Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers! Website analytics tell me that while this blog has readership worldwide (which is totally awesome!) 19% is from Canada and 30% is from the US. So I thought in honor of Thanksgiving stateside, I'd invite you to reflect and speculate on how an iconic WKRP in Cincinnati episode might unfold in the age of social media... At the very least, … [Read more...]
A campaign to make the fur fly
I remember well a day back in 1988 when the advertising sales department at the Georgia Straight, Vancouver’s urban weekly where I was working at the time, fell in the cross hairs of activists on behalf of the inhumane treatment of animals in the commercial fur trade. You see, long before desktop publishing, newspapers were constructed like puzzle pieces – ads created and then … [Read more...]
5 Reasons why a picture is now worth 10,000 words
They used to say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Now it’s worth at least 10,000 words and perhaps more. Here’s why: In a world of ready access to visuals with the prevalence of smart phones and easy to use photo editing software, combined with social media platforms that enable and encourage sharing, one photo can easily reach 10,000 viewers even if it is only … [Read more...]
Five steps to fuel word of mouth: Learning from Tim Horton’s recruitment pop-up store
Suppose you need to get the word out about something, don’t have a huge media budget, and you want to stand out from competitors. Sound familiar? It’s a challenge that pretty much every business has faced, but now, more than any other time in recent history, we actually have the tools to accomplish it. Enter social media, the increasing popularity of photo and video share … [Read more...]
iKea’s iBook Book – Brilliant marketing
Amidst the marketing flurry around the latest announcement from Apple about their much-anticipated iPhone 6 and wearable technology, comes a brilliantly timed piece of marketing from Ikea. In a world of high-tech, sometimes going low-tech or no-tech is the way to stand out. With my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, I’d like to acknowledge how Ikea has taken a “page from … [Read more...]
