New business consultant, Michael Gass, knows a lot more about acquiring new business than I do. One look at his About page and all his “Career New Business Acquisitions” tells me that much. Yet, I take Gass’ interest in, and relentless promotion of social media as a vehicle for new business, with a major grain [...]
A Screen So Clear, People Will Want To Smash It
May 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The following commercial for Samsung and AT&T is one of the worst I’ve seen this year. Yes, I know how awesome the work from BBDO New York is. But knowing that actually makes this worse, not better. “Clearly, Samsung doesn’t mind someone attacking its products in TV ads,” notes Adweek’s Tim Nudd, who is amused [...]
Reebok Gets Star Athletes To Dance
May 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Reebok wants athletes and their fans to “try the shoe with the energy boost.” Apparently, “its unique sole propels you forward and is designed to help reduce muscle fatigue in your shins.” If you need a bit more motivation to Zig where others zag, here it is in the form of an eight-spot campaign from [...]
REO Speedwagon Song Put To Pasture Good Use
May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Martin Agency has found a way to make REO Speedwagon relevant again. There ought to be an award for such things. Whoa, let’s run that tagline again. “Breakstone’s–the sour creamier sour cream that your other food loves.” There you have it, you don’t need to love it, so long as your other food loves [...]
Will Burnett Succeed Where Fallon (And Others) Have Failed?
May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Chicago’s most famous ad agency is giving New York City a go. According to Ad Age, the desire to open in New York has been driven in part by Burnett’s chief creative officer, Susan Credle, who spent 24 years at BBDO/New York. “If the creative product we make defines us as an agency, then we [...]
PBR Before There Were Any Retro-Seeking Hipsters
May 22, 2011 By 2 Comments
Daily Mail is sharing rare color photos taken during The Great Depression by Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information photographers. Most of the images reveal the true grit of the American people, but here’s one that shows us something else. I’m not sure what Pabst means by “Blended 33 to 1″? But I [...]
The Surfer’s Journey, Vol. 6
May 22, 2011 By 1 Comment
By Stuart Cornuelle Today’s message is pried from the mind of an advertising demigod. Young people in particular, perk up those furless ears. Background: I was in California for the last three weeks on magazine business, for this magazine, which I help edit. Apparently we can put anything we want on our T-shirts. In truth, [...]
Ronald McDonald Doesn’t Make Kids Fat; Hamburgers, Fries And A Coke Make Kids Fat
May 21, 2011 By 1 Comment
Corporate Accountability International ran a print ad on May 18 in newspapers in Chicago, New York, Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco and Minneapolis that calls for McDonald’s to stop marketing to children. “Mounting evidence points to the correlation between predatory marketing and the rise in diet-related illness among children and young people,” says the group, which [...]
Red Bull Founder Sees His Content Strategy As “A Line Extension”
May 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Bloomberg BusinessWeek is running a detailed profile on Dietrich Mateschitz, the 67 year-old Austrian marketing titan behind Red Bull. Concerning the recent U.S. launch Red Bull’s international lifestyle magazine, The Red Bulletin, the real journalists in the room want to know, “what’s the visionary behind a $5 billion-a-year soft-drink empire doing in the media business? [...]
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