Boing Boing is running a customer service horror story about Citibank. Citibank customer Jake Appelbaum tried to withdraw cash with his ATM card on Saturday night in Toronto. The ATM machine rejected the transaction and urged Applebaum to contact his financial institution. When he did, he discoverd his problems were part of a much larger fraud crisis at the bank. The supervisor informed me that there had been no …
No Qualms From BMW’s Writers
From The New York Times: Nobody had to pay author Karin Slaughter to put a BMW in one of her books: it's what the protagonist, Dr. Sara Linton, drives in five Grant County crime novels. In the acknowledgments for "Indelible" in 2004, Ms. Slaughter wrote, "I've had Sara drive a BMW in every one of these books in the hopes that the nice folks over in Munich will thank me with a shiny new 330Ci." Ms. Slaughter never did …
Digits Piling Up
From USA TODAY: Media and entertainment conglomerate NBC Universal Monday said it would acquire iVillage, operator of a network of websites for women, for $600 million in a bid to bolster its Internet strategy. The deal, expected to close in the second quarter, underscores the ambitions of established media companies to establish a presence on the Internet as the medium develops into a bona-fide alternative to …
Writers Guild Resists Advertainment
From The New York Times: A Hollywood union is stepping up its campaign against the embedding of brands and products in entertainment and, as they say in the movies, this time it's personal The Writers Guild of America, West, is making fun of the interweaving of sponsors' wares into films and TV shows with a so-called viral video that is scheduled to appear this week on a union-sponsored Web site. The video mocks Tyra …
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Finally, A PDF That Pays
From Kottke: 37signals has published their latest book, Getting Real, as a PDF download that they are distributing themselves. After more than a day, they've sold over 1750 copies at $19 apiece: If you do the math, that's ~$33,000 in sales in one day. I don't know what the advance would be on a book like that, but they've got to be approaching it, and if/when they reach that figure, the profit margin on subsequent …
Vodka’s Creation Story
From Thinktopia: Smirnoff was created by Piotr Aresenyevich Smirnov, who was able to take raw vodka and filter it into through silver birch tree charcial and create a potable drink. While peasants were still filling buckets of their hard stuff, Smirnov’s refined vodka was smooth and imminently drinkable. When the Czar tried it and liked it in 1886, Smirnov’s career took off. He was appointed purveyor to the royal …
Adventures Of Kling Kong
One look at Jeff Kling, and you know the guy rages. What might not be as readily apparent is the fact he is also a man with a fancy position in advertising--executive creative director at Euro RSCG/New York, to be exact. A search of the Way Back Machine, reveals an interesting Willamette Week story recounting the days when Kling was a copywriter working to reinvent Miller Genuine Draft High Life at Wieden + …
If It Were Only True
Strange New Products helped introduce hangover helper, Security Feel Better, last fall. According to their report, SFB has a distinctive pear flavor, and comes in a 30ml bottle, small enough to carry in a coat pocket, handbag, or glove compartment. The manufacturer, PPN SA, says that after drinking a full 30ml bottle, consumers can expect to feel results within 45 minutes. Now this from Decanter: The French …
A McKinsey-Like Droga
We last looked at David Droga on August 23rd, after he stepped down as worldwide creatice director at Publicis--kind of a bold move for a 37-year old. The Feb. issue of Creativity catches up with him. I've become obsessed with producing doing work that doesn't necessarily start with a given template. I love traditional advertising and have built my career on it. However I think that is one option, not the only …