Archives for 2009

Why is so much crummy advertising and marketing going around? Why are millions and millions more spent on irrelevant, meaningless and unsustainable brand communications? Why does so little the ad biz creates and produces appeal to those it is actually supposed to reach? Often enough, the process of developing ads and communications kicks off quite [...]


Traditionally equipped with no moral concept at all, Philip Morris, probably best known for their far right wing political attitude, enjoy adding thievery to their shameful record. The other day I came across the posters pictured herein and couldn't believe how blatantly the brand has stolen an artists idea for its own marketing purposes.


WAR! Looks like O2 have shot themselves in the foot with their new marketing campaign supposing to promote a new product named O2O. Let's hope their efforts result in demotion. Because that is what they deserve after declaring war on several German cities.


Some people have asked me why on earth I stick around the advertising and communiction biz when I oppose most of what it does and resembles while having so little influence on it as a whole. Isn’t it a bit like David against Goliath? Won’t the enemy retain the upper hand and crush any form [...]


The other day I attended a conference and one of the speakers articulated a cute sounding theory, that every company should see and structure itself, perform and interact with its audience like a „rock band“. I liked this approach very much, even though I thought the presentation could have made more sense and the “rockbandism” [...]


It's bad enough crime when people steal from others, but when multi-billion corporate brands do so and simply to mislead the public, then we've reached the top of the ladder and the highest category of embarrasment.


And what did my tired eyes spot yesterday on leaving my house? Yet another ‘street campaign’, this time one by a brand you would expect knows better about how street life works. I don’t know how many of these amber stick campaigns I have seen over the last 18 months but once the thrill of [...]


The advertising business in Europe has some renowned annual events looming on the horizon, such as the ADC in April or the Cannes festival in June. Little is known about them in public, yet an awful lot is made of these events and awards within the biz, not just because of a couple of days off work, parties, booze and casual sex.


In my everyday life at work, I frequently come across people in advertising agencies and client's companies in important positions not really up to the challenge of their jobs. I often wonder how they even got there without anyboday noticing their incapabilities. It makes you wonder...


10 rules for better advertising. I don’t know how you guys out there feel, but, to me most advertising has always resembled something irrelevant somehow trying to impose a threat on me. Because, although it mostly has nothing to offer, it seems to attack me from all angles. A bit like a bunch of children [...]


In recent months it has become increasingly noticable in my everday life that brands from various markets are adding the aspect of corporate social responsibilty to their communication and creative briefs. If you ask me, this is less down to corporate enlightenment or a cleansing of business morale, but to the power of the consumer. [...]


... or how a proposed consumer dialogue ended up in wicked consumer violation and a re-launch went really, really wrong.


So, now they finally have the enemy entirely surrounded. No escape for the potential consumer anymore, say the so called ad big players and global networks. They claim to have zeroed in on the individual. Their magic formula? 360 degrees of ad and marketing weaponry. Total ad war is on the horizon! What is it good for?