About once a month or so, Steve McKee of McKee Wallwork Cleveland writes a column for BusinessWeek, and he's always right on point. This month, he does it again with 5 Common B2B Advertising Myths: Over the years, my company has struggled with the creativity-limiting effects of myths like these many times. But we have also enjoyed breakthroughs with forward-thinking clients who overcome their pull. What we have …
Recruitment Advertising Is A Game. War, Not So Much.
USA Today reports that tomorrow's warriors are likely lurking in the gaming culture, popular with today's teens and 20-somethings. The U.S. Army is about to invade the online gaming community with an estimated $2 million sponsorship deal with the Global Gaming League website. Starting in June, the Army will sponsor a "national gaming" area as a way to tap into the site's 9.2 million players per month of everything …
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Do You Have A Gay Car?
There's plenty of media aimed at the GLBT audience, and they certainly have money to spend. Which means that there's a lot of advertising created to appeal to them. But do brands, such as cars, design their products specifically for that audience? There's an article in The New York Times today that explores why some cars tend to be thought of as appealing to gays and lesbians. A few years ago, Meghan Daum, an op-ed …
Jewel Can’t Drive 55
USA Today looks at one of my favorite topics—the explosion of content solutions brought to client tables by agencies. Gillette is producing an ABC prime-time reality series starring the group of NASCAR drivers — dubbed the "Young Guns" — who are featured in its TV ads and online. Gillette is a NASCAR sponsor for each driver and his race team. Gillette's ad agency, BBDO New York, came up with the idea for a reality …
Google Accused Of Interweb Robbery
Here are two polar opposite viewpoints from two prominent businessmen with blogs. Direct marketer, Bob Bly says: Google makes no secret of its contempt for copyright and intellectual property ownership — believing, as so many Netters do, that “information should be free.” To which I say, “Bull*(#$%*!!!” Serial entrepreneur, Jason Calacanis says: Google doesn't steal anyone's content. So which is it? Granted, Bly was …
Fine Art Is Fine For Brand Building
On Ad Age's behalf, Teressa Iezzi, the editor of Creativity magazine spoke to Sebastien Agneessens, founder of Formavision about the use of fine art in advertising. Agneessens, a gallery owner with an M.B.A. and a background in marketing at companies such as L'Oreal and Chanel, launched Formavision in 2002 when brands began to seek him out to curate their art adventures. Agneessens curated the Lexus 460 show as well …
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Local TV Brands Make Online Moves
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) is reporting on moves being made by local TV stations to build their brands online. TV stations have suffered body blows from the Web. Lucrative 11 p.m. newscasts are sinking in the ratings as more viewers go to the Internet for cable channels to get weather and sports information. While newspapers have had success building heavily trafficked Web sites, "people still don't …
Every Blog Entry. Ever.
Sheer brilliance, from Paula Scher at Pentagram. Sometimes designers just nail it, don't they? …