Why creative people love problems

Problems, problems. We creatives love problems. We embrace them with open arms, eyes and minds. Problems are the things that get us up in the morning. You see, if everything was going swimmingly, no one would ever need us. We like to be needed and appreciated. The bigger the problem,…

What’s in a Basket of Deplorables? An Ad Guy Explains

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…

You really are undervalued. That’s the good news.

For us work a day folks in the media and marketing professions we're in a wage depression. (Yeah, we really should be using the d word and not the r word.) If your name isn't a household brand or you at least have meetings in the c-suite, likely your wages…

The end of the creative industrial complex

When Arcade Fire took home record of the year Sunday, a lot of people made note that an indie upstart, not associated with a big label was able to write, perform and produce, all by themselves, the best album of the year. Unlike the "Lady," they didn't need the big…

Are we in a post-branding world?

Economic pressure has created a situation where marketers are asking for immediate results before they ask for perceived luxuries like brand recognition. Clients are demanding metrics that connect marketing to sales. Metrics for things like brand recognition are tough to tie to concrete things like sales and thus to ROI.…

Why your advertising sucks part 2. The power of no.

What's worse than a yes man? Easy. A no man. (Or even a no woman.) Corporate culture breeds them just as incessantly as yes men. And, unfortunately, so do many large advertising agencies. OK. So who is the "no person?" And how do they make your advertising suck? Imagine a…

When uncertainty makes things hard, become elastic

Image by pt via Flickr The world is a scary place when no one knows what's going to happen next. All the models that told us how the economy and markets would behave aren't working. It's time for all of us to change but no one knows exactly how. But…