Pepto Bismol sees Cinco de Mayo as an over-indulgence occasion, and the P&G brand intends to benefit from it. When you visit the brand's YouTube page, you are able to pick a pinata, fill it up and then choose a method to burst it. Why? Why not? Sombrero tip to Todd Wasserman at Mashable. …
The Biggest Agency You’ve Never Heard Of Just Got Bigger
Aspen Marketing Services, the nation's largest marketing services firm, has been sold for "at least $345 million," according to The New York Times. The acquisition by the Epsilon unit of Alliance Data Systems underlines the growing role of marketing services in selling consumer products. Aspen’s specialties include direct marketing, digital marketing and the analytics that advertisers use to look for — and try …
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Travels With Harry Hurt And The Products He Prefers
Books were once sacrosanct. Now they're full of display ads and product placement. According to The Wall Street Journal, Harry Hurt III, has written Harry Hits the Road: Adventures in Love, Labor, and Modern Manhood, an account of his cross-country road partially funded by corporate sponsors. "Our economy is down and the traditional book publishing industry is down, so it's either cry in a corner, or do …
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Great With Pulled Pork, Great With Lobster Rolls
Cheerwine executives want to expand distribution to all 50 states by 2017. The highly differentiated soda brand from Salisbury, NC is currently available in just 10 states. To help reach its lofty goals, Carolina Beverage Corporation has hired Woods Witt Dealy & Sons, a New York agency with a creative reputation, according to The New York Times, to develop what is being called the brand’s biggest campaign to …
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Marketers That Suck At Selling Are Like Birds That Suck At Flying
Earlier today I posted an article about ad agencies needing to get better at positioning themselves and their client's brands in the marketplace. Now, let's turn to the other elephant in the room--selling. Derek Walker of Brown and Browner in Columbia, SC thinks ad people suck at selling. Here's the centerpiece from his latest piece on Ad Age's Small Agency Diary: If we are so good at selling: * How come …
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When Was The Last Time You Made A Great Print Ad?
Adweek's Micahel Wolff thinks that copywriters and art directors fell out of love with magazines. He also notes that "television advertising was once lowbrow—jingles and irritating repetition—and national magazine advertising highbrow, or at least high craft: compressed language, compelling image, precise message, tailored information. Witty, sexy, informative. That perfect marriage of image and word." Let's …
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Stand For Something
The health dangers of sitting on our behinds all day has recently been in the news. One good answer for office workers is to move to a stand up desk. According to Mashable, a well known ad guy works at a standing desk, but not for health reasons. Rob Schwartz, chief creative officer of ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, got a standup desk seven five years ago because he heard Ernest Hemingway used one. “I …
To Grow Your Business, Narrow Its Focus
Brand differentiation is one of the cornerstones of marketing communications. John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing reminds us of this in a post with a funny title, "Is Your Business a Pork Belly?" Some businesses actually have a core differentiator or they think they do, but it’s either undetectable or based on the same thing claimed by everyone in the industry. I’ll often ask audiences I speak with to raise their …
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Happy Birthday, Shawn Hartley!
You don't hear much from Shawn on ad-related things, but as our Publisher, he makes the wheels of AdPulp turn smoothly every day. Happy Birthday! …
Mobile Advertising Idealized
Apple's iOS 4 operating system is secretly compiling its customers' location data in a file stored on iPhones, 3G iPads and every computer that users use to "sync" their devices. So, your mobile knows where you are at all times, but can it also detect your mood (via iTunes) and offer you the perfect product or service according to your present status and location? Someday soon... via: Twaggies …