How does brands get people to "Like" them on Facebook? You can read all about it on best practices lists by social media marketing experts, or you can see what NOT to do, care of North Social. Brands fumbling all over themselves in pursuit of follower counts are easy targets, of course, but that's okay. Someone needs to point out how silly and/or sad they look, and North Social is just the team to do it. …
Brands Use Instagram to Paint 1000 Words
Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs loves Instagram, the iPhone app that encourages users to share filter-treated photos. "Instagram allows you to create visual stories with an artfulness and elegance and a special kind of gravitas that’s at the heart of good content," Handley writes. She adds, "The images on Instagram are at once intimate and broadly appealing, at once personal and universal. …
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So Happy To Be Making Millions of Dollars Together
Goodby Silverstein & Partners is borrowing more than a little equity in this new spot for the National Basketball Association. The Bobblehead-inspired spot uses actual footage from The Turtles’ 1967 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. From an ad guy's POV, Goodby's new spot is sort of cool. But is it cool enough to help people care about the NBA again? Here's the original: …
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Blogging Superstar Maria Popova Featured In Mother Jones
Mother Jones asked Maria Popova of Brain Pickings some interesting questions about her work habits, how her parents feel about her chosen career, her ability to stay in the U.S. on a work visa (she's from Bulgaria), and more. Here's a small slice of the interview with Popova: With Brain Pickings, especially, whenever I look at a piece of content I think "Can I add something to it? Can I add some depth and …
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FedEx Man Takes His Job And Shoves It
FedEx charges a good deal of money to move precious packages around the world in very few hours. It's a high wire act, and the holidays add considerable pressure on the company's staff to perform. Sadly, not every staffer is able to perform up to the company's standards, a fact that will be made increasingly evident, thanks to the number of cell phone cameras, and home security cameras in play today. The …
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The Ad Industry Is Quite Cold To Brands That Aren’t Cool
In the course of my career, I've done a lot of good work for brands that simply weren't cool. And if you're an observer of our industry and the people who comment on it, you know that brands that are seemingly out of favor have a tougher time gaining traction -- even when there's good marketing behind those brands. For advertising professionals, the struggle occurs because we know even mundane brands are …
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Snowflake Isn’t A Verb
Courtesy of Plan B. …
The Sea Is Calling. Answer It Royally.
I like these new posters from JWT/New York. Here's the TV that goes with them. The idea seems a bit forced on TV, whereas in print there's a desire to hear more. …
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The Miami ADDYs Look For Ideas That Survived
From AAF Miami comes a literal interpretation of 'the idea that got killed." Which reminds me of something I once wrote: At any moment, your executions may be killed at random by people you’ve never met for reasons that don’t make sense. …
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This Holiday Season, Take Aim at the GSD&M Staffer of Your Choice
It rarely snows in Austin, which may help explain why GSD&M is pelting its own this holiday season. …
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