In an age where so many books on branding and marketing resort to a gimmicky approach, it’s refreshing to get a back-to-basics but comprehensive look at the business. That’s what we get with Lindsay Pedersen’s Forging an Ironclad Brand: A Leader’s Guide. This book really is a lengthy Branding 101 lesson. Pedersen starts with defining […]
About Dan Goldgeier
“Savvy” Looks at Society’s Fakeness, and Advertising Looks Good In Comparison
I think we’re living in a precarious age. Nothing in the modern media is what It appears to be. We’re surrounded by stories, personalities, and corporate entities that simply operate by the maxim that “the end justifies the means.” Especially if that means outright deception. Shiv Singh and Rohini Luthra, Ph.D. take a closer look […]
The Punk Rock Of Business Sings A Familiar Song Of Disruption
It’s been 40 years since the Sex Pistols arrived and shook up a fairly corporate and slick music scene. Now, John Lydon is 62, the music seems a little tame even if it’s still raw, and anyone who remembers (if they can remember) those punk years has more gray hair that’s in need of dyeing, […]
From Brighton Beach to Madison Avenue Lets The CPA Have His Say
Perhaps the biggest legacy of the TV show “Mad Men” was how it prodded numerous ad industry veterans to write their memoirs and tell their tales of a business that’s changed immensely over the decades. But if you’re thinking, “When is the accountant going to write his book,” here you go: David C. Wiener’s From […]
Speak With Impact Lets You Shine In a Communicator’s World
What often separates the most successful ad people from others? The ability to effectively speak and communicate. We all can have great ideas and vision, but without the ability to sell them, those ideas won’t get anywhere. And public speaking is of the areas ad agencies often don’t train employees or work to nurture their […]
Legacy In The Making Provides An Antidote For Short-Term Brand Thinking
If there’s one major problem affecting advertising and marketing, it’s short-term thinking — all across the board. Companies and brands are living and dying by quarterly financial results; agencies have increasingly less AOR client relationships and survive on project work, making it impossible to plan for the future; even startups with big dreams and disruptive […]
Marketers, Tear Down These Walls! Shows Us The Marketing Business Is Fluid
Life is not an either/or proposition, and applying that principle to modern marketing is basically what’s at the core of Michael Solomon’s new book Marketers, Tear Down These Walls! Liberating the Postmodern Consumer. Solomon breaks his book into several chapters that focus on traditionally opposing forces: Us versus them, me versus we, offline versus online, […]
Frenemies by Ken Auletta: The Adpulp Book Review
Does Michael Kassan single-handedly control the advertising and marketing industries? Now, I don’t shuttle between New York City, Cannes, CES, and AAAA conferences, but apparently Kassan does. As CEO of MediaLink, a “strategic advisory and business development firm,” he’s a svengali/consigliere/media whisperer-type guy who’s a conduit between the biggest players among ad agencies, media buying […]
Marketing to Gen Z Takes A Broad Look At A “Pivotal” Group
I’ve never been a fan of painting all people of a certain age the same way. Or as I once put it, “generalizing about generations is generally a bad idea.” But, being that I don’t have kids and don’t spend much time around them, I was curious to see what I could glean from Jeff […]
Spotlight On NW Creative: PB& Aims High With A Unique Agency Model
Usually, when you hear about ad agency veterans opening up their own shop, the principals consist of someone with a copywriting background, someone with an art direction background, and someone with an account management background. But Seattle’s PB& isn’t structured that way — and that’s proving to be an effective move. Founded in 2016 by […]
Get To Aha! Takes A Look At Positioning in the 21st Century
It’s been over 40 years since Al Ries and Jack Trout published the much-lauded book “Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind.” The marketing world (and the rest of the world) sure has changed since then. So Andy Cunningham, in her new book, Get to Aha! Discover Your Positioning DNA and Dominate Your Competition, freely admits […]
Carnival Steers Its Brand Nicely Through Choppy Marketing Waters
Although I’ve done some copywriting for a couple of different cruise lines, I’d never actually taken a cruise until my recent trip to Alaska on Carnival Cruise Lines. And I have to say, it was quite an experience, both as passenger and someone endlessly fascinated with travel marketing. Allow me to share some random observations: […]
