California DMV Approves Usage of Pointless Digital License Plates
The problem is, this license plate doesn’t do any of the things that drivers would actually want from a digital plate. Like changing my plate number to …
Hall of Crap
Apple Imagines Destroying The World At WWDC
During its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) this past week described by one media outlet as a “parody of itself,” Apple launched a video intended to show developers how much the world needs them and the apps they build. The video, unfortunately, ended up illustrating just how much havoc Apple could wreak if it chose to … Read more
The Selfie Silencer And Other Silly Startup Ideas That You’ll Wish Were Real
The greatest word The Simpsons ever offered to the English language was “craptacular.” When Bart Simpson used it to describe Homer’s Christmas decorations, he introduced a much needed concept for us all: something that was so bad it might actually be good. Today we are in the age of instant startups, where launching an idea … Read more
Domino’s Proves You Can Simultaneously Have Great Advertising And Bad Marketing
Great advertising appeals to emotions. In the world of marketing pizza, this usually leads to some new “innovation” in pizza making that might induce cravings and cause people at home to pick up the phone and place an order for delivery. The formula is so time tested, that the latest series of ads from Pizza … Read more
5 Reasons All The Hype About .anything Domain Names Is Like Y2K
The land grab is officially starting. For the first time since the popularization of the Internet, the big news today is that ICANN is opening up the ability for the creation of new suffixes that come after the dot, such as .com or .org. The open application process lets any organization apply to be the … Read more
The Best & Worst Marketing From BlackFriday + CyberMonday
The fact that most retailers use the term "doorbuster" to describe their best deals from this weekend should tell you everything you need to know about the frenzied few days of retail activity that traditionally follows Thanksgiving day in America. Despite futile protests from lots of unfortunate retail workers who had to give up parts … Read more
Influential Marketing Blog Featured in Wall Street Journal
Many of you may have already caught this yesterday, but this blog was cited in the Recommended Reading section of the Wall Street Journal yesterday in an article by Keith Huang. As Jay Berkowitz from Ten Golden Rules shares on his team blog, my blog was one of 60 resources that they recommended to the … Read more
Can Anyone Solve This Ticketmaster Riddle?
I am a passionate hater of Ticketmaster.com. Paying a surcharge to a site whose main purpose it is to make it difficult for me to complete an online transaction seems wrong on every level. Imagine you were forced to make every travel booking for any hotel you ever wanted to stay at through Expedia.com. That’s … Read more
Shell Has Eureka Moment, But Sends Wrong Message
Good advertising is based on insights … a singular idea or truth that gets to the heart of a product or brand. The trouble with insight, though, is that it comes in two forms. There is insight that can help you to create a great communications message – and there is insight that can help … Read more
Newsflash for Ask.com: The Algorithm is Dying
In case you hadn’t heard – Ask.com has a new advertising campaign through their new partnership with Crispin, Porter & Bogusky (CP+B) focused on making a hero out of the algorithm. The idea behind the marketing strategy is described on their blog: If you get great search results, you don’t care why or how you … Read more
