And so Diary faces its final curtain. Yes, there are changes afoot, and next week the back page of PRWeek, like the rest of the magazine, will emerge a changeling from under the surgeon’s knife. There’s even a top secret new name, as well as all sorts of opportunities for eager PROs to get their agency coverage. Keep sending ideas to the usual address and watch this space.
Maybe Donald Trump thought visiting his Scottish roots would endear him to the locals as he took a ‘chance’ stop-off by private jet to his late mother’s Scottish croft. The fact the trip came hours ahead of a public inquiry into his proposal to build a ‘world-beating’ Scottish golf course was, Trump claimed, merely coincidence. If it was, then it seems naive to think the media would believe it. If it was not, then it was a PR move that backfired – local and national media were unimpressed.
Reviewed by Cat Macdonald, head of comms, Virgin Radio.
I’m so sorry that I’ve been offline for hours now, there’s been an incident around here. All I can say is, it’s lucky I’m not a dog person. My brave cat rescued me, while the turtle cheered him on.
Yeah yeah, so it’s a Mike’s lemonade viral and not a real News 19 story. Still, I thought the cat CPR thing was cute, after all mine does that chest-pawing thing every night before he settles in to sleep on my face.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — BusinessWeek is asking readers to populate a full double issue in August, following fast in the steps of Budget Travel, whose 10th anniversary issue was written and photographed entirely by readers, and This Old House, which just styled itself as "Your Old House" for a reader-generated issue.
MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) — The big top came to the small screen last night, as NBC's "Celebrity Circus" became just the latest example of the networks working without a net as they try nearly every reality format to remain relevant during the summer. Indeed, the reality genre dominated, comprising 77% of prime-time programming. NBC, Fox and the CW ran all-reality slates; ABC ran two hours and CBS one.
DETROIT (AdAge.com) — Chrysler is driving back into Six Flags Theme Parks this summer in what's being billed as the amusement-park operator's most comprehensive deal ever with an automaker. Among other efforsts to showcase its vehicles, Chrysler bought a package on Six Flags Media Networks, an in-park platform with TV, radio, billboards, online and experiential marketing.
This old mug shot doesn’t do Rip Torn any favors. But it’s a little harsh to feature it in a commercial emphasizing the need to “get sexual predators off the streets.†Cincinnati city councilman Chris Monzel says he’s sorry for using the image in just such an ad, saying he meant to depict a “generic criminal,†not a specific one. (Torn’s mug shot was taken after a 2006 arrest for DUI, to which he pleaded guilty. He’s never been suspected of or charged with any sexual crimes.) Monzel publicly apologized to the actor by placing this ad in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
—Posted by Tim Nudd
– Global marketing guy Jeff Bell is leaving Microsoft. He’s held the post since 2006.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Jeff Bell is leaving Microsoft after two years of helming global marketing for its interactive-entertainment business division, where he led marketing for Xbox and games for Windows.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In a first for the privately held, international home-products retailer, Ikea is serving as a marketing partner on Universal's forthcoming summer release "Mamma Mia!" The musical employs the hit songs of Sweden's Abba to tell the story of a girl hoping to discover the identity of her father on the eve of her wedding.
I’d never heard about Wenda Harris Millard before. My bad.
Thanks to Brian Morrissey at Adweek (and Catharine P. Taylor’s pointer) I now know better.
In a talk with Federated Media Publishing founder John Battelle at the Conversational Marketing Conference in New York yesterday, she said, “emotional creativity that has been key to building brands” is being overshadowed by “the cool efficiency of technology.”
“Technology is very important, but where many companies go wrong is when they think technology is the answer or primary solution to proving a business solution to a marketing problem,” Millard said. “The business of advertising is still a business of persuasion. Machines can’t make art.”
“I’m extremely disturbed at the commoditization of Internet advertising before we’ve had an opportunity to establish its value proposition.”
Millard is the newly named president of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Did you ever watch the musical episode of Buffy? The one where people randomly leap into choreographed song-and-dance, betraying all their innermost thoughts and secrets, before bursting into flames?
What’s a group of poor, starving Creative Circus students to do when they find out they’ve just won Cannes Future Lions and really, really need to get to France by Monday?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
