Catharine P. Taylor weighs in on Organic's new strategic consulting practice, a unit that boldly intends to partner with agencies outside the Omnicom network. There are probably agencies out there who see this new unit as so much dot-com hubris, but what I've always enjoyed about interactive shops is their disdain for the ad industry's tried-and-true practices. As some of you know, I spent 2000 as the head of …
Grey Goes Green
Ad agencies, like most offices, are pretty wasteful places. Ad Age reports that Grey is trying to combat it. The agency has created a website where New York agencies can blog about their internal efforts to stem carbon emissions, and is trying to drive traffic to the site with a full-page ad in the official guide for Advertising Week, which will be held later this month, directing people to the site with a call to …
Dumb
Reuters is reporting that retail behemoth Wal-Mart is opting for a new slogan. Bland "Save Money. Live Better," replaces the trusty "Always low prices." It's the first new tagline for the company in 19 years. …
Officer of the Law Gets Salty with McWorker
When an organization has thousands or tens of thousands workers on the customer service front line, it's nearly impossible to maintain brand standards. According to AP, a McDonald's employee in Union City, GA failed to maintain brand standards and as a result found herself in jail. Kendra Bull, 20, said she accidentally spilled salt on hamburger meat and told her supervisor and a co-worker, who "tried to thump the …
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Kanye’s Got ED’s Back
I thought ED in '08 was short for Edwards, but no. It's short for Education. Marc Lampkin, executive director of ED in '08 said, "Together, we are urging the presidential candidates to put forward a plan to improve America's schools because in every community in America, too many children are leaving school without the skills to be ready to succeed in college, career and life." Every year 1.2 million American …
Tina Fey—The Clown Who Juggles
Warning! Typical press release language to follow: Juggling pressures from work and home life, from snake wranglers to putting out fires, Fey seeks a moment of refuge through the American Express customer care representative who frees her of liability for a fraudulent charge made on her American Express Card. "I'm so excited to be a part of the American Express 'Are you a Cardmember?' campaign," said Tina Fey. "I …
Facebook For Meathead and Archie
Restless, attention-deficient teenagers and 20-somethings may not be the most lucrative prospects for marketers investing in social networking. According to the New York Times, the smart money is flowing into new social networking sites aimed at a much more loyal, "sticky" audience: baby boomers and their elders. So while the kids flit from Friendster to MySpace to Facebook, the hope is that silverbacks and grayhairs …
MySpace for Self-Expression
Jamie Kantrowitz, MySpace’s London-based SVP for European marketing and content, recently spoke to paidContent about the difference between MySpace and rival Facebook. I think Facebook’s doing a really fundamentally different experience than MySpace - it’s more of a social software technology company, while we’re still fundamentally based on self-expression and culture and community. Our strength has always been …
Ed Cotton Wants Action
Ed Cotton of Butler Shine and Stern wants social networks to deliver on the wisdom of crowds promise. Facebook is attracting a ton of people and it's doing a great job with the basics, but the real "win" is leveraging the collective wisdom and power of crowds to do something interesting; to buy goods at a discount, to give loans, change the political system, raise environmental standards, reduce poverty and yes, even …
Curse A Client. Drive Away In A Porsche.
Ad Age is running a story that will encourage adholes everywhere. It seems Cramer-Krasselt CEO Peter Krivkovich had some choice words for former client CareerBuilder after being told the No. 1 jobs site was putting its account in review following a poor performance in the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter poll. "There are a few times in your life when you have to tell someone to fuck off and mean it," Mr. Krivkovich said …
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