Ah, subtext. Here’s what this ad is saying to me: Dear Mr. Whitney/Forsberg/Astor, We understand that your son, Sterling/Landon/Pierce, has been a great disappointment to you, and somewhat less of a disappointment to your wife. But as we both know, she coddles him too much. Your desire that Sterling/Landon/Pierce take an interest in what you […]
At The Hired Pens, we write a lot of catalog copy — for PUMA, Zappos, Hasbro, Stride Rite, Timberland … the list goes on. So to stay up on things, I always read new catalogs that arrive in the mail. The one that landed today has a really cool name: Sweaty Betty. It’s filled with […]
Dear Citgo, I walk by your billboard, “Citgo is Good Gas,” several times a week and keep meaning to ask you about it. Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I’ve never considered whether or not one brand of gasoline is of a higher quality than another brand. In advertising speak, “quality” isn’t a point […]
I recently grabbed this bottle of water at my local CVS. When I came back to the car, my husband glanced over and said, “Really? They named their water ‘Big Chill’?” I really looked at the bottle for the first time. He was right: CVS had named their bottled water after a euphemism for death. […]
As anyone who reads our blog knows, my entries feature a reference to Diesel Café approximately 33% of the time. Why? As a small business owner, I really appreciate when other small businesses get it right. (Also, I go there a lot.) And Diesel routinely nails it. So it’s no surprise that when they upped […]
The new Nestlé ad for Nesquik depresses me on so many levels I’m not even sure where to begin. But how about this for an entry point: Happiness everyone can afford? Really? Doesn’t seem like that to me. Junk drinks like this are a leading cause of the spike in childhood obesity, crippling our healthcare […]
For just one blog post (just like that one, occasional vanilla shake on a long road trip), I’m going to forget how much I hate McDonalds. Why? Their slightly less evil, slightly less fat-promoting subsidiary, Chipotle, has one of the best direct-marketing pieces I’ve ever seen. The simple black-and-white accordion-fold postcard asks the viewer: TIRED […]
This Braun ad I spotted in a recent issue of Redbook is so awful I’m not even sure where to begin. It presumably targets mothers who have a bit of disposable income and like to see their college-aged sons clean-shaven. So, to be fair to Braun, if you’re not one of these mothers already, pretend […]
If you’ve been tirelessly following our blog, you know that last week Dan and I got out of our office to attend a few FutureM events. All about “the future of marketing,” FutureM had a great lineup of events along with some engaging speakers, including Tom First. If Tom’s name sounds familiar, it’s because you […]
Dear Trader Joe’s, I recently learned that you do basically zero advertising. I get it: Why waste money on print ads and circulars when you have a legion of rabid brand ambassadors talking up your plantain chips on the playground and telling people it is “totally worth the two-hour roundtrip drive” to go to the […]
