About

What We Do

AdPulp is a MarCom trade rag written by industry insiders. There’s an aspect of journalism here, but it’s purposefully mashed up with analysis from daily practitioners. As it should be!

No aspect of advertising is too mundane for AdPulp—we cover it all. Some want to contain the word “advertising.” We don’t. We seek to stretch the meaning so it includes all forms of marketing communications.

AdPulp can be used to monitor trends and spark ideas. That’s where the community comes in. While we work hard to bring focus to the day’s most interesting media and marketing news, the value of our offerings deepens greatly with each comment and tip we receive.

Since our launch in October 2004, we’ve received over 10,000 non-spam comments. We’ve also been profiled and/or quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Sun Times, Media Magazine, Inc., Adweek, Savannah Morning News, Smart Computing, Digiday and The Atlantic.

Who We Are

AdPulp’s publisher and co-founder, Shawn Hartley, is a technologist in service to brands. He’s a guy who knows things, particularly how to make things work on the Internet.
Author page: Shawn Hartley
Favorite topics: Ad tech and SEO
Twitter: @shartley
LinkedIn: VP at Corporate 3 Design

Editor and co-founder, David Burn, is a writer, strategist and creative director dedicated to helping brands reveal their deep story and truly connect with their audience. David worked in the conservation movement in Washington, DC and San Francisco before moving to Portland in 1994 and discovering the copywriter within, which was an odd thing, given how he’d previously rejected the idea of working in advertising. Since that mid-90s pivot, David has worked on some of America’s best brands for agencies specializing in high tech B2B, retail/sales promotions, general market advertising, event marketing, digital and content marketing. Today, David advances the ball for clients that matter at Bonehook, the brand communications studio he formed in April 2009.
Author page: David Burn
Favorite topics: Content, Social media, Relationship marketing and Cause marketing
Twitter: @davidburn
LinkedIn: Brand Builder

Featured Writer, Dan Goldgeier, is a Seattle-based freelance copywriter who covers agency news, ad campaigns and political marketing for AdPulp. In addition, Dan is a regular columnist for TalentZoo.com, and the author of View From The Cheap Seats: A broader look at advertising, marketing, branding, global politics, office politics, sexual politics, and getting drunk during a job interview.
Author page: Dan Goldgeier
Favorite topics: Book reviews, Creative reviews, Agency profiles and Political advertising
Twitter: @dangoldgeier
LinkedIn: Seattle-based Copywriter

When Contributing Writer, Wade Sturdivant, was in high school he told his parents he wanted a career where he would be paid to think. Hundreds of campaign briefs later, its safe to say he got his wish. Currently a Creative Director/Copywriter at The Richards Group, Wade spent his formative years in Chicago (DDB, Leo Burnett) and has worked on accounts as diverse as BMW, Firestone, Bud Light, McDonald’s, Kellogg’s and the U.S. Army. Career highlights thus far include shooting commercials on three continents, winning a few awards, meeting a few celebrities, staying in expensive hotels he could not otherwise afford and presenting creative work to Army Generals, a U.S. Congressman and several important CMOs. (With the Generals being the most decisive.) A lover of good writing and great ideas wherever they may live, he’s had his own URL since 2003 and has been a Contributing Writer here at AdPulp for almost as long. He lives with his wife and three dogs (otherwise known as “The Herd”) and when he isn’t staring at his computer screen trying to think up new and improved ways of saying new and improved, you’ll find him playing guitars, building guitars or taking guitars apart so he can sell the parts and buy more guitars.
Author page: Wade Sturdivant
Favorite topics: Commercial production and Creative direction
Twitter: @wadestu
LinkedIn: Writer/Creative Director at The Richards Group

Contributing Writer, Peter Levitan, worked for 16 years at Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide in their New York, Minneapolis and London offices as Business Development Director, European Director and SVP Management Director on General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Northwest Airlines and Sara Lee. His Internet experience includes being CEO and founder of Advance Publication’s New Jersey Online, an early stage online newspaper and CEO of ActiveBuddy, an instant messaging technology company bought by Microsoft. Most recently he was CEO of the Portland ad agency Citrus which he sold in 2011. Peter also recently wrote Boomercide: From Woodstock To Suicide about Boomers “offing themselves” before they go broke.
Author page: Peter Levitan
Favorite topics: Agency management and Biz dev
Twitter: @peterlevitan
LinkedIn: Business Development Consultant to Advertising & Digital Agencies

Even more outstanding AdPulp contributors: Charlie Quirk, Tom Asacker, Matt Bergantino and Stuart Cornuelle.

What Our Readers Say

“Always interesting. Always thought-provoking. Always original.” -The Denver Egotist

“AdPulp is one of the first ad blogs that I read. I love David Burn’s stuff.” -Helen Klein Ross

“One of the top three ad blogs in terms of how smart they are in approaching stories. Both Danny and David. It’s not lowest common denominator advertising that they cover, and I really appreciate that.” -Bill Green

“One of our favorite ad biz blogs.” –American Copywriter

“The writing is conversational and no B.S., which we appreciate, but even more, we value that AdPulp’s writers heap praise when appropriate, but aren’t too scared to question or criticize work and industry practices.” -Say Daily

“Buttoned Up.” –Ben Popken

“Sub-Adweek shite.” –The Wow Factor

“Nutritious dietary fiber for anyone subsisting in the advertising industry.” –Digital Hive

“World’s greatest ad blog” –Vinny Warren

“Your blog is a must read.” –Steffan Postaer

“AdPulp covers the good — and the bad — of branding in the advertising world.” –Fresh Inc.

“Adpulp is a smart, thorough, flexible blog. It also helps you navigate the dense jungle of media journalism. Burn delivers engaging insights while skillfully pointing readers to more coverage of the news, relevant content on other blogs, and comments by experts.” –Media Magazine

“Thanks for the constant stream of timely, relevant news. I don’t even check the industry pubs anymore – you guys are my source.” –Spike Jones

“You guys are among the few that offer any kind of cogent analysis on anything, a rare thing in a field filled with a snarky “doesn’t this lame ad suck” blogs or the gossipy “I hear David Droga has a small penis” ones.” –Tangerine Toad

“It was unexpected and really fun to get interviewed by AdPulp. Mostly because it is a tremendously prolific blog with daily updates that keep my NewsReader very busy. If you’re at all associated with anything related even slightly to advertising, I recommend that you at least click on it once. Perhaps it’s just my secret love of advertising (I took a ton of ad theory and visual anthropology classes in college), but the blog is really great.” -Amber Case

“I love this blog and cherish it as one of the best on the web.” –Sean Scogin

“The first ad blog I ever read, AdPulp is a daily must-read dose of news from the world of advertising and marketing and is remarkably less dry than this write-up.” –The Daily (ad) Biz

“I wanted to let you know that your writings, musings, and thoughts have served as a powerful stream of ideas as well as influx of ad news for me… thank you!” –Rob Heller

“AdPulp is quite wondrous. bordering on magical…” -theGirlRiot

“I love AdPulp, man! The analysis is awesome.” -Ian Schafer

“David Burn redefines the word relentless.” -Ernie Scheck