Advertising News and Know-How
By David Burn
Smoking Gun: Former Black Panther associates of Huey P. Newton, the late co-founder of the militant organization, are seeking to trademark the phrase "Burn Baby Burn" so they can slap the words--long associated with conflagrations that left cities like Watts and Newark in cinders--on hot sauce. According to pending filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Huey P. Newton Foundation also wants to …
Continue Reading about The Tramps “Disco Inferno” Threatened By Poachers →
By David Burn
New York Times: On hundreds of New York City subway cars, advertisements for Mitchum, a line of deodorants, are carrying playful messages that presumably evoke the can-do virility of the men in their 20's and 30's at whom the product is aimed. One problem is that some of the messages directly contradict the policies of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. An authority spokesman, Tom Kelly, said yesterday that …
Continue Reading about Transit Authorities Not Mitchum Men →
From Ad Age: WellPoint, the nation's largest health insurer, has awarded its advertising account to Publicis Groupe's Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, two executives familiar with the review said. Hal Riney won the pitch against three WPP Group agencies, each of which fielded an integrated "best of class" team from across network offices. Y&R Cos. and Grey Worldwide, both San Francisco, and Ogilvy & Mather, …
Continue Reading about Integration Disintegrates, At Least In One Account Pitch →
By David Burn
According to Lewis Lazare, Draft/Chicago has developed a "Breakfast in the Bullpen" promotion for the Kellogg Co. and Jewel-Osco stores. For nine designated games through Sept. 25, Kellogg is providing Jewel shoppers with a chance to win a special day at Wrigley Field that, among other things, includes four Chicago Cubs game tickets, breakfast with a Cubs player in the bullpen and winners' names on the center field …
Continue Reading about (In Chicago) The Cubs Are Grrrrrrrrreat →
By David Burn
Here's what I like to see. Three recording/performing artists engaging their audience via web log. Peter Case, Tony Furtado and Kevin Gordon are hyper talented singer-songwriters who are used to doing things for themselves, like carrying amps out to the truck, that sort of thing. So it's a natural that they would take on chores a big label might provide, or a good publicist. Anyway, wouldn't you rather hear from the …
By David Burn
Context is crucial. When I take the following text from a Business Week article, for instance, it sounds as if marketers want to save money by having customers make their ads. Since, that's insanity, it must be something else. I must be taking it out of context. In a time when consumers can scrub advertising from their laptops and distribute ad-free amateur radio shows online, marketers are giving away some control …
By David Burn
Adweek: Shari Kurzrok, a 31-year-old public relations vice president at Ogilvy PR who is less than three months from her wedding date, needs a liver transplant in days to survive, the agency said. She was admitted to New York University Medical Center last weekend, and within 24 hours she was told she needed a liver transplant to save her life. "I just pray that what Shari has loved to do for a living comes back to …
By David Burn
CNN has caught on to the latest in a long line of culture jamming tactics. This one is called shopdropping, a term that refers the act of covertly placing merchandise on display in a store, or reverse shoplifting. For example, shopdroppers place canned goods that have been repackaged with more artistic labels (complete with barcodes) on a grocer's shelf for purchase. While the name is new, the concept has been in …
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