They measure all kinds of media usage these days, how much time you spend with it, how often you zip and zap it when it gets on your nerves for one reason or another and how much you get out of it.
One thing they don’t look at is which ads will chase you away from the environment in which the ad is featured and possibly motivate you not to return – either during that program/issue or possibly any programming/issue in that environment. Read More

Twitter may have millions of active users, but many, many more millions don’t even have accounts. Which is what makes this latest news, big news. Twitter’s newest feature called “Fast Follow” uses a classic short code approach and makes it easy to follow anyone via SMS, even if you don’t have a Twitter account.
If you see a Twitter @username at a restaurant or store, on a billboard or on TV, or if you hear one mentioned on the radio, Read More

Thomas Salme was a maintenance engineer who decided to be a pilot. He didn’t go to flight school, however. He simply printed out a flying permit on 8.5 x 11 computer paper at his home, then trained for a few hours in a flight simulator, got into a Boeing 737 and started to fly. For 13 years, he flew thousands of passengers without incident. A couple of months ago, he was finally arrested. Read More

I’ve been seeing promos for Splice for weeks now – maybe even months – and I just wanted to let Dark Castle (Warner Bros. genre label) know that their money is not being wasted. I now know after numerous paid reminders that I would rather take my chances dangling by a badly frayed rope over a hungry shark tank than going to see that movie.
Which is fine since I’m quite certain I’m not in the target demo. Read More

I called my mom yesterday. She lives 800 miles away, so Sunday brunch was out of the question. But that’s okay. A nice telephone conversation is the hallmark of our relationship. And yesterday’s call proved to be just what she needed.
She’s had a rough go of it lately. For a few decades, she worked really hard to become the best in her chosen career. She earned a few advanced degrees. She garnered professional accolades. And that’s when it hit her: she was in the wrong job all along. Read More

Sorry to disappoint you but we’re not addressing a beautiful start to a day at the beach – we’re here to talk soap suds? And both of these suds producers want you to know that they care about us and Mother Nature. Read More

First Toyota – sorry to kick you when you’re down. Up to now I’ve always been a fan. In fact I’ve had a Toyota Sienna for a few years. Your recent ad campaign has made me question my selection. Apparently Sienna drivers are either self-deceived young moms who try to pass themselves off as “hot babysitters” and see how many times they’ll get hit on or fussy flaky Dads who take their trikes and run home when someone copies them and gets a Sienna. Read More

I recently had an exchange with a promising young copywriter who had no formal training or portfolio, but wanted to start picking up a paycheck for putting words to paper — something he currently does on a regular basis for free. I have this conversation at least twice a month. I would go into my advice on how to become a creative, but that advice could literally fill books. And does. That’s today’s topic.
After I scare the bejesus out of people with what it takes to become a copywriter or art director, Read More

We were all pretty excited with the recent release of Adobe’s CS5 software suite. The prospect of a software upgrade is always kind of fun, and there are some pretty cool new features in the mix. The most interesting aspect of the launch, however has nothing to do with their software. Adobe ran an all-digital campaign to announce, promote and launch CS5.

A couple of months ago, Dunkin Donuts launched a social campaign to engage with their core fans. They asked for customers to submit their own concepts for the company’s newest donut. Over the past two months they have received a staggering 90,000 entries.
This week the company announced exclusively through Mashable, the 12 finalists for the competition. They are now asking customers to vote on the new creations in order to determine the champion and therefore the latest delicious product in the Dunkin arsenal. Read More