Tag: advertising

Back in the days when I used to produce a lot of television spots, I sat through hundreds and hundreds of the most awkward auditions. Some were more like an American Idol outtakes show than you'd like to believe. Why? Because actors are willing to take huge risks to get…

Most predictions are either easy, safe, or just wrong. So why not add a few more to the list? I dare you to go on the record on which ones of these are wrong. Mobile Web will become even bigger. The kids will continue to text at an alarming rate…

It's been a difficult year in advertising and marketing to say the least. The worst in my memory. And the memory of everyone I've talked to - even the old timers. Signs point to a recovery in the spring for most businesses but the agency business is always quicker to…

[caption id="attachment_319" align="alignleft" width="392" caption="Are you prepared for the risk?"][/caption] Today we're doing our annual white elephant gift exchange. It can be a blast if you end up with a nice bottle of wine or an iTunes gift card. However, the unlucky end up with garden gnomes and REO Speedwagon…

[caption id="attachment_295" align="alignleft" width="203" caption="Pick two and only two sides"][/caption] Today fast enough is the new good enough. Fortunately, this will change and clients will start by asking for quality again, in addition to cheap and fast. The cyclical nature of business will cause them to demand memorable and even…

Image by Rishi S via Flickr Why do people always say if you've had a particularly bad experience that you should "learn from it?" Do they really mean it? It's not always possible to grow from something. Especially if that bad experience lasts longer than say five minutes. (I want…

Image by danorbit. via Flickr The latest technology to get people all hot and bothered in mobile web marketing is augmented reality. Because the technology is so new we don't require any creativity from the people employing the medium other than than just using it proficiently. This is going to…

The interwebs got me in touch with an old friend last week I had not talked to since I moved east. I picked up the phone and we picked up where we had left off – it was a great conversation. It was also connection worth renewing. But there are…

Warren G Harding ran for president for promising a "return to normalcy." The word normalcy didn't sound normal back then either. But his slogan did tap into the uncertainty and rapid change of the time. They'd just gone through a war in which the rules had changed thanks to a…

I was talking with a group of social media folks about metrics the other day and it made me think of a famous quote by William Goldman, the Hollywood screenwriter "Nobody knows anything." Goldman was talking about how nobody in Hollywood knows if a movie is going to do well.…