With a recent study showing more gay characters on TV than ever before, it has become clear that America and Hollywood have begun to embrace a new kind of family, one that embraces the LGBT community. Programs like “Modern Family” and “The New Normal” have led the charge, depicting gay couples, as both their names [...]
Jan 02, 2013 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Media, Trends, Youth | Tags: gay, gay marriage, Glee, Hollywood, LGBT, Modern Family, television, The New Normal, True Blood, TV | Leave A Comment »
With an increasing backlash against the unrealistic portrayal of women, a new Girl Scout study shows that 81 percent of young girls say they prefer to see “real-size” models. Some media personalities have been pushing for the “real” look as well, such as the cast of “The Talk,” who decided to forsake makeup for the [...]
Dec 19, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Fashion, Trends, Youth | Tags: Dolce & Gabbana, Dolores Cortés, Dove, Girl Scout, Lanvin, models, real beauty, real-size models, runway, The Talk, TrendsU | Leave A Comment »
With all the noise about mobile ads, it would be hard to blame you for just assuming print ads had died and gone to marketing heaven. But smartphone-interactive codes, specifically QR codes, have taken the traditional ad market by storm; more than 10 percent of ads in the top 100 magazines in the U.S. now [...]
Dec 12, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Marketing, Technology, Trends | Tags: Advertising, codes, Guinness, Jossle, mobile, mobile apps, QR codes, smartphone | Leave A Comment »
No one used to love shopping in stores on Black Friday more than I did. It was a ritual that started with my mother on Thanksgiving morning, before the turkey and stuffing even made it into the oven. Getting the morning paper was like Christmas Day, with the anticipation of shopping. We’d map out our [...]
Nov 06, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Features, Marketing, Media, Social Media, Technology | Tags: Amazon, Best Buy, Black Friday, cloud, Deloitte, holiday sales, holiday shopping, IBM, mobile, mobile apps, mobile shopping, National Retail Federation, online shopping, retail, retailer, shopping, shopping stampede, SOASTA, the economy | Leave A Comment »
Liquid calories appear to affect the body—and the conscious—differently than solid ones; we’re less likely to make up for the calories consumed in a beverage by eliminating calories elsewhere in our diet. So it’s little wonder that, as consumption of sugary drinks has ballooned, many organizations have set out to see that drink sizes be [...]
Sep 12, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Health and Wellness, Marketing, Politics, Trends | Tags: Center for Science in the Public Interest, childhood obesity, health trends, Kick the Can, Life’s Sweeter challenge, liquid calories, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, obesity epidemic, PSAs, public health initiatives, soda war, sugary drinks | Leave A Comment »
Fall is just around the corner and with it comes a whole new batch of talk shows, plus big changes to some of the old favorites. No doubt PR and advertising professionals are paying close attention to which will sink and which will swim. Evergreen darling “Live! with Kelly” is returning on Sept. 4 with [...]
Aug 30, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Features, Media, PR | Tags: Anderson Cooper, daytime talk show, Ellen DeGeneres, fall season, Jeff Probst, Jeff Zucker, Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Simpson, Justin Bieber, Katie Couric, Kelly Ripa, Kristin Chenoweth, Michael Strahan, Michelle Obama, People, Rachael Ray, Regis Philbin, Ricki Lake, television, TV | Leave A Comment »
The newspaper industry continues to face setback after setback. In one of the latest hits, the New Orleans Times-Picayune scaled back to just three print issues a week, making the Big Easy America’s most prominent city without a daily newspaper. Though most of us devote less than 10 percent of the time we spend on [...]
Aug 30, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Marketing, Media, Social Media, Trends | Tags: advertising trends, Google, national post, New Orleans Times-Picayune, newspaper trends, PAPER Because, paper trends, print ads, print advertising, publications | Leave A Comment »
In 2010, Americans alone used 38.6 billion glass bottles and 71.9 billion plastic bottles, recycling just 33 percent of the glass and 27 percent of the plastic. PepsiCo wants to increase the recycling rate to 50 percent by 2018 and is creating an incentive for its recycling push with bonus points rewarded to customers who [...]
Aug 13, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, CSR, Marketing, Social Media, Trends | Tags: advertising trends, Americans, Coca-Cola, CSR trends, Dream Machine Pepsi, Facebook, green trends, Honest Tea, marketing trends, Pepsi, PepsiCo, recycling, recycling trends, social media trends, The Great Recycle, Times Square | Leave A Comment »
[Originally published in longer form on Stamford magazine’s website.] It’s as much a part of today’s office culture as mediocre coffee and birthday cupcakes from the nearest deli—and a whole lot more fun and useful for maintaining sanity. I’m talking about the work spouse, that person who is a sometime confidant, habitual significant partner and [...]
Aug 10, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Features, Marketing, PR | Tags: 30 Rock, Advertising, Captivate Networks, collaboration, Facebook, HR, IM, Marketing, marketing communications, OfficeMax, sales, significant other, the Accidental Adult, the Huffington Post, Twitter, work husband, work spouse, work wife | Leave A Comment »
Many of you reading this have worked in marketing, advertising or PR and have made a lifelong career out of building brands and selling products in many categories. But have you ever taken the time to think of what you have to offer the world as a product? Maybe it’s your ability to write great [...]
Jun 13, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brands, Features, Marketing, PR, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: adland, Advertising, Advertising Age, Apple, Brand Me, freelancing, linchpins, Marketing, personal brand, Pinterest, polyglots, PR, public relations, self-curation, Seth Godin | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Euro RSCG’s Social Life and Social Media blog.] This week, Facebook confirmed that it is developing parental control technology that will allow children under the age of 13 to use the site. My first question: What took it so long? Currently, those aged 13 and under are supposedly prohibited from creating a [...]
Jun 11, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Features, Social Media, Technology, Youth | Tags: bullying, children, Consumer Reports, cyberbullying, Facebook, Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, parental control technology, parents, social network, tweens, Wall Street | Leave A Comment »
While anyone would argue that Generation Y’s potential is immeasurable, the reality is that the expectation of immediate results is something unique to my peers. Gratification now comes so easily with social media, smartphones and numerous other ways to access the Internet at virtually any time and place. (Ha. Virtually. Get it?). This “now” way [...]
May 30, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Features, Social Media, Technology, Trends, Youth | Tags: connected, connection, Generation Y, Google, Hyundai, instant gratification, Internet, Jeff Bridges, Kelly Mooney, millennials, now, Social Media, The Ten Demandments, virtual | 1 Comment »
[Originally posted on CNBC.com.] With the Facebook IPO looming and everybody watching, I’m wondering if the social network to end all social networks is going to live up to the hype. (Could anything live up to all this hype?) With big advertisers not convinced that Facebook is a good platform to propel brands forward and [...]
May 18, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brands, Features, Social Media | Tags: Advertising, Disney, Eduardo Saverin, Facebook, Facebook IPO, Ford, GM, Google, Infographic Labs, Instagram, Kraft Foods, Mark Zuckerberg, Pinterest, Sheryl Sandberg, Social Media, social networks, Wall Street, Yahoo | 1 Comment »
Isn’t everyone online these days?! Your grandma might have joined Facebook, but there are plenty more who haven’t, reminds a new Pew poll: Though 88 percent of Americans own a cellphone, one in five adults still does not use the Internet. Nicknamed “Internet innocents,” the people least likely to have Internet access include the elderly, [...]
May 11, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: America, elderly, Internet elderly, Internet innocents, Internet trends, Internet usage, nursing homes, online trends, Pew poll, Russia, SDF, Super Dimensional Fortress, technology trends, United States, wearable computers | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on the Huffington Post.] In this election year, I’ve been on fear watch. Folks are fearful of everything from 2012 theories to GMOs to student loans taking over as the No. 1 source of pain for college grads everywhere. A few years ago, I talked at length about the cult of anger our [...]
May 07, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brands, Features, Insights, PR, Social Media, Youth | Tags: 9/11, Advertising, anger, Brands, business, Chevy, Chrysler, college, consumer confidence, Daniel Gardner, fear, fearless, fearlessness, France, French elections, Generation Y, Germany, GMOs, Google, Hermes, hope, Israel, Japan, Martin Luther King Jr., Obama, Palestine, PR, presidential election, public relations, retail, South Sudan, student loan debt, student loans, suburbs, World War II | Leave A Comment »
As a PR professional, I know how crucial creativity is to success in business today. As a socially networked person (is there anybody out there who isn’t?), I’ve watched as network friends draw something, write something or video something. As a trendspotter, I’ve read at length Richard Florida’s thoughts on the importance of the creative [...]
May 02, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Features, Marketing, Media, PR, Social Media, Trends | Tags: @erwwpr, Adobe, Advertising Age, always on, cause, creative class, creative thinking, creativity, CSR, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, France, Germany, global citizens, ideas, Japan, Josh Gracin, Media, New York City, pro bono marketing, Richard Florida, Sears, Social Media, social networks, The French Will Never Forget, the United Kingdom, the United States, Tokyo, trendspotting, YouTube | Leave A Comment »
You’re aware, surely, of that super-creepy, toe-jam-colored creature who peddles Lamisil on TV commercials by burrowing beneath toenails to infect them with athlete’s foot? In our new age of disgusting, rather than scaring, consumers into action, the fungus as spokesperson is unsavory, but also a success story. That’s because advertisers who want to compel consumers [...]
Apr 26, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Health and Wellness, Trends | Tags: advertising campaign, advertising trends, anti-smoking campaign, Arizona State University, consumers, gross-out factor, methamphetamine, New York City, print advertising trends, shock value | Leave A Comment »
The concept of targeted advertising has taken a bit of a PR punch in the gut just lately. First, there was the story of the teenaged Target customer who was sent pregnancy-related offers before she’d told her family she was expecting. Target has admitted to tasking a statistician with making educated guesses about its shoppers—but [...]
Apr 23, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Marketing, PR, Social Media, Trends | Tags: America, browsing history, data tracking, Google, Marketing, online privacy, privacy, search engines, Target, targeted ads, technology trends | Leave A Comment »
Just when we think our criminally short attention spans have altered the advertising ecosystem forever, this happens: During the Super Bowl, Chrysler screened a much-buzzed-about two-minute ad starring Clint Eastwood; during the Grammys, Chipotle aired a two-minute-and-20-second animated commercial. Then, on one ordinary Sunday night, Cartier takes to three networks to unleash a three-and-a-half-minute ad [...]
Apr 19, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Fashion, Marketing, Politics, Social Media, Trends | Tags: advertising trends, Barack Obama, Cartier, Chanel, Chipotle, Chrysler, documentaries, fashion trends, Grammys, H&M, long-form advertisement, marketing study, Miu Miu, online trends, political ads, Shalom Harlow, social media trends, Super Bowl, television advertising, Topshop, Vimeo, viral videos, YouTube, YouTube video | Leave A Comment »
Yes, it’s true—one of the earliest entries into social media has quietly been building in presence and influence: In the past five years, the number of existing blogs has more than quadrupled. Most bloggers are women, parents, college-educated, between the ages of 18-34 and active in social media. And a large majority of blog readers [...]
Apr 16, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: blog buzz, blog traffic, bloggers, blogging, blogging trends, blogs, building blog buzz, Pinterest, Posterous, social media trends, social networking, Tumblr, Twitter | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on CNBC.com.] In my head (never mind the wrinkles on my forehead), it seems like only yesterday that I was an eager, bright overachiever, dressed in a blur of designer labels—the Lower East Side and Loehmann’s still spelled fashion bargains—and thrift-store finds, lapping up insights and tips from the likes of my former [...]
Apr 10, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brands, Features, PR, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on the Huffington Post.] Normally when I speak or write, it’s to comment on a new trend or the implications of breaking news—the sort of stuff that’s out there in the public spaces of the media. So at first, I thought speaking about social media at the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Public [...]
Apr 05, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brands, CSR, Features, Marketing, Media, PR, Social Media, Technology, Trends | 1 Comment »
We like to say that we help create stories that are worth telling, and here is a great recent example. What could be bigger news in advertising today than the story of a former category leader going after the new frontrunners, especially if that story is combined with an ad based on a classic spot? [...]
Apr 02, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Agency News, Media | Tags: Advertising Age, DieHard, newsmaking, underdog | Leave A Comment »
Online ad spending in Russia swelled by 56 percent in 2011—meaning that officially, but just barely, it surpassed print advertising spending. The U.S. is also set to hit that advertising milestone this year; in 2012 American advertisers will allot an estimated $39.5 billion to online campaigns (compared with $32.03 billion last year). Who’s pocketing these [...]
Mar 20, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Media, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: Advertising, advertising trends, american association of advertising agencies, association of national advertisers, digital ads, Facebook, Google, in-view advertising, infographic, online ad spending, online ads, print advertising, Russia, social media advertising, television advertising, the interactive advertising bureau, United States | Leave A Comment »
