Weepies 2025: The 10th Annual Weepy Awards
It’s Weepy season again, but the 2025 Weepy Awards aren’t just any Weepies. They’re the tenth anniversary of the Weepies — a decade of honoring the ads that make you …
The First Christmas Commercial Ever
Commercialism has been inextricably linked with Christmas going back generations — the first time Guðmundur put up a note in the town square reminding Gjögur he offers the freshest oranges …
How to do Black Friday (if you must) ethically 2025
Is it becoming a habit? A tradition? Something I do periodically because I’m bitter about consumerism? Maybe, possibly, and only partly. In today’s economy (In Today’s EconomyTM), particularly with tariffs …
Podcasts I do listen to because I’m capable of doing so
In general, I don’t listen to podcasts. Or rather, I can’t listen to podcasts. It’s not that I can’t hear them. I just have a condition called ADP — auditory …
Reblanding: 360-degree brand update-updates
Recently, Cracker Barrel became a source of controversy and not just rustic wooden gee-gaws and heart disease when they hupped and changed their logo, I guess in pursuit of a …
Writing is like music, and I mean that literally
So, I’m a music person. Always have been. You might have picked up on it from my previous musical blatherings, or the fact that my entire advertising career came about …
Anyone can be creative, and I sincerely mean that, please.
There is, and probably always has been, an epidemic of people thinking they aren’t and/or can’t be creative, and it sucks beyond the telling of it. It’s not specific to …
Adversarial marketing: The audience isn’t the enemy.
I’ve said in the past that one reason I love advertising is that it’s creativity you can win at. You’ve got goals, indicators, KPIs, and you’re being creative while also …
How to roll out a social initiative unbadly
In our current national moment, when authoritarianism looms and the First Amendment is under attack, action needs to be taken. Support needs to be provided. Voices need to be raised. …
8 drugs that would mess you up worse than Tylenol
So, before we get started: Tylenol doesn’t cause autism. (Neither does assedyo-aseddum-menofen-acetaminophen.) Seriously, it’s fine. No studies have shown a causal relationship between acetaminophen and autism. Follow your doctor’s recommendation. …