There was more to Haida Gwaii than the ruins of the Haida villages like SGang Gwaay. We also visited Tanu (T’aanuu llnagaay) the burial place of well known Haida artist, Bill Reid. We also visited Skedans (Koona Llnaagay which means “Village at the Edge” – note the word for village is sometime written llanagaay, llnagaay, llnaagay because Haida is essentially an… Read More »
On our second day in Haida Gwaii, we continued south from the floating camp in the zodiac toward the very southern tip of the islands. We planned to stay at an abandoned whaling station called Rose Harbour on of the few places for shelter in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site which comprises most… Read More »
We travelled to the farthest western edge of Canada. Past where the continent ends, there is an archipelago of islands out in the Pacific that used to be called the Queen Charlotte Islands. Now it is called Haida Gwaii. It is no easy task to get there. We drove from Vancouver up the Fraser River… Read More »
Have you ever felt like some company was buzzing around you, becoming so irritating and you couldn’t seem to bat them away. All they wanted was a little bit of your blood. Take the banks and cell phone companies. Somebody, please… take them… They are constantly sucking just a little bit of blood out of… Read More »
Quite often we see “one off,” “stand alone,” “one shot” ads. These ads are designed for a single purpose – an event, a special offer, a single purpose. But they really miss the boat. Any advertising for a brand or product needs to be part of a continuing dialogue with your target consumers. It advances… Read More »
Everybody thinks they know advertising and can provide us with a critique of what’s good and what’s not. Rarely do I hear criticism that shows consumers understand the strategies we employ to get messages across. More often than not people evaluate commercials based on entertainment value. We don’t. I recall shortly after we had begun… Read More »
US Historian Daniel Boorstin, in his book The Image, noted that “The celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness.” That was in the 60s. People’s obsession with celebrity is even more so today. Why are people so obsessed with celebrities? One theory is the loss of the village. Our population and communications… Read More »
Often we hear arguments that ring sort of true when they otherwise should not. Some of these I call The Yao Ming Argument. It is when you take an exception and make it seem like the normal, the average. For example, as the US struggles with its messed up healthcare system, people continually point out to… Read More »
I was driving along on a city street in my car, speaking, hands free, to a friend in California. As we were talking an ancient Ford Model T pulled in front of me. The Model T was in amazing condition and it toodled along in front of me as we pulled up to a light… Read More »
It was the middle of the summer of 1978, I had just taken a job working with Grey de Venezuela, an advertising agency in Caracas, Venezuela. The appeal to me was for some control. I had been working in massive agencies in New York City where I was just another brick in the wall. In… Read More »