Dutch beer brand, Heineken, is rolling out airport bars on five continents, according to The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.). In recent years, a range of consumer goods makers have tried creating a "brand experience" in retail outlets to exert more control over how their products are presented to buyers. In 1992, Nike Inc. moved beyond its Oregon base to launch an elaborate "Niketown" flagship store in Chicago. …
A Little Baio For Your Weekend
Seems that there's been a bit of Scott Baio bashing amongst the commenters on this board lately. To counteract such negativity, I present to you a commercial he did on behalf of the Los Angeles Sherriffs Star Organization in 2003. And I shouldn't have to point out the delicious irony of Mad Mel playing the cop that pulls him over. Now, many of you creatives may be saying, "Well, what if I want a little Baio in my …
Hello Frustration
The New York Times reports on a new campaign for Avon, the largest in its 121-year history. But here's the part of the article that gets me: The campaign, now getting under way, carries the upbeat theme “Hello tomorrow.” The ads are the first work from a new Avon creative agency, Soho Square in New York, part of the WPP Group, which has been developing the campaign since September 2005. “It was a journey in getting …
And Riney Thanks Gallo For His Support
Back in ad school, one of my teachers told me that Ernest Gallo would have his agencies come out to his house and present new work to him by the pool. And they'd lay out the ads on the ground, and Gallo would piss on the storyboards he didn't like. I'm not sure if the story's true, but it sounds true. But now that Gallo's dead, Hal Riney looks back at the man with a sense of fondness. Riney's work for Gallo made Hal …
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Pyper Paul + Kenney Wins 0.98% More Addys This Year
Last year, I wrote about the Addy dominance of Tampa agency Pyper Paul + Kenney. They won 127 Tampa Addys. This year, they only had a modest increase in performance, winning a mere 129 Addys. Will we see more substantial improvement from PP+K next year? Let's hope so. I still wanna know how much in entry fees this costs them. …
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Car Dealers Are Great. Car Dealers Suck.
Having recently bought a car myself, I can attest that one's experience at a car dealership can make or break everything. No amount of image advertising that ad agencies do can reverse a really bad experience with a dealer who tries to screw with you or a salesman who doesn't know much about the car you want. Over at The Truth About Cars, there's a bit of a "Point-Counterpoint" discussion going on about the current …
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The Noble Wiki
According to Wikipedia, Crowdsourcing is a neologism for a business model that depends on work being done outside the traditional company walls: while outsourcing is typically performed by lower paid professionals, crowdsourcing relies on a combination of volunteers and low-paid amateurs who use their spare time to create content, solve problems, or even do corporate R&D. The term was coined by Wired magazine writer …
LonelyGirl Kicking “Herself”
Tim Gideon of PC Magazine wrote an article about a SXSW panel I walked out on yesterday--"What Does the Future Hold for Video on the Internet?" Before I vacated the room, I did hear this exchange, and upon reflection believe it's worth repeating here. Kent Nichols, from Ask A Ninja, pointed out that most "user-generated" sites like MySpace own all the uploaded content and can do whatever they want with it, including …