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Responsible or not? CIT’s college recruiting video

By on February 20, 2012 in advertising, creativity, responsible or not?, videos, viral marketing

College advertising is usually so, well, meh. Not so with this ad entitled “It’s a Snap” from filmmakers Henry & Aaron, done with full creative license for their alma mater, Western Australia’s Central Institute of Technology. The video has gone viral, leaving some to say it has changed the face of college recruitment advertising. So, [...]

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Should excessively noisy ads be banned?

By on December 16, 2009 in advertising, message responsible

One of the Seven Keys to Responsible Marketing is being message responsible. That means marketers should respect all their audiences by seeking permission, telling the truth, honoring privacy and avoiding clutter. Yelling at consumers isn’t very respectful, and the U.S. House of Representatives has recently approved a bill which aims to limit the volume of [...]

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Sex Sells: Just Ask Him.

By on September 23, 2009 in advertising, fun, message responsible, movies, sex sells, videos

In advertising, it’s the gospel truth: Sex sells. You’ve heard it a million times. So many times it’s gotta be true, right? Hell, even the Devil himself says it’s true in our second of seven Responsible Marketing web shorts, here: View on YouTube in HD Why not believe it? You just heard it from the [...]

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Facebook’s ad feedback function fail

By on September 21, 2009 in advertising, digital marketing, social media, usability

You know the ads on the right hand column of your Facebook feeds page? Here’s a view I’ve received a lot lately: Yeah. I know. You’ve seen these ads enough already. Not sure why I’d receive ‘em…I’m not a gamer and there’s nothing in my profile that would lead you to believe I’d be interested [...]

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Is Burger King’s “Square Butts” ad responsible?

By on April 10, 2009 in creativity, message responsible, responsible or not?, sex sells, videos, word of mouth

Last night, a friend from high school sent me this question via Facebook: Can you explain why ANYONE (let alone Burger King) would think it a good idea to adapt “I like Big Butts” to market a children’s meal? Here’s the ad in question: Extended version This is one of the classic Responsible Marketing questions [...]

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How tolerant is your marketing?

By on March 18, 2009 in advertising, message responsible, socially responsible, videos

Do you respect all your audiences? Really? Are you sure? Watch the following ad, then answer the question again: Watch this video on YouTube So, now do you believe you respecting all of your audiences? This spot from Banco Provincia of Argentina was a real eye-opener for me. Respectful ads targeted to the gay and [...]

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Rude, crude and funny ads: Love ‘em or hate ‘em?

By on February 13, 2009 in advertising, love it or hate it?, videos, word of mouth

We all love to laugh, and when we find something genuinely funny, we love to share it. But humor is subjective and what’s funny to some is offensive to others. Case in point: One of the following ads was banned, the other wasn’t. View this video on YouTube View this video on YouTube I’ll admit, [...]

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The Most and Least Responsible Super Bowl ads

By on February 2, 2009 in advertainment, creativity, polls, responsible or not?

Once again, the Super Bowl was indeed super, but how about the ads? A few ads brought sustained belly laughs, others brought groans. But which were responsible, and which weren’t? For review, visit my Super Bowl XVIII ads page. Cast up to five votes in following polls. If you’d like to weigh in on any [...]

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Super Bowl XLIII ads

By on February 2, 2009 in advertainment, advertising, creativity, environmentally responsible

Here are all the ads from Super Bowl XLIII, all assembled on one page for your review. Review the ones you missed, then cast your vote for Most and Least Responsible Ads of Super Bowl XLIII. Enjoy. THE ADS Angels and Demons: Trailer Audi: Chase Bud Light: Bud Light Lime Bud Light: Meeting Bud Light: [...]

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Is Belkin’s apology for astroturfing enough?

By on January 20, 2009 in authenticity, corporate responsibility, deceptive marketing, ethics, message responsible, social media, socially responsible, word of mouth

First, what’s “astroturfing?” Roughly, it’s when formal political, advertising, or public relations campaigns seek to create the impression of spontaneous “grassroots” behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf.* On Friday, The Daily Background Blog revealed that a Belkin employee was doing just that: Paying 65 cents for perfect reviews on Buy.com, NewEgg.com and [...]

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10 of my favorite lists from 2008

By on January 1, 2009 in advertising, corporate responsibility, sex sells, social media, social networking, videos, viral marketing

Happy New Year! I know. I’ve ranted about lists before, but to start off 2009, one of my resolutions is to lighten up (a little) about lists. Here’s a list of 10 of my favorite lists from last year, in no particular order: The 10 most admired companies of 2008 Fortune Magazine 50 ideas on [...]

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Marketing, advertising and PR are not equals

By on December 23, 2008 in branding, broken marketing, strategically responsible

I love and hate this: I love it because of it’s simple, it’s funny and it’s true. But I hate it because it perpetuates the myth that marketing, advertising and PR are all in some way equals. They aren’t. Let me explain: You meet two people at a holiday party: Beth works in the marketing [...]

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Seven entertaining Thanksgiving ads

By on November 27, 2008 in advertainment, videos

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I happened upon some entertaining Thanksgiving advertising this week. Here are a few of my faves: View “Turkey and butter, 1956″ on YouTube View “Talking with your mouth full” on YouTube View “Woman vs. turkey” on YouTube View “Turkey ‘Terror’ ad” on YouTube View “A DeNiro and Crystal Thanksgiving” on YouTube View [...]

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Will the economy kill creativity?

By on November 20, 2008 in branding, creativity, roi responsible, strategically responsible, videos

Breaking through the clutter amid consumer cynicism and information overload requires creativity. Creativity comes in all forms. It can be beautiful, disturbing, fascinating, shocking, heartwarming, awe-inspiring, scary, fun—you get the point. We all know that creativity isn’t always easy to sell. Sometimes it’s the budget. Other times it’s inertia. But whatever it is, experiencing something [...]

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Motrin feels the pain of a social media mommy mob

By on November 18, 2008 in authenticity, boycott, message responsible, social media, social networking, videos, viral marketing, word of mouth

You might have heard about the recent uproar over a new Motrin ad targeting mothers. If you have already formed an opinion on the topic, skip the video below. Otherwise, take a look, and try to be as objective as possible. View this video on YouTube The response Paul Banas estimated that in 48 hours [...]

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Responsible or not? Shockvertising

By on October 30, 2008 in creativity, morality, responsible or not?, sex sells, videos, viral marketing, word of mouth

Trendhunter did my homework for me today and compiled a four minute collection of shocking ads that will leave you asking the question, “How far is too far?” You won’t want to view this in front of small children or your boss. It features fake lesbians, phony murder scenes, employees getting punched in the face [...]

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Responsible or not? FreeCreditReport.com

By on October 6, 2008 in creativity, ethics, false advertising, responsible or not?, truth, videos, viral marketing, word of mouth

FreeCreditReport.com has done a great job with their marketing—it’s hard to come up with a company that’s created more memorable ads recently. People are paying attention to their ads, sharing them on social sites and singing along. View this video on YouTube The problem is, the credit reports aren’t free at all. When you get [...]

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Responsible or not? Advertising adultery

By on September 19, 2008 in ethics, message responsible, morality, responsible or not?, social networking, videos

Ashley Madison is a social networking/dating service—for married people. Although the company isn’t breaking any laws by helping facilitate adultery (soon they’ll have a money back guarantee if you don’t successfully have an affair), they aren’t breaking any laws. Still, their billboard only lasted three days in Times Square, an ad they produced for ESPN [...]

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Bumvertising: Welcome to the Hall of Shame

By on September 16, 2008 in casting responsible, environmentally responsible, ethics, execution responsible, hall of shame, message responsible, roi responsible, signage, socially responsible, strategically responsible, videos, viral marketing

Bumvertising is exactly what it sounds like: Advertising on the homeless. It started in 2005 when 22-year-old University of Washington grad Ben Rogovy was looking for a cheap way to promote another company he started. Here’s a quick overview: View this video on YouTube The Bumvertising debate has attracted local, national and even international media [...]

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Advertising and PR work better together

By on September 5, 2008 in casting responsible, strategically responsible

I’ve often found myself explaining the difference between Advertising and Public Relations—primarily, what to use and when. I also find myself defending Advertising far too often. It’s an easy target, and its benefits are deeply misunderstood and under appreciated. I’ve had a small tome on this subject cooking for the book and was going to [...]

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