Is Apple the New Telegraph?

This is a column on MediaPost's Video Insider that posits that what Apple has wrought on the world is just as significant as the invention of the electric telegraph.

What do you think?

I'm On It!

... say Bank of America, General Electric and Levi's.

What they've done is each understands - before most advertisers - that their customers are beginning to tire of ads that refer to the economic downturn.

This morning's ADWEEK online tells the tale of a Harris Poll that confirms what the above advertisers knew intuitively (BofA produced their spots last summer, but launched them just two weeks ago).

Here's their story on nytimes.com (free access with registration).

It's Fun When Creativity Comes Alive

Concepting creative is the lonely side of creativity. It's just you and a partner sweating out new ideas. But once you get your client's approval, it's suddenly a team sport. You hire a production company to be your partners in bring your ideas to life, and while production is terrifying at times, it's also a whole lot of fun.

Here's a case in point, a photo shoot for Volvo (by Morawski & Company - posted on LinkedIn) that got me remembering just how much fun it was.

Since we were talking about this on Monday...

Here's some research on Twitter and other social media.

How to Find 50K Customers by Spending $0 on Paid Media

I'm more than a little skeptical about this.

My wife and I were "Potential Customers" for a Prius after going to a drive-o-fair which included test drives (for each of us) and a truck trailer full of games, etc, that showed us all the reasons to buy a Prius.

Even our dog, Grace, jumped in the back of one and seemed happy with the space.

Nonetheless, after combing the alternatives, we bought a Ford Escape hybrid.

Read this and tell me what you think!

Agency of the Future?

While we know that the business of advertising agencies is rapidly changing, we still don't know what it will look like. Probably there will be several different "new looks."

I hope one will be Mother.

P&G Never Misses a Marketing Opportunity

Here's a pretty good example, an article in yesterday's New York Times by Andrew Adam Newman that shows how thorough the marketing process is at Proctor & Gamble when presented with an opportunity.

Dawn dish washing liquid has become the "soap of choice" by people who rescue sea birds after an oil spill. The article illustrates a case study in P&G Integrated Marketing Communications and show how each touchpoint works to re-enforce the others - the TV spot, the Facebook page, and the donation campaign.

Links all over the place. I especially liked the quack at the end of the TV spot.

It Must Be Gadget Day: this is pretty cool, too.

Google is rolling out Sidewiki, "that allows people to post notes alongside Web sites that others using the same application can read."

Here it is via Online Media Daily, by Laurie Sullivan.

While We're Talking About Starbucks...

... you might soon be able to pay for you're Soy Latte with your iphone.

Here's the story by Mary Walsh on Online Media Daily.

P&G: Marketing Needs to Work in the Store.

When I was at Ketchum Advertising in the late 70s, and working on Safeway, we came up with a great idea and took it to our client, certain that it was a winner.

We suggested a "Paper Sale." A lot of people stock up on paper towels, toilet tissue, facial tissue and the like - we opined - and why not cut prices so that all of them could stock up while shooping at Safeway? We even pushed the envelope by suggesting that stationary, magazines anf books be included.

When the "pitch" was over, while they were very kind about it, they let us know how bad an idea it was. "That'd mean we'd have to stock a lot of paper to back the sale," said somebody.

"And all of it comes in big, huge boxes," said somebody else.

"And our backrooms don't have the space to handle all those big boxes and still be in business," said a third somebody.

"But thanks for thinking outside the box," said the boss - and everyone laughed. I think with us, not at us.

An article in today's AdAge Online begins, "If it doesn't work at the store, it's no longer a good marketing idea for Procter & Gamble Co., which increasingly is driving home this concept, known as "store back," with all its agencies, not just its so-called shopper-marketing shops."

And while it about more than store operations (per our Safeway fumble) the truth is that the shopping experience is crucial to brand performance. Here's the whole story.

Coca-Cola Still #1 Valued Brand. But...

As the story says, "Consumers lost trust in brands this year as the recession deepened."

Here it is as reported by Associated Press/USA Today.

btw: Consumer trust didn't go down everywhere. Google takes the #7 spot in the order, up 25% over last year.