Seattle Times reporter Nick Perry looks at an academic response to our always-on media culture. It's tough tuning out in today's world. Just ask a dozen communications students at Seattle University who attempted a 96-hour media-deprivation experiment: No listening to iPods or car radios. No checking e-mail. No chatting on cell phones. No surfing Web sites such as MySpace or Facebook. No watching "Desperate …
Gap Takes $40 Mil Hit
According to The Wall Street Journal, Gap, of San Francisco, opened 19 Forth & Towne stores over the past 18 months in a bid to tap the baby-boomer market, long considered underserved by women's clothing stores that tended to focus on teens and young adults. But the move failed, and now Gap is closing the chain to refocus on its core brands. Gap has also recently launched Piperlime, a shoe Web site that sells other …
Fake Tits, Fake Rolex, Fake Friends…
Unhappy with the quality of your virtual friends on MySpace? No problem. You can fix it by subscribing to FakeYourSpace.com. According to The New York Times, FakeYourSpace will enhance your page with photographs and comments from hired “friends” — mainly attractive models — for 99 cents a month each. Founder of the service Brant Walker, 26, of San Diego runs the site from his home. He said the idea came to him when …
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The Greening Of Brandlandia
Financial Times reports that companies are increasingly looking to make green claims in the face of heightened consumer scrutiny. The heads of AMV BBDO, JWT, Ogilvy, RKCR/Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi have told the FT they believe green advertising will grow in the next 12 months. The agencies say environmental branding has risen up boards' agendas, and point to the spate of recent rival green announcements in the …
Selling To Your MySpace “Friends”
The New York Times ponders the question: is having a lot of friends on MySpace better than having a record deal? Tila Tequila, who has 1.7 million "friends" on the News Corp.-owned site is about to find out. Her new single “I Love U,” produced by the rapper Lil Jon, will be released on iTunes tomorrow. Ms. Tequila, a onetime model for Playboy.com rejected offers from record companies and is hoping that her MySpace …
The Horror of Coke
Complete Washroom Solutions makes fun of fashionable coke waifs, while selling a sanitary solution. Talk about squeaky clean... …
That’s Entertainment
The New York Times "Sunday Styles" section looks at a disturbing development, or excellent business opportunity, depending on one's point-of-view regarding consumerism and celebrity worship. Screens big and small are already full of recognizable brands like Coke and Cheerios placed in strategic view, a practice known as explicit product placement. But, until recently, viewers had to work at identifying the shoes or …
Starbucks Searches Its Soul
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) has published an email sent by Starbucks' CEO, Howard Schultz, revealing his inner turmoil over decisions made under his watch. It's unusual to see a man in his position question this deeply. His email, titled, "The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience" looks at what Schultz calls "the watering down of the Starbucks experience." For example, when we went to automatic …