Cox bandwidth cap deceptive?

Cox Communications recently sent an email to customers in Lafayette, La. to announce the company is increasing internet speeds for FREE!  But when you look at the terms of limitations you notice that they are also putting limitations on bandwidth.  Bad news for anyone downloading large files, using Netflix, Boxee, Hulu, bit torrent…or anything else [...]

Why are some businesses even open?

It’s easier to hold on to old customers than it is to find new ones.  Comcast doesn’t think so.  My guess is there are plenty of other businesses out there that feel the same.  
Watch this episode of “Help my business sucks!”

Ads Address Today’s Anxieties by Looking Back

ADVERTISING almost always wants to be upbeat, the better to jolly consumers into, well, consuming. So it is startling to see a spate of campaigns invoking some of the most downbeat times America has ever endured: the desperate decade that began when the stock market crashed in 1929 and continued through the Great Depression.
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When Will My Ads Start Working?

The length of the “ramping up period” your ad campaign will require before you begin to see results is determined by the following factors, listed in descending order of their importance: product purchase cycle, share of voice, impact quotient of message and media delivery vehicle. 
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Short-term price deal…long-term brand damage

Everyone is trying to stand out in the wrong way, launching new “special deals”, cutting prices or hosting permanent 50% off sales to attract customers. But if you haven’t figured it out by now the customer is fickle, and can smell desperation like a leopard on the scent of a wounded animal and is not [...]

Reducing Advertising in a Recession is a Mistake

Advertising appears to play a key role in consumers’ view of how a business is doing, according to a study by Ad-ology. By not advertising, businesses may be sending a warning signal to current and potential customers.
For example, when consumers no longer see/hear advertising from an auto dealership during a down economy, 50% say they [...]

Advertising Ideas to Steal

In this week’s edition of the Creativity Top 5, Jon Kubik and Adam Noel hand-draw ad ideas to steal in their new blog; Apple and TBWA/Media Arts Lab rig up another video banner; director Sam Jones crafts an interactive music video online for the Cold War Kids; 180, Los Angeles, and director Hilton Tennant paint [...]

Branding: A case of context

There are many businesses out there that claim to “do branding”. From street lamp posters peddling Branding and T-shirt printing to the more specialist corporate brand agencies, it’s little wonder that there’s confusion as to what this “doing branding” really means.
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Eye Opener: The Government Needs a Slogan

Happy Wednesday! The federal government must quickly address the impending brain drain stemming from anticipated retirements and should re-brand itself as the nation’s premier employer, according to a new study (or sales pitch cloaked in academic jargon) set for release today.
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Change Advertising: Buy Audiences, Not Media Brands

Here is a great post from Diane Mermigas on mediapost.  
 The myopic vision and importance of the networks’ upfront would be permanently changed if marketers’ recession-induced pullback shifts ad dollars from television’s brand masses to select target audiences in all media.  
Advertisers’ growing insistence to connect with the rightaudiences — not necessarily the biggest — could [...]