New York Times ran an article last week titled, "Green Logo, but BP Is Old Oil," the theme of which is rather obvious, given BP's recent problems in Alaska. The question is can one incident, or one well placed article, undue millions in annual advertising expenditures? No, I don't believe one article will do the trick, but several might. Guardian Unlimited ran a piece by George Monbiot last June on BP and Shell, …
When Brand Evangelists Turn Scary
According to Marion Chronicle Tribune, close to a dozen masked men entered a Taco Bell in Jonesboro, Indiana toting six 40-gallon trash bags filled with individual packets of taco sauce - about 25,000 in all, police guess. "I've heard a lot of people accumulate sauce packets in their glove compartments. We know people keep things, and it's a pretty common phenomenon, but to have that many, I've never heard of that," …
Geriatric1927 Lays His Story Down
Viral videos distributed through YouTube are all the rage, but until the recent emergence of You Tube user, Geriatric1927, the idea that senior citizens would successfully run with this ball was not well, nor widely, understood. …
This Roc-A-Fella Is A Master Juggler
Shawn Corey Carter, a.k.a. Jay-Z, 36, is president and CEO of Def Jam Records. For most mortals that would be an all-engrossing position and a magnificent accomplishment. But Jay-Z is on another level. He's also one of the owners and founders of the Roc-A-Fella empire, which includes Roc-A-Fella Records, Roc-La-Familia, Roc-A-Fella Films and Rocawear. And he owns part of the New Jersey Nets and the 40/40 Club, an …
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More Than A Feeling
Erin at Out of Character is living proof that the millions of dollars being spent by marketers on scent and sound is worth every penny. I went to Costco today to pick up laundry detergent and...approximately $90 worth of other crap I totally don't need, and much to my orgasmic delight and/or horror I stumbled upon an advertised demo stereo that was blasting "Boston". I quickly discovered that I was only physically …
How Greatness Gets Going
I don't know what legendary media critic, A.J. Liebling thought of advertising. Whatever he thought of it, he knew how to use advertising to his advantage. Here's a small piece of his Wikipedia entry: He returned to Providence in autumn 1927 to write for the Journal. He then moved to New York, where he proceeded to campaign for a job on Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, which carried the work of James M. Cain and …
Report Locally. Webcast Globally.
Writing in Editor & Publisher, Kevin J. Mireles advises the newspaper business to "make a conscious transition from being strictly content creators to become local communication facilitators." He argues that newspapers could benefit greatly by providing user-generated content that's been screened by professional editors. By "benefit" he means increased revenue via advertising. The notion being that most marketers are …
Viacom Gets Gen Y
According to the New York Times, Sumner Redstone's media conglomerate is making savvy moves and cashing in on them. Viacom said yesterday that growth in advertising sales at its MTV Networks helped the company post a 27 percent increase in second-quarter profit. Viacom also announced that it had agreed to buy the online video and games company Atom Entertainment for $200 million as Viacom seeks to build its Internet …