To paraphrase a old saying, reading about beer is like dancing about architecture. But Bill Yenne's Guinness: The 250 Year Quest For The Perfect Pint makes a fun read, especially when you're sitting at a bar on a Sunday afternoon and the Falcons are playing like a Pop Warner team. From the beginnings of Arthur Guinness, an Irish brewer in the mid-1700's, through the present day, Yenne talks about how Guinness has …
Better Business Starts Here
Better Business Bureau is a 95-year-old nonprofit organization. It's brand image is entrenched; yet, the BBB will challenge consumers to wake up to its full identity with a $700,000 rebranding campaign that launches this week. Its rebranding campaign -- including a new Web site, logo, book series and commercials during shows such as "CSI" and "Grey's Anatomy" -- drives the point home with its slogan: Start with …
The Very Genius Of It All
Tucked into this Wall Street Journal article (paid sub. req.) on staving off ad fatigue, is a nugget about the popularity of Bud Light's "Real Men of Genius" radio campaign. The ads combine a bombastic announcer, sappy 1980s rock music and outlandish tributes to trivial achievements, such as the invention of the foot-long hot dog. They leave male audiences giggling. And they have been a staple of sports-radio …
Make Grilled Cheese Not War
Stuart Elliott presents moves made by Kraft to inject some emotion into its typical product story. Kraft will devote a campaign that begins today to the glorification of the grilled cheese sandwich. The television, online, print and retail campaign carries the upbeat theme “Have a happy sandwich.” In campaigns from the longtime previous agency for Kraft Singles — the Chicago office of JWT, part of the WPP Group — …
Citi Plays By The Old Rules
According to Media Post's Marketing Daily, financial services giant Citi would rather not dip its toe into social media. "We're not there yet, and we're proceeding very cautiously," said Lisa Caputo, Citi's first company-wide CMO, at an industry event last week. She added that allowing consumers access to Citi logos and other materials related to its brand for their own creations could backfire: "I am very loath to …
An Oily Jerk-Off
That's pretty much the only way I can describe the 2:30 Chevron commercial that premiered tonight on 60 Minutes. Click on the story and you can watch the spot. Ad Age has more of a breakdown: The commercial shows a montage filmed in 13 countries, as a voiceover from Campbell Scott (son of actor George C. Scott) tells the audience about the debate over oil, energy and the environment. "It is the story of our time and …
Here’s 30 Megs. Now Go Run Germany.
Sigurd Rinde's "wacky take on enterprise software," a.k.a. Thingamy needed a new logo. Hugh MacLeod helped him out with it, but it's the tagline that spurred me to post. Well done, gentlemen. …
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Air Adobe Soars
Newsweek spoke to Adobe Systems CEO Bruce Chizen, 52, about his company's brand presence: Q. Not many people have a strong brand sense of Adobe. Does this bother you? A. What's wonderful for Adobe is, we are pretty much everywhere you look. Your magazine was probably produced with Photoshop and Illustrator and Adobe fonts. Just about every movie probably uses Adobe After Effects for the effects or the story credits. …
