It might be too much information, but I use Axe deodorant. I certainly don't fit their target demographic, but it's an interesting case of how a new brand in a tired packaged goods category can get big fast. Ad Age takes a closer look at Axe: The brand has risen remarkably with edgy creative and a marketing message to unleash your inner animal magnetism in a category where efficacy is normally the selling point. Axe …
Life Imitates ‘Spaceballs’
From The Mainichi Daily News: Japanese convenience store operator Seven-Eleven Japan has breathed fresh air into its product lineup by announcing it will add cans of oxygen to its shelves. The firm said it would make an entry into the rapidly expanding oxygen market and begin selling cans of oxygen on May 24. Oxygen has emerged as a popular new product and sparked the creation of city "oxygen bars" that provide …
Technology Delivers Content. Content Brings Dollars.
The company that has long "owned" the desktop operating system business, now wants to focus on content. Why? Because content brings ad revenue to the table in a big way. Google's search content has proven this. From Info World: Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer downplayed his company's rivalry with Google on Thursday, saying Microsoft is more focused on creating Internet content and other services that …
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Even Anarchy Is A Brand
If you work in or pay attention to advertising, it helps to have an appreciation for irony. This New York Times article, for instance, demands it. Consumer cynicism is a topic of great interest to Amanda Helm, an instructor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. In connection with her research, she has conducted in-depth interviews with about two dozen consumers on the subject and has looked …
Using Advertising To Make Art
Ad people hitting on all cylinders may or may not be making art--we could debate the point for years--what it clear is that artists are increasingly making art from advertising. Rodney White, a visual artist living in Brooklyn, is one such artist. Look at this brilliant composition and use of type (to say nothing of the messaging): White descibes the inspiration for his pieces: I see things everywhere and everyday …
This Is Fucking Funny
Care of Transnationalblueblood …
Sellin’ It
RestrictionsApply at Why Advertising Sucks sees just how pathetic we who toil away in advertising are. We, the industry as a whole, are perhaps the only people who collectively hate what we do for a living, where each day is a living hell. There is no evidence of job satisfaction. Sure, there is no perfect job, but everyone who doesn’t work in this industry just seems happier. Which begs the question; Just who the …
You Stink So Good
Earlier this week, it was the makers of PLAY-DOH tapping into the power of scent. Today we have the makers of pungent cheese doing the same. From the Telegraph: The makers of Stilton have come up with a unique way of promoting their pungent blue cheese - a Stilton-scented perfume. Eau de Stilton will, apparently, "re-create the earthy and fruity aroma of Blue Stilton cheese in an eminently wearable perfume". It …
One Brand, One Story
Randall Rothenberg, director of intellectual capital at Booz Allen Hamilton, and author of Where The Suckers Moon on the promise (mostly unfulfilled) of integrated marketing. Why listen to Web wizards on integration? Because the medium has a naturally integrative function. As long ago as 1999, graphic design gurus Bill Drenttel and Jessica Helfand were showing clients that corporate Web sites, simply because of the …
Struggling For The Right Word
Imagine how hard copywriters would work if the ads they created became more expensive by the word. Consider the following on real estate classified ads from New York Daily News: Luxury is out. Old-World Elegance is in. As the city's real estate market slows, even the want ads must work harder. Brokers are freshening up their verbiage and pumping up the volume in newspaper and Internet ads. Luxury is one of the words …