In case you missed it during the obligatory pre-Valentine’s Day blitz of engagement ring campaigns in February, it appears that one jewelry brand had finally upped its game. Jared, the somewhat oddly-named Bermuda-based chain, seemed like it had long employed a creative team whose best work had been those noxious Howie Long and Teri Hatcher Radio Shack ads of yesterdecade. …
Book Review: Hellhound On His Trail
I got really into Hampton Sides recently, reading four of his books in 2018. One book called In The Kingdom Of Ice was incredible but just as riveting was Hellhound On His Trail, about the senseless assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the hunt for his killer. The book didn’t pull a lot of punches. The Mayor of …
Quick Book Review: ‘Almost Interesting’ by David Spade
I couldn’t help but seize this book immediately when finding out Spade had written a bio. I am a fan. I own Tommy Boy, not in some Netflix queue or on Blu-ray…I own it on VHS. Plus we just have a lot in common. He is snarky. He was always a smaller guy (as was I growing up). He is …
Quick Book Review: ‘Shoe Dog’ by Phil Knight
I am a huge non-fiction fan and a big memoir fan too. Being also a fan of capitalism, I was interested to read Phil Knight’s book on three levels. Okay four actually if you count that I enjoy reading about sticky brands. I wasn’t disappointed. A few things really stood out so—in lieu of a traditional review—I thought I would …
For The Love Of All That Is Holy On This Earth, Please Stop Using Apple As A Parallel To Your Brand
I was recently in a strategic planning meeting when the inevitable happened. Guess what it was. Everyone in this “all opinions are equal” session quickly deferred to the CMO? Well yes but that’s not what I’m talking about. Everyone professed to take a fresh look even at things that had been done one way for a long time but then …
Friends Don’t Let Friends Buy Traditional Advertising And Other Dangerous Sweeping Generalizations
We all have those email newsletters that invariably show up in our Inbox. We cannot remember dealing with the company. We cannot remember subscribing. Then we eventually recall we met someone on staff there and exchanged cards at an industry event. They mistakenly took the business card to mean you wanted on their list. Still you never really bothered to …