Now That’s Good TV
Ok, I’ll admit it: I was never a huge fan of the ABC reality show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I would catch it from time to time, but my Sunday evenings used to revolve around Desperate Housewives and the Kardashians. That all changed a couple of months ago when I got a chance to get a firsthand look at the making of the show.
One For One
I love shoes. So, naturally, if there’s a way for me to indulge my passion for footwear while also changing the world for the better, sign me up! And that’s exactly what TOMS is all about.
And Now For Something Completely Different
Up to now, everything here has been about change. Well, in the spirit of this blog, it's now time for a big change. I'd like to write about the opposite of change - that is, not doing anything. Or, should I say, sticking to what you believe in, in spite of what everyone (pointed-headed experts included) tells you.
Post-Modern Product Placement
A recent Advertising Age article, "From the Big Screen to Any Screen: Some Takeaways for Marketers and Media Companies", touches on the current state of product placement, and calls attention to the intentionally blatant and "increasingly campy" ways in which products are being integrated in music videos and TV shows.
Crisis Drives Change At Cadillac
David Beals is quoted in the latest edition of Advertising Age referring to recent upsets in the auto-ad business as “unprecedented,” and explaining such volatility as the product of “a category in crisis.” As the article suggests, crisis demands innovation, and Detroit’s troubles have led to several radical re-brandings, including Cadillac’s most recent effort to reclaim lost ground against luxury sports brands like BMW and Mercedes with the new CTS Coupe.
The Art Of Things
Last week RPK took an afternoon to tour the newest addition of the remodeled North Carolina Museum of Art. The sleek aluminum exterior is surrounded with sculptures, fountains and seating areas. Upon entering the brightly lit and clean white foyer, I almost thought I’d walked back into RPK.
iPad, Not A Fad
This week’s blog is in dedication to the latest Apple invention released last week: the iPad. According to Brady Bone, Creative Ops, “The iPad shouldn't exist yet... Apple has shown us the future,” he continues, “Take the agency, I see strategic/account people using [the iPad] as a primary device.”
Thinking Behind Blinking
Thanks to Prof. Mike Randall of The University of Endless Learning at The Republik, book reports have returned from the halls of high school to haunt us. Luckily for Prof. Randall, my book assignment did not merely instill applicable marketing principles, but was indeed interesting.
7-Eleven To Launch In-House Brand Of Wine
Excellent! Insert Thunderbird joke here [ ]. Insert Mad Dog 20/20 joke here [ ]. All right. Now that that's out of the way, let me just say, it's about time! What a brilliant revenue stream.
Is Traditional Media About To Kick The Bucket?
PriceWaterhouseCoopers analyst Marcel Fenez told the World Association of Newspapers readership conference that traditional media has 5 years left until the death clock kicks
Liquid Wood?
German scientists have developed what could be a solution to the chemical laden, non-biodegradable and possibly carcinogenic toxin known as..... plastic. Norbert Eisenreich from the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Pfinztal, Germany and his cronies have invented a substance known as Arboform, or to us right brained folks - liquid wood.
Towards A More Perfect Agency
For a business constructed on new ideas, advertising remains uncomfortably stuck with its old ideas of how to construct a business. Ad agencies, whether private or publicly owned, are almost all built on a 19th Century corporate formula. Did everyone miss what happened after 1999?
Test Tube Steak
Peta is offering $1 million prize for "commercially viable" test tube meat.
2008 Graphis Design Annual
We’re happy to share that The Republik won gold in Graphis’ 2008 Design Annual for our very own Rubberneck Media designs. Check it out below.
Twinkies Go On A Diet
Hostess Twinkies are becoming the latest product remade and repackaged into 100-calorie snack packs, a product some analysts say could do well given that more people are packing their own lunches in the slumping economy.
A Wink And A Drink
A drink containing nicotine is being launched in Britain to help smokers beat the pub ban on cigarettes.
How Do You Like Them Apples?
Apple Computer is publicly opposing Proposition 8 in California, which prohibits equal rights and benefits to employees with same-sex partners, by making a donation of $100,000 to the "no on 8" campaign.
General Motors Unveils Electric Car
GM introduced its Volt, an extended-range electric car. The company hopes the Volt will become the first mass-produced, plug-in electric car in 2010.