Emotional Connections vs. Logical Connections

I've been on vacation for a while and I know some of you need a little something to get upset about, so here's a little piece of past contrariana.

On many occasions I have poked fun at "branding," "brand babble" and their many incompetent practitioners. And while that is great fun, there are some serious points to be made.



There are a few product categories that are highly reliant on brand

The Omnicom-Google Deal

For years now (it only seems like decades) The Ad Contrarian has been warning* marketers about the questionable effectiveness of web advertising and the unprincipled, self-serving cheerleading for online advertising that has been going on in the advertising industry.

Now, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a major deal has been struck between Omnicom and Google worth hundreds of millions

Sudden Unintended Hysteria

The editorial board here at Ad Contrarian world headquarters is getting a little full of itself lately.

For the second time this week, stuff we have written has turned out to be prophetic.

In March, we posted 4 columns (you can read them here: #1, #2, #3 & #4) about the hysterical, inaccurate, irresponsible press reporting of alleged Toyota "sudden unintended acceleration."

Those if us with

Sometimes Even Bloggers Are Right

Here at Ad Contrarian World Headquarters there is no more pleasant surprise than finding out that something we've been howling about for years turns out to be right.

Those of you who have read my semi-brilliant book, The Ad Contrarian (which you can download free right here) know that one of the three principles I espouse is this:
"Advertising messages should be created for, and directed at, the

Apple Playing With Fire

On October 30, 2009, I wrote a post about the unreliability of the iPhone....
Someone left me a voice mail at 3:30 yesterday afternoon. It didn't arrive at my iPhone until 7:55 this morning. That's 16 hours and 25 minutes later. I'm really getting tired of this shit....Here's the thing, Steve. I don't need an app that tells me what my fucking sperm count is, or when Jupiter crosses the

Perfect Storm of Hysteria

Last year we witnessed a perfect storm of hysteria.

Unhinged "experts" and feverish media outlets conspired to enhance their self-importance in a worldwide hysteriafest called "swine flu."

The World Health Organization announced: "All of humanity under threat."

Here at Ad Contrarian World Headquarters, our Global Science Division was busy ridiculing these overwrought maniacs. We told our

Three Years Old And Still Not Potty Trained

Today is the third anniversary of The Ad Contrarian blog. It's nice to still be alive after three years.

Here are some thoughts from a post I wrote on the first anniversary of this blog. They're still true:
Ten days into it I thought I had run out of things to say. Apparently I have a bigger mouth than I imagined. Five Things I've Learned About Blogging This Year:
It ain't easy being