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Old (White) Boy Network Under Attack
An Ad Age reporter heard some severe criticism of the white bread industry she covers. The president-CEO of Black Enterprise magazine yesterday called for consumer and political activism aimed at increasing the number of marketing dollars spent with black-owned media. Earl "Butch" Graves Jr. said agencies that specialize in targeting blacks often are not responsible for media buying and planning for products bought …
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Don’t Go Back To Whyville
According to the New York Times, Toyota is working to bring children into the franchise, despite the fact that children can't drive. In April, Toyota quietly began an unusual virtual promotion of its small, boxy Scion: it paid for the car's product placement in Whyville.net, an online interactive community populated almost entirely by 8- to 15-year-olds. Never mind that they cannot actually buy the car. Toyota is …
“Common Sense, Taste And Luck” Is Greater Than Or Equal To Strategy
While I'm not certain what Adaptive Path* does, I do know one of their workers spoke to Pentagram's Michael Bierut recently. Here's a snippet of his elevated thinking: I’ve come to believe strongly that one of the roles of design is to bring humanity, intelligence and beauty to the world of business, and indeed to everyday life. In my experience, good clients and good designers don’t see this goal as being opposed to …
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Minneapolis Looks Good To The Swedes
Fallon announced today the hiring of a Swedish creative team, Calle and Pelle Sjönell, who also happen to be brothers. Both will join the creative department at Fallon Minneapolis as group creative directors. Fallon Creative Director Kerry Feuerman said, “Pelle and Calle are a unique combination of enormous creative talent who think Web-centrically and work well together as a team. Their ideas are heavily …
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I Hope They Didn’t Pay Retail
National Semiconductor capped off its most successful fiscal year in history by equipping every one of its 8,500 employees with a 30-gigabyte video iPod. While designed for personal entertainment, the popular Apple MP3 player will be used as a new training and communications tool at National, providing a convenient method for employees to download National podcasts and other employee communications. The analog …
Swinging For The Green
USA TODAY reports on a unique promotion from Hilton Garden Inn, designed to increase customers length of stay. Taking a swing at attracting business travelers who can't stay away from their golf game, Hilton Garden Inn has partnered with 330 golf courses across the USA and Canada to offer free rounds. 13,000 Garden Inn guests used their vouchers in 2005, and the mid-price chain thinks it has a winner. Garden Inn …
Will Advertising Be Reduced To Pimping Parity Products?
Now, more so than ever, an interweb company with a compelling product or service, need not advertise. Or so says Bruce Sterling in Wired: It’s good to see Internet entrepreneurs grinning again. Web 2.0 makes them happy in several ways that its bubble-era forebear did not. Here’s a critical one: The new breed of online business has no need to advertise. Have you ever seen an ad for Skype? Any kind of pitch, anywhere? …
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