World AIDS Day: Remembering Don Havens and the 36.3 million others we’ve lost to HIV.
This is Don’s obiturary from the Hollywood trade magazine, Daily Variety: “Donald M. Havens, a television commercial producer, died of …
Advertising
Unseen footage: A new David Bowie documentary-concert film from director Brett Morgen.
Questions around the hype abound. “What is it going to be?” “What’s the format?”“Is it a documentary or a concert …
Uber: COVID-19 safety guidance doesn’t have to be complicated, confusing, or cryptic.
Here we go again. COVID infections are climbing at alarming rates in the United States. Yet, safety guidance varies from …
Guide to good writing is still relevant forty years after it was published by Ogilvy & Mather
TV series like Thirtysomething, Bewitched, and more recently, Mad Men brought the advertising industry into focus on the small screen. The 25-years that spanned …
The Burger King plants a big one on Ronald McDonald. And yes, it’s a thing!
Burger King Finland’s campaign “Love conquers all” is a celebration of love and all the forms it takes. A new …
Explainer videos are exceptional or awful. 1950s explainers were films and usually pretty great.
Today, corporations make short explainer videos fast and on the cheap. And, most of them look it. While popular data …
The non-linear, video chapters of an iconic business are beautifully illustrated in L’Odyssée de Cartier.
Cartier. The Maison. By taking over his master’s workshop, Louis-François Cartier founded Cartier in 1847. Since then, the iconic brand …
And then there was the time that I played a Secret Service Man—in a Ford commercial.
Baltimore. June 1988. Sandy Mislang produced the spot for W. B. Doner Advertising on behalf of their client, Baltimore–Washington Ford …
Burger King created a buzz. Sadly, their offering turned out to be more UH-OH than Taco!
Jacob and I love tacos. From local fast food joints to top-shelf restaurants across the U.S., to street tacos sold …
A holiday tradition with spirit—Anthon Berg’s dark chocolate, foil wrapped, boozy bottles.
I don’t exactly remember how many decades ago it was that I discovered the little chocolate bottles from Denmark filled …
“got milk?” was a great ad campaign. It ran for 20 years. Trump’s take on it won’t play so well.
Based on this recently discovered spec ad, imitation may be the best form of flattery. But, satire—most often—isn’t.
Can you hold a chicken wing and make it look tasty? Casting a hand model in Baltimore.
Have young, man-hands of a size that makes chicken wings look big and plump? (You know who you are.) Taylor …
A Wienermobile, Old Number 7, is headed to a museum as an interactive exhibit for kids. I’m glad.
The days of taking the 1952 Oscar Mayer Wienermobile—known as Old Number 7— for a ride are over. The sculpture …
NYC’s Grand Central Terminal has a new website. First question? “How many approvals did *that* take?”
They also introduced a new logo. But first, the news by way of an email that I received this afternoon: …
My fascination with type began with the publication U&lc. There may be a new kid on the block.
In the early 70s, I was in the waiting room of Modernage, one of the hundreds of photo duplication houses in …
Christie’s: “Everyone from Tom Hanks to Lady Gaga is rediscovering the beauty of manual typewriters.”
In the old days, writers used to sit in front of a typewriter and stare out of the window. Nowadays, …
Merry Commerce to you, er uh, Christmas. Merry Christmas…
Nothing says, “Happy Holidays” quite like a Hoover! Click through the slideshow to revisit the uncool side of Christmas.
A million years ago; a million miles away
I joined McCormick-Armstrong Advertising Agency in Wichita, Kansas in the early 1980s. The agency was a subsidiary of McCormick-Armstrong printers on …
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