Access—you can't get there without it. In the advertising agency business, access has been afforded to the few. The industry is elite by design. The people on the inside ask those on the outside to "break-in," if they can. The entire set up is adversarial from the get-go. Yes, there's talk of a meritocracy for creatives and that's what it is—talk. In reality, aspiring creatives learn to mimic award-winning work …
What Is Great Writing, And Where Do Great Design Ideas Come From?
Writing and design—these are the core skills that propel the communications industry forward. Without excellence in writing and design, we would have no great books, films, or architecture, and our advertising would be a complete waste of time and money. Thankfully, there's a universe of talented writers and designers and many are willing to work in corporate communications. In May, One Club put together a video …
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Social Media Platforms Make Mountains of Money On the Back of Someone Else’s I.P.
Who do you want to program your screens? Who do you want to take you for a digital ride? It's a fundamental question for consumers of information. When you choose the social media platforms as your answer, you become the product that they monetize via your daily obsessions and rapt attention, which is now the default position for millions of "thought workers," thanks to the power of the scrolling spell. When you …
Project Pandora’s Box: Apple’s Cheeky Take on Working From Home
Do you know this woman? Maybe you are this woman. Maybe you work with her. Maybe you live with her. I wonder aloud because I find the portrayal of her work style and her work ethic striking. She is all in, of that, there can be no doubt. https://youtu.be/6_pru8U2RmM When the unreasonable boss-lady chirps her unreasonable requests, the young worker, Bridget, is not daunted. Oh no. Bridget cheers on …
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Welcome to Voltage Valley and Its New American-Made EV Pickup Truck
Pickup truck drivers with good credit and a concern for the environment will one day soon be able to drive the new all-electric Endurance by Lordstown Motors. https://youtu.be/8PQyCdSvdFg Our ability to evolve... I like that framing. Manufacturing in Ohio and throughout the Rust Belt has required a massive injection of money and new thinking for decades. And here it is, at least a piece of it, at long …
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In A Small Step Toward Sustainability, BK Changes A Few of Its Cows’ Diets
"When cows fart and burp and splatter, well it ain't no laughing matter—they're releasing methane every time they do." https://youtu.be/zNI8zVmHCng Wow, what an opening line to a song. The fact that it's a song for BK makes it even weirder. Cows are the source of their hamburgers, so portraying them as disgusting polluters in a unique twist, to say the least. Why would BK do this? At the end of the video, …
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Ad Chatter, Edición 8: Pro Sports, Babysitters, and Dish Detergent that Saves Water
In this eighth edition of Ad Chatter from Adpulp.com, Dan Goldgeier and I discuss creativity's role in the marketing communications mix, plus TV spots from MLB, Cascade (P&G), Care.com, and Mobil 1. https://youtu.be/Yp70uKT8Bl0 The first topic of discussion is an article called The New Formula Fueling Modern Marketing, written by Christopher Jablonski of Adobe and published by ANA. IN the article Jablonsky …
The Hard Reset Begets The Big Shrinkage
In 2020 and 2021, agencies will shed 52,000 jobs, according to Jay Pattisall, an analyst with Forrester. Half the jobs will not return, he predicts. Forrester also predicts that advertising spending in the United States would decline by 25 percent this year and would not recover until 2023. Is this a solid read? No one has a crystal ball, just loads of data, and anecdotal evidence. As teams shrink in size, the …
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