Do you chafe when confronted by vacuous langauge, like "according to sources"? Henry Abbott does. On his blog True Hoop, the sportswriter says: Journlists at mainstream news outlets have a whole series of trouble they go to to avoid crediting other news organizations. They essentially won't do it unless they absolutely have to. You'll almost never see a CNN anchor say "ABC news is reporting..." But bloggers do …
Tech Titans Park Where They Damn Well Please
You know how to tell if a company is making money? You look at their parking lot. No, not just for the German engineering, for a decided lack of parking spaces. Lack of parking spaces means there's alot of action going on inside the buildings. Yahoo is one company with inadequate parking spaces, according to the civic-minded photo documentation of Flickr user, ycantpark. I wonder what Google's parking lot looks …
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Do You Copy?
Why Advertising Sucks is running a piece on the various words we use to define ourselves in this business. It seems that being a writer is just not good enough, let alone being just a copywriter. Heaven forbid. Nope. We are now Copy Strategists and Verbal Identity Specialists. Just as a web programmer who does nothing needs to call himself a "Total Experience Director," this latest industry evolution just goes to …
How Karl Lagerfeld Sells Dom Pérignon
Kate Spicer examines Karl Lagerfeld's penchant for marketing to women in The Sunday Times: How does a septuagenarian homosexual fashion designer in a powdered ponytail know what women fantasise about? He’s not Nancy Friday. Yet here he is, giving us a heterosexual fantasy that most women — and men — would find immensely satisfying. …
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Accomplished? Maybe. Polished? No.
I need not remind anyone how far gone our political process is, but I will offer up further evidence to support the claim, courtesy of Cinemocracy. I never have understood why political candidates don't see the need for professional advertising. Do they want to be seen as used car salesmen? For whatever reason, budgetary or otherwise, it seems they do. …
The Genesis Of Ideas
Hugh MacLeod is far from excited by the work coming out of the ad industry. That much we know. But what does excite Mr. MacLeod? The Cluetrain wasn't written by a Leo Burnett employee. Movable Type wasn't invented by McCann. RSS wasn't invented by JWT. Robert Scoble doesn't work for Fallon. Techmeme wasn't invented by Saatchi. Advertising people are supposed to be in "the idea business". But none of the ideas that …
Ad Age Cozies Up To A Client
Ad Age has posted their second 'CMO Connections' video, a project supported by CBS Radio. In this edition, Point editor, Jennifer Rooney, sits down with Andrea Spiegel, VP-sales and marketing, JetBlue. There are no real highlights from the spot. I take note of it because two prominent media companies have come together to create a video podcast series dedicated to Chief Marketing Officers. Given how far down the …
(Red) Crocs Jump The Shark
Holly Burns of Nothing but Bonfires is on holiday in Singapore. Poolside the other day, she witnessed three adolescent boys considering their Crocs. I'm sorry to report that Burns was scarred by the experience. Did you know this? Did you know that there was a Hierarchy of Coolness based on the color of your Crocs? Isn’t it enough that they’re all entirely hideous and that everyone on this tiny island seems to have …