Tying Up Loose Ends With ‘Oprah,’ ‘Mad Men,’ Wine Clubs and More

It is time again to ask 20 questions about advertising, marketing, the media and popular culture.       Is there anything more annoying than commercials that pretend a made-up word or phrase — say, “holisaleabration,” heard in current spots for A.& P. and Waldbaum’s supermarkets — is so difficult to pronounce that the announcer [...]

8 Lessons From the Creativity and Technology Conference

LONDON (AdAge.com) — Some 300 attendees gathered at the Saatchi Gallery last week for Ad Age sibling Creativity’s technology conference, Creativity and Technology, were treated to musings on bleeding-edge digital communication from Europe’s top talent in advertising, technology and design. Speakers ranged from agency creatives and technologists to writers such as Adam Greenfield, author of [...]

Online Ads Are Booming, if They’re Attached to a Video

News Web sites are starting to look a lot less like newspapers and a lot more like television.com and ESPN.com are featuring video much more prominently on their home pages, often prompting visitors to press play before they begin to read.  Even The Wall Street Journal has moved its video player front and center with a [...]

Advertising on flies: Is it clever, creepy, cruel or all of the above?

Ever wish you could be fly on a wall and listen in on a competing agency’s strategy meetings? I doubt you will ever again after seeing what Jung von Matt came up with for Eichborn, a publishing company out in Germany. (see the demo)

Creativity Top 5: November 9, 2009

Do-gooders, an end to fearful flying, a classic game’s battle of the sexes and an ingenious energy saver can be found among the best ideas of the week. (see the creative)

Best Practices for Taking up the Cause

Given the choice between purchasing a box of Honey Nut Cheerios to help benefit a local school or buying a similar brand offering no such promotion sitting on shelf next door, many people will choose the charitable offer. (read more)

Woman Sues Toyota Over ‘Terrifying’ Prank

A Los Angeles woman is suing Toyota for $10 million over a marketing campaign that she claims “punked” her into incorrectly believing she was being stalked. In a lawsuit filed Sept. 28 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Amber Duick claims she had difficulty eating, sleeping and going to work during March and April of last [...]

Sex in advertising pt. 8…Top 50 Shockvertisements

Creating an emotional connection is crucial to effective marketing campaigns. One common technique is to arouse the feeling of shock. Some of these ad campaigns really push the limits of what could be considered an effective visual. They include print ads, TV spots, online virals and guerrilla marketing campaigns. Many are disturbing, and most are [...]

Sex in advertising pt. 7… A Brief History of Calvin Klein

Legendary ads, superstar models in the making and non-stop innovation — looking back at the first forty years of CK from Esquire.(Read more)

Sex in Advertising pt. 6… Most provocative company in America?

If it’s not Calvin Klein showing provocative underwear ads, it’s American Apparel. You can see their ads all over NYand around the world now showing hot/steamy, half-naked twenty-something girls next door in controversial positions. Well, Pinstripe Online Magazineshows you the 20 sexiest Ads from American Apparel.  WARNING…may be a bit much. (see the ads)