Sad, but true
Cartoon by Randy Glasbergen.
Oscars 2011 – proof that youth and good looks are boring
Who didn’t love Kirk Douglas at the Oscars last night? What a great spirit – despite the fact his speech is slurred and he can barely walk without assistance, here’s a great example of an older statesman who appeals to the younger demographic because of his spirit.
Community funded reporting
There’s a new wave of journalism being funded by various non-profits and academic institutions and one of the most interesting is Spot.us
Is negativity really what sells papers?
I’m wondering…are we all that agog to get the bad news? Do we all love reading stories of businesses failing and people getting murdered and all the other bad stuff people lead with? I think that traditional media, or at least some of it, is so desperate for readers that they’re attempting to sensationalize the news as a last ditch effort to get back readers and attract more viewers. And I also think the majority of the public is fairly tired of this approach.
Go Groupon!
My first reaction when I saw the Groupon Elizabeth Hurley/rainforest ad was, like a lot of people, YUCK. Then I saw the ad with Timothy Hutton and wondered what the Dalai Lama would think? Would he say, as my friend Read More >
Is it time to add Jersey Shore lingo to the dictionary?
It made me wonder how words evolved in the first place. How did certain words become accepted into normal use and eventually accepted in the main dictionaries we all use?
Tiger or Glambert – choosing your voice in a crisis
We’ve had some juicy celebrity crisis’ lately that make writing this post lots of fun. When your company, product or personal brand encounters a crisis it’s important to decide what ‘voice’ you’re going to use. Choosing the right approach is one of the reasons little-known (but uber-powerful) flacks like Marty Chalmers and Eliot Mintz make the heavy wood. Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics of voices being used most recently – as well as a few thrown in from the past.
Baby got back?
For news stories, and particularly for talk shows and feature ‘packages’ the back story is often more important than the actual product or service. Lance Armstrong is perhaps the best example of a great back story.
from Rachel with love
Sorry old school journalists, savvy advertising experts and prickly control-freak publicists but it’s time to realize something. To survive you can no longer be storytellers – you have to be information managers.
What we can all learn from Billy Mays
Despite the fact he was always selling someone else’s product, Billy Mays had a strong personal brand. He delivered messages in his own unique style and he never wavered from that style, although I would bet you $100 many marketers tried to change him. His own brand became a kind of credibility stamp for any product.