The "Give-Up" Strategy, Part 2

If you can't hit homers, declare that the object of the game has changed, and it's really all about good bunting. There are a number of popular beliefs behind new age, web-centric marketing thinking. They include the following:
The era of mass marketing & advertising is over
Markets are "conversations"
Consumers seek "relationships" with brands
The furtherance of this relationship is

The "Give-Up" Strategy, Part 1

Among my least favorite aspects of new age web-centric marketing philosophy is the idea that the "big idea" is dead.

According to Seth Godin
The secret of big-time advertising during the 1960s and ’70s was the “big idea.” In A Big Life in Advertising, ad legend Mary Wells Lawrence writes, “... our goal was to have big, breakthrough ideas, not just to do good advertising. I wanted to

6 Things A Creative Director Needs To Know

Here are six things you need to know if you're going to be a happy, healthy creative director.
1. Hiring is everything.If you have terrific people the advertising business isn’t that difficult. If you have mediocrities advertising is impossible. For your own self-preservation you must get rid of bad people and hire good ones. There is no other way to do good work and have a happy life.

The Conversation: Is Anyone Listening?

For the past few years, the marketing and advertising industries have been obsessed with the idea that marketing is a "conversation" and that consumers want a "relationship" with brands and companies.

Of course, being the dick that I am, I've gone out of my way to ridicule this obsession.

What if I said to all you conversation/relationship maniacs that most companies...
Dramatically

A Good Reason To End It All Now

If you are looking for a good excuse to stick a knife in your head, I can confidently recommend reading an article in Adweek this week called "Talking Tradigital."

That's right, tradigital. 

Apparently "tradigital" is the new Cringe-Inducing-Buzzword-Of-The-Week among the digi-drivel set. For sheer lexical horribleness, it will surely take its place right up there with "infotainment."

You Can't Handle The Truth

If The Wall Street Journal is correct, the federal government is covering-up its knowledge of the falsity of sensational accounts of "unintended acceleration" in Toyota vehicles.

Earlier this year, Toyota acknowledged that it had problems with floor mats that might interfere with gas pedals and condensation in pedal housing that might briefly cause a pedal to stick. It recalled all vehicles that

Doing My Twitter Homework

In my never-ending quest to educate myself on the many marketing marvels that Twitter affords, I decided to do a little homework last week.
 
I read an article called What Your Company's Twitter Account Says About You. Foolishly, I had never stopped to think about what my company's Twitter account might be saying about me. Here are some of the things I learned.
If your Twitter feed is "...mostly