While much has been made of the Obama campaign's marketing prowess with new-media tactics--savvy mobile strategies, viral campaigns big-name brands would die for, social networking up a storm--his marketing has proven every bit as dominant in the old-media world of TV. Of course, when you have $250 million to toss around, dominating the airwaves is pretty easy to pull off.

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It's one of the most fundamental questions we marketers ask ourselves.

How do I get my message noticed? How do I cut through the clutter so that readers/viewers/listeners/surfers see what it is I'm offering? One thing we know for sure: unless you're selling Veg-O-Matics, yelling doesn't work.

Read More >> New York Times personal technology columnist David Pogue has had a chance to chew over the Google phone, and is suffering only a mild case of indigestion.

To sum up: the "G1 report card: Software, A-. Phone, B-. Network, C."

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Ad Age has picked its marketer of the year, and it probably won't surprise anyone that it's the Democratic nominee for the POTUS.

As one ad industry insider and political observer notes, the campaign's "remarkable consistency is the real accomplishment. Across towns, counties, states--and with thousands of volunteers, no less--across multiple media platforms, they've managed to drive a potent, single-minded design and messaging coherence that should shame many national brands."

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Jennifer Wells looks at the infomercial industry, and talks to Ed Crain, who runs the Toronto-based company Kingstar Direct as well as Kingstar Media, "which buys media time for infomercials for Canadian and U.S. clients."

In Noted, Wells reports on "indy shop" John St.'s plans for newly landed account Zellers. And in Created, she applauds a new campaign for Wiser's, one that aims to position the drink as "a step-up whisky."

Read More >> Because it's Friday, something fun. (And kind of Zen.)

So, would we seriously recommend you kill off a few Friday afternoon hours building virtual sand sculptures? Well...this is the Sandbox.

Read More >> We could all wail and tear our hair out. Or we could roll up our sleeves and get to work building brands while the building's good.

That's the message Ad Age delivers in a glass-half-full look at the current economic crisis.

In Ten Things You Can Learn From the '70s Recession, writer Bradley Johnson digs through the publication's archives to uncover past lessons that could help today's marketers turn chaos into opportunity.

Read More >> Pick your doom and gloom angle. On the one hand, there's the incredibly spooky economy. On the other, Hallowe'en happens in two weeks. Either way, the times are macabre enough for us to draw your attention to a recent article about brand management...of the dead.



Read More >> Turner Entertainment has just launched its first attempts at contextual TV advertising. The initiative, dubbed TVinContext, will air ads whose content relates to specific scenes in programmed movies immediately after those scenes are shown.

According to Ad Age, "The first...will be an ad for S.C. Johnson's Scrubbing Bubbles, to appear following a key scene in 'Joe Dirt' on TBS...

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Jennifer Wells surveys the media-buying habits of Canadian agencies and marketers in the face of the current global meltdown. Happily, the picture's not all doom and gloom.

In Created, Wells uses the release of a new MasterCard "Priceless" commercial to quiz Bobby Orr on his picks for this season's Stanley Cup. In Quoted, she describes the idea behind a new Bensimon Byrne campaign for Pro Line. And in Noted, she reports on Rethink's new viral videos and posters for a Vancouver-based hockey equipment drying and storage service.

Read More >> Our friends at Media in Canada sat down with Rob Master, Unilever's director of media for North America, ahead of his speech for this year's CMA Digital Marketing Conference.

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When the going gets tough, readers go to sources they trust.

That's the takeaway from an article that appeared in The Globe's Focus section last Saturday.

In it, Globe feature writer Ian Brown disproves the oft-cited myth that pajama-clad bloggers and Internet ranters have stolen audiences from the proverbial mainstream media.

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