I like being a copywriter, but lately I feel like it is a bit of a lost art. An afterthought. Something the client supplies, or God forbid, the design team. This is not a positive development for copywriters, nor is it for clients and their customers who will ultimately judge the work (harshly by ignoring it completely). Sanam Petri, an associate creative director at R/GA London, writing in The Guardian …
Three Words For 2013: Socially-Optimized Microcontent
Looking into the crystal ball is a practice best reserved for characters in fairy tales. Unless it's your business to gaze ahead, which of course it is. Deep Focus, for one, isn't afraid to see things. Here's some of what the Ian Schaefer-run agency sees happening in 2013: Social platforms will become the primary digital reach mechanism for the savviest of brands The era of the newsfeed will …
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Make Useful Advertising, Make Yourself And Your Clients A Lot of Money
Journalist, turned blogging supernova, Andrew Sullivan announced this week that he will pursue a subscription-based revenue model and forgo advertising and venture capital support. We want to create a place where readers - and readers alone - sustain the site. No bigger media companies will be subsidizing us; no venture capital will be sought to cushion our transition (unless my savings count as venture …
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For Nike, Outsourcing “The Conversation” Is No Longer The Answer
Who is best equipped to manage the 24-7 needs of social media marketing for global consumer brands? A string of disconnected agencies, or an internal team at the client? It's a question a lot of brand managers may be asking right now. One consumer marketing powerhouse has an answer. Nike's internal social media teams will now manage all online communities from its Beaverton, Oregon headquarters after previously …
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Made Good Money, Five Dollars A Day, Made Anymore And I’d Move Away
I am a fan of Maria Popova's. Chances are good you are too, as her site, Brain Pickings, gets more than one million visits a month. I like how Popova combs through offline materials to find things to feature online. It's such a simple, yet effective, strategy. I am also interested in her reasons for choosing not to run advertising on her site. She favors a tip jar instead. According to this profile piece …
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A Story About A Storyteller Lost In His Own Story
Finbar Dolan has made 42 commercials in his career. But no great or particularly memorable spots, nothing to win him a big award and a shot at industry-fame and fortune. Nevertheless, the protagonist of Truth In Advertising, a new novel by John Kenney, makes good money thinking up mediocre ideas for companies who make diapers and other household goods. In his own mind, Fin is an ad grunt, but he's comparing his …
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