The Wall Street Journal's (paid sub. req.) lead says it all, "Goodbye, Wal-Mart. Hello, Kmart." Just months after the punishing loss of the Arkansas-based retail behemoth, and the sordid affairs that led to it, Howard Draft's agency is back in business. Kmart, a unit of Sears Holdings, chose the Interpublic Group agency because of the shop's skills in "analytics" and "customer insights," says Maureen McGuire, chief …
Fast Food Farce
Jeff Kay's West Virginia Surf Report is offering an interesting photo essay that depicts food marketers as fabricators. In his left column he shows the advertised image, in his right column he shows the real thing. …
Comedy Central In The House
I don't know why I'm just now seeing this brilliant Coca-Cola Zero campaign for the first time, but I am. Apparently, Crispin Porter & Bogusky invited a mix of actors and real lawyers to this "rigged up conference room." The lawyer in the video above is real. …
The Old Fear Barrier
Jessi Hempel, Innovation editor at BusinessWeek, looks at a McKinsey report concerning adoption (or lack thereof) of Web 2.0 technologies among gloabal corporations. Following the study, Jacques Bughin, who's a director in McKinsey's Brussels office interviewed a number of the respondents. "The reason why blogs and wikis, in particular, aren't well used is that companies are still afraid," he posits. Another barrier …
Chuckin’ The Chucks
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) takes a look at several agencies that have recently walked away from fickle but lucrative accounts. Here's a quick view of one high profile move. Last week, Sausalito, Calif., independent Butler Shine Stern & Partners parted ways with Nike's Converse, a client of about three years' standing. Winning the Converse account in 2004 was an important win for the agency, says Butler …
Positioning Deconstructed
Jackie Huba opens her latest blog post with a provocative declaration. Positioning is a marketing facade that paints a picture idealized by the marketer, not necessarily the customer. She then points to OwenBloggers.com, a group of MBA students and alumni from Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management who provide a view of the Owen brand not available from the school itself. The Owen bloggers are brand …
Push To Purchase
CNET News.com looks at the desire people have to purchase things with their thumbs. Ads for the new CD by singer Tim McGraw carry a texting code, as do magazine writeups for the new Harry Potter novel coming this summer. Some concert halls are selling tickets by text message, and some charities are taking donations that way. CosmoGirl magazine will feature text-message codes throughout its June/July issue, both in …
Mobile Really Is Your Space
Edelman DERT, the new blog from Edelman’s Digital Entertainment, Rights and Technology Team speculates that social networking sites have an immense opportunity in the mobile realm. The nature of social networking is in many ways ‘information snacking’ or dropping in to the site for a few seconds to see what friends are up to. Nielsen/Netratings confirm that the average MySpace or Bebo user spends less than 30 seconds …