advertising creatives) is counterproductive to the end game of commerce--and it's expensive. Marketing represents a substantial chunk of annual …
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Farley Returns To Drive Traffic To Lame Website
An ad campaign for Prometa, a medical treatment program for addicts, features deceased comedian Chris Farley as a silent spokesperson. A few days ago, Farley’s face appeared on a billboard on the Sunset Strip with the caption “It wasn’t his fault.” Here’s the banner ad version: My only disconnect is the Prometa website. It is timid, antiseptic and eerily like every other pharmaceutical-type site ever made. (It’s …
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Don’t Tell Goodby
TV advertising is already in a vise grip, as client spending moves to the interweb, event marketing and other areas. Now, this news from Ad Age: Don't be so quick to sneer at that late-night Ginsu-knife ad. It likely represents the future of TV advertising. Direct-response TV experts boldly predict that in five or 10 years all TV advertising will be some form of direct-response as mainstream marketers seek greater …
Noooooooooo
USA TODAY reports Major League Baseball's online unit, MLB Advanced Media, is taking its biggest step into non-sports entertainment by joining with music marketing and licensing power Signatures Network in a 50-50 venture. Their still-unnamed partnership, forged late last month, will offer musicians in Signatures' stable ways to use the Internet to take charge of their images and financial affairs. Signatures …
…And Mexico Runs On Churros
Taglines are difficult to write. Nike's famous, "Just Do It" is one in a million, for instance. With that in mind, here's Hill Holiday's new effort for Dunkin' Donuts. I get where the line is going, but it asks that I, and all who encounter it, suspend disbelief. I'm willing to do that with a really great film, but not with a mediocre tagline. …
DeVito/Verdi Climbs Out On A Tender Limb
DeVito/Verdi is one of the more creative agencies in the land. Therefore, I was surprised to see the following pro-bono campaign from the New York shop. If we can put aside what we think about Bush and his war, and focus just on the ad, it's simply not up to DeVito's own standards. No big idea, no arresting visual, nor any thought-provoking copy. For that matter, how can any soldier in Iraq be put "at ease?" This …
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