Sustainability as a 2009 Marketing Issue

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Sustainability is an issue that marketers, ad agencies and media companies can no longer easily ignore. Some marketers, such as Wal-Mart, have made massive changes within the last year to incorporate sustainability as an actual marketing strategy for growth. Don Carli of the Institute for Sustainable Communications weighs in on how the issue is evolving and where it's likely to be going in 2009.

AdFreak welcomes its evil twin, BrandFreak

Like a character from a Mike's Hard Iced Tea commercial, the Freak family of blogs today sprouted a second evil head: BrandFreak, a new daily blog from the writers of Brandweek. A kind of Jamie Lynn Spears to AdFreak's Britney, BrandFreak will explore amusing and quirky marketing stories with a primary focus on brands themselves?with topics including new product launches, brand extensions, packaging, sponsorships and so on. AdFreak would like to officially welcome BrandFreak to the marketing-blog universe and at the same time ask where it got the tiara/eye-patch combo.

?Posted by Tim Nudd

Mr & Mrs Smith Accommodates PSFK Good Ideas Salon London

Founded in 2003, Mr & Mrs Smith is a boutique-hotel booking service representing the coolest, most happening and intimate places to stay around the globe. Each of its 500-plus properties is rigorously researched, visited personally and then reviewed anonymously by an array of tastemakers and travel detectives, including fashionista Stella McCartney, burlesque icon Dita von [...]

TV Guide Cable Channel, Website Sold -- but Not to Original Buyer

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Just three weeks after its sale to TV producer Allen Shapiro's private equity firm One Equity Partners, TV Guide Channel and TVGuide.com have found another buyer in the form of Lionsgate.

'You kin' do it,' says a giddy Dunkin' Donuts

Hill, Holliday's latest advertising for Dunkin' Donuts introduces the rallying cry, "You kin' do it!" Thankfully, there's a press release which explains that "kin' do" is literally part of the DunKIN DOnuts name. Without seeing the ads, I never would have figured that out on my own, at least not before my large with six sugars. See three more new commercials here. The press release says the new campaign "cheers on the everyday people who keep America running by reminding them they can take on any task: you kin' make it through the workday, you kin' shovel out that driveway, you kin' pass that exam, you kin' finish that paperwork." Well, you kin' also join a gym to work off that bulbous butt after quaffing all those chocolate frosteds, though I doubt that iteration will make it into the campaign. Frankly, after eating a bunch of donuts, I don't feel like I kin' do much of anything. I usually just need a nap. ?Posted by David Gianatasio

Chipotle Names Its First CMO

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Chipotle unveiled a new executive team today, including its first chief marketing officer. Monty Moran, the chain's president-chief operating officer, was elevated to co-CEO, where he will serve alongside founder Steve Ells. Mark Crumpacker will be the chain's CMO.

Hyundai Looks to Jolt Skittish Car Buyers With New Program

DETROIT (Adage.com) -- Hyundai Motor America, which started an impressive turnaround a decade ago with its industry-best warranty, is rolling out a new program that addresses record-low consumer confidence to spur sales.

The Ladders only wants the worst monsters

Here's a new commercial from Fallon Minneapolis for premium job-search site The Ladders, showing a bunch of small-fry monsters trying (and failing) to wreak havoc on a cityscape and instill fear in its populace. "If you think about it," says the voiceover, "this is what makes The Ladders different from other job-search sites. We only work with the big talent." The site evidently only deals with executives who make $100,000 or more?personified in the spot by a suitably devastating Japanese creature. It's a nice twist on the usual Godzilla ad theme, with the added bonus of seamless dressing down Monster.com and its ilk.

?Posted by Tim Nudd

Troubled GM Still Outsells Toyota

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- General Motors Corp. might be troubled, but it still outperformed Toyota Motor Sales USA in 2008. The country's largest automaker sold some 60,000 more new cars and trucks than Toyota in the U.S. despite a supplier strike last spring, negative press about its federal bridge loan and a virtual lending freeze from GMAC in the last quarter.

John Lewis reports level Christmas sales

John Lewis has reported flat sales for the crucial Christmas trading period compared with the same period in 2007. The high street retailer today (January 5) reported an overall 2.4% rise in sales for the five weeks to Jan 3.

Comparethemarket.com launches spoof website campaign

Comparethemarket.com has created a spoof website Comparethemeerkat.com for a TV-led brand campaign that will launch today (January 5). The BGL-owned comparison site aims to achieve standout in an "increasingly cluttered" sector.

Burton's 'Playboy' snowboards: cool or not?

Burton is trying to heat up the ski slopes this winter with a new line of Playboy-branded snowboards, but the effort is getting a chilly reception in Vermont. As one (female) Vermonter told Boston.com: "When you really think about it, it's a young man standing on top of a naked woman's body. I probably could have gotten past it, because I try to have an open mind, but seeing it like that, it's offensive." My first thought, since I'm so darn progressive, was: It could also be a young woman standing atop a naked woman's body. (Well, it could be!) The city council in Burton's hometown of Burlington, Vt., might ask the company to withdraw the boards. And the Girl Scout Council of Vermont is considering taking its own concerns to lawmakers next month. (Perhaps they'll bring along some of those chocolate sandwich cookies?those can be convincing.) In any case, the story is generating some free press coverage for Vermont's ski areas, and I almost made it through this entire post without saying "snow bunnies."?Posted by David Gianatasio

William Hill Bingo sponsors ITV's The Real Deal

William Hill Bingo is sponsoring ITV1 daytime show The Real Deal. It will launch today (January 5) and run until mid-April.

Fox Scores, Thanks to Late-Running Game

MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- New year, same Sunday ratings result: The network with an NFL overrun runs over the competition, as Fox did last night, scoring first place with an overall 4.6/11 rating and share in the ad-centric 18-to-49 demographic, according to Nielsen fast-affiliate ratings (final live-plus-same-day data will be released Tuesday).

Dunkin' Donuts Finds Its Inner Cheerleader

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Chalk up another optimistic advertiser: Dunkin' Donuts. The company on Monday launched a $100 million, grammatically challenged advertising campaign that assures consumers "You Kin' Do it!"

Euro RSCG wins Peugeot dealer account

Peugeot has moved the advertising for its dealership network into Euro RSCG following a pitch. Incumbent agency McCann Erickson Manchester was involved in the review and will retain the media planning and buying account.

The greatest fictional ads from sci-fi movies

It will take a geekier geek than me to properly parse this fun-looking list of the top 25 fictional ads in sci-fi movies. I have a moderate Doctor Who habit, but I haven't seen the majority of the movies highlighted here, much less the fictional ads they contain. (The spot above is from Robocop 2, for Sunblock 5000.) Doctor Who (Saturdays at 9 p.m. on BBC America) has little in-story advertising?except for that seven-year product placement back in the 1970s, courtesy of Tom Baker, for Jelly Babies.

?Posted by Tim Nudd

Design on the Fly: Create a Table on Your Phone

mSHAPE is a new company based out of Switzerland that is enabling users to design custom tables in the palms of their hand. After downloading and installing the mTABLE application onto a phone and selecting the general type of table they want (lounge, coffee, console, dining, etc), the type of material (Swiss walnut wood [...]

Study: No Relief in Sight for Battered M&A Market

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A worsening business environment prompted a staggering drop last quarter in mergers and acquisitions for the marketing, advertising and digital media industries, according to a study from consultancy Petsky Prunier.

DreamWorks, SoBe, Intel, NBC Plan 3-D Super Bowl Ad

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Super Bowl advertising is often a solitary endeavor. Each ad is a universe unto itself, with nary a reference to another product or rival. After all, why share the spotlight when ad time costs millions of dollars? Well, this year is different. DreamWorks Animation and Pepsi's SoBe beverages are moving in the opposite direction, teaming up with NBC and Intel Corp. to create a 3-D ad break set to appear at the end of the second quarter.

PSFK Signage Reincarnated

We’re inspired by PSFK friend Courtney Sexton’s repurposing of some old PSFK collateral, transforming a large foamcore sign we used for PSFK Conference San Francisco into a perfectly fitting instrument case. Courtney, aka Flickr user evilsigntist, explains: Problem: I was planning on traveling to France with my band for NYE, but I didn’t have a [...]

Don't throw those innards out with the trash

2008 may be remembered as the year when organ-donor-plea advertising came of age. California's singing-maggot effort ranked among AdFreak's 32 Freakiest Ads of '08. Now, from IMIP in Brazil (via agency Ampla) comes a print campaign that poses men, women and children next to trash cans. The text reads: "One of these two will get your organs. You decide." See all three ads here. I'm assuming they mean someone will get my organs after I'm dead, but you'd never know it from the haunted, hungry looks on the faces of those models. Go ahead, dream about my spleen. Just let me finish using it! Of course, I can't shake the feeling that maggots will get us all in the end.

?Posted by David Gianatasio

It's 2009. Please Retire the Holiday Copy

A friendly reminder to AT&T and the rest of you yuletide slackers.

JPG Magazine Bids Farewell

For all the members and fans of JPG Magazine, the morning after New Years came with the unhappy news that the magazine would be closing its doors. JPG Magazine is the product of a vibrant and intimate community of almost 200,000 photographers who have built the magazine over the past two years. Be sure to [...]

TV’s to have Netflix Streaming Built In

Silicon Alley Insider reports that this spring, Korean electronics maufacturer LG is planning to offer Netflix movie screening built into some of its plasma and LCD TVs. Bypassing a set-top box makes watching on-demand content even easier, and gives Netflix a small advantage over rivals in the streaming video game including Amazon and Apple. Streaming [...]

PSFK Good Ideas Salon London Speaker Matt Hardisty

Matt Hardisty, Founding Partner and Creative Director of AnalogFolk, will be moderating our “London: Better Again” panel at the Good Ideas Salon London. In this discussion, Lindsey Clarke of The Londonist, Justin Quirk of FHM, Taryn Ross of Urban Junkies and Paul Andrew Williams of Steel Mill Pictures will touch upon what aspects of London [...]

This is your brain on D&M Publishers' books

This ad campaign from Rethink in Vancouver for D&M Publishers, an independent publishing house in Canada, might be a tad too clever for its own good. See the three full ads here. Or maybe the approach is spot-on, considering the target audience of presumably brainy readers who don't mind working an extra beat to take in the ads' subtly mind-blowing message. Either way, it's somewhat amusing that the ads rely entirely on visuals to make their point?an unintentionally ironic nod, perhaps, to the fact that no one reads anymore. But I might be reading too much into it. Via Ads of the World.

?Posted by David Gianatasio

Free E-book - How to Motivate Creative People (Including Yourself)

Photo by alexsey.const Feel free to download and share my new e-book: How to Motivate Creative People (Including Yourself). It’s a revised and expanded version of the series of the same name I’ve been writing here at Wishful Thinking. If you are a leader, manager, director or coach… This e-book will help you: Understand how motivation affects creativity Get better work [...]

Skaters are Loving the Recession

The current economic downturn is promoting a symbiotic relationship between the traditionally shunned skateboarding subculture, and the remains of middle class suburbia. Foreclosed homes with unused swimming polls (that can be breeding grounds for the West Nile Virus) are being emptied and meticulously cleaned up by Skaters trying to take advantage of riding in them. [...]

Israel Holds a Twitter News Conference

Government administrations continue to get more tech-savvy in their efforts to communicate with younger and more connected audiences. Last Tuesday, David Saranga, the head of media relations for the Israeli consulate in New York, held a press conference… on Twitter. This move has been the source of some derision, as arguments are being made that [...]

Wake Up Ad Agencies! Cyrus Mehri is on The Loose Again

iPhone Apps of 2008: The Good, the Bad and the Odd

2008 was an incredible year for developers and consumers of the Apple iPhone. With more than 10,000 applications in the App Store, users were inundated with options. Sometimes these applications were helpful additions to the basic functions of the device and other times they were odd, bizarre or even utterly useless. Here we attempt to [...]

Is That Sand On My Page Takeover?

Most Popular Articles on PSFK From the Last 7 Days

Here are PSFK’s top five articles from Dec. 2 2008 to Jan. 4, 2009. Results are based on Google Analytics and in order of overall page views. Innovative Shoebox is 100% Recycled - Dave Pinter Pic: Prince Hairy - Piers Fawkes New Logos: 2008 in Review - Nicko Margolies Starbucks Fueled Higher Quality Competition & Home Brewing Alternative - [...]

Twitter Accounts Hacked: Obama, Britney and Fox News Affected

A number of big name Twitter accounts were hacked this morning, a day after Twitter users were targeted in a large-scale phishing attack. In all, 33 accounts were briefly commandeered by a person or persons who got their hands on editing tools used by Twitter's support team. Among the victims were some of the best-known Twitterers, including Barack Obama, CNN's Rick Sanchez and Britney Spears. The Obama hijackers, who had control of the Prez-Elect's account for just a few minutes, took the opportunity to post an affiliate link to a page with a survey and promotion. With several others, the hackers' intent was merely malicious. I've borrowed the below screen grabs from Brent Csutoras. According to Twitter the hacked accounts were unrelated to a phishing attack that happened over the weekend. That incident was a straightforward scam that used e-mails presenting themselves as Twitter direct messages to get users to divulge password information.

Gov't Runs out of Funds for Coupons for DTV Transition

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- In a new challenge for consumers facing the transition to digital television, the government's program offering $40 coupons for a TV-converter box is out of money, weeks faster than anyone expected.

Archigram: Visionary Futures From the 60’s

The BBC has created a fascinating slide show which highlights the work of avant-garde architectural group Archigram. The collective was formed in the 1960’s by a group of friends who came together to discuss far out concepts about architecture and design. Their ideas about modular and mobile cities probably seemed like something out of a [...]

NY Times: Front Page Advertising

The NY Times has managed to break its own story, noting that today - Monday, January 5th - marks the first time that the paper will sell significant advertising space on its front page. The horizontal color ad, consuming 2 1/2 inches of space at the bottom of the page, has been purchased by CBS [...]

Advertising in Recession, 2009 Edition

Bright Ones: Julia Roy Lives the Digital Lifestyle

A Monster New Year!

A little belated perhaps but couldn't resist posting this sweet new year's film from Stefan Bucher, creator of The Daily Monster website. Happy 2009!

WPP expected to axe "thousands" of jobs

WPP Group, the second largest marketing services group, is understood to be preparing to cut several thousand jobs worldwide as the economic downturn hit advertising demands. It is understood that majority of the job losses will come in Western Europe and North America.

The Difference Between Building a Business and Building a Brand

Are you building a business? Or are you building a brand? Silly questions, you might be thinking. Naturally, you are trying to do both. But that might be a mistake.

Standard Life appoints Esberger

Standard Life has appointed former npower commercial director Simon Esberger to the new role of marketing operations director. His appointment comes amid a restructure of the asset management company's marketing division.

Direct Line relaunches red phone and mouse icons

Direct Line is relaunching its classic red phone icon in a new campaign that breaks today (January 5). It will also see the return of the computer mouse on wheels.

Liberty plans relaunch brand collaborations

Liberty, the luxury department store, will unveil new collaborations with Nike, Cacherel and Turner Prize winning artist Grayson Perry as part of a relaunch of the store next month.

Microsoft plans workforce cut

Microsoft is understood to be considering cutting around 10% of its global workforce in response to profit falls across the business. The move could affect the company's 3,000 employees in the UK.

What to Expect in Gaming in 2009

Wired offers a nice video summary of their predictions for 2009 in the world of gaming. Wired Senior Editor Chris Baker and Game|Life Editor Chris Kohler give their two cents on what they think the gaming trends in 2009 will look like, and where they might lead. Some of their insights: * The growing crisis of [...]

Aegis reviews business strategy

Aegis is understood to be considering plans to either spin off Synovate, its market research arm, or forge closer ties with its largest shareholder Vincent Bolloré.

Prominent Magazines Lose Weight, Shedding Nearly Half Their Ads

Prominent Magazines Lose Weight, Shedding Nearly Half Their Ads What You Should Have Read, Jan. 4, 2009 The New York Times does a deep dive into ad page counts at Conde Nast and finds January is not the company's best month. January issues tend to be thin even in good years, and most magazines posted a decline in ad pages. But the average decline across all monthly magazines was only 17%, and most Conde Nast magazines fared much worse, according to analysis of Media Industry Newsletter data. Of the 10 monthlies with the worst declines in January, four were Conde Nast magazines: Wired, Architectural Digest, Vogue and Lucky. It was the only publisher with more than one title in the top 10.

New York Times Sells Front-Page Ads

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The New York Times unveiled a display ad on its front page, despite decades of fear that advertising there could contaminate the journalistic product or brand.

Charles Ogilvie on In-Flight Innovation at PSFK Conference Asia 2008

At the PSFK Conference Asia 2008, Charles Ogilvie (Panasonic), Creative Designer and Inventor of RED, the award winning in-flight entertainment system for Virgin America, speaks about service innovation, new revenue models, and the use of airborne technology throughout Asia and the world at large. From the drab grey seats and drop down projectors of just ten [...]

Organ Donors, Faux Sci-Fi Ads, Israel Tweets, NYT Sells Out to Cash In

Proof that Advertising is At Least as Informative as Fox News.

Edge’s Big Question

The Edge organization is known for gathering the brightest minds together to discuss stimulating and important intellectual questions. The group has posed it’s annual question for 2009, and it’s a big one. They ask: “What will change everything?- What game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live to see?” 150 heavy-hitting thought leaders [...]

Michael Phelps to Promote Mazda 6 in China

BEIJING (AdAgeChina.com) -- Mazda Motor Corp. has tapped American swimming sensation Michael Phelps to relaunch its Mazda 6 in China. Mr. Phelps, who won eight gold medals and broke seven world records at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, will be the brand spokesman for Mazda in the world's third-largest auto market.

Will It Blend? Who Cares.

ESPN.com Redesigns to Be More Ad-Friendly

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- As marketers look for more ways to break through the clutter of standard online display ads -- and as publishers look to create the kind of integrated packages that ad networks can't -- a good case to watch is the redesign of ESPN.com, which famously shunned ad networks last year.

If You Make Less Than $100K, You're A Monstrous Loser

The Hottest Ads of 2008, Revisited

Penthouse Trailer Park Opens In Cape Town

The Grand Daddy Hotel has recently opened in the centre of Cape Town, with a twist on the boutique hotel experience in the shape of a rooftop trailer park. The park consists of seven vintage Airstream trailers have been customised by local artists and are available for guests to stay in. Each of the polished [...]

Awards: Best Celebrity Performance in a 2008 TV Ad

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- For the 11th year, Advertising Age ad critic Bob Garfield bestows awards for the best performances by an actor, actress and celebrity in a TV commercial. This eight-minute program marks the first time the awards have ever been announced in a video format.

FKDL’s Paper Collages

Wooster Collective has an interview with a Parisian Street artist called FKDL who creates beautiful collages out of old bits of paper he finds. There’s some insightful stuff in the interview including: Wooster: How would you describe your art to someone who could not see it? FKDL: Think about a person, think about some colors, think about [...]

10 Tips for 360° Marketing - Metallica vs Yael Naim: Steamroller vs Word of Mouth

Guest Post by: Frédéric Baffou Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola or Nike are experts in steamroller approachwhen it comes to a worldwide product launch. What about a Rock Band? Metallica, one of the most popular metal band in the world, released one month ago their new album : Death Magnetic. and yes..I am a fan of this band since the beginning.

Will Nanotubes Make You Super-Smart?

by: Roger DooleyResearchers in Italy and Switzerland have found carbon nanotubes to be bio-compatible and that the can be attached to neurons to boost the natural signal-processing capabilities of those neurons.

Peter Rojas On Palm’s Last Chance

In his twitter feed, Engadget founder has some sobering views on the mobile computing company that only a few years ago was a leading brand. In his micro messages he says that his expectations for a new product that will be launched by Palm on Thursday are low and that if the company “doesn’t blow [...]

Living & Dead Computers

There’s an interesting stat over on PC World about the relative growth of the number of Apple computer users that browse the web versus Windows operated PC users. In December, 88.7% of the people who browsed monitored Web sites did so using machines powered by Windows - the first time the number of users has [...]

Quorn campaign aims for new positioning

McCann Erickson London has created a brand campaign for the meat substitute Quorn that focuses on the health benefits of the Premier Foods’ brand.

Let’s form a committee...

Image by clagnut via Flickr Most design committees are a recipe for disaster or inactivity, says Mike Dempsey, so what should we expect from the Mayor of London's recently unveiled Design Advisory Panel? Well, with no graphic, digital or motion designers on board, the early signs aren't looking that good...

Making Money out of Anger

by: Dick StroudWell done the guys at Angry Britain who have found a way to make a few quid out of providing angry Brits with a channel for their discontent. I am sure the Web site doesn’t generate much in the way of advertising revenue but it shows that the recession does provide business opportunities.

Alan Wolk: Scoble Blindness

I’ve often written about “NASCAR Blindness” -- the strongly held belief that if no one in your little bubble of upscale artsy BoBo friends is into something, then clearly no one else could be either-- and how it afflicts the advertising community. But there’s an equally insidious syndrome affecting the tech community: Scoble Blindness.Scoble Blindness is the strongly held belief that everyone using social media is supremely interested in what Robert Scoble and others like him have to say. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Now Mr. Scoble is a very bright man who legitimately has many interesting things to say. But the topics he discusses are mainly of interest to people working in the greater technology field. And hard as it is for those afflicted with Scoble Blindness to accept, most people using social media are not in the greater technology field. And that percentage is growing rapidly, as more and more non-tech users discover things like Facebook and Twitter. It’s why I roll my eyes in amazement at the endless discussions (and subsequent hand-wringing) about the power of/desirability of/definition of “influencers.” As if said “influencers” were universal or (and this is key) people outside of the Silicon Valley bubble had any interest at all in Scoble-type “influencers” of any stripe or for that matter, in using Twitter as a “tool.” Think of how your friends and relations outside the Silicon Valley bubble use MySpace or Facebook. Are they putting up blog posts about how to increase site traffic? Commenting on Zappos’ brilliant use of Twitter? Or are they commenting on their friends pictures from their trip to Jamaica last month and posting mildly funny clips they found on YouTube? So what makes you all think they’re going to act any differently on Twitter? Rather than a “tool” that “provides value” most non-tech users are going to use Twitter as an asynchronous IM device to (a) keep up with their real-life friends (b) follow the ramblings of a celebrity tweeter like Shaquille O’Neal or Britney Spears-- people with whom they have zero expectations of reciprocity and (c) get updates from broadcast-only news feeds like the New York Times or the BBC. The notion of the “citizen-expert” -- someone like Robert Scoble, who is well-known in his field, but makes time and effort to reach out to unknowns-- is unique to Silicon Valley culture where the difference between “known” and “unknown” can change overnight. This paradigm does not exist in other fields. Silicon Valley is still building up an infrastructure around social media and social media itself is evolving daily, so blogs and tweets have become their primary information sources. But if I’m a golfer, there’s already a world of information out there: books, magazines, DVDs-- all from established media sources. So it’s pretty easy for me to find it all myself, both online and off-- I don’t need a Twitter “golf guru” to point me to interesting golf articles or to opine on Tiger Woods’ putting game. The closest golfers might get to a “Twitter guru” is a well-known golf journalist whose comments about the PGA tour provoke discussion among golf fans. But that’s a discussion, not a learning experience and the golf journalist is not influencing anyone, at least not in the sense that many in Silicon Valley see their gurus influencing the masses. (To wit: many Silicon Valley “gurus” also have a sizable following in the investment community, since investors are hoping they’ll alert them to the next Google or YouTube.) Twitter offers the option of keeping one’s feed “closed” and that’s an option I’m seeing most of my non-tech world friends choosing. And while they’re an admittedly non-scientific sampling, they are, to a one, baffled by the notion of following/being followed by strangers and the fact that there are people who actively seek out strangers to follow them. They view it both in terms of security and social normalcy: why would you want all these complete strangers to know you like raisins in your oatmeal (and vice versa)? And while there are those who’d respond that the solution is to only tweet things “of value” (rather than one’s breakfast menu) that’s sort of beside the point. Part of the charm of Twitter is the ability to share our friends’ breakfast menus, which creates something the writer Clive Thompson calls “ambient intimacy.” And outside the Silicon Valley bubble, the twin notions of “tool” and “value” are lost on users for whom those terms have a complete different meaning. The solution to Scoble Blindness is an easy one: acknowledging that the rules and norms of the Silicon Valley social media scene begin and end with that scene. So that when a Guy Kawasaki asserts that everyone on Twitter really wants to have thousands of followers, he needs to frame his statement in terms of the Twitterers he’s actually talking about: those people working in the space who wish to use Twitter as a business tool to market themselves, a group which includes both the tech community and (funny enough) the “multi-level marketer” community (who have also discovered the business possibilities of Twitter, but that’s a whole different post.) For marketers, the proposition is different: we’ve got to stop listening to the chatter coming out of Silicon Valley. To remember that the people we’re marketing to have a very different view of social media, it’s values and uses. And that we’ve got to advise our clients accordingly. We also need to remember that the rules for promoting one’s own personal brand are not the same as the rules for promoting our clients brands. In other words, we need to avoid coming down with Scoble Blindness.

Drew McLellan: How Long Will It Take?

Here's one of my worries as we continue to trudge through the murky waters of the recession. Business owners have always been an impatient lot, when it comes to marketing efforts. They plant the seed and then two days later, when nothing has sprouted, they dig up the seeds before they've had a chance to take root. Tactics that would have worked, given enough time, are aborted before they've had a chance. Lots of wasted time. Lots of wasted money. But with the pressures of tougher times, I worry that the impatience factor will get even worse. And there are a lot of businesses who can't afford too many missteps. So before you invest in a marketing effort, be sure you are willing to hang in there and take into account these factors: How often do people need/want it? If you run a restaurant or sell ice cream ? you’re in luck. Mail a coupon on Tuesday and you might see the family, coupon in hand, by Saturday. But on average, someone buys a car every 3-5 years. Own a car dealership and you might wait 18+ months after your first ad to see that person in your door. Who the heck are you? Does the prospect recognize your brand? Do they know what you are all about? What makes you different from your competitors? Who else is talking? Just like at a party, if you are the only voice talking, it’s a lot easier to be heard. But, if you are one of many and others are talking louder and faster ? you can easily get lost in the din. Where are you talking? What would happen if you stood up right in the middle of a church service and started talking? You’d get noticed, wouldn’t you? That’s because you are doing something unexpected in an unexpected place. What are you saying? The most important factor of all. Are you talking about what the consumer cares about or are you talking about you? If you're on the agency side, how do you help clients have the patience to let a campaign take root? If you're a business owner/marketer -- how do manage expectations within your organization so that your efforts are given enough time to have impact?

Penis Cake Advocates for Fantasy Trophy Firm

Outgoing NBC Digital Chief Dumps on ABC and CBS Video Search

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Outgoing NBC Universal digital chief George Kliavkoff doesn't think much of the online video search engines of competitors ABC and CBS. In his on-stage comments at the recent MIEG breakfast in New York, he boasted about how Hulu is much better at finding ABC and CBS content. Hulu, a joint venture of NBC and Fox, is only 9 months old but has become the internet's third most heavily trafficked video search engine.

Change the Record

Our first twee spot of '09: the new Audi Q5 ad featuring Woody Guthrie's Car Song Twee, acoustic, folksy music accompanies practically every second ad on TV at the moment. We first noticed the trend back in mid 2007 ? a list of sappy offenders compiled here ? but when, we ask, will it end? Joining our discussion: Dan Stevens, a director at music PR and management company, Darling Department; Parv Thind, sound designer at Wave; and Peter Raeburn, founder and creative director of music production company, Soundtree.

Slumdog Millionaire Trailer Remix

Addictive TV has created this remix of Danny Boyle's hotly tipped new movie, Slumdog Millionaire, which is released in the UK on Friday. The movie tells the story of an illiterate street kid from Mumbai, who gets the opportunity to go on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Chinese officials crack down on Google and Baidu

Google and Baidu are facing a crackdown by Chinese officials after they were named among sites accused of spreading pornography and illicit material among young web users.

ITV to slash value of Friends Reunited

Friends Reunited is likely to have its value slashed by parent company ITV as part of a company review, according to reports.

Virgin Atlantic’s campaign has 80s glamour

Virgin Atlantic is launching a £6 million campaign set in its launch year of 1984 to celebrate the airline’s quarter century.

Iggy Pop stars in swiftcover.com campaign

Swiftcover.com, the online insurance company, has a launched a £25 million marketing campaign starring rock singer Iggy Pop.

Britvic restructures marketing team

Britvic has restructured its marketing team to create two separate teams for its own brands and the licensed PepsiCo brands it handles. It has also created a marketing activation division and a category marketing team.

Broadcast Networks Face Identity Crisis

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- NBC or TNT? While TV-industry suits and ad buyers will tell you a vast difference exists between the two, it's all the same to a kid channel-surfing his way up and down the cable box. Now even the biggest proponents of broadcast TV have begun to see a day when they will look more like cable networks than not.

Economy Weighs Heavily on Marketing Execs for 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Marketing executives are tired of buzzwords such as Web 2.0, blogs and social networking. They're more concerned about credit availability, housing markets, alternative energy and the trade deficit, according to a new study of top-level marketers.

As Tracking Proliferates, Web Publishers Are Left Out

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Publishers across the web have spent considerable dollars to create desirable editorial environments for web readers and advertisers, only to have that value diluted by those packaging and re-selling the datastream left in their wake.

Digg This, HuffPo: What's $200 Million Divided by 2009 Reality?

What if the privately held Huffington Post is worth not $200 million -- a cracked-out number floated last year -- or even $100 million, but, say, $2 mil?

Boy Scouts Get 21st-Century Makeover

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Boy Scouts of America are coming into the 21st century. The 100-year-old organization has adopted a branding department and a marketing group; is working with PR shop Fleishmann Hilliard on a centennial campaign; and is trying to make the scouting experience more relevant with moves such as adding GPS systems to the traditional compass for hiking trails. But in what looks to be the biggest marketing shift for the organization, the Boy Scouts are now targeting Latino youths -- a particularly sparse segment of membership in a traditionally Caucasian-dominated institution.

Using Google Search Data to Read 2009's Tea Leaves

When I first started blogging five years ago, I was big into writing new year prediction posts. Many bloggers continue this fine tradition. I stopped when I realized that no one would go back and fact check me. More important, I stopped because the predictions were based on gut feelings, not numbers.

For Auto Industry, 2009 Holds Even Tighter Ad Budgets

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- The hangover that walloped the U.S. auto industry in 2008 is still hanging on this New Year, which will be marked by even tighter ad budgets with the biggest expenditures reserved for crucial model launches.

NAB Reminds Us Not to Toss Squish-Toys at the Help

Women, Men And Their Walk-In Preferences

How to React if Somebody Writes about Your Brand Online

by: Matt RhodesFor our first post of the new year, I wanted to touch on two questions that often crop up when we talk to clients about their online presence and how they are and could use social media:

1. “If somebody talks about us online, should we respond?”
2. “If we respond, what is the best way of doing this?"

Behind IBM's Quest for a 'Smarter Planet'

by: Joel MakowerOver the past few weeks, a series of fascinating full-page ads from IBM Corp. got the better of me. The company launched a series of "Smarter Planet" ads in November, running Mondays in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other publications. They portrayed an image of IBM as a purveyor of solutions to the planet's environmental ills. I wanted to find out what was behind them.

B-Week's Bruce Nussbaum Was Quick to Pronounce that "Innovation" Is Dead. In Fact, It Is Just the Beginning.

by: Idris MooteeIn last week's Business Week Bruce Nussbaum pronounced that "Innovation" is Dead. Herald The Birth of "Transformation". To quote, “Innovation died in 2008, killed off by overuse, misuse, narrowness, instrumentalism and failure to evolve. It was done in by CEOs, consultants, marketers, advertisers and business journalists who degraded and devalued the idea by conflating it with change, technology, design, globalization, trendiness, and anything “new.”

How to Innovate the Banana

by: Chris LawerHere’s an alternative healthy eating challenge for the New Year: How is it possible to innovate the banana, that prime symbol of commoditisation, that staple fixture of any self-respecting fruit-bowl? How can such an unremarkable, taken-for-granted fruit compete against the increasingly exotic fayre now lining the supermarket produce aisles – such as the kiwi, the mango, the papayas and the chikoo* ?

2009 Resolution: Aligning Your Lifestreams

by: David ArmanoHere's a 2009 reslolution you can actually make some work of. Taking control of your lifestreams and aligning them where they make sense. Many of us are publishing multiple streams of our lives that allow us to connect with, broadcast and share with others. Over the years, you may have gotten a bit messy with how many streams you actually produce and how they work with each other. Here's a few tips that have worked for me.

New Year, New Look, New Website - MarkMcGuinness.com

Happy New Year! I hope 2009 will be a happy and fulfilling one for you. I’ve Launched a New Site at www.MarkMcGuinness.com I’ve recently launched a new website at www.MarkMcGuinness.com — or rather, I’ve moved my poetry blog from its old home at /poetry on the Wishful Thinking site. I’ve also given it a new tagline, “a [...]

‘The Dark Knight’ Not Coming to China Theaters

Batman fans in China will not get a chance to see ‘The Dark Knight’ in theaters as Warner Brothers has decided to pull the movie before the government approval process. According to the New York Times, the studio cited “prerelease conditions” and cultural sensitivities” as the reasons for not submitting the movie for the government [...]

Understand the Yin and Yang of the Truly Creative Mind

by: Idris MooteeMy first blog post last year was “Your New Year Resolution-Unlock Your Creative Mind”, so I decided to start this year with another post on the “creative” mind. There are lots of myths around what is the "creative class" and how they are often associated with jobs linked to design which is absolutely not the case. You can be very creative but never trained in any design discipline.

MediaPost Publications - WOM: Real People Win Deals, Corporate Blogs Spin Wheels - 12/30/2008

by: David PolinchockAs you know if you're a regular reader of this blog, I'm not always really crazy about the whole idea of WOM marketing. You can go to here to get a good primer on our thoughts if you're not familiar with them. But our basic thinking is this:

WOM is not a tactic or strategy by itself. It is the outcome of doing something really well.

Holiday Recap: Spending Declined in Recession and Short Shopping Season

Perhaps not surprisingly, traffic to retail sites and consumer spending on those sites were both down during the holiday season, according to ComScore. The research firm estimates total U.S. e-commerce spending declined 3 percent, the first ever drop reported by ComScore since it began tracking online retail spending in 2001. Total spending was estimated at $25.5 billion, compared to $26.3 billion in 2007. "The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has mad this a really tough season for retailers, both offline and online," said a statement from ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni. Some online retailers appeared to benefit from the bad economy -- at least in terms of traffic. Consumers hunting for deals online helped drive a 5 percent lift in visits to sites like Amazon (7 percent) and Wal-Mart (4 percent). Apple (19 percent) also saw an increase. The list of traffic losers included eBay (-4 percent); Target (-1 percent); and JC Penney (-11 percent). Best Buy's e-commerce site had no measurable change in traffic from the corresponding period in 2007.

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