Happy Holidays

The Ad Contrarian is on vacation till January 3rd. Happy Holidays

Top 10 New Year's Resolutions

My New Year's resolutions for 2008:1. I will vote for the first presidential candidate who can complete a sentence without mentioning god.2. I will strike dead anyone in my employ using any of the following words: engagement, branding, aspirational, counterintuitive, webinar, or quirky.3. I will stop sending those pictures to Katie Couric.4. I will buy a new Samsung TV because it is the official

Three Worst Christmas Songs

TAC is supposed to be on vacation but can't stop having tiresome opinions. Listening to the radio this week lead me to this list:The Three Worst Christmas Songs Ever1. Holly, Jolly Christmas -- Far and away the worst. A very annoying song sung by Burl Ives, a very annoying person.2. O Holy Night -- I've heard this song a thousand times and still can't figure out the melody.3. The Little Drummer

Guest Blog: The Disconnect

The following post was written by guest blogger John JossThe disconnect between advertising claims and service to customers can cause deep dissatisfaction that may take immense effort to reverse, if indeed it is ever reversible. I refer in this guest blog specifically to a company that has been using the 'snide ridicule' approach to advertising in which is denigrates competition and claims

It's Still Simplicity, Stupid

Have you tried to set the alarm clock in a hotel room lately? Have you tried to read a cell phone operating manual? Have you attempted to use the GPS navigation system on a rental car? Well, the same exasperating complexity that has infecting technology is creeping into marketing.More than ever, the key to advertising success is a simple message.Marketers have way too many messages and way too

Brand Tinkering

As we mentioned in a recent post, tinkering with the brand is way more fun than solving real business problems.Solving problems requires unpleasantness. Floors have to be swept and walls have to be painted. People have to be fired. Systems have to be changed. Products have to be redesigned.Brand tinkering, on the other hand, is generally quite agreeable. All it requires is money and a bunch of

Internet Chaos

Here's why your viral campaign went nowhere; why your video on YouTube is getting way fewer hits than you expected; and why your blog was a bust.The internet is chaotic. Success is random and unpredictable. Most success is the result of one person's good, odd idea and is very hard to duplicate or recreate. Creative strategy is less important than execution on the web.You can make a hit record by