Staples has sold 1.5 million Easy Buttons--an artifact from the brand's advertising--to date. How does this happen in a culture where people skillfully avoid advertising in all of its hideous forms? Rob Walker of The New York Times Magazine explores the topic. One ad executive speculated in Brandweek that the gizmo’s success comes from its being an “elegant metaphor,” speaking to a yearning for solutions to the …
Big Media Wants One Of Those You Tube Things
Wall Street Journal is reporting that four major media companies--News Corp.'s Fox, Viacom Inc., CBS Corp. and General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal--might join to create a video web site able to compete with Google Inc.'s YouTube. Nate Anderson wonders if the Big Guys can properly design such a site. In their own attempts at creating Internet delivery services for their TV shows, the networks have often done a nice …
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Contrary Media Models United By Profitability
Reflecting on recent turmoil in the executive suites at AOL, Newscorp and CBS Interactive, John Battelle sees an industry grappling to find itself in the brave "New Media" world. Here's what he believes the big guys are thinking: 1. Interactive is now a very important, profitable, and growing business. 2. We can't afford to not view this as strategic to our future. 3. We need someone running theses sites who is not …
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Don’t Stop Believin’
Kansas City sheep hater, John January, wants ad guys and ad gals of this land to remember why they got into the ad game. That's right, for the love. I think we can't help but love it. I think we ended up in advertising because we have always loved it. Didn't you like commercials when you were a kid? Don't stop loving advertising. Don't stop believing that good work is best for client and audience. Don't stop taking …
Another Spin For CBS Records
According to Los Angeles Times, the legendary label that once featured A-list recording artists like Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Tony Bennett, Miles Davis, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen is rising from the ashes. CBS Corp. plans to revive CBS Records — a vestige of the glory days of the now-troubled music industry — with an eye toward the Internet age. In contrast to the lavish excesses of the music business of the …
Remote Locations Difficult To Manage
Network World reports on the difficulties faced by offsite workers and their managers. IBM’s efforts to create a flexible work environment have been so successful that 40% of its 330,000 employees work from home, on the road, or at a client location on any given day. But a few years ago, the company realized that as its staff became more distributed, employee morale was weakening. In the region Dan Pelino inherited …
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Merge. Spin Off. Merge. Spin Off.
Troubled Chicago conglomerate Draft FCB is planning to open up "an offshoot that would, if all goes according to plan, become a separate, independent full-service shop that would be part of the same parent holding company, IPG," according to Lewis Lazare of Chicago Sun Times. Lazare says the new agency is being created to handle accounts that present problematic conflicts of interest resulting from the merger of …
How Long Before Your Client Asks For A Flog?
Online Media Daily reports that Sony released a statement yesterday acknowledging that their alliwantforxmasisapsp.com blog was phony. They have yet to admit how lame the stunt was. What I always wonder in these situations is where was the agency's head? Was it their idea? Did they counsel vigorously against it? The article brings to light a possible answer. This comment was made by a person claiming to be a Zipatoni …
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