Marshall McLuhan Was A Genius !

Some of his better quotes.........................

(Let's open with the best known one)......

"The medium is the message."

"Today each of us lives several hundred years in a decade."

"Tomorrow is our permanent address."

"All advertising advertises advertising."

"The future of the book is the blurb."

You must remember that McLuhan wrote most of this in the early 1960's.

Ahead of his time? Or incredible media visionary? or both?


From Wikipedia: Herbert Marshall McLuhan, C.C. (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar — a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communications theorist. McLuhan's work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory. McLuhan is known for coining the expressions "the medium is the message" and the "global village".
McLuhan was a fixture in media discourse from the late 1960s to his death and he continues to be an influential and controversial figure. Years after his death he was named the "patron saint" of Wired magazine.

Triskaidekaphobia

Are you afraid of 13? A published study in THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH claims that businesses in the USA suffer a loss of $800 million to $900 million each time there's a Friday the 13th. Main reason is that there is always increased absenteeism on that day (people literally will not get out of bed) and that some have a deep seated reluctance to make important decisions or even travel on that date.

It’s estimated that less than 10% of Americans are affected adversely. If you want to sound smart -- you may like to know that the technical name for this rare condition is
paraskevidekatriaphobia.

June 13th is the next Friday the l3th. Stay in if you feel so compelled.

Get to it......

“When the going gets tough, the tough get blogging.”

- Novelist Christopher Buckley

Are We There Yet?

Wishing the election was over. Now. Reminded just how much I hate political advertising, and how it lowers your IQ just watching it all unfold. Seems like they've been at it for years now.

Wake me when it's over.

“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.”

- H. L. Mencken

Spring has Sprung. Earth Day Rules. Beware the Ides of Ads.........

Why do bad (and undisciplined) mass market advertisers seize each and every calendar opportunity to gin up a new ad to get every available ounce of impact out of stale creative?

That's at least 365 opportunities to do some really bad advertising all in the name of carpe diem.

You can almost hear the pleas from bad marketers..........


"Hey, let's have a big Spring sale!"

"April Fools Day would be a great time to kick off our new product launch".

"What are we doing for Earth Day?"

"Tax Day could be BIG for us!"



That's original.



Let's take every red circled date on the calendar and make it part of our strategy. We should be doing something around every major Holiday known to man. Just think, a truly great marketer could literally "own" the days of the week! Pure genius.


Or we could burn through a small budget quickly and leave no trail of anything that worked.


Gotta run. May Day is coming and I have a few ideas.

From: www.someecards.com

Those Who Cannot Create .............. Critique.

I am so tired of Ad Critics.

They exist solely to frustrate those who actually do the work and make the ads.

Most have never crafted an ad. Ever. Couldn't if they tried. But the power of the pen, or the keyboard, gets them at least a small audience, which they almost always abuse with this prviledge.

Watch as they pick away at tiny details, gloat over bad casting and acting, and shine a 10,000 watt spotlight on poor executions. How hard can that be?

It's so easy to be crritical.