BusinessWeek says retailers are learning from social networking sites like MySpace and are now busy weaving the functionality found there into their own sites. Customer reviews have long been part of cutting-edge sites like Amazon.com and Netflix, but the practice is spreading dramatically these days to a broader array of retailers. By the end of 2006, 43% of e-commerce sites offered customer reviews and ratings, …
Put JanSport’s Narrative In Your Pack
In 1967, Skip Yowell, his cousin Murray Pletz, and Murray's wife Jan founded JanSport with nothing more than a sewing machine and a fierce determination. Today, Yowell is a Vice President at Jansport and he's author of a new business book, The Hippie Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder and Other Mountains. Yowell recently spoke to The Conference Board about his role at the company. Q. I find it strange that a …
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Making Enemies Every 30 Seconds
BBC naturalist and documentarian, David Attenborough shares his disdain for advertising. I hate advertisements, virulently and with ferocity. If that [TV] set has any damage it’s likely to be because I have thrown something at it when it came to an important point in the drama and they showed a picture of a chocolate bar. I hate advertisements everywhere. I know all the arguments and I know I’m being quirky and that …
Disabled Veterans Are Also Overlooked In The Ad Biz
Normally, I wouldn't have had my radar too high on this issue, but as I read about the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center this weekend, it reminded me that all too often, we simply don't, as a society, offer as much support to our veterans as they deserve. Neither does the ad industry, apparently, as I learned flipping through Ad Age this morning. In a letter to the editor, (I can't find the …
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A Content Driver
Los Angeles writer, Mark Haskell Smith, cerated a serial novel--Black Sapphire Pearl--for Lexus. According to the Washington Post, he was paid "more than a modest book advance but less than what he would get for an episode of Grey's Anatomy." Call it a fictomercial, a literatisement, branded entertainment. Lexus doesn't really care. As long as it makes people lust after its new top-of-the-line car. The story arrives …
Podcasters To Make Some Noise
Bum Rush the Charts seeks to make a loud statement next month--one they hope will be heard by music industry executives. On March 22nd, the podcasting community is going to take an indie podsafe music artist to number one on the iTunes singles charts as a demonstration of our reach to Main Street and our purchasing power to Wall Street. The track we've chosen is "Mine Again" by the band Black Lab. A band, mind you, …
Pop Ups Popped By Feds
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. reg.) examines the latest fine levied against an adware firm. A company that caused Internet pop-up ads to appear on consumers' computers has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission, the agency said Friday. The FTC charged that Direct Revenue LLC, based in New York City, and its four principals illegally downloaded advertising software, …
When Paradigms Collapse…
After letting 250 employees go last week, The New York Times looks at MTV Network's attempts to adapt to the modern media marketplace. MTV has been madly programming screens of all sizes and looking to engage consumers on whatever device they choose, but it has been slow going. Rising above the clutter was a lot easier when we were all staring into the same campfire. “It’s true that our viewers are telling us that …