Art of Advertising

Writing in BusinessWeek, Steve McKee offers a way of looking at advertising that I thought about a long time ago, but I don't think I ever wrote down. Think about how you relate to most ads you see. You expect them to focus on themselves. You expect them to be loud. You expect them to tell you what they want you to hear, rather than focusing on what's interesting to you. Most ads act like someone with bad manners at …

Continue Reading about Advertising As Cocktail Party: The Metaphor →

Ad Age has a piece on storytelling's place in the marketing wheel. Storytelling in a business context is not about telling stories just for the sake of it. Rather, as rational and physical features are becoming easier to imitate, authentic storytelling is becoming a growing source of competitive power. All companies have authentic raw material: genuine, real-life episodes that can be used in the continuous …

Continue Reading about How’s Your Narrative Coming? →

AdPulp has readers around the world, so forgive me if this comes across a little too insider-American, but July 4th is our Independence day. And it occurred to me that nothing's more American than advertising. We live in a land where anybody can stand in front of a camera dressed up like George Washington, cherry tree in the background and say, “I cannot tell a lie. I’m chopping prices on all sofas and loveseats in …

Continue Reading about This Land Was Hand-Crafted For You And Me →

If people won't watch ads on TV, perhaps opera enthusiasts and theatregoers can be forced to watch them on stage. They are, after all, "captive audiences." Check out this twist on a dying media, as reported today by the New York Times. No, to answer your question, there is nothing sacred. The advertisement, which is itself advertised as the world's first live theatrical commercial, is a creation of Visit London, a …

Continue Reading about The Live 30-Second Spot →

If you've ever longed for the Good Ol' Days of Advertising, take a look at these ads featuring corporal punishment. [Via Pull My Finger.] …

Continue Reading about Hurt Me. Whip Me. Make Me Write Bad Ads. →

Mac users, on a good day, may well think of their machine and its operating system as a working piece of art. Playful Painter, an Indianapolis artist and blogger, has created a series of oil paintings geared to appeal to Mac users with this mindset. The current bid on eBay for the painting above is $356. [via Pogue's Posts] …

Continue Reading about Consumer Generated Content? Or Fine Art? →