From USA Today: The ads are jazzy, edgy, hip — everything you don't expect in politics. Which is the point for at least two candidates using them this year to portray themselves as likable, with-it guys. The ads for Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Maryland Senate candidate Michael Steele look more like spots for Target or Apple or The Gap than for a pair of Republicans. They're the latest attempt by political …
Mehlman’s Moneyball
Adam Nagourney, national political correspondent for The New York Times profiles Republican Party Chairman, Ken Mehlman, in today's Magazine section. It's a flattering portrayal of a compassionate and intelligent young man. The article makes Mehlman look quite a bit more liberal than many mainstream members of his party. He actively courts African-American and Hispanic voters for one, something he claims the …
They Can’t Legislate Very Well And They Sure As Hell Can’t Advertise Effectively
Ad Age says politicians plan to spend waste $1.6 billion on TV advertising in the buildup to 2008. Despite all the media chatter about Howard Dean's digital legacy and the rise of blogs and websites as the new powers of political marketing, local and national broadcast TV will continue to receive the overwhelming bulk of all ad spending during the upcoming primaries and presidential race, according to Evan Tracey, …
Current Events Used To Sell Whiskey
Is war fair fodder for advertising? Leo Burnett thinks it is, and so does Diageo, the world's largest spirits company. According to the International Herald Tribune, the two have teamed to provide a new twist on Johnnie Walker's "Keep Walking" campaign (originally created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty) for the Lebanese market. courtesy of Flickr user Fadilb Not everyone thinks this localized twist is a great idea. Ad …
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Accomplished? Maybe. Polished? No.
I need not remind anyone how far gone our political process is, but I will offer up further evidence to support the claim, courtesy of Cinemocracy. I never have understood why political candidates don't see the need for professional advertising. Do they want to be seen as used car salesmen? For whatever reason, budgetary or otherwise, it seems they do. …
Staunch Supporter Of The NRA Misfires BIG TIME
I'm from Nebraska. I grew up hunting Bobwhite quail in the rolling farmhills of the southeast part of the state. I recall a Saturday long ago when one of my grandfather's hunting buddies accidentally shot his own dog. The dog lived, but this man's horrid form made my grandpa irate. Needless to say, we never hunted with the man again. Now, this news from south Texas... Corpus Christi Caller- Times: Vice President …
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Sierra Club Helps You See The Issues
Frankly much political advertising is of the shoddiest sort, barely a notch above what's produced for used car lots and local exterminators. So, it warms the Birkenstock-wearer in me to note that one of the more venerable environmental groups has taken the camera by the hand, as it were, and developed long-format programming that effectively "sells" their world-view. Emmy Award-winning Sierra Club Productions …
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When Old-Fashioned Letter Writing Fails…
NYT: A full-page advertisement - set to appear in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call today - pleads with Congress to pay for stronger levees in the devasted city of New Orleans. It also reminds the lawmakers that things are far from normal in a city where block after block remains ghostly and dark. "Since the breakdown of the New Orleans flood protection system on August 29, 2005, we have lived like refugees in our …
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