According to The New York Times, Ritz-Carlton is objecting to foul language and brand-diminishing storylines in a book of short stories it commissioned from Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. The luxury hotel chain planned to provide the book, Turndown Tales, as part of its turndown service. One of the stories in Turndown Tales is by the novelist Jodi Picoult, who wrote about a woman so fed up with her …
“Selling Out” Has Lost All Meaning In Today’s Media Culture
Jed Gottlieb writing for the Boston Herald takes modern indie bands to task for selling out to the man. John Mellencamp’s career has basically been one long commercial for the American working man. So when Chevy ads featuring his song “Our Country” scrolled across TV screens every 2.3 seconds for months last fall, it seemed fitting. But when Of Montreal - a cultish dance-pop band with a penchant for singing about …
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Delta’s Newest Destination: Twitterville
Ariel points to the fact that Delta Airlines has an active Twitter account. Love or hate Twitter, it is easy to see how it's a valuable resource for real-time brand monitoring. Thousands of users simultaneously (and quite candidly) expressing their good and bad interactions with brands, products, and services. Companies should consider it a virtual focus group of sorts... Only, instead of locking housewives in a room …
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The Struggle To Improve Creative
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that P&G and J&J are pushing for tighter integration between agency disciplines, particularly media planning and creative. Johnson & Johnson has joined a growing list of marketers who are dissatisfied with the way advertising firms are structured, and it is calling for more collaboration between the people who do the consumer research and the people who actually create the …
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Models Eat Up—Anorexia Is Off The Shelf
Following the fashion industry's inner turmoil over the use of wafer-thin models, a major packaged goods company is now calling for heftier models in its advertising. According to The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.), Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer-products company is joining the global fight against eating disorders. "Unilever has adopted a new global guideline that will require that all its future marketing …
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The Artist’s Statement Reconfigured
Clay Parker Jones is an account guy with a book. Sort of. Jones says this about his approach: Account Executives don’t usually have a book. But I’m not really a typical AE, as I’m sure you can tell if you’re a regular reader here. And I don’t like resumes, anyway. How could you possibly get your entire career, beliefs and feelings onto one page? Ha. Jones, who studied Diplomacy and World Affairs at Occidental …
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Sears Seared
Chicago Sun Times ad columnist Lewis Lazare doesn't care for the new Sears campaign from Young & Rubicam/Chicago. It's obvious to us hedge fund guru Eddie Lampert and company still haven't a clue where Sears is headed. Why do we say this? Because the campaign's new tag line -- "Sears: Where It Begins" -- is so hopelessly weak and non-specific. It's a collection of words that say absolutely nothing, primarily because …
