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 »
People in the U.S. like to treat their Constitution, and its associated Declaration of Independence, like religious works of biblical importance. Immutable. Virtually written by the hands of gods known as founding fathers. The high priests, the U.S. Supreme Court, spend a lot of time interpreting these documents for their laity. What is meant by… Read More »
One of the broadcast laws in Venezuela, back in the day, meant all commercials had to be shot using local Venezuelan talent. One of our clients, Revlon, was a stickler for having their commercials look as exactly like their worldwide creative as possible. Nevertheless, these had to be re-shot locally which could be quite a challenge… 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 »
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 »
I was driving along on a city street in Toronto in my car, speaking, hands free, to a friend in California. As we were talking an ancient Ford Model T pulled right in front of me. The Model T was in amazing condition and it toodled along in front of me as we pulled up to… Read More »
On October 17, 2018, the Canadian government legalized cannabis. The federal government left it up to the provinces to figure out distribution but it seems like no one really did the marketing calculations right. In Ontario, for example, orders are going unfilled despite a move to throttle demand by limiting distribution until next April. The… 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 »
La publicidad no es solo un ‘negocio del espectáculo’; también hay mucho trabajo detrás de las cámaras que hay que entender antes de desarrollarla. Queríamos saber cómo mejorar las ventas de jabón para nuestro cliente, Procter y Gamble de Venezuela. Por eso le pedí a uno de sus vendedores que me llevara al mercado mayorista… Read More »
We buy media against demographics like age, income and education. And target our creative at that target. We are consistent and correct – right? Let’s check by starting with how well people perceive themselves. Take you for example. (Pull out a mirror or look at the graphic to the left.) Do you always “act your age?”… Read More »