Over at Politico.com, Roger Simon reveals Hillary Clinton's latest tactic to win support in Iowa: A campaign with limited resources would forget about the expansion voters and just go after the provens and potentials. But the Clinton campaign has been sending out a special glossy mailing to expansion voters. On the bottom is a scratch card that says: “Itching for change? Show your support for Hillary. Scratch to win …
From Terminated To Terminator
Every now and then, we post some news or item about an ad agency that leads to some very personal and controversial comments. And other blogs do, too. HighJive at MultiCultClassics has some very interesting thoughts on the way blogs sometimes cover agencies, particularly when it comes to employee or ex-employee gossip and crosstalk: The terminated are becoming the terminators. They’re mad as hell and they’re not …
Politics Gets Personal For Huckabee The Huckster
He hasn't raised the most money, but Mike Huckabee can afford a real good camera crew. Can you imagine the on-set high-fives when some campaign advisor looked through the lens and said "Wow, the way you're framed here in the shot, there's a freakin' cross plain as day in the background right next to your head!" See the Huckabee Christmas ad here. He's so smooth, it's scary. Sounds like a lot of people are buying …
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No News Is The News
Thanks to George Parker for finding this AOL News spot: Yes, it's funny. But it's also scary. This shit is considered 'news' now? …
Freelancers Revolt At MTV
Seems like more and more media people are getting tired of working for The Man. From The New York Times: The walkout highlighted the concerns of a category of workers who are sometimes called permalancers: permanent freelancers who work like full-time employees but do not receive the same benefits. Waving signs that read “Shame on Viacom,” the workers, most of them in their 20s, demanded that MTV Networks reverse a …
NYT Story On Branded Entertainment Takes A Stand
I really don't have a strong opinion on branded entertainment on TV--it's really nothing new. But this story in the New York Times, written by Louise Story, certainly has a odd tone to it: One of the more popular tricks — oops, I meant to say tactics — advertisers are using today is branded entertainment, which ranges from plopping a Pepsi can into a scene to writing entire television scripts based around Oreo …
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Testing The Merits of Pretesting
Every month, Steve McKee of McKee Wallwork Cleveland writes a column in Businessweek that puts in simple terms what real CEOs and marketing folks ought to know about advertising. This month, he takes on testing: Think about how a focus group works—people are invited in, fed a meal, and paid an incentive to offer insights and opinions that the sponsoring marketer can use. The pressure is on to contribute something of …
Can Interactive Shops Step Up?
It's been my experience when talking to interactive shops and looking at their work that they're more focused on executing ideas rather than brand-building strategies and initiatives that can be used across all media. They're good at what they do, but it's a niche, and they're not scrambling to hire the right people to change that. A new survey reported in Adweek seems to support that: Digital agencies are improving …
