April 2010

Musical Chairs: Competing Line Extensions

No brand wants to be caught without a certain line extension if it's being offered by a competitor even if it's just for a limited time. One of the great benefits of being an industry leader is setting the example and shaming everyone else into following whether they're ready to or not.

Finch Brands: Business & Brand Evolution

Finch's take on branding is that consumers want to invest themselves emotionally into a brand and it's Finch's job to make that make that connection happen. Getting ideas is easy, but getting clients and consumers to buy into them is the hard part.

Has GM redeemed itself?

Many Americans didn't agree with bailing out GM (among others), but it's very American to feel entitled to the benefit of the doubt.

Advertising’s role in magazines

There are many different directions you can go with a degree in advertising. One exciting job possibility in the world of advertising is working at a magazine. To get a perspective on what this would be like, I got to…

KFC’s answer to social responsibility…

KFC has been slowly changing its brand personality. It began by dropping its full name in favor of initials, and then it made the push toward “grilled” chicken. It’s almost as if “fried” has become a dirty word. It’s well…

Shooters Production Studio visit

I attended a very informative, and extremely interesting visit to Shooters Post & Transfer recently. Shooters is a production studio here in Philadelphia, located in the Curtis Center. The Curtis Center in itself is a beautiful building, but when the…

"Philly's Future" Scholarship Winner From Temple

We’d like to offer our congratulations to Mr. Jason Kaminsky for being a “Philly’s Future” scholarship winner. Here’s Jason’s take on what advertising means to him. I can definitely relate to what he’s saying. I started out graphic designing also,…

Bob Garfield retires

Bob Garfield, a prominent writer for Ad Age, has decided to retire. He writes the column, Ad Review on the website, and is highly respected in the industry. He recently posted a fair well write up, entitled, “Garfield Says Adieu“.…

Vintage Beer Ads

Today, there are many regulations in the advertising of alcohol. Before these laws were put into place, there were many ads put out that seem shocking today. Perhaps the most shocking I came across is an ad for Blatz Beer.…

The Flintstones sell cigarettes?

Looking at vintage ads can be a very fun activity. Just like ads for alcohol, it is astonishing what they could get away with when advertising cigarettes back in the day. Advertising cigarettes has so many restrictions now. It is…

The Axe Effect

Many people are familiar with the Axe brand of body spray. Their latest commercial features thousands of women running through trees, and jumping over rocks to get to a man on the beach who is spraying himself with Axe. These…

Great guerrilla

I came across some really great guerrilla advertising campaigns used on buses. One is for a Baltica Beer. The poles to hang on for people who stand in a bus, actually have beer cans around them. So when you hold…