With advertisers paying $7 million per 30 seconds, Super Bowl ads are among the most expensive branding opportunities available. But do they work? If you watched the game on Sunday, take the quiz below. Write down your answers on a piece of paper. The point isn’t whether you remembered the ad. The point is, do…
It’s a noisy world. There are two ways to be heard. First way: Say something loud. Say it a lot. Shout and scream. Fill people’s inboxes over and over. Create ads that pop up and intrude. Annoy. Second way: Say something interesting. Say it to a few people who trust you. See if they’ll tell…
Tesla announced a humanoid household robot Thursday, with a prototype due out next year. It made headlines even though there was nothing to see but an actor in a suit. Elon Musk was just musing out loud with slides and silly props. This is not new. Most of what Musk announces has no dependable release…
An Italian study shows that men testing positive for COVID-19 have three times the likelihood of suffering erectile dysfunction compared to those without a positive test. SCRIPT: 30-SECOND VACCINE SPOT (ED) Interior, casual restaurant. A man, mid-40s, good-looking but not strikingly so, slightly balding, sits at a restaurant table opposite an attractive woman, brunette, several…
Those who are not afraid of COVID-19 are behaving irrationally. It’s time to use emotional and graphic advertising to change their minds about vaccination. It worked for smoking; it will work for COVID. Content warning: today’s post contains graphic and disturbing images. If these scare you more than COVID, please get your priorities straight. We…
I was surprised to get a promotional message in my doctor’s patient portal, mislabelled as “New Information in Your Chart.” It made me think about marketing, what it is, and where it belongs. Here’s how it looked: I like my doctor and I like my doctor’s practice, which I think is doing excellent work. I’m…
Perhaps you watched the Super Bowl yesterday. Perhaps, like me, you found the game, the halftime show, and the ads underwhelming. But what the heck was going on with that Andy Warhol ad for Burger King? Go ahead and waste 45 seconds watching it: If you had 45 seconds to put your brand in front…
Sir Martin Sorrell built WPP into an advertising powerhouse and then left under a cloud of allegations. Now he’s taking over a new venture called S4 Capital. It has something to do with advertising, but you’d never figure out what from the prospectus. Have a look at the cover. While it’s typical for a prospectus to…
People leave companies and executives have to write statements. These statements must say everything and nothing at the same time. This is not the place for creativity, but try telling that to J. Walter Thomson. Matt Eastwood, Chief Creative Officer of the agency J. Walter Thomson, is out. They’re not replacing him. This creates a…