Advertising gets old after awhile. To combat such mundane realities, Joe at American Copywriter turns his attention to a topic that never gets old—live music. Joe attended the Austin City Limits Festival over the weekend. Today, back at his desk, he dutifully reports on the highs and lows of this festival's festival. Here's but a sampling of his copy: Best Performance by an Emaciated Male: Ray Lamontagne Ray, we know …
Gifting Decisions, Like Purchases, Driven By Self-Interest
According to Business Week, Cornell University business major Matthew Zimmerman got a practical education in advertising this summer, thanks to his Sinek Partners internship. He had to figure out a way for beggars to increase their revenue streams by creating new marketing tools—in this case, signs—for them to use. "My goal was to create an emotional attachment between people on the street (his target market) and Amy …
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An Inside Look At The Wal-Mart Pitch
BusinessWeek goes behind the scenes of the ongoing Wal-Mart Pitch. With 138 million customers shopping its stores each week already, Wal-Mart isn't necessarily interested in new advertising to lure in even more patrons. Instead, the retailer is looking to get its existing shoppers—many of whom frequent the store for a few key items such as low-margin hardware supplies and groceries—to "cross-shop" and move into the …
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Lowe Gets The Adweek Expose Treatment
A very lengthy article in this week's Adweek explores the history of Lowe--both the man and his agency--as it merged and remerged through the years. Lowe's situation is symptomatic of the problems plaguing IPG after its acquisition frenzy of the past 20 years. The holding company, after all, is still subject to an SEC investigation as it struggles with financial controls stemming in part from poor integration of past …
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In Praise Of Lowly Wires, Snaked Across Utility Poles And Buried Under Sidewalks
The New York Times looks at Rupe's move to divest his media conglomerate from its satellite TV holdings. For two decades, Rupert Murdoch worked to become king of the cosmos, launching a ring of satellites that hover over five continents. He wanted to make sure he could beam his movies, networks and sports programming directly to viewers without being beholden to cable television operators. But Mr. Murdoch has …
Privilege Meets Idealism And It Goes By The Name Of “Good”
The 1980s are over. Greed is no longer good. Today, if we are to believe its earnest young publisher Ben Goldhirsh, Good is good. In today's Sunday Styles, The New York Times explores the quixotic creation of Good and the title's nascent business plan. Mr. Goldhirsh, the son of the founder of Inc. magazine, Bernie Goldhirsh, and heir to a fortune, doesn’t read many magazines himself, nor do his friends. “I try to …
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Time Seeks Shelter
I wish I had several mil laying around, for there are some nice magazines currently for sale. According to MediaWeek, Time Inc. is offloading Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Yachting, MotorBoating, SaltWater Sportsman, Ski, Skiing and several other media properties. Look at those titles...a sportman's dream. …
Popeye Is Bummin’
According to the Washington Post: Federal health officials issued an advisory about bagged spinach yesterday, saying that a preliminary investigation had linked an outbreak of a particularly harmful strain of the bacteria Escherichia coli 0157:H7 to bagged fresh spinach. The bacteria can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea. Some people can also develop kidney failure. More than 50 cases of illnesses have been reported …
