USA Today: America Online, the world's largest Internet service provider, will pay $1.25 million in penalties and change some customer-service practices to settle an investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. About 300 consumers had filed complaints with Spitzer's office accusing AOL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner (TWX), of ignoring their requests to cancel service and stop billing. The …
It’s A Put On
According to Adweek, a new print ad by independent McClain Finlon depicts Breckenridge Ski Resort snowboarders as members of an exclusive gentlemen's society. Breaking in the October Snowboarder and Transworld Snowboarding magazines--as well as 20 x 24-inch posters--the full-page ad stars the Colorado resort's sponsored snowboarders, all of whom live and snowboard in the Breckenridge area. Instead of their usual …
The Best Anti-Turtle Egg Ad Ever
Who needs Cialis or Viagra when you've got turtle eggs? From The Seattle Times: A campaign aimed at halting the illegal consumption of endangered sea turtles' eggs has run into trouble before it starts, with a women's group asking officials to block public-service announcements featuring a scantily clad model. "My man does not need turtle eggs. Because he knows they don't make him more potent," Argentine model …
Droga Dodges Boredom And Irrelevance
I, like many of you probably did, read last week about David Droga's departure from Publicis, where the 37-year old ad whiz held the Worldwide Creative Director post. The story didn't interest me all that much, until today when I happened to read Dean Gemmel's take on it. This is a guy with the kind of job most creatives once dreamed about -- power, independence, gobs of cash, perhaps an assistant hired largely to …
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White Flight
Washington Post: When designing the new look for US Airways, America West executives turned their back on high-salaried Madison Avenue image consultants. Instead, they interviewed employees from both of the merged airlines: flight attendants, pilots, mechanics and executives. The newly redesigned planes, which make their debut today, aspire to a brighter appearance than US Airways' current fleet. The new look is …
Experientialstock
Constantinos Demopoulos recently wrote about Innocent Drinks' event marketing savvy. Their annual Fruitstock festival sums up much about what is great about the company: amazing live music, a yoga tent, a flirting area, a charity cd, farmers market and other feel-good attractions contribute to produce, by all accounts, a very successful event and experience that reflects the vibe of the company. …
Dell Wakes Up And Reads The Writing On The Blogs
A while back, I wrote about BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis and his problems with Dell's customer service, or the lack thereof. He's finally got their attention: While BuzzMachine frequently receives more than 5,000 visitors a day, one recent post--Jarvis' "open letter" last week to George and Chairman Michael Dell, excoriating the company for ignoring online criticism--was the third most linked-to post on the blogosphere …
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Values Are Great But Money’s Money
The Wall Street Journal is running an article on Wal-Mart's effort to sell more spirits. It's pretty comical. Selling more alcohol raises complicated issues for a company that presents itself as a folksy all-American enterprise and an arbiter of social mores. In addition to banning risque magazines from its stores and selling sanitized versions of CDs with controversial song lyrics, Wal-Mart forbids alcohol …