Nick Denton, Publisher of Gawker Media is worth a lot of money. He didn't get that way from making dumb moves. Even so, he raised a few eyebrows with his recent announcement that he would part with Wonkette, GridSkipper and Idolatar. Here's his reasoning: Everybody says that the internet is special; that advertising is still moving away from print and TV; and Gawker sites are still growing in traffic by about 90% a …
TBWA Ain’t Scared
Stuart Elliott is in Dana Point for the 4As Conference. He heard some top people at TBWA distance themselves from all the wallowing about change. “Stop whining,” Lee Clow told the estimated 380 attendees. The new realities “shouldn’t be scary,” he said, because they offer “a huge opportunity for us” to become far more useful to marketer clients as they seek more effective ways to sell products. “If you want to …
The Ad Industry May Not Face A Recession After All
Here's a little contrarian piece on Portfolio.com (the web site of Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine): Sure, the U.S. could be in a recession. Consumer confidence is declining. Food and gas are so expensive it’s more cost-effective to stay home and diet. But the advertising business (of all things!) is actually benefiting from the painful spectacle of the traditional media landscape fragmenting into shards. The …
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Rockafellas Take A Stand
I have not purchased gas from Exxon since the Valdez oil spill. Yes, I'm a grudge holder. According to the The Wall Street Journal, forces inside the oil giant are working to move the tanker in the right direction (not than anything Exxon does will ever win me back). A majority of 300 adult members of the wealthy Rockefeller family, influential shareholders of Exxon, voted to support four shareholder resolutions at …
MySpace—A Place for Profits
Facebook this, Facebook that. Blah, blah, blah...It's a story one can't escape from. And it's one that often overlooks a glaring fact—Facebook is nowhere near as popular, nor as profitable as MySpace. According to Fortune, "Rupe" bought MySpace in 2005 when it had $23 million in revenues; he recently told analysts that in the fiscal year beginning in July, it will take in $800 million, with a profit margin greater …
The Real Marlboro Man Could Use Some Support
Luis Sinco/LA Times The above image, taken on November 9, 2004 has since appeared in more than 150 publications worldwide. It's also earned the subject, Blake Miller, the moniker "Marlboro Man." According to Rolling Stone: Overnight, the photo made Miller an unwitting icon, a symbol of the indomitable spirit of U.S. troops, the heroism and virility of the American fighter. The New York Post ran the shot — later …
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Brains Build Community
I'm happy to see my friends at Brains On Fire get some positive press for their Fiskars work. Josh Bernoff, VP-principal analyst at Forrester Research and co-author of Groundswell, writing in Ad Age outlines the idea. Although Fiskars products are central to the scrapbooking experience, in 2006 the company found its own image was lackluster. In focus groups, respondents told the company that if Fiskars was a color, …
It’s Hard To Drive Purchase When People Aren’t Driving
When I filled up my Pathfinder yesterday, I realized that $3.54/gallon means a $70 tank--double what it cost me a short time ago. Naturally, this type of inflation has dire consequences for the economy. For the first time since 1980, consumers are driving less. Last year, the amount of miles driven declined 0.4%. The previous two years had been flat. Prior to that, the amount of miles had grown 3-5% each …
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