Big In Print
Bob Garfield
Social Media Is About Cultivating Community, Not Corralling Cattle
In the Relationship Era, sales tactics may drive consumers away.
Quit Wasting Your Time and Money Trying to Produce Viral Videos
Chances are you won't win the Mega Millions lottery or catch a 42-pound rainbow trout. So why plan on striking viral gold when there are better online investments to be made?
Apple, Amazon, Google or Comcast -- Who Will 'Win' TV 2.0?
The future won't hinge on content; an unlimited supply is a given. It will hinge on the discovery of content.
Murdoch Reveals Bieber's Dark Secret: A Future Timeline of the Hacking Scandal
The phone-hacking scandal is getting awfully convoluted, so I've taken the trouble of putting together a timeline of events so far. And also in the future.
Project Baby Slobs Shows That Sharing Works Better Than Branding
Maybe brands shouldn't be tasking anyone to create branded videos contrived to catch fire online.
McD's Pit Bull Brouhaha a Perfect Storm of Loathsomeness
Every so often the universe presents the perfect package: an enterprise so monumentally loathsome that you can safely despise everyone involved.
The Rot at Apple's Core Could Sicken Consumers -- and Its Business
Perhaps many Apple aficionados are prepared to strike a Faustian bargain -- vague tugs of guilt in exchange for the coolest stuff ever -- but some will not. The backlash is no doubt under way.
Advertisers Will Be Last Line of Defense in Decency Wars
Why memorialize a First Amendment exception if technology will soon render the exception moot?
How to Venn Friends and Influence People
The problem of adapting business models is like that of changing engines in midair. How do you retrofit your institution without putting ongoing operations -- and quarterly growth -- into a stall?
No More Living in the Past: Garfield's 10 Resolutions for 2012
Get ready for "The Human Element" -- an essay that will appear in this very publication in a few days that reimagines the practice of marketing for 2012 and beyond.
The Bellyachers: How Marketers, Politicians Play to Our Worst Instincts
Again and again we are told how bad we have it. And so, convinced that we are in extremis, we bellyache and bellyache, and tune out the rest of the world.
Ramen Music Has It All: Except a Huge Subscriber Base
This is about a startup brand that has it all: Good content. Value added. Simple technology. A big social component. Low price. Essentially no apples-to-apples competition. Virtually zero overhead. So what's the problem?
One Strike and You're Out: In Relationship Era, Bad PR Pitches Will not Be Tolerated
Aimless pitches from haphazard young Courtneys have always been a PR Worst Practice, but in the Brave New World they are deal-killers.
Who Underwrites 'The Sky?' A Parable of Marketing Do-Gooderism Out of Africa
I had just finished lecturing marketers about divining in their businesses their core purpose and cleaving to that purpose in all they do, with all their constituencies, all the time. What if a certain corporation distilled its core values down to "investing in the communities where we do business?"
The Central Genius of Apple's Advertising Under Jobs: It Was True
With each successful effort, he pried the thumb of some Big Brother-like monopolist off our slavish selves. He wasn't merely a canny psychologist with an eye for design. He was Moses in a turtleneck.
Obama Speech Was to Congress, but Target Was Voters
Seldom has a presidential address so hinged on a call to action. How many times did President Barack Obama admonish Congress to pass his proposed jobs bill? I counted 22.
A Social-Media Evangelist Dons a Hair Shirt
I can talk the talk as well as anyone. But, when push comes to shove, do I really walk the walk?
Hey Marketers, Give Me a Call Before You Pull a Nivea
Apologies in advance, but what follows amounts to an ad -- an ad for a business that should not exist.
Dentsu Hits up Canon's Publishing Partners for U.S. Open Tickets
Petty exaction in advertising went online this week when a media executive sent an email to publishers soliciting freebies -- specifically, tickets to the U.S. Open -- for its Canon client.
Proponents of Online Self-Regulation Disadvantaged by Inability to Regulate Themselves
Broken industry promises about safeguarding consumer privacy will yield demands for legislative and regulatory remedies, putting at grave risk the fragile business models undergirding the digital economy.
