I enjoy creative nonfiction that explores the work we choose to do and the various conflicts therein. Scott Partee works for the U.N. in Vienna. Here's how he describes it: I just finished crawling around in a rat hole while wearing a suit to lay down some network infrastructure for some highly confidential nuclear nonproliferation air-gapped ta-do da whooptiewhitz. Now, that's making geekery sound fine. No easy …
Truth Takes A Beating
Academics and public relations practitioners gathered in London this week to debate a moral issue--whether or not people in PR are duty bound to tell the truth. According to Martin Moore, PR-man Max Clifford delivered "a low-key, frank and absorbingly anecdotal performance" at University of Westminster Tuesday night. His thesis: In PR, the truth is not always the best policy. He told the audience how his first duty …
A Promo Dies At Boston Burying Ground
Dr. Pepper has been hiding coins in strange places, including 347-year-old Granary Burying Ground in Boston that houses the remains of many of the nation's most prominent forefathers. According to The Boston Globe: After discovering another unconventional marketing campaign gone awry, angry Boston officials locked the cemetery grounds yesterday, fearing that the landmark cemetery would be damaged by overeager …
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A Sugar-Filled Sparkling Beverage Please
Ad Age takes a critical eye to Coca-Cola's revisionist nomenclature. The Atlanta-based conglomerate no longer uses the word "carbonated" to describe its best-selling brands. In it's place is the word, "sparkling." The beverage giant appears to be trying to reframe the way carbonated-soft drinks -- maligned for empty calories and lost share to alternative drinks -- are perceived by the financial community and …
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Making MySpace AdSpace
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) reports that News Corp. is investing (via acquistion) up to $150 million in online targeting technology. Strategic Data makes technology that helps Web sites place and target ads aimed at specific audiences. News Corp. hopes the technology will help MySpace solve one of its biggest challenges: raising the price of many of the ads that run on MySpace's more than 150 million …
Introduction To The Art of Goth Viral Marketing (Instructor Permission Required)
Adotas is running an interesting article about a band's viral marketing efforts on the web, but not the DIY variety. No. Nine Inch Nails is employing 42 Entertainment, an agency with alternate reality gaming experience, to do it's bidding. The shop creates "monetized entertainment experiences" and recommends things like "hiding in plain sight." Story elements that are artfully placed across existing media platforms …
Talk About Change Agents…
MIT Advertising Lab introduces us to IDEO, and reinforces the idea that a product design company can positively impact a brand's advertising. IDEO describes the work that led to Bank of America's popular "Keep the Change" promotion/incentive program. Facing the challenge of enticing people into opening new accounts, Bank of America came to IDEO in search of ethnography-based innovation opportunities. To better …
Drive Thru Loaves And Fishes
USA Today reports that KFC has big plans for its new Fish Snacker--a filet of 100% Alaskan Pollack topped with tartar sauce and served on a sesame bun. In an unusual move, KFC sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to lend his personal seal of approval for the item "as a way for members of your flock to keep a holy Lenten season." Vatican officials confirmed they received KFC's request, and the company is …