If you want a good lesson in the power of words, branding, and crisis PR, consider the case of a product its maker calls "lean, finely textured beef" and others call "pink slime." The campaign to rid supermarkets, schools, and restaurants of "pink slime" is having an effect on its maker, according to the Huffington Post: Craig Letch, director of food quality and assurance for Beef Products Inc., declined to …
Maybe Detroit Can Develop A Fixed Gear Automobile
Once upon a time in Adlandia, you hadn't made it until you were working on a car account. To this day a great car account is still prestigious and potentially lucrative. But this won't last if young Americans continue to walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation to work. According to Jordan Weissmann of The Atlantic, "auto makers are worried about the Millennials. They just don't seem to care about …
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Trade Ya
Michael Bloomberg picked BusinessWeek up for a song in 2009, but old trade mags appear to hold their value better than that. According to Los Angeles Times, a buyer may need to pay ten times what Bloomberg paid for Variety. Dutch and British conglomerate Reed Elsevier, which acquired the weekly and its Daily Variety newspaper 25 years ago, announced Friday that it was seeking a buyer for the 107-year-old …
Telling Victoria’s Secret
In order to keep a roof over our heads, so to speak, we infuse brands with meaning. But what happens to that meaning post-infusion? How is it transferred (if it is) to the people it was made for? According to BusinessWeek, University of Minnesota researchers Deborah Roedder John and Ji Kyung Park are studying the matter. One of the four studies they conducted found that women who carried a Victoria's …
Let My People Go Shopping Like Everyone Else
If there's one thing "Mad Men" has been successful at, it's the launching of a ridiculous number of columns, opinions and people who've popped up to attach themselves to the show's popularity. One tangentially related column is this one by Mat Zucker, CCO of OgilvyOne Worldwide. Writing in an online Jewish publication called Tablet, he asks if today's advertising overtly, or covertly, appeals to the Jewish …
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This Trailer Is Somewhat Alien
In 11 years, TED talks will be given in stadiums and presented by corporate overlords like Peter Weyland, CEO of Weyland Industries. You doubt this? Have a look in to the not-far-off future: Weyland is a character in the new Ridley Scott film, Prometheus, and the above trailer is a promotional tool used to build interest in the story (a prequel to Alien). According to the film's Wikipedia entry, TED …
Project Runway Meets Mad Max
House music, elaborate costumes and the high desert. Someone's been to Burning Man. What was that? A new music video from Swedish House Mafia? Or a long-form ad from TBWA/Chiat/Day meant to sell Sweden's favorite vodka mixed with grapefruit juice? I have to say, I've never seen such an elaborate effort to promote the Greyhound, a drink I enjoy when miles from the nearest dive bar. Of course, the use of …
The AdPulp Interview: Ad Contrarian Revisited
Bob Hoffman, also known as The Ad Contrarian, has written two books about advertising. His first was self-titled and his second is 101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising, which has been getting a solid reception since its release in eBook form last November. I had the opportunity to catch up with Hoffman over beers in Portland recently. He said he enjoyed making books more than blogs, and that he's putting his …
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