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I confess that I don't know much about the Massachusetts governor's race, but here's a pretty freaky ad for candidate Kerry Healey: Here's some background about the ad from Salon.com, but if there are any Massachusetts AdPulpers who can shed a little more light on this race, please comment. This political season seems like it's been chock full of the worst, slimiest, most pathetic TV ads ever--and unfortunately, it …
Continue Reading about Female Politicians Can Run Crass Negative Ads, Too →
Even The New York Times calls it junk mail: Over the last year, marketers sent more than 114 billion pieces of direct mail — catalogues, credit card solicitations, coupons and the like — an increase of roughly 15 percent from five years ago, according to the United States Postal Service. And in the last year, for the first time, the volume of bulk mail, which is all direct mail, exceeded first class. Advertisers like …
Continue Reading about Direct Mail May Not Be Sexy But It’s Still A Growth Biz →
Lord knows the ad industry is a place for eccentrics and weirdness in general. But see if this story from LiveScience.com matches your workplace experience: In a recent study, bullied employees likened their experiences to a battle, water torture, a nightmare or a noxious substance. Understanding the seriousness of workplace bullying and what it feels like to get bullied could help managers put the brakes on the …
Continue Reading about Is Your Agency A Breeding Ground For Bullies? →
USA Today takes a look at the growing phenomenon of curse words and bleeping words in commercials, citing recent efforts by VW, Dodge and Comcast: Dodge: In a Caliber ad, a focus group of Muppet-like characters laments that the car does not make them "feel warm and fuzzy." Most distressed is little Binky, who exclaims, "It scares the (bleep) out of me." That's the reaction market researchers in the ad wanted for …
Continue Reading about Holy Shit, Those Damned Ad People Are At It Again →
Few things in marketing and advertising are as unintentionally hilarious as "brand standards manuals." These are thick books that establish in minute detail how a brand's image should be strictly conformed to, philosophically and graphically. Diebold makes ATMs. They also make electronic voting machines. The ATMs rarely screw up, at least not with my account. The voting machines, on the other hand, aren't so perfect, …
Continue Reading about Will Diebold Live Up To Its Brand Standards Next Week? →
So there's a Senate race in Tennessee pitting the Republican former mayor of Chattanooga, Bob Corker, against Democratic Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. Corker is white. Ford is black. Tennessee is...well, Tennessee. The candidates have political differences. But do they have different musical tastes? Listen to this radio spot. It compares the two candidates. Every time Corker is mentioned, you hear sweeping orchestral …
Continue Reading about Tennessee Senate Race Radio Ad Sounds Ugly →
Saw this in the New York Times and I had to chuckle: The chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores, H. Lee Scott Jr., said yesterday that the introduction of upscale products, like silk camisoles and 300-thread-count sheets, had proved “choppier than it should be” and that the company had “moved too far too fast” with fashionable clothing. “What we did was overload the fashion part,” he said, by introducing new trendy …
Somewhere, right this minute, some ad agency people are working on a credit card or retail store account creating ads touting the benefits of new credit cards that you don't have to swipe through a machine. Here's hoping they don't sucker too many people into believing that these are secure transactions. From The New York Times: The card companies have implied through their marketing that the data is encrypted to …
Continue Reading about Wave Your New Credit Card And Wave Your Money Goodbye →
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