With a variety of technology to choose from, retailers have more vehicles than ever to help convey the brand story in an entertaining way. Brick-and-mortar experiences offer shoppers a portal to step into the brand's world in a way that online simply cannot replicate. For that reason, even online-only retailers such as Piperlime, eBay and Amazon, have dipped their toes into the realm of brick-and-mortar.» 0 Comments
Hey, all you Shonda Rhimeses and Jerry Bruckheimers in the making: I can now answer the burning questions at the end of my last column on NATPE PitchCon: Did I attend PitchCon and learn the secrets of the perfect pitch? Yes! Did I score a major TV deal and forget the little people who got me there? Keep reading.» 0 Comments
Last week a lot of marketing entertainment folks were preoccupied with the annual madness of E3 with it's massive crowds, booth babes and enough flashing lights to give anyone a seizure. While there is certainly business to be done at E3, if you can cut your way through the throngs of gamers, I would say there is as much or more business for entertainment brands at Apple's annual World Wide Developers Conference -- WWDC.» 0 Comments
I know this is a marketing entertainment column, and my expertise is in that area, but today, I'd like to play the role of aspiring television creator instead. You see, it's always been on my bucket list to work in the production side of the business.» 1 Comments
I've been called a lot of things in my 25-year PR career-some of them unprintable. But no one's ever called me an "energy healer." Recently, I reconnected with a colleague who actually answers to that title.» 0 Comments
Lately I've been hearing Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" a lot, in fact a bit too much. So, it's not too surprising that Gotye's song got me thinking about brands, marketing and consumers. After all, understanding consumer relationships is key to successful marketing. And perhaps we can learn a bit from Gotye's lyrics.» 1 Comments
Apologies for the Robbie Williams/Oasis mashed-up headline. The mid-Nineties just called and they want their songs back. There has been a lot of chatter lately about brands becoming publishers and, more specifically, turning themselves into entertainment channels. In this article, I'll look at the reasons why this makes sense and try to explain how brands can transform themselves into entertainment channels, easily.» 0 Comments
The nature of trends is to die out-especially on television. So last Earth Day, I was amazed to see Captain Planet, the star of the 1990s TV series "Captain Planet and the Planeteers," trending worldwide on Twitter. Don't get me wrong-I love Cap. He was one of my favorite "stars" to work with when I was vice president of PR at Turner Broadcasting. After all, he had great hair (how could you not love that green mullet?), a catchy theme song, and a message you could really get behind-and not just because it was my job.» 0 Comments
Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" seems like an appropriate song for this week and perhaps captures some of the sentiment I've been hearing in the Twitter-sphere, blogosphere and across the social web about Facebook's acquisition of Instagram. The cacophony ranges from backlash in the Instagram community about the app being gobbled up by the wolf [Facebook], Facebook overpaying for a company that has no revenue and another group wondering if Facebook is crazy ... like a fox.» 8 Comments
Originally, this column was going to be a fun, snarky piece about big-budget Hollywood boondoggles, like Heaven's Gate, Ishtar, Waterworld and, now, John Carter.» 0 Comments
