Editor's Note: The following Ad Age story that I reference here was not found on an aggregator. Rather, I read it in Ad Age's printed edition. Our content is aggregated by others. In general, we don't have a problem with it because we want to reach people we might not otherwise reach. The thought is those people might then become fans and visit our site regularly or subscribe to our RSS feed, both of which are …
MTV, Patron of the Arts
According to Animal, "a salacious new video installation will give Times Square tourists something other than the Naked Cowboy to gawk at." Chewing Color, a selection of video art curated by Marilyn Minter, will show films that "strike a delicate balance between beauty and disgust." The videos will air on MTV's outdoor screen between 44th and 45th street in Times Square during the month of April. More than 28 years …
Meet the Marlowes
The Resonsibility Project from Liberty Mutual is a new campaign from Hill Holiday that rests on the shoulders of a fictional but believable family that's faced with tough times and even tougher decisions. Stuart Elliott says the commercials--directed by the film director Harmony Korine--present fraught moments in the lives of the Marlowes. Paul G. Alexander, senior vice president and manager for communication …
Good Content Is A Virtue
Creativity cozied up to Virtue, a new agency from the Canadian media company that produces the free tabloid Vice in 22 cities. The growing concern also includes Vice Books, Vice Films, Vice Music and Vice retail stores. In 2007, the founders of Vice launched VBS.tv with the humble goal of exploiting "every utopian vision the internet has thus far failed to live up to." Then they turned their attention to …
Small Teams of Reporters Doing Big Things
Jeff Bercovici who writes a blogumn called "Mixed Media" for Portfolio, mentions an interesting new media startup called Prism that's being put together by Merrill Brown, founding editor of MSNBC.com, and some of his cohorts. The mission of Prism, according to Brown, is "to develop a platform that would make it easy for a potential publisher in a large market to launch a website," one that would, through a mix of …
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Genuine Engagement Via Custom Publishing
I love to see agencies produce high quality content for their clients. When a brand has an enthusiastic following (like Nike, VW or Apple) it makes perfect sense for the brand to push past advertising into editorial. That's what a select few clients and agencies are doing, VW and LaBov & Beyond being two. For the 12th consecutive year the Fort Wayne agency--which we recently profiled--is producing the Volkswagen of …
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Yet Another Facebook Story: Brands In The Stream
Facebook's recent redesign--a move that it made it more Twitter-like among other things--is top-of-mind for writers on the social media beat. Brian Morrissey notes how FB is also working to provide a seamless place for branded messaging. Facebook is dead set against having ads overwhelm the experience so they're weaving them into the experience, which is centered around the news feed. They want to make advertisers …
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What Content Can Do For You
Because I'm looking for work right now, I need to explain what it is that I do in plain terms. It can be difficult to do. Brands may not know they need a strategic content plan for the social space. Hence, their agency doesn't know it either. That's why my elevator pitch has to be perfectly in tune every time. Here it is: Stop pitching so much and start talking. When you "talk" you share common interests. That's what …