There is an inclination for brands to want their stories and their images to tie up neatly into a simple narrative – into a slogan or catch phrase or topic sentence that captures the brand and allows 1 + 1 to equal 2. What was interesting for me about this mini-documentary on Ken Burns and storytelling is… read more>>

It’s a waste of time. It’s an unstoppable barrage of information. It takes too long. Who’s in there, anyway?  All of these statements have been made at one time or another by clients, colleagues, friends – and if I’m being honest, by myself. The industry has a way of going in circles on this – with the… read more>>

I’m usually one to curl up for a good afternoon nap during the Masters (what better than those long green shots and quiet announcers to help you doze off?), but this year, I couldn’t help but watch transfixed by a relative newcomer named Bubba Watson.  If you didn’t watch, or don’t follow golf, the 33 year old… read more>>

In 1984, as part of his re-election campaign, Ronald Reagan ran a now-famous commercial titled “It’s morning again in America,” which was written and narrated by legendary adman Hal Riney.  The spot, which in a very soothing and optimistic manner spoke to economic prosperity, was in short a hit, and while it did not single handedly re-elect… read more>>

People often ask me if I watch Mad Men.   Well, do you think Texas oil men in the early 80′s watched Dallas?  The funny thing about Mad Men is that the advertising business is just used as, what we call in the business, an executional device to tell a cultural story about the period from 1961-1966,… read more>>

This past week the New York agency BBH made headlines when it turned homeless people at SXSW into “Homeless Hotspots”.  The general consensus was that it was degrading to give human beings the function of a an inanimate object.  There were choruses of “Have we lost our humanity?” “How could they do that to homeless people, haven’t… read more>>

In an article in the Economist, titled “The Quantified Self: Counting Every Moment,” the author summarizes the growing number of people who are gathering and tracking a range of data – from sleep patterns to activity levels, to money spent and caffeine intake – saying: “What they share is a belief that gathering and analysing data about… read more>>

The Cartier brand has a lot to be proud of after 165 years, and their recent short film is no exception. Not only is it gorgeous and a testament to luxury goods branding but it is unusually strategically sound for a category where often we get lost in beauty (and why not?). So what’s the big fuss… read more>>

Forget about the slew of Super Bowl spots that everyone in the ad world and beyond, was talking about for just a sec. Barring a few exceptions, they were a step down from years past anyway. What wasn’t a step down by any means, was the brilliant thought and execution that drove the new Nissan Leaf spot, which I… read more>>

The buzz has steadily been building for the latest rapidly-spreading social media site, Pinterest.  In the past few weeks, a SMWNYC panel member dubbed it “the Jeremy Lin” of the internet, compete puts site traffic over 11 million this month, and I’ve watched as work colleagues, old friends, and extended family members have jumped on board.  It’s… read more>>