Category: marketing

Sometimes you just want a relationship to go back to when it was simple. But things are rarely simple these days. There's so many ways we interact these days with social media being so important to everyone. It used to be you could just turn things off and chill at…

Who has creative control? It's a simple question with a complicated answer. When you're in the business of making money using your creativity there are many stakeholders, so no one person really has complete creative control. There's always someone else in the equation with whom you must negotiate. The boss,…

As we wind down to the last days of what seems to be the worst, most negative, election in our nation's history, it's a good time to see what an advertising and marketing pro can learn from it. I have a few takeaways. 1) None of this really applies in…

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the negative marketing aspect of a US election is different than any other marketing category. The fact that there are only two options for voters to consider makes the race to the bottom attractive. Throw enough mud and folks won't have a choice but…

Last night the Wrigley corporation was faced with a difficult situation. A really stupid analogy was made by Donald Trump Jr. comparing skittles to potential terrorist refugees. Not only did Wrigley's take the highroad, they shut the conversation down by saying continuing it could be misconstrued as marketing. And we…

When Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the pledge he gave his employer, the NFL, has a difficult brand problem. Many of its biggest customers started to say the NFL's stars are anti-American. Politics is somewhere most brands and anyone in business probably shouldn't go if it's not literally their…

I wrote a few weeks ago on why negative advertising is so effective in politics but is much more rarely used in consumer brand advertising. But what about basket of deplorables? It seems a lot different. It's also been compared to Mitt's 47% comment. But that's the politics side of it…

In the advertising world, we love a good "visual solve." When we see a really good one we'll often say to one another. "Wow, I wish I would have thought of that." There's a simplicity of communication that's not easily done with words. Words can get complicated and require a…

I'm sure you've never been influenced by a political yard sign. Never. I mean, there's nothing to them but Clinton/Kaine or Trump/Pence. I suppose some of them may say "I'm with her" or "MAGA." But there's no real message there right? Just names. But according to what we know in…

Donald Trump is famous for using the Ad Hominem attacks like "Lyin' Ted", "Crooked Hillary" and "Little Marco" on his opponents rather than the logical take down. Why does he do it? Simple: people don't care about facts in marketing, advertising and politics (and really, in most things). For example:…