Hasta La Creative!

Mergers and acquisitions—it’s one way to grow a company beholden to its shareholders. Ad industry holding companies know all about it, given that they regularly acquire and then “hold” what were once independent and innovate agencies. Earlier this month in what could become the merger of all mergers, Omnicom announced its intentions to acquire Interpublic […]

The post Holding Companies Seek Even Greater Profits In New M&A Deal appeared first on Adpulp.

How many times have marketers been told—mostly by other marketers—that the new tech is the best tech? So many times…remember when every brand had to have a home in Second Life? It was an absurd thing to say then, as it is today when the new new thing has to be tested, twisted, and made […]

The post AI Is Not the Problem, Lack of Original Thinking Is the Problem appeared first on Adpulp.

American workers are tired and tired of being overlooked while struggling to make ends meet. Meanwhile, corporate profits are soaring to unheard-of heights. According to the Economic Policy Institute, profits at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis almost doubled between 2013 and 2022, totaling $250 billion. Is that money trickling down to the workers in the […]

The post United Auto Workers Is Battling the Culture of “Corporate Greed” appeared first on Adpulp.

As a former English major, professional writer, and fan of books, I was happy to read in The New York Times that “small booksellers not only survived the pandemic, but many are thriving.” More than 300 new independent bookstores have sprouted across the United States in the past couple of years. Given how bookstore sales […]

The post Long Live the Indie Bookstore appeared first on Adpulp.

Horrible news and painful images are pouring out of Ukraine every day now, as the European country of more than 40M people struggles to survive and repel Russia’s lethal invasion. The images and news from inside Russia are also disturbing as the Kremlin is viciously attacking anti-war protestors, closing media outlets, and tightening its grip […]

The post War in Ukraine Leads Western Firms to Close the Door on Russia appeared first on Adpulp.

Building healthy brands and companies that last requires long-term vision from the leadership team. As brand managers look to the future, some of the problems that will be waiting for them begin to reveal themselves. For instance, today there are 10 million manufacturing jobs around the world that remain unfulfilled due to a lack of […]

The post Stanley Black & Decker To Help Train 3M Skilled Workers appeared first on Adpulp.

Small business is the backbone of the economy. Small businesses are also a radiating pain point during this devastating economic downturn. According to WBUR in Boston, earlier this summer, MassINC Polling Group surveyed 1,868 small businesses (defined as having fewer than 500 employees). Their findings show that 44% of small businesses lost at least half […]

The post Square and Stripe Tell Powerful Stories of the Small Business Owner’s Struggle appeared first on Adpulp.

The Hard Reset Begets The Big Shrinkage In 2020 and 2021, agencies will shed 52,000 jobs, according to Jay Pattisall, an analyst with Forrester. Half the jobs will not return, he predicts. Forrester also predicts that advertising spending in the United States would decline by 25 percent this year and would not recover until 2023. […]

The post Two for Tuesday appeared first on Adpulp.

Exceptional brands create culture, but most brands reflect culture. Reflecting the culture since mid-March has been a creative challenge, given that millions of people are stuck at home and fearful for their health and economic well being. To make matters much worse, one week ago today, a Minneapolis cop was caught on video murdering a […]

The post Brands Pause to Acknowledge the American Melee and Register Their Sadness appeared first on Adpulp.

It’s difficult to get a proper read on the number of job losses across media, marketing, and advertising in the wake of COVID-19. It’s tough for a few different but related reasons. First, the great majority of people working in these industries work for small businesses. When a small business finds that it can no […]

The post Will Make Ads in Exchange for Food and Shelter appeared first on Adpulp.