Advertising News and Know-How
I'll admit I have a soft spot in my heart for Radio Shack. I used to be the king of radio and cassette "Y" adapters. My grandfather was a loyal member of the free battery club. So it pains me, a bit, to read this story from the AP: Electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. on Friday said fourth-quarter earnings dropped 62 percent and said it plans to close 400 to 700 underperforming stores and distribution centers in …
Continue Reading about Radio Shack To Close A Bunch Of Shacks →
By David Burn
Buzz Machine and Fresh Inc. are running stories on the rumored sale of DailyCandy, a free daily e-mail newsletter and website, that purports to be the "ultimate insider’s guide to what’s hot, new, and undiscovered — from fashion and style to gadgets and travel." Bob Pittman, former chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner, bought controlling interest in Daily Candy for $3.5 million. The rumored sale price is $100 …
Continue Reading about Email Battles For “Killer App” Heavyweight Title →
By David Burn
Creative director, copywriter and communications strategist, Bob Cargill, is seeking a new job. Perhaps, I ought to rephrase that. He's seeking a new post that truly fits his vision. Wherever I land, I hope it’s a place that recognizes the need to leverage the effectiveness of traditional, time-tested marketing principles with the power of the latest new conversational media tools, consequently embracing a sense of …
Continue Reading about Bob Cargill Prepares To Clear High Bar →
By David Burn
Guy Kawasaki's post "How To Suck Up To A Blogger" offers some good advise to PR flacks. Blogging has flipped traditional PR on its head. It used to be that ink begat buzz. Life was simple then: you sucked up to the Wall Street Journal, one of its reporters wrote about your product, and the buzz began. Nowadays buzz begets ink. Journalists no longer anticipate or create buzz--rather, they react to it. Guy lays out a …
By David Burn
According to this article in Ad Age, branding guru, Al Ries, wants Guatemala to change its name to Guatemaya. Guatemala is a country rich in heritage. It was the cultural center of the Mayas, the most advanced civilization in all of North and South America. Even today, 43 percent of Guatemala’s population of 14 million people are of Maya descent. Many still speak dialects of the Maya language. With mountain ranges …
By David Burn
From The New York Times: To promote their upcoming season of "The Sopranos," HBO, a division of Time Warner, and Deep Focus, an online marketing agency, have created an interactive map of New Jersey, using satellite maps from Google, and have highlighted important points of the most recent season's storyline. The map has about 15 icons in specific areas where scenes took place. When the user clicks on an icon, the …
By David Burn
Hugh's buddy, The Head Lemur, really let one fly today. Marketeers always deny that what they do is harmful. They create the most convoluted and 'plausable' justifications for what they do. They will tell you that marketing is good for you. They will tell you that you can't live without them and you are somehow incomplete without them. They are wrong. Not because of the creativity, but because of the format of the …
Continue Reading about Forget Marketing. Focus On Manufacturing Something Of Value. →
By David Burn
"Blogging is the closest literary culture has come to instant obsolescence." -Trevor Butterworth Mainstream journalist, Trevor Butterworth, delivered a thought provoking but ultimately dismissive article on blogs called "Time for the last post" for the weekend edition of Financial Times. In an ironic twist, FT set up a blog, where readers can chime in on the story. One of the more interesting aspects in the piece is …
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