If you want a good lesson in the power of words, branding, and crisis PR, consider the case of a product its maker calls “lean, finely textured beef” and others call “pink slime.” The campaign to rid supermarkets, schools, and restaurants of “pink slime” is having an effect on its maker, according to the Huffington [...]
You Might Have A Beef With “Pink Slime” But Its Makers Have A Beef With That Name
March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Maybe Detroit Can Develop A Fixed Gear Automobile
March 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Once upon a time in Adlandia, you hadn’t made it until you were working on a car account. To this day a great car account is still prestigious and potentially lucrative. But this won’t last if young Americans continue to walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation to work. According to Jordan Weissmann of [...]
Trade Ya
March 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Michael Bloomberg picked BusinessWeek up for a song in 2009, but old trade mags appear to hold their value better than that. According to Los Angeles Times, a buyer may need to pay ten times what Bloomberg paid for Variety. Dutch and British conglomerate Reed Elsevier, which acquired the weekly and its Daily Variety newspaper [...]
Telling Victoria’s Secret
March 24, 2012 By 5 Comments
In order to keep a roof over our heads, so to speak, we infuse brands with meaning. But what happens to that meaning post-infusion? How is it transferred (if it is) to the people it was made for? According to BusinessWeek, University of Minnesota researchers Deborah Roedder John and Ji Kyung Park are studying the [...]
Let My People Go Shopping Like Everyone Else
March 23, 2012 By 1 Comment
If there’s one thing “Mad Men” has been successful at, it’s the launching of a ridiculous number of columns, opinions and people who’ve popped up to attach themselves to the show’s popularity. One tangentially related column is this one by Mat Zucker, CCO of OgilvyOne Worldwide. Writing in an online Jewish publication called Tablet, he [...]
This Trailer Is Somewhat Alien
March 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In 11 years, TED talks will be given in stadiums and presented by corporate overlords like Peter Weyland, CEO of Weyland Industries. You doubt this? Have a look in to the not-far-off future: Weyland is a character in the new Ridley Scott film, Prometheus, and the above trailer is a promotional tool used to build [...]
Guest Post: Cheap Is What It Sounds Like
March 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Editor’s Intro: Matt Powers is in the branded merchandise business. It’s a competitive field, where expert use of online advertising to get the word out is fundamental. As we know, online advertising can be a nasty minefield when entered without the proper tools and training. In this guest post, Powers walks us through the hazards [...]
Project Runway Meets Mad Max
March 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
House music, elaborate costumes and the high desert. Someone’s been to Burning Man. What was that? A new music video from Swedish House Mafia? Or a long-form ad from TBWA/Chiat/Day meant to sell Sweden’s favorite vodka mixed with grapefruit juice? I have to say, I’ve never seen such an elaborate effort to promote the Greyhound, [...]
The AdPulp Interview: Ad Contrarian Revisited
March 22, 2012 By 1 Comment
Bob Hoffman, also known as The Ad Contrarian, has written two books about advertising. His first was self-titled and his second is 101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising, which has been getting a solid reception since its release in eBook form last November. I had the opportunity to catch up with Hoffman over beers in Portland [...]
No, It’s Not A New Vegas Casino, It’s A New Snack Foods Division.
March 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Naming is tough. You end up with one word out of the hundreds or thousands of possibilities on the wall. And if a committee had anything to do with it, the one word chosen is likely to be stupid, or at best uninspired. Such is the case with this new made up word: Mondelez. According [...]
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