Dockers is turning to trunk-shows in effort to convince a small gorup of influential women to wear the brand's clothes.

Dockers is inviting between 50 and 70 women to each of eight events dubbed "Dockers Style Sessions," in hotel suites in cities such as Sacramento, Calif., Cincinnati, and McLean, Va. The first event is in San Francisco on Thursday.

The shows coincide with a print-ad campaign in roughly a dozen magazines, including Lucky and Glamour, that also features the new fall clothing line. Style experts from some of the fashion magazines carrying its ads are expected to offer style tips to trunk-show attendees.

The marketer plans to create a Web site to stay in touch with the women who participate in the trunk shows as a way of keeping dialogue going. The site will be used as a continuing online focus group for Dockers, the company says.

"It's about being much more integrated and reaching women through multiple touch points," says Sherri Phillips, Dockers' vice president of marketing.

[via The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.)]

According to Media Post's Marketing Daily, financial services giant Citi would rather not dip its toe into social media.

"We're not there yet, and we're proceeding very cautiously," said Lisa Caputo, Citi's first company-wide CMO, at an industry event last week.

She added that allowing consumers access to Citi logos and other materials related to its brand for their own creations could backfire: "I am very loath to put it at risk and let some individual do what they want with it."

Caputo, who before joining the private sector had a long career in Democratic politics, said much of Citi's marketing philosophy centers on "constant repetition of the message and clarity of the message."

Stuart Elliott presents moves made by Kraft to inject some emotion into its typical product story.

Kraft will devote a campaign that begins today to the glorification of the grilled cheese sandwich.

The television, online, print and retail campaign carries the upbeat theme “Have a happy sandwich.”

In campaigns from the longtime previous agency for Kraft Singles — the Chicago office of JWT, part of the WPP Group — the brand was peddled on “functional benefits,” Jane Hilk, vice president for marketing at the cheese and dairy business unit said.

“But we’d hit that point where consumers say: ‘I know that. What else?’ ” she said, adding: “The conversation needs to happen on an emotional level because that’s where the power of a brand comes in. We found ourselves in need of strategy change and creative change.”

Nitro is the new agency on Kraft's block. Kathy Delaney, who recently joined Nitro as global executive creative director, said, “We’re not promising happiness; no brand can. What we’re promising is that for the three or four minutes you’re having a Kraft grilled cheese sandwich, you’re happy.”

Naturally, there will be a MySpace element to the campaign.

Sales for Kraft Singles, one of Kraft’s largest brands, totaled more than $600 million last year. Kraft spends about $40 million a year to advertise the brand.

Lucy Kellaway is Financial Times' management columnist. For the last ten years her weekly column has "poked fun at management fads and jargon and celebrated the ups and downs of office life." So it was fun to see how she did with Jim Buckmaster, the CEO of Craiglist.

Ahead of our meeting I gave myself two modest challenges: to make Mr Buckmaster talk financial and to make him smile. After all, he has enough to smile about. In 1999, he was an unemployed web programmer who posted his resume on Craigslist, where it was spotted by the site's founder, Craig Newmark, who offered him a job.

A year later he was made chief executive and now he is in the most delicious of positions. Hugely successful, he could also be hugely rich if he wanted to cash in his stake. Only he chooses not to. The high moral ground suits him better.

People with better things to do than make money will always confound.

Tucked into this Wall Street Journal article (paid sub. req.) on staving off ad fatigue, is a nugget about the popularity of Bud Light's "Real Men of Genius" radio campaign.

The ads combine a bombastic announcer, sappy 1980s rock music and outlandish tributes to trivial achievements, such as the invention of the foot-long hot dog. They leave male audiences giggling. And they have been a staple of sports-radio broadcasts since 1999.

Bob Lachky, an Anheuser-Busch executive vice president, says he knew the ad format could stretch a ways. But he didn't expect it to generate more than 100 sequels, saluting everyone from "Mr. Toupee Wearer" to "Mr. Fantasy Football Manager Guy."

"Part of my job is to keep new brand managers from killing it," says Mr. Lachky. "We want to own the idea of having fun, and this helps us do it."

Bud Light rotates the ads so no one spot plays incessantly. But Mr. Lachky says he doesn't mind if ardent baseball fans hear some of the Bud Light ads more often than researchers say is effective. "Consultants make big money by telling people stuff that has no application to real life," he quips.

For Bud Light devotees who can't get enough of these ads, Anheuser-Busch is marketing three music CDs filled with 20 commercials apiece. The company says it has sold 200,000 of those discs.

That last bit is what really caught my eye. These ads are so beloved that people seek them out and BUY them.

"Now that nontech stories have exceeded the tech stories," says Jay Adelson, co-counder of Digg, "The challenge is on us to provide what our community needs."

What Digg's users need, says Adelson, are social-networking tools. On Sept. 19 the company is launched a host of new features that might seem more at home on Facebook or News Corp.'s (NWS) MySpace. The intent is to make it easier for users to find others who share their passions by enabling them to form small groups of "friends" and create fuller personal profiles. "This is really the first time that we have enabled communications between users," says Rose.

[via Business Week]

Better Business Bureau is a 95-year-old nonprofit organization. It's brand image is entrenched; yet, the BBB will challenge consumers to wake up to its full identity with a $700,000 rebranding campaign that launches this week.

Its rebranding campaign -- including a new Web site, logo, book series and commercials during shows such as "CSI" and "Grey's Anatomy" -- drives the point home with its slogan: Start with trust.

Many people know they can register a complaint with the BBB, but few realize that their local BBB office will arbitrate disputes with car dealerships through the BBB Auto Line. Few know that the BBB checks the licenses and certifications of accredited members each year to make sure they are current.

The idea BBB hopes to convey is "start" your reference checks with them, so there will be little need for a complaint later.

[via Belleville News-Democrat]

I don't surf the mobile web, but Scott Karp of Publishing 2.0 does. Thing is, he's not fond of the experience.

I’ve had it with all the hype about mobile being the next big thing — more to the point, I’ve had it with the mobile web. Here are five reasons why the web on the go still has a long way to go.

1. Wireless carrier networks are SLOW

2. Public WiFi access is a SCAM

3. Sites aren’t formated for small screens

4. Mobile device screens are too small

5. Advertising gets in the way

I have no doubt that the mobile web will eventually mature — just like Web 2.0 will eventually grow up. But for now, it’s still a fussy child

Our friend Tangerine Toad has kept his perch on The Toad Stool but has branched out to post on Marketing Profs Daily Fix, a site aimed at bringing together marketing professionals with college marketing and advertising professors.

Toad's first post is a perfect summary of his argument that Your Brand Is Not My Friend^TM:

Now there are some brands—I call them Prom King Brands—that people don’t mind “conversing” with, so long as they can do it in the brands own space (as opposed to MySpace.) These are the brands that have somehow managed to build a better mousetrap, but there are no more than a dozen of them and you here on DailyFix can probably name them all by heart (I’ll start: Nike, Apple, Starbucks, Virgin, Whole Foods… ) Sports teams, TV shows, rock bands and movies fall into this category as well.

The rest of you are out of luck. You’re not a Prom King and people aren’t lining up to hang with you. So while Starbucks could probably start a Frappuccino Lovers Group on Facebook (for all I know, they already have), no one’s going to be joining a Maxwell House Lovers group anytime soon.

Read the whole thing. It's a perfect take on the frenzy that's surrounding social media, buzz marketing and all the "two-way consumer conversation" talk. I hope the professors are paying attention.

If you're an aging hippie with a bunch of money, Bank of America wants to hold your hand.

According to The New York Times, B of A paid $3.3 billion for U.S. Trust, a storied institution whose clients have included Rockefellers, Astors and Vanderbilts.

This new $25 million campaign by Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos is the bank's first effort to market their newly acquired wealth management capabilities.

Facing South, a blog from the Institute of Southern Studies in Durham, NC, points to a book by Wall Street Journal editor Stephanie Capparell.

According to the book's publisher, The Real Pepsi Challenge: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business, is at once "a straightforward business book about the birth of niche marketing" and "a key chapter in the social history of our nation."

The book describes how Pepsi's charismatic and socially progressive CEO Walter Mack, introduced black sales executives to his company at a time when none existed.

In 1947, Mack hired Edward Boyd, a former executive of the National Urban League, to develop a program to increase Pepsi sales to African-Americans. Boyd's team of 10 African-Americans traveled the country telling the Pepsi story of equality.

WUNC created a segment on the book and local firm, NC Mutual Life (one of America's oldest black-owned companies), that was moved by Boyd's team to replace all of its Coke machines with Pepsi machines.

Since most news-based firms (and many in entertainment) are now moving fast into blogging, reporters and editors have learned to respect the medium, albeit begrudgingly in some cases.

On the flip side, Mike Smock's recent experience with a potential client shows how some in business are still slow to grasp full picture.

Since almost all of my prospects see my blog first, and even though I have my campaigning credentials prominently displayed - visitors see my as a blogger who writes about campaigning - not a campaigner who writes a blog. Some might say what's the difference? As it turns out there is a big difference.

I was talking to a prospect the other day about a campaign. A prospect who had signed up for my free newsletter and who had corresponded with me via email. He had a situation that was perfect for my methodology but he wasn't giving me the time of day. Why? In his words - "you're a blogger! We need an agency who does campaigns not a blogger who writes about it!" Hmmmmm.....

When it comes to marketing and advertising blogs, I can think of very few that are written by so-called "bloggers." The vast majority are written by people inside the industry, freelancers and consultants and by former ad men and women.

Other than the few written by journalists, and by juniors in the ad world, the people behind ad blogs are for the most part more than qualified to consult. Please note that I'm not faulting the journalists here, I'm just saying that client service falls outside their realm of expertise.

I watched the debut of Cavemen last night on ABC. I kept waiting for a Geico commercial to air, but no. How can Geico not buy air time on this show?

"Old black water, keep on rollin
Mississippi moon, wont you keep on shinin on me" - The Doobie Brothers

Rob Walker cracks me up with this take on Blackwater USA, the private security firm fighting for oil in Iraq.

Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that you’re starting a business that happens to be more or less an extragovernmental army. Your employees will be weaponized, trained to kill, and available for hire. Your accountability will be murky at best. In fact the whole organization would be kind of secretive and vague. It sounds a little scary. A little sinister. A little dystopian sci-fi.

What would you call your organization? Wouldn’t you want to go for something reassuring? Sort of the way that lobbying organizations adopt innocuous, feel-good names? Maybe you’d go with something like Blue Sky, or Sunshine, or Tranquility. Something that would suggest to anyone who heard about your organization in passing: “That sounds pleasant. Nothing to worry about there!”

Blackwater USA was formed by former Navy Seals, so the name is most likely inspired by that experience.

According to Slate, Blackwater has been involved in 195 shooting incidents in Iraq since 2005, including the September 16, 2007 shootings that killed and injured dozens of Iraqi civilians.

Greg Storey doesn't like the word "bucket," nor what it implies.

I just got off the phone with another in a long list of clients who used the word "bucket" several times during a conversation about information architecture. In olden times we used words like "categories" or "sections" but these new kids are dropping their own slang as if creating a website is the new rap-battle.

Does the word really work that much better than long established terms? No. The preferred word, "category", is used to described "things having shared characteristics" while "bucket" is a "container". One implies the relationship of things while the other is an object you put things in with absolutely no relationship implied.

Using the word "bucket" in web development is the equivalent of using the words "things" or "stuff" in conversation. In both cases details are hit-and-run over by the practice of subtle oversimplification. The result is an experience that lacks eloquence, education, and energy.

Storey goes on to say clients are increasingly playing the role of information architect; yet, rarely do they consider the user experience as one of the primary goals for their site.

New York Times is investigating whether any of the 4000 applications that have been introduced to the Facebook platform by second parties are making money for their inventors.

As far as the paper knows, no one has made a significant sum. Yet, that hasn't stopped the money from flowing. In fact, one VC is totally dedicated solely to supporting Facebook application developers.

This summer, Lee Lorenzen, a venture capitalist in Monterey, Calif., who describes himself as “the first Facebook-only V.C.,” started a $25 million Facebook investment fund and introduced a Web tool, at Adanomics.com, that assigns a monetary value to Facebook applications.

“It has become very clear this is a huge opportunity,” Mr. Lorenzen said. “It is very simple in my opinion for small development teams to very quickly build businesses on top of Facebook.”

Facebook apps are made by Facebook's own team, by geeks in dark basements around the globe and by companies with an existing presence on the interwebs. This last category, in my mind, has the most to gain, for they can find customers on Facebook that they might not have "acquired" otherwise. Flixster, with nine million Facebook "customers," looks to be one such company.

Ken Wheaton of Ad Age looks at The New York Observer's piece on Admen losing their mojo.

The article suggests that public realtions, of all things, has usurped advertising as the industry of choice for those seeking a route to glamour.

The supposition is supported by the role Heidi Montag, one of the stars of MTV’s reality show The Hills, plays on TV. Montag, according to the piece, is inspiring a whole generation of teenagers with her clipboard-holding.

Montag works at Bolthouse Productions in Los Angeles.

Molly E. Holzschlag is a well-known Web standards advocate, instructor, and author.

Here she is contemplateing the massive brain power needed to operate in information-rich environments like the intertubes:

Web designers and developers are challenged in a way that very few learners and thinkers are challenged. Not only is the complexity of the subjects that we study a concern, but the rate at which we must absorb that information and put it into practice seems unprecedented. We also have to manage the doing as well as the thinking: the hands-on creation of technology and design for web sites. All of these acts demand knowledge that is both broad and deep, and we must access that knowledge as quickly and as painlessly as going to the corner store for that cold beer.

As we seek to become more effective web designers and developers, our brains similarly must manage the complex process of learning, processing information, and rapidly storing that information into memory.

I’m of the mind-set that we can all become better at what we do by first giving ourselves credit for the interest in and fascination with a field whose very essence demands that its professionals think technologically and artistically. Then, to grow in our work, we must identify our strengths, be honest regarding our weaknesses, and push ourselves to find ways to improve our skills to achieve innovation.

One thing I wonder about is this: The intertubes are infinite, but is our capacity to process and contain the knowledge also infinite?

[via Adverganza]

According to Ad Age, We Are Gigantic, a MDC Partners-backed ad shop born earlier this year out of the now-defunct Margeotes Fertitta Powell, is being sued by Gigantic Marketing, a two-year-old New York-based marketing firm.

I can't argue the merits of the case (please use our comments area if you can), but I will offer this. When Ad Age calls you up for an interview, don't say this:

"We don't really know who this other company is and we don't see any confusion between what we do and what they do."

Translation: I'm Neil Powell, fools. I'm someone. My name once graced the masthead of an important agency. And you dare to challenge me?

[DISCLAIMER] I've never met Mr. Powell. My reaction here is to his words, as presented by the Gray Lady.

[UPDATE] Danny G. has this to add...

USA Today looks at the growing proliferation of, and resistance to, electronic mail.

Today about 150 engineers at chipmaker Intel will kick off "Zero E-mail Fridays." E-mail-free Fridays already are the norm at cell carrier U.S. Cellular and at order-processing company PBD Worldwide Fulfillment Services in Alpharetta, Ga.

Prominent techies are tackling the problem individually by declaring "e-mail bankruptcy" — deleting or archiving an entire in-box and starting over. Among them: prominent tech bloggers Jeff Nolan, Michael Arrington and Vanessa Fox, and venture capitalist Fred Wilson.

E-mail overload is caused by the sheer volume of messages zipping around the globe. Each day, about 39.7 billion person-to-person e-mails, 17.1 billion automated alerts, and 40.5 billion pieces of spam are sent worldwide. White-collar workers often receive 140 messages a day, executive coach Marsha Egan says.

Ad Age critic Bob Garfield has taken his personal crusade against Comcast into the blogosphere with a new site called Comcast Must Die.

Here's part of the site intro:

Actually, I have no deathwish for Comcast or any other gigantic, blundering, greedy, arrogant corporate monstrosity, What I do have is the earnest desire for such companies to change there ways. This site offers an opportunity -- for you to vent your grievances (civilly, please) and for Comcast to pay close attention.

I advise you to include your customer number in your post; this will give Comcast the chance to contact you and work on your problem. If it does so, I encourage you to post an update, giving credit where credit is due. Meantime, be aware you may be the target of online fishers trying to get personal information from you. DO NOT REPLY TO EMAILS CLAIMING TO BE FROM COMCAST. Deal with them only by phone.

Is this Bob's idea of forging a Web 2.0 conversation with Comcast?

Has he, the famed TV commercial ad critic, ever suggested that Goodby spend some time (and their client's budget) thinking about ways Comcast can improve their customer experience instead of just dreaming up clever ads?

Will his reviews for Comcast competitors now be biased in favor of them?

Is he just jealous of Jeff Jarvis?

Fortune reports that the job du jour is online ad sales rep. In fact, the field is so hot, journalist Jessi Hempel was offered a "mid-six-figure" salary by a CEO to defect while reporting the story.

Hiring a sales director "is the single biggest challenge that we have faced," says Dina Kaplan, co-founder of Blip.tv, a video-sharing site. Kaplan says she spends as much as six hours a day searching for the right person. She's close to a hire - "We're trying to steal someone from a TV network," she says - and may offer twice her own salary.

Kaplan still might have trouble. Head-hunters say media companies are paying big bucks to hold on to their salespeople. Salaries plus commission at those firms can stretch beyond $400,000, according to Todd Zangrillo of technology executive search firm Barlow Group.

And counteroffers are a given. Zangrillo tells of a candidate at a big TV network making more than $500,000: "He basically said, 'Don't approach me unless you have an offer north of $600,000.'"

Joe The Peacock is funny. And when someone funny is forced to endure mindless babble on a conference call, they tend to a) pass out, or b) make a note of it. Joe The Peacock made note of it. Here are some of the things he thought, but could not say (without the invention of a mute button) on a recent call.

• God, I wish I'd been paying attention in college when they went over the definition of "synergistic" in English and "how to leverage it" in Business... Oh yeah, I didn't go to college. That's probably why I use regular words and thoughts to describe how I want to create a product and then make money on it. And why I know you can't "leverage" anything, given that it's a noun.
• IF YOU SAY "Drink the Kool-Aid" ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME, I'M GOING TO BURST THROUGH THE WALL AT YOUR OFFICE, KILL YOU IN A VERY UNSIGHTLY AND BLOODY WAY, AND THEN SCREAM "Oh, YEAH!"
• Facebook isn't the internet, dipshit.
• Wait... First you wanted to clone Digg... Then you wanted to "add the social aspects of Facebook to it," and NOW you want it to be Wikipedia? Where the HELL did you spend your morning? In the "Web 2.0 Company Names to Memorize" symposium sponsored by the local Linux Enthusiasts club?

Looking for some very light reading for the weekend?

Check out A Carbon-Neutral Pile of Manure, my new column on Talent Zoo which takes a look at brands desperate to greenwash themselves. Why? Money is green. Or vice versa.

If you live in Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, or other Midwest cities, you can head to the bookstore and grab a copy of Create Magazine, whose Sept/Oct Midwest edition has a column of mine entitled "The Importance of Filtering Actionable Jargon Into Buckets".

Can't you just tell my day job leaves me creatively unfulfilled?

Enjoy.

To paraphrase a old saying, reading about beer is like dancing about architecture. But Bill Yenne's Guinness: The 250 Year Quest For The Perfect Pint makes a fun read, especially when you're sitting at a bar on a Sunday afternoon and the Falcons are playing like a Pop Warner team.

From the beginnings of Arthur Guinness, an Irish brewer in the mid-1700's, through the present day, Yenne talks about how Guinness has become a global phenomenon. Before refrigeration, before mass distribution, and before modern agriculture, brewing Guinness wasn't easy. But Yenne explains how it was all possible. And he traces the origins of Guinness advertising--which began in 1929 with the slogan "Guinness is Good For You," and continued to include iconic posters proclaiming "Guinness For Strength."

Beer, of course, is big business, and Guinness has survived and thrived in the face of competition at every turn. Yenne covers it all, even giving you 6 Steps to Get the Perfect Pint. And did you know that after Ireland and the U.K., Nigeria is the 3rd largest market for Guinness?

Brands, in the classic P&G sense, are a fairly new phenomenon in the history of the world. They're looked at as a implied promise of quality, something a consumer can trust in in an age of mass consumption. For 250 years, Guinness has been a revered, steadfast brand. Anyone with a interest in brands, or beer, should check out Yenne's book.

Special thanks to Anna at FSB Associates who sent me a copy for review.

According to Ad Age, DirectTV will be the sole sponsor of the season's final episode of Mad Men. The article explores the sponsorship model, while also touching on product placement in the show.

With its unflinching look beneath the veneer of 1960s politesse, it's easy to see why brands such as Jack Daniels' parent Brown-Forman, which inked a product-placement deal with "Mad Men," were cautious.

"They have this whole list of how it [Jack Daniels] can be used," said Matthew Weiner, the program's creator. "They don't want to see people driving. They don't want to see people hitting each other. They don't want to see people fighting. They do not want to see people having sex immediately after drinking. You're sort of like, 'What is the purpose of Jack Daniels if there's no sex after it and there's no fighting after it?'

"I jokingly said to AMC, 'Would they mind if it was being used to sterilize instruments in an underground abortion?'"

Having spent much of my ad career hawking highly regulated products like beer, booze and cigs, Weiner's hilarious comments appeal to me. Working in these industries, you learn quick that the lawyers, not the brand managers, have the final say.

What I find truly insane is how the omnipresent legal threat hangs over the entire creative process. You hear colleagues say things like "that'll never get by legal," before the concept ever materializes on one's sketch pad.

Adweek takes a look at the agency/client tensions involved with bringing to life this Motorola spot, directed by French filmaker Michel Gondry.

It was during editing that the creative differences became evident. While the agency wanted to keep Gondry's vision intact, the client wanted to streamline it and take out some of the more fanciful elements. After production had been completed in June, an agency meeting with Motorola CEO Ed Zander made it clear that in Asia—where Motorola is handled by Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing—focusing on the slimness of the phone was gaining favor. The client asked Cutwater to incorporate that strategy into the print executions, but the results were ads that one source called "Frankensteinish."

According to [Cutwater CEO] Harrington, there was "an inordinate amount of tension between the agency and Motorola. Their team was under a great deal of pressure with the Razr2 launch and we felt for them. I don't believe that pressure was dealt with in the most constructive way by either party."

In the end, a commercial emphasizing the phone's slimness began running globally from Ogilvy. It features a couple dueling on a subway platform with their phones.

"It felt more and more obvious that [Gondry's spot] was something that wouldn't be most effectively applied in mass media, particularly for a TV audience," explains Elena Panizza, worldwide cd at Motorola. "I don't think it would fit nicely with an advertising block with a Burger King ad. It's far more sophisticated."

The spot cost $800,000 to produce. Don't worry, though, it lives on in YouTube, which of course brings out the fantasmic, cinematic detail of the spot in all its glory. But that brings up a question: If it doesn't "fit nicely" on television and it never airs, and is only on YouTube, does it belong in the "TV" category in awards shows? Because that's what truly matters, right?

UC Berkeley is making entire course lectures and special events available, free of charge, on YouTube.

This move strikes me as an interesting way to get the Berkeley brand out there. I'm not sure who watches these vids, but I would think they're useful to prospective students. Even for the non-prospect, these free offerings still build the Berekely brand, reaffirming that Berekeley is a vibrant place where knowledge is exchanged.

Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards has a blog on NBA.com.

According to the Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) every 10 days or so the outspoken baller calls his entries in to a National Basketball Association staffer who faithfully transcribes his thoughts.

But some of his commentary has been tough for his corporate overlords to stomach. Like the time he said "I'm sitting there looking at the shoe like I hope you guys aren't serious. Because I'm not going to wear this shoe…Nobody is going to wear this shoe."

He has since made more positive remarks about his namesake shoe from Adidas.

Adidas spokesman Travis Gonzolez said, "We all took a step back. We said, 'It's Gil being Gil and there's not a lot we can say.' We don't want to affect what he writes."

Arenas started blogging last year, one of a handful of NBA players asked by the league to post their musings on its Web site, part of a four-year-old effort to get fans closer to players.

Arenas also has endoresement deals with EA Sports, Spalding and Vitaminwater.

I know the good ad men and ad women of California Street like to invite immense challenges. It's a way to stay fresh and test one's mettle.

The Sprint account presents such a challenge.

According to Ad Age, Sprint Nextel continued to bleed customers (340,000) in the most recent quarter, leading to the resignation today of Gary Forsee as chairman and president-CEO.

After winning the $1.2 billion account earlier this year, Goodby introduced the concept of "Sprint speed" with its "Sprint ahead" campaign. But is this campaign swift enough to help rescue a vessel in distress?

Advertising can only do so much.

For more on Shepard Fairey see Obey Giant, but don't bite his style for your next ad campaign.

It's already been done.

I've concepted and delivered consumer promotions for a number of years now. There are many different types of promotions to develop, not just sweepstakes. In fact, sweeps are the last refuge of a desperate creative team.

Naturally, Starbucks knows this. Which is why the coffee giant's current in-store promotion simply gives customers a prize. Everyone loves to get something of value for free, and Starbucks is saying if you shop here you're a winner.

I shop there, so I'm a winner. I now have three new tracks in my iTunes "Purchased" folder--"No One's Gonna Love You" from Band of Horses' latest release, "New Religion" from Alice Smith and "Turpentine" by Brandi Carlile. I'm a fan of Band of Horses and will buy their new disc, but it's nice to have this teaser track to remind me. I'm also acquainted with Alice Smith's music, but not Carlile's.

So, not only has Starbucks made me a winner, the brand is also building discovery into the equation, which is a smart thing to do.

First Coors gets married to a Canadian. Now, the Golden, CO-based brewer is adding another wife, this one from London and Milwaukee. And check this, the first wife's name will be dropped. How unfair life can be.

The new company will combine Coors' two breweries with Miller's seven plants. Under the deal, a Coors product can be brewed at a Miller plant and vice versa. Thus, the combined firm will bring its production closer to end markets, creating huge savings on shipping.

MillerCoors said both Denver and Milwaukee will keep some headquarters functions but hasn't chosen a home base yet.

Anheuser-Busch's shares dropped 46 cents, or 1 percent, closing at $51.57. Meanwhile, Molson Coors' stock shot up $5.32 cents or 10.5 percent, closing at $56.15.

[via Chicago Tribune]

I'm in need of some freelance developers for some upcoming projects, if you think you fit the bill, shoot me an email at shawnh (at) turnpost.com with your expertise, your rates, example URLs, and your availability between next week and the end of November. If you would like to be considered for full-time employment and fit the bill for item #3 below, please include your resume.

My needs:
1. An experienced Joomla developer. This project consists of integrating a custom design into Joomla's template structure.

2. Wordpress Theme developers. If you are a rockstar at converting existing designs to Wordpress themes, I have a need for you. Include a typical turnaround time in your email.

3. Experience, Intermediate Web Developer. Legacy ASP & Microsoft SQL Server experience are required, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL are a plus. This job has full-time potential (in Omaha, NE), please indicate if this of interest.

4. A Constant Contact custom template developer.

All freelance work can be progressed billed monthly and I have net-10 payments. For single projects with less than a 30-day duration, I can work within an %upfront/%upon completion payment option.

Thanks. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Matthew Creamer at Ad Age examines Radiohead's bold "name your price for our new album" move.

The Radiohead news is a big reminder of the power of customer loyalty and how it extends even to crucial issues such as pricing. Other small-scale indicators also suggest that consumers, despite being depicted by record labels and movie studios as a thieving bunch of copyright violators, are willing to pay even when they don't have to if they're given some flexibility on price point and there's a real relationship between consumer and content provider.

Exhibit A is Magnatune, a four-year-old download site for music by unsigned artists, which allows customers to pay between $5 and $18 for a record. The average price paid, a spokesman said in an e-mail, is between $8 and $9.

"Our customers report that they are willing to pay 20% over base cost because they know their money goes directly to support the artist and the company," spokeswoman Teresa Marango said. "All Magnatune artists receive 50% of the sale price of each album or music licensing fee."

Hoping to woo shoppers who say eBay Inc. has lost its folksy appeal, the world's largest online auction plans to launch its own version of a social networking service Wednesday and is promising other customer-friendly features by year's end.

The "Neighborhoods" feature encourages users to post photos, product reviews, tips and responses — creating a far more visual and interactive experience than eBay's text-based discussion forums.

Among the 600 new neighborhoods is "Shoe Heads," intended as a haven for footwear fashionistas. Others range from Beyonce to Battlestar Galactica, and still more will be formed based on popularity of search terms and community feedback.

"People who are passionate about certain brands, trends, celebrities or products have been discovering and trading with one another for years," said Jamie Iannone, an eBay vice president in charge of buyer experience. "Neighborhoods makes this even easier."

[via Associated Press]

Colle + McVoy won a CEBA Awards Best of Show for this killer headline:

My friends Chris Rock and Gale Venosdel at Marlin & Co. also scored at CEBA. Their "Pickle Productivity" ad for Vlasic won its category (single page print with a media budget greater than $100,000).

According to Chris, Gale is now working at Littlefield in Tulsa (which reminds me to get in gear and dust off our old series, Agencies in Strange Places).