Advertising News and Know-How, Since 2004
By David Burn
Ad Age takes a critical eye to Coca-Cola's revisionist nomenclature. The Atlanta-based conglomerate no longer uses the word "carbonated" to describe its best-selling brands. In it's place is the word, "sparkling." The beverage giant appears to be trying to reframe the way carbonated-soft drinks -- maligned for empty calories and lost share to alternative drinks -- are perceived by the financial community and …
Continue Reading about A Sugar-Filled Sparkling Beverage Please →
By David Burn
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) reports that News Corp. is investing (via acquistion) up to $150 million in online targeting technology. Strategic Data makes technology that helps Web sites place and target ads aimed at specific audiences. News Corp. hopes the technology will help MySpace solve one of its biggest challenges: raising the price of many of the ads that run on MySpace's more than 150 million …
By David Burn
Adotas is running an interesting article about a band's viral marketing efforts on the web, but not the DIY variety. No. Nine Inch Nails is employing 42 Entertainment, an agency with alternate reality gaming experience, to do it's bidding. The shop creates "monetized entertainment experiences" and recommends things like "hiding in plain sight." Story elements that are artfully placed across existing media platforms …
By David Burn
MIT Advertising Lab introduces us to IDEO, and reinforces the idea that a product design company can positively impact a brand's advertising. IDEO describes the work that led to Bank of America's popular "Keep the Change" promotion/incentive program. Facing the challenge of enticing people into opening new accounts, Bank of America came to IDEO in search of ethnography-based innovation opportunities. To better …
By David Burn
USA Today reports that KFC has big plans for its new Fish Snacker--a filet of 100% Alaskan Pollack topped with tartar sauce and served on a sesame bun. In an unusual move, KFC sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to lend his personal seal of approval for the item "as a way for members of your flock to keep a holy Lenten season." Vatican officials confirmed they received KFC's request, and the company is …
By David Burn
I'm partial to brands with an intriguing story--even more so, when the CEO embodies that story and shares it successfully. Nancy Traversy of Barefoot Books is one such CEO. She says imagination is more important that information. I like that kind of thinking. …
If you've been following JetBlue's problems this past week, you know they have some work to do from a logistics and organization standpoint. But from what I can see, they have handled PR crisis management perfectly. Here's the CEO, David Neeleman (who's already been on the Today show, among others): If they follow through, they'll be an even more admired brand than they already were. …
By David Burn
BusinessWeek says retailers are learning from social networking sites like MySpace and are now busy weaving the functionality found there into their own sites. Customer reviews have long been part of cutting-edge sites like Amazon.com and Netflix, but the practice is spreading dramatically these days to a broader array of retailers. By the end of 2006, 43% of e-commerce sites offered customer reviews and ratings, …
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