I loathe Worst Buy. These feelings stem from the fact that they charged me an unspeakable 15% "restocking fee" when I returned a laptop computer I had in my possession a mere 18 hours. It's a fine I refused to pay at the time, yet bill collectors still call me, hoping I will come through. I won't. So it pleases me to see this lawsuit, even though it's meant to correct another of this heinous company's traits. USA …
Is Google Getting Evil?
I suppose "Don't Be Evil" is a pretty good corporate mantra to have, if you must have one. But as USA Today points out, the Google backlash is starting. Lauren Fine, a media analyst at Merrill Lynch, warned in a Nov. 28 research note that the launch of services like Google Base classified advertising could tarnish its do-only-good reputation. "As Google's newer businesses start to encroach on some otherwise …
Praise The Lord And Pass The Gizzards
Ad Age reports on Tyson Foods' new "Giving Thanks" booklet, which features all sorts of faith-based ways to say Grace. “People are not just buying our products, they’re buying us and they’re spending more and more time looking on the Internet and elsewhere to find out, ‘what does this company stand for,’ “ said Bob Corscadden, Tyson’s Chief Marketing Officer. Consumers researching Tyson are likely to find on the Net …
Continue Reading about Praise The Lord And Pass The Gizzards →
Will “TiVo” As A Verb Outlast TiVo As A Company?
Ad Age has an article pondering the future of the company. “These are the death throes,” said Alex Tamayo, VP at Media Contacts, the interactive buying unit of Havas’ MPG. He noted that while TiVo has put a brand name on time-shifting, it’s struggling to gain subscribers and is being outpaced by cable operators who are aggressively rolling out their own DVRs. In fact, TiVo’s new developments came the same week that …
Continue Reading about Will “TiVo” As A Verb Outlast TiVo As A Company? →
Honda And W+K Define “Aspirational”
On Friday, W+K London rolled out a new 120-second spot for Honda. Directed by Stink’s Ivan Zacharias, the spot follows a Honda test-driver (who lip-syncs the song “The Impossible Dream” by Andy Morris) as he gets on a Honda Monkey bike that morphs into other Honda vehicles, including the 1965 Formula 1 Grand Prix-winning car, the new BAR F1 automobile, and a powerboat. As the spot wraps and the song ends, Garrison …
Continue Reading about Honda And W+K Define “Aspirational” →
BellSouth To New Orleans: Drop Dead
According to this story in the Washington Post, BellSouth was none too pleased with the city's idea to offer free Wi-Fi throughout the city. Hours after New Orleans officials announced Tuesday that they would deploy a city-owned, wireless Internet network in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, regional phone giant BellSouth Corp. withdrew an offer to donate one of its damaged buildings that would have housed new police …
Continue Reading about BellSouth To New Orleans: Drop Dead →
The Two Edges Of Google’s Sword
Reuters: Google Inc.'s search for revenue beyond its wildly popular pay-per-click advertising system has everyone from publishers to phone companies unnerved by the seemingly endless scope of the Web leader's ambitions. Nowhere is this more closely felt than Madison Avenue, where the advertising industry sees Google encroaching on turf ad agencies and media buyers have considered their own for much of the past …
Close But No Cigar
Forbes: The Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court yesterday ordered two Chinese companies to pay more than 300,000 yuan in compensation to Hennessy Cognac for infringing the French company's trademark, the China Daily reported. Zhuhai Xiangmutong Trading Co and Xiamen Golden Huanya Food Co, a bottling company, have been ordered to pay compensation, cease infringing the Hennessy trademark immediately and publish …
