Ad Age has a piece on storytelling's place in the marketing wheel. Storytelling in a business context is not about telling stories just for the sake of it. Rather, as rational and physical features are becoming easier to imitate, authentic storytelling is becoming a growing source of competitive power. All companies have authentic raw material: genuine, real-life episodes that can be used in the continuous …
Fashion, Friend Or Phone?
"We are moving away from phones as tools to phones as companions," Elise Levanto, Nokia's senior consumer vision manager told Business Week. This may be true in Helsinki, but companions need to be alive, at least where I come from. I'm getting a bit chafed by all the "let the brand be your friend" rhetoric I'm hearing. Brands are not friends. Friends are friends. This is a pretty sweet looking phone, however. …
Folgers Does The Microsite/Viral Video Dance
If I'm reading the New York Times right, viral videos are no longer cool. They've been adopted by one marketer after another, and now they've even caught on in Cincinnati. For decades, the Procter & Gamble Company was perhaps the most staid and traditional national advertiser, rarely approving advertising that deviated from tried-and-true formulas. Now, as Procter begins exploring the wild world of so-called viral or …
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The Important Work Of An Adman
I like when people get excited about the business: To be a winner, you have to believe. No, not just believe. If you're going to win, you have to totally and completely give yourself over to the cause of your client. You’re not a shill. You’re a communicator. You’re not selling...or even simply entertaining. You’re showing people how to improve their lives. Ultimately, the client’s product is the answer. It’s up to …
ABC Wants Cat Put Back In Box
According to c|net News.com, Mike Shaw, ABC president of advertising sales, is so hungry for days gone by, he's willing to make idioctic utterances to journalists eager for just that type of thing. "I would love it if the MSOs (multi-system operators), during the deployment of the new DVRs they're putting out there, would disable the fast-forward (button)," he said in an interview Wednesday. Whether he gets his wish …
Rev Your Engines. Then Hire A Lawyer.
Karl Long at Futurelab's Blog says content makers will follow the money, and that Revver is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the YouTube craze. YouTube may be an upstart but it is going to get killed if it doesn’t find a way to compensate the content creators, because the content creators will follow the money in a heartbeat. The Diet Coke + Mentos team has made $15,000 from it’s viral video being viewed on …
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Rocketboom Goes Boom. Distress Signals Sent.
Note the upsidedown map Rocketboom, a new media company with a ton of fuel on board, lost a co-pilot and host, Amanda Congdon to Hollywood. Andrew Baron, the show's producer, is now piloting the craft and looking for a soft landing. Washington Post tracks Rocketboom's flight path: When Rocketboom started in 2004, young video producer Andrew Baron sent out a casting call in New York and hired Congdon to produce a …
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Coke Mole Ferreted Out
According to USA Today, a woman working at Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta allegedly lifted trade secrets (including new product samples) and tried to sell them to Pepsi for measly sums. But Pepsi wasn't havin' it. Three people have been arrested and charged with stealing confidential information about drink recipes from The Coca-Cola and trying to sell it to rival PepsiCo, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. They …
