Honor Roll

I don't have a blog roll. Something about them creeps me out (although if you have a blog roll with TAC on it, there is absolutely nothing creepy about that.)So every few months or so I like to acknowledge the brilliant and charming bloggers who have mentioned or linked to TAC in their blogs.The TAC Honor Roll for April and May:AdChick; AdClubReject; The Ad-Pit; AdPulp; Advance; Amarach Research

Advertising Science Fair Winners

A few weeks ago we announced "The First Ever Online Advertising Science Fair."We said: The Editorial Board of The Ad Contrarian is looking for a few good facts. Not opinions, not bullshit, facts about contemporary advertising and marketing that are either interesting, not widely known, or misunderstood.We invited our readers to submit entries and we have selected four winners:First is Matt Sadler

Blue Suede Shoes

Every now and then The Ad Contrarian reserves the right to abandon the horrors of advertising and write about whatever the hell he feels like. Today it's music.I was listening to some early rock music the other day.While I'm no musicologist, it seems pretty obvious to me that rock music was built on a three-legged stool:Blues: Southern rural black musicR & B: Northern urban black musicRockabilly

Why They Think We're Idiots

If you've been in business for a while, you've probably noticed that a lot of people in finance, operations, production, and engineering think that we in marketing and advertising are one small step above reptiles.They smile condescendingly when we talk. They give each other "the look" when we haul out our patter. They speak to us as if we're mildly retarded 8-year-olds.Unfortunately, they have

The Most Powerful Force In Marketing

Think of all the amazing new products that have been introduced in the past few years.In the digital realm alone, there have been thousands of them. Every day I stumble on new offerings on the web that I had no idea existed, and that amaze me with their utility and creativity.The startling fact, however, is how few of them become successful businesses.The reason so many new products and new ideas

The Power Of Social Media

According to the New York Times, Starbuck's has......"1.5 million fans on Facebook and 183,000 followers on Twitter. On the Saturday before the presidential election, Starbucks sponsored a single 60-second television commercial on “Saturday Night Live” advertising a coffee giveaway on Election Day. Starbucks then posted the video online. By Tuesday, it was the fourth-most-viewed video on YouTube,

A Rare Pleasure

It's a rare pleasure these days to find an expert on digital media who has perspective and is not a web maniac or a zealot. It's an even greater pleasure when he has nice things to say about this blog.If you have a chance, take a click over to Adam Cahill's post today at ClickZ.