Is it a bank's job to help its customers save money? The more customers' deposits remain in the bank, the more the bank can use the money to invest, so yes. It's also the right thing to do. But how? How does a bank move people to care about saving money, instead of spending money? What if the bank hacked the algorithms? What if the bank turned modern marketing on its …
Bronze Seeks Silver Shows The Personal Side of A Pivotal Era In the Ad Industry
“Even with every advantage I was given, I’ve had to plan, sweat, and fight for each move on this marketing game board." -Mat Zucker There are two styles of books advertising professionals write when they want to tell their career “war stories” and impart some of their learned wisdom: Either it’s a cradle-to-boardroom minutiae-laden biography or a series of simple, 1- or 2-page digestible …
Live Entertainment Is Missing, And We, the People, Badly Miss It
Last month, I asked Rob Schwartz, CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day NY this pointed question. Adpulp: Who and/or what do you admire in the ad biz today? Schwartz: I think the best advertising today is coming from one place: The Lincoln Project. All of their work is relevant, surprising, emotional, and exceptionally powerful. And people are talking about it. Oh, and let’s not forget the volume. These guys do a Super Bowl …
Continue Reading about Live Entertainment Is Missing, And We, the People, Badly Miss It →
Chipotle Sends Its Workers Back To School (Tuition-Free)
In the ad agency business, we know that all the company's assets walk out of "the building" at the end of the workday. It's another way of saying that ad agencies don't have hard assets—that all the value is in the team. What about other fields like the restaurant industry...do restaurant owners and operators see their workers as critical to the enterprise, or as expendable cogs in the machine? For Chipotle …
Continue Reading about Chipotle Sends Its Workers Back To School (Tuition-Free) →
In Toronto, Public Safety and Public Transit Are One
Waiting on a train and riding a train used to be a time to calm your mind, to think, or maybe read. It's slightly more nervewracking now that any enclosed space where other humans breathe is a health risk. Perhaps it's better in Canada. Canadians are such sensible, practical people. For instance, in the nation's largest city, it does seem possible to ride a commuter train to the airport without being exposed …
Continue Reading about In Toronto, Public Safety and Public Transit Are One →
Ad Chatter, Episode 7: The Motel 6 Incident
All episodes of Ad Chatter are now available on Buzzsprout \ Apple Podcasts \ Spotify \ Stitcher \ Amazon Music \ Listen Notes \ Deezer \ Podchaser \ Podcast Addict \ Google Podcasts \ iHeartRadio Stan Richards, 88, never intended to retire or resign from the job he loves. Now, amid a firestorm of controversy over comments he made in an internal agency meeting—and the mass exodus of clients that resulted—Richards …
Continue Reading about Ad Chatter, Episode 7: The Motel 6 Incident →
Ruthless Attack Ads and Withering Lies Are Two Rules of the Game
As a local TV viewer in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), I see a ton of terrible political advertising. The media budgets are as large as the ideas are small. Here's what The Club for Growth has to say about the woman who wants to represent more than 800K central Texans in Congress. Be warned, flattery is not their game. https://youtu.be/lv0bdriNKgU Then there's Chips Aroy! and his …
Continue Reading about Ruthless Attack Ads and Withering Lies Are Two Rules of the Game →
Stan Richards Said Dumb Things, Now His Agency Is Reeling
Stan Richards said something he wishes he had not said. It's personally embarrassing and it's costing his agency money. According to The Dallas Morning News, Richards described a new ad pitch for long-time client, Motel 6, as being “too black” for the motel operator’s “white supremacist audience.” According to Ad Age, the remarks were heard by about 40 Richards Group employees attending a remote internal …
Continue Reading about Stan Richards Said Dumb Things, Now His Agency Is Reeling →