My head is spinning because I just encountered two women in content development--my field!--that impress me with their thinking about the practice. Writing on A List Apart, Kristina Halvorson of Brain Traffic says: Who among us is asking the scary, important questions about content, such as "What's the point?" or "Who cares?" Who's talking about the time-intensive, complicated, messy content development process? …
It’s Advertainment, Get Used To It
USA Today looks at the MacGruber spots from Pepsi and Saturday Night Live--which ran Saturday night during SNL and again on Sunday during the Super Bowl--offering a bit of clarity for media consumers who might need it. ...all were paid commercials by Pepsi, made in collaboration with producer Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live. The segments weren't product placement, but commercials paid for by Pepsi and produced …
The Right Content On The Right Platform At Just The Right Moment–That’s Worth Something
Everyone's talking about customer empowerment, but BusinessWeek has another take on things. Trapped inside an article on nervous companies eschewing untested campaigns that try to reach customers via smartphones, social networks, and other new media, is this bit: In these hard times, advertisers wield more power than ever. Packaged goods behemoth Unilever is forcing media companies to throw in experimental marketing …
Content for the Social Space
Steve McKee of McKee Wallwork Cleveland Advertising believes small business has every reason to invest in social media. Here he is in BusinessWeek pointing to reason number one: The biggest reason to use social media is that it's free. You can be a significant player online without laying out any cash, and in this economic environment cash is king more than ever. It does take time, though, and in business time is …
Free Style
Chicagoan Carol Felsenthal is a journalist who writes in-depth magazine articles about political and media figures. She has also written several biographies, including books on Katharine Graham and Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Her new book about Bill Clinton's post presidency, Clinton in Exile: A President Out of the White House, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in May. So, why does this successful writer …
Everyone Together Now: PULL!
I’ve spent most of my ad career serving large companies with equally large marketing budgets. These companies invest many millions of dollars pursuing all sorts of push marketing efforts. But that's not my concern at the moment. Recently, I've been realizing how much small businesses mean to me. My friends work in, and own, small businesses. And when these friends ask me about their web site or advertising, I …
Honda On The Power of Failure
Stuart Elliott of The New York Times takes a look at three brand-sponsored documentaries showing now on Honda's Power of Dreams microsite. The webisodes, directed by Derek Cianfrance, are low-key in their promotion of Honda and are polished and absorbing enough to make a viewer (almost) forget they are sponsored shorts, and part of the trend toward branded entertainment. But in this case, one can't (almost) forget, …
Creative People Find Elegant Solutions (It’s Our Job)
Bill Taylor, co-author of Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win with Polly LaBarre, reminds us that tough economic times are also times of innovation. Don't let risky times dull your appetite for taking risk. More then ever, companies and their leaders have to offer a positive alternative to a demoralizing status quo. So why wouldn't you move now to shake up your market and transform your …
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