Category Archives: Branding

Media Whitewash

Posted on Wednesday, 21 February 2018 8:29 am by

The ever thought-provoking Don Marti wrote something in “This is why we can’t have nice brands” on February 17th that reminded me of a standard direct mail practice: “Twitter has a solution that keeps its ads saleable: just don’t show … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, digital marketing, Direct Response, fraud, Media, Social Media Marketing, Strategy | Tagged , ,

Unilever Drains the Digital Swamp?

Posted on Monday, 12 February 2018 8:40 am by

Unilever’s Keith Weed will speak at the IAB today. He’ll talk about his frustration with the lack of the “3 Vs” (viewability, verification, value) in social media platforms. But he’s really looking to have his Marc Pritchard moment by threatening … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, digital marketing, fraud, Leadership, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , ,

Hallelujah! Millennials Are Dead. Here Comes Generation Z

Just when I was about to open a vein over the incessant furor about how Millennials are different, unique and in need of such nonsense as influencer marketing, they’re dead. Here comes Gen Z (sheesh–will somebody brand the next round … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Tuesday, 30 January 2018 7:01 am by | Tagged , , ,

Publisher Advice From a Buyer

Posted on Friday, 12 January 2018 8:31 am by

Dr. Augustine Fou wrote a brilliant article yesterday, Five Unintended Consequences, Counter-intuitive Outcomes that Publishers May Not Have Thought Of,  that got me thinking about the advice I’d give publishers as a buyer. Here they are: Remove all the tracking widgets … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Data, digital marketing, Marketing, Media, Strategy | Tagged , , , , , ,

Mad Men Was Better

Posted on Wednesday, 10 January 2018 9:15 am by

You used to pay your ad agency a 15% commission back in the day. You groused about the high fees, the bad or non-existent data about campaign performance and wondered why you had to pay for those fancy Madison Ave … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Communications, digital marketing, Marketing, Media | Tagged , , , , ,

Déjà Vu: The Partner Curse

Posted on Thursday, 30 November 2017 9:13 am by

I’m sure you’ve read about Hyphbot, but if you haven’t, here’s a good piece at The Drum which you should read. In the article, this line from Jay Stevens, the Adform CRO, hit me: “Premium publishers, like the FT are … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, digital marketing, fraud, Marketing, Media, Sales, Tactics | Tagged , , , , ,

Guitar Effects: Two Legends and a Sale

Posted on Friday, 1 September 2017 9:12 am by

My core beliefs include positivity and assuming goodwill. If you only knew me from my writing here, you might not think that. It’s hard to be positive sometimes when I seem to spend the whole day mired in “digital” marketing … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Communications, digital marketing, Guitar, Marketing, Media, Sales, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , , ,

Need an EVP of Brand Safety? You’ve Got a Problem!

Posted on Monday, 28 August 2017 9:57 am by

It took a second read of the “Lets Talk About The Brand Safety Tax” column in AdExchanger last Tuesday to catch this: It’s a small price to pay, said John Montgomery, global EVP of brand safety at GroupM, running somewhere … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, digital marketing, Media, Strategy | Tagged , , ,

Your Mission and Vision are Lousy

Posted on Friday, 30 June 2017 7:40 am by

I was talking about company mission and vision statements with Paresh Shah, a good and smart friend of mine. During the discussion, he gave me a simple rule to see if your mission was good or not: “Write out the … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Marketing, Philosophy, Product Development, Strategy | Tagged , ,

A Thought Experiment: Lobby Ads

Imagine this: A set of large screens in your corporate lobby running, in real time and randomly, the actual digital ads you are running on the pages the ads are being displayed on. A viewer would also be able to stop … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Wednesday, 31 May 2017 11:59 am by | Tagged , ,