Assistant Brand Manager on the Cap'n Crunch brand, Jason Dolenga, riffing on Seth Godin's post, "How to live happily with a great designer": Too often, freshly minted MBAs (me included) come to a new marketing role thinking that the way they are going to make their mark is by questioning every little point, color selection, and design decision made by agency creatives. Unfortunately, things all go terribly wrong …
Ad Creep Reaches The Journal
According to the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal will begin to place advertising on its front page this September. The move could generate tens of millions of dollars a year in revenue. The move is one more sign of the relentless financial pressures that have forced newspapers to consider new ways of raising money — like giving prominence to advertisers in areas of the paper once considered sacred. While …
Netlix Netflix Subscribers Invited To Premier (In Their Own Living Rooms)
USA Today reports on NBC's plan to reward loyalists and create buzz for its upcoming season. As part of its efforts to promote its fall TV season, NBC will offer the first episodes of two new shows, before they air, to the 4.8 million subscribers to online rental service Netflix. From Aug. 8 to Sept. 16, Netflix will offer subscribers a commercial-free DVD featuring the Sept. 17 season openers of Studio 60 on the …
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Books Get Some Sizzle
Harper Collins Canada has a new book it's pushing, Gautam Malkani’s electrifying debut, Londonstani. Funny, crude, disturbing, written in the vibrant language of its protagonists—a mix of slang, texting, Panjabi and bastardized gangsta rap—Londonstani is about many things: tribalism, aggressive masculinity, integration, cross- cultural chirpsing techniques, the urban scene seeping into the mainstream, bling-bling …
Home Depot Is A Media Company
Three years ago at Madison and Vine, Coca-Cola's then CEO stood up and told the room his company was not in the business of selling sweet drinks, but was in fact a media company selling brand impressions. It seems "the memo" was well received at Home Depot's Atlanta headquarters. According to Adweek, Home Depot will begin selling ads on its web site. The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer is hoping to entice …
Shopping Is Like Wal-Mart’s Number One Thing
Cannes needs a new prize category, "Best MySpace imitation." I'm sure Wal-Mart's agency, GSD+M, would gladly pay the entry fee. Here's what Ad Age has to say about the mega chain's "me too" effort: Desperate to appeal to teens with something other than pencils and backpacks during the crucial back-to-school season, Wal-Mart is launching a quasi-social-networking site for teens designed to allow them to "express their …
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I’m Thinking Arby’s
Friend of AdPulp, Tom Asacker, is looking for examples of excellence in marketing communications (direct mail, ad, collateral, web, etc.). By "excellence" he means: 1. Something that grabs your attention because it is different, out of the ordinary, has a "wow" factor, makes you think, etc. 2. Quickly communicates what's in it for the prospect and why. Note: It could be anything from saving time, having fun, social …
Usage Patterns Emerge For Online Radio Stations
eMarketer looks at a study by hear2.0, and concludes that terrestrial radio may be missing a beat. Why not conclude the inverse, that specialty webcasters are capitalizing? I listen to distant community radio on a daily basis. WNCW, to be exact. I also listen to some specialty web-only stations like New Orleans Radio and Nugs dot net. I never listen to my local stations online, although I would if WHCJ, the voice of …
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