Despite my inclination toward the megalomaniacal, I have to occasionally give in to the stark fact that as Supreme Imperator, um, I mean, Creative Director… I don’t have a monopoly on great ideas. It pains me to admit, but my experience has shown me that great ideas can come from anywhere. The advertising industry had [...]

First off, I do not claim to be an economist, but in my role as CEO, I pay close attention to a variety of market dynamics. Everyone has varying opinions but I feel that the United States has just entered a depression for a number of reasons. And I feel it is not going to get better anytime soon. One thing that everyone can agree on is that it will be a tough year for a lot of people and businesses. In the realm of marketing and advertising, budgets are being slashed but a need exists for companies to continue to market during these precarious times.

As I was growing up in Basel, Switzerland, my grandfather owned a piece of land in the italian speaking part of switzerland. The region is beautiful and famous for it’s romantic and relaxing atmosphere, George Clooney and other famous celebrities own houses in the region. It’s a place where you buy your fresh baked bread [...]

Pepsi has announced that they are undergoing a drastic re-launch of their branding and packaging to bring “new life” to their flagship brands. The most dramatic element is a redesign of the Pepsi Globe logo, which for some reason is now supposed to represent a smile.
“Pepsi’s Chief Marketing Officer Dave Burwick set the tone for [...]

Social media websites MySpace and Facebook have garnered much attention in the past few years, gaining millions of viewers and page owners. They are also guilty of ad targeting—specifically placing certain ads on pages based on volunteered user interests. I’ve noticed them too, especially on Myspace. Since I listed writing as one of my interests [...]

I have an award that I received from another agency where I previously worked. It’s called “The Breakthrough Award for Intrusive Creative”. This agency gave internal awards every year to its employees (that they called “associates” by the way - “employee” was a bad word because it implied a traditional, pyramid-style operating model which was [...]

I have yet to set up a MySpace or FaceBook account because when I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is get back on the computer. However, I realized that I can’t shut myself completely out of the world of social media, especially since I work for an interactive agency. [...]

What is a microsite? It is exactly what it claims to be: a site that is smaller than a regular, full-size site, usually comprised of less than 10 pages. It’s a mini website which serves as an extension to your full website.  Microsites can be a great addition to your full website and prove to [...]

AMC’s Mad Men is a favorite new show for many of us in the advertising and marketing industry. The writing, acting, and attention to detail is impeccable. The unbridled chauvinism, excessive drinking, blatant arrogance, and egotistic swagger of most of the male characters is probably a tad dramatized but mostly a believable portrayal of the [...]