Seth Godin was recently afforded the privilege of seeing the uber geek in action. He noted it in his journal, like an ethologist in the field. I sat next to Cory at a conference today. It was like playing basketball next to Michael Jordan. Cory was looking at more than 30 screens a minute. He was bouncing from his mail to his calendar to a travel site and then back. His fingers were a blur as he processed inbound …
Is Your Agency a Mac or a PC?
Forrester Research produces research not news flashes, so their latest study won't come as a big surprise. Nevertheless, it's interesting to hear the details of what most of us already know. Courtesy MediaPost: The study illustrates a major rift between marketers and agencies with some harsh survey results: On aggregate, agencies scored a dismal Net Promoter rating of 21%, showing just how few marketers in the fourth …
The Off Position
Seattle Times reporter Nick Perry looks at an academic response to our always-on media culture. It's tough tuning out in today's world. Just ask a dozen communications students at Seattle University who attempted a 96-hour media-deprivation experiment: No listening to iPods or car radios. No checking e-mail. No chatting on cell phones. No surfing Web sites such as MySpace or Facebook. No watching "Desperate …
Just Do It A Little Cheaper
BusinessWeek reports on Nike's new Tailwind brand, an attempt to go "downmarket" (read: cheap shoes for cheap people.) Produced by the wholly owned Nike subsidiary, Exeter Brand Group, Tailwind, as the new brand is called, is a fashion-conscious line of footwear, officially launching in three Payless stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn on Tuesday. Initially, the line will be available in 400 stores in select markets, …
Gap Takes $40 Mil Hit
According to The Wall Street Journal, Gap, of San Francisco, opened 19 Forth & Towne stores over the past 18 months in a bid to tap the baby-boomer market, long considered underserved by women's clothing stores that tended to focus on teens and young adults. But the move failed, and now Gap is closing the chain to refocus on its core brands. Gap has also recently launched Piperlime, a shoe Web site that sells other …
Fake Tits, Fake Rolex, Fake Friends…
Unhappy with the quality of your virtual friends on MySpace? No problem. You can fix it by subscribing to FakeYourSpace.com. According to The New York Times, FakeYourSpace will enhance your page with photographs and comments from hired “friends” — mainly attractive models — for 99 cents a month each. Founder of the service Brant Walker, 26, of San Diego runs the site from his home. He said the idea came to him when …
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The Greening Of Brandlandia
Financial Times reports that companies are increasingly looking to make green claims in the face of heightened consumer scrutiny. The heads of AMV BBDO, JWT, Ogilvy, RKCR/Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi have told the FT they believe green advertising will grow in the next 12 months. The agencies say environmental branding has risen up boards' agendas, and point to the spate of recent rival green announcements in the …
Hyundai Down Under–Loved, Hated, And Banned
My post the other day about The Richards Group losing the Hyundai account and their mediocre work made me wonder if other agencies around the world are doing anything cool for Hyundai. Well, I uncovered this New Zealand ad for my Santa Fe: Apparently, it won a Fair Go ad award--sort of a People's Choice kinda thing. (Actually, it won as a "Best" winner and a "Worst" finalist.) And it's now been banned in Australia. …
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