The following is the beginning of an article that I came across on Yahoo News. My first thought is that this seems like a pretty good tactic for marketing or public relations.
The $375 Applebee's Dinner
Sure, you may think of Applebee’s as an affordable casual-dining chain, famed for its whiskey-flavored steaks and two-for-$20 dinner specials (and also for its memorable part in the Will Ferrell pic, “Talladega Nights”). But once a year, Applebee’s goes high-end. The chain’s franchise-owned restaurant in the heart of New York’s Times Square offers a $375-a-person New Year’s Eve bash that’s billed as “a night to remember.” (Those under 12 can get in for $250.)... [continued at link below]
From: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/375-applebee-dinner-123630162.html
Monday, December 30, 2013
Friday, December 13, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Written by Sarah Silverman (Sept. 4, 2013)
The following entry was written by Sarah Silverman. It went "viral," and I have chosen to repost it as an example of writing that is touching and emotionally compelling.
I wrote an obituary type thing:
Duck "Doug" Silverman came into my life about 14 years ago. He was picked up by the State running through South Central with no collar, tags or chip. Nobody claimed or adopted him so a no-kill shelter took him in. That’s where I found him -- at that shelter, in Van Nuys. Since then we have slept most every night together (and many lazy afternoons.) When we first met, the vet approximated his age at 5 ½ so I’d say he was about 19 as of yesterday, September 3, 2013.
He was a happy dog, though serene. And stoic. And he loved love.
Over the past few years he became blind, deaf, and arthritic. But with a great vet, good meds, and a first rate seeing-eye person named me, he truly seemed comfortable.
Recently, however, he stopped eating or drinking. He was skin and bones and so weak. I couldn’t figure out this hunger strike. Duck had never been political before. And then, over the weekend, I knew. It was time to let him go.
My boyfriend Kyle flew in late last night and took the day off from work to be with us. We laid in bed and massaged his tiny body, as we love to do – hearing his little “I’m in heaven” breaths.
The doctor came and Kyle, my sister, Laura and I laid on the bed. I held him close – in our usual spoon position and stroked him. I told him how loved he was, and thanked him for giving me such happiness and for his unwavering companionship and love. The doctor gave him a shot and he fell asleep, and then another that was basically an overdose of sleeping meds. I held him and kissed him and whispered to him well passed his passing. I picked him up and his body was limp – you don’t think about the head – it just falls. I held him so tight. And then finally, when his body lost its heat, and I could sense the doctor thinking about the imminent rush hour traffic, I handed him over.
14 years.
My longest relationship.
My only experience of maternal love.
My constant companion.
My best friend.
Duck.
I wrote an obituary type thing:
Duck "Doug" Silverman came into my life about 14 years ago. He was picked up by the State running through South Central with no collar, tags or chip. Nobody claimed or adopted him so a no-kill shelter took him in. That’s where I found him -- at that shelter, in Van Nuys. Since then we have slept most every night together (and many lazy afternoons.) When we first met, the vet approximated his age at 5 ½ so I’d say he was about 19 as of yesterday, September 3, 2013.
He was a happy dog, though serene. And stoic. And he loved love.
Over the past few years he became blind, deaf, and arthritic. But with a great vet, good meds, and a first rate seeing-eye person named me, he truly seemed comfortable.
Recently, however, he stopped eating or drinking. He was skin and bones and so weak. I couldn’t figure out this hunger strike. Duck had never been political before. And then, over the weekend, I knew. It was time to let him go.
My boyfriend Kyle flew in late last night and took the day off from work to be with us. We laid in bed and massaged his tiny body, as we love to do – hearing his little “I’m in heaven” breaths.
The doctor came and Kyle, my sister, Laura and I laid on the bed. I held him close – in our usual spoon position and stroked him. I told him how loved he was, and thanked him for giving me such happiness and for his unwavering companionship and love. The doctor gave him a shot and he fell asleep, and then another that was basically an overdose of sleeping meds. I held him and kissed him and whispered to him well passed his passing. I picked him up and his body was limp – you don’t think about the head – it just falls. I held him so tight. And then finally, when his body lost its heat, and I could sense the doctor thinking about the imminent rush hour traffic, I handed him over.
14 years.
My longest relationship.
My only experience of maternal love.
My constant companion.
My best friend.
Duck.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Chomsky vs. 'Elvis' in a Left-Wing Cage Fight
By SOHRAB AHMARI (July 28, 2013)
Charges of frequent errors and empty theorizing. Sounds about right.
What to do when the two stars of the academic left collide? Grab the popcorn and sit back: The professoriate is engaged in a raucous family feud, complete with mutual accusations of charlatanry and bitter recriminations.
It started when Noam Chomsky, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology linguist and leftist icon, denounced the jargon-ridden, French-inspired cultural studies that prevail in the humanities.
WSJ assistant books editor Sohrab Ahmari on a revealing tussle between Noam Chomsky and the academic left who subscribe to Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek. Photos: Associated Press
"I'm not interested in posturing—using fancy terms like polysyllables and pretending you have a theory when you have no theory whatsoever," Mr. Chomsky told an interviewer in December. "There's no theory in any of this stuff, not in the sense of theory that anyone is familiar with in the sciences or any other serious field."
Then he turned the knife: "Žižek is an extreme example of it. I don't see anything to what he's saying."
Mr. Chomsky was referring to the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who is a celebrity of sorts in academic circles. His knack for combining pop-culture references with insights drawn from the likes of Marx and Freud—" 'Jurassic Park' is a chamber drama about the trauma of fatherhood"—has inspired a cultish following on campuses over the past two decades. The Chronicle of Higher Education has dubbed Mr. Žižek "the Elvis of cultural theory," and there is even an International Journal of Žižek Studies devoted to his thought.
Mr. Chomsky's remarks went unnoticed until this summer, when they were picked up by bloggers and received a wider circulation. Mr. Žižek fired back earlier this month. "Chomsky, who always emphasizes how one has to be empirical," he told a panel at the University of London. "Well, I don't think I know a guy who was so often empirically wrong."
Depending on their inclinations, readers might be tempted to root for one over the other. But the truth is the professors are both right.
Regarding Mr. Žižek, it is "hard to see anything to what he's saying."
On the war on terror: "We are entering a new era of paranoiac warfare in which the greatest task will be to identify the enemy and his weapons. . . . And is not the obverse of this paranoiac omnipresence of the invisible war its desubstantialization?"
On Hitler: "The problem with Hitler was that he was 'not violent enough,' his violence was not 'essential' enough. Hitler did not really act, all his actions were fundamentally reactions, for he acted so that nothing would really change, staging a gigantic spectacle of pseudo-Revolution so that the capitalist order would survive."
On toilets: "The Anglo-Saxon lavatory acquires its meaning only through its differential relation to French and German lavatories. We have such a multitude of lavatory types because there is a traumatic excess which each of them tries to accommodate."
Regarding Mr. Chomsky, he is "often empirically wrong."
For instance, there was the infamous 1977 Nation magazine essay—co-written with the economist Edward Herman while Pol Pot's butchery was raging—in which the authors pooh-poohed "alleged" Khmer atrocities in Cambodia and credited claims "that executions have numbered at most in the thousands" and "that these were localized in areas of limited Khmer Rouge influence and unusual peasant discontent." (Some 1.7 million Cambodians were exterminated by Khmer genocidaires.)
Mr. Chomsky on life behind the Iron Curtain: "In comparison to the conditions imposed by U.S. tyranny and violence, East Europe under Russian rule was practically a paradise."
On Pearl Harbor: "It's well understood that the Japanese attack on the colonial outposts of the United States, England, and Holland was in some respects highly beneficial to the people of Asia."
On 9/11: "Obama was simply lying when he said . . . that 'we quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al Qaeda.' Nothing serious has been provided since. There is much talk of bin Laden's 'confession,' but that is rather like my confession that I won the Boston Marathon."
The Chomsky-Žižek feud shows no sign of a truce. On July 21, Mr. Chomsky struck back, calling Mr. Žižek's recent charges "sheer fantasy." This prompted one blogger to plead: "Can the left please stop cannibalizing each other?" What, and spoil the fun?
Mr. Ahmari is an assistant books editor at the Journal.
A version of this article appeared July 29, 2013, on page A11 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Chomsky vs. 'Elvis' in a Left-Wing Cage Fight.
Charges of frequent errors and empty theorizing. Sounds about right.
What to do when the two stars of the academic left collide? Grab the popcorn and sit back: The professoriate is engaged in a raucous family feud, complete with mutual accusations of charlatanry and bitter recriminations.
It started when Noam Chomsky, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology linguist and leftist icon, denounced the jargon-ridden, French-inspired cultural studies that prevail in the humanities.
WSJ assistant books editor Sohrab Ahmari on a revealing tussle between Noam Chomsky and the academic left who subscribe to Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek. Photos: Associated Press
"I'm not interested in posturing—using fancy terms like polysyllables and pretending you have a theory when you have no theory whatsoever," Mr. Chomsky told an interviewer in December. "There's no theory in any of this stuff, not in the sense of theory that anyone is familiar with in the sciences or any other serious field."
Then he turned the knife: "Žižek is an extreme example of it. I don't see anything to what he's saying."
Mr. Chomsky was referring to the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who is a celebrity of sorts in academic circles. His knack for combining pop-culture references with insights drawn from the likes of Marx and Freud—" 'Jurassic Park' is a chamber drama about the trauma of fatherhood"—has inspired a cultish following on campuses over the past two decades. The Chronicle of Higher Education has dubbed Mr. Žižek "the Elvis of cultural theory," and there is even an International Journal of Žižek Studies devoted to his thought.
Mr. Chomsky's remarks went unnoticed until this summer, when they were picked up by bloggers and received a wider circulation. Mr. Žižek fired back earlier this month. "Chomsky, who always emphasizes how one has to be empirical," he told a panel at the University of London. "Well, I don't think I know a guy who was so often empirically wrong."
Depending on their inclinations, readers might be tempted to root for one over the other. But the truth is the professors are both right.
Regarding Mr. Žižek, it is "hard to see anything to what he's saying."
On the war on terror: "We are entering a new era of paranoiac warfare in which the greatest task will be to identify the enemy and his weapons. . . . And is not the obverse of this paranoiac omnipresence of the invisible war its desubstantialization?"
On Hitler: "The problem with Hitler was that he was 'not violent enough,' his violence was not 'essential' enough. Hitler did not really act, all his actions were fundamentally reactions, for he acted so that nothing would really change, staging a gigantic spectacle of pseudo-Revolution so that the capitalist order would survive."
On toilets: "The Anglo-Saxon lavatory acquires its meaning only through its differential relation to French and German lavatories. We have such a multitude of lavatory types because there is a traumatic excess which each of them tries to accommodate."
Regarding Mr. Chomsky, he is "often empirically wrong."
For instance, there was the infamous 1977 Nation magazine essay—co-written with the economist Edward Herman while Pol Pot's butchery was raging—in which the authors pooh-poohed "alleged" Khmer atrocities in Cambodia and credited claims "that executions have numbered at most in the thousands" and "that these were localized in areas of limited Khmer Rouge influence and unusual peasant discontent." (Some 1.7 million Cambodians were exterminated by Khmer genocidaires.)
Mr. Chomsky on life behind the Iron Curtain: "In comparison to the conditions imposed by U.S. tyranny and violence, East Europe under Russian rule was practically a paradise."
On Pearl Harbor: "It's well understood that the Japanese attack on the colonial outposts of the United States, England, and Holland was in some respects highly beneficial to the people of Asia."
On 9/11: "Obama was simply lying when he said . . . that 'we quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al Qaeda.' Nothing serious has been provided since. There is much talk of bin Laden's 'confession,' but that is rather like my confession that I won the Boston Marathon."
The Chomsky-Žižek feud shows no sign of a truce. On July 21, Mr. Chomsky struck back, calling Mr. Žižek's recent charges "sheer fantasy." This prompted one blogger to plead: "Can the left please stop cannibalizing each other?" What, and spoil the fun?
Mr. Ahmari is an assistant books editor at the Journal.
A version of this article appeared July 29, 2013, on page A11 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Chomsky vs. 'Elvis' in a Left-Wing Cage Fight.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
Turbo (Movie) (Billboard)
I posted this one not primarily because I like the billboard itself, but I think it is an interesting and well-chosen concept for a movie. Fast snails?
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Sat. June 1
"M. Night Shyamalan would be lucky to get a gig directing traffic"
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Brothers by Black Keys on iTunes
The following is the description of the album "Brothers" by the Black Keys that is provided on iTunes. It is vibrant and descriptive, a strong piece of writing. The images that are described by its well-chosen words feel tangible. Then, it begins to provide a substantive amount of information in an interesting and well-structured manner. -
The bluesy Black Keys hail from Ohio, but it sounds like their musical souls emerged from the swampy South, kicking up hunks of mud as they amble rhythmically across this earthy terrain. After the Black Keys recorded five studio albums, vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach released a solo album in 2009; then the duo reunited for BlakRoc, a project that paired the Keys with hip-hop heavyweights. Brothers finds the duo of Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney returning to the two-man format (with select appearances by previous collaborators). From the jump, "Everlasting Light" gets Brothers moving with a kinetic groove, and Auerbach breaks into a falsetto that's later echoed on the seriously soulful "The Only One." Danger Mouse, who produced the Keys' previous full-length, returns for "Tighten Up," which incorporates funky whistling and stuttering drumrolls. Two tracks ("Electric Mud" and "Howlin' for You") and the album's artwork pay homage to Chicago blues icons Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. However, Brothers peaks with its cover of "Never Gonna Give You Up" -- not Rick Astley's uber-pop ditty, but rather the sultry soul song popularized by Isaac Hayes.
The bluesy Black Keys hail from Ohio, but it sounds like their musical souls emerged from the swampy South, kicking up hunks of mud as they amble rhythmically across this earthy terrain. After the Black Keys recorded five studio albums, vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach released a solo album in 2009; then the duo reunited for BlakRoc, a project that paired the Keys with hip-hop heavyweights. Brothers finds the duo of Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney returning to the two-man format (with select appearances by previous collaborators). From the jump, "Everlasting Light" gets Brothers moving with a kinetic groove, and Auerbach breaks into a falsetto that's later echoed on the seriously soulful "The Only One." Danger Mouse, who produced the Keys' previous full-length, returns for "Tighten Up," which incorporates funky whistling and stuttering drumrolls. Two tracks ("Electric Mud" and "Howlin' for You") and the album's artwork pay homage to Chicago blues icons Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. However, Brothers peaks with its cover of "Never Gonna Give You Up" -- not Rick Astley's uber-pop ditty, but rather the sultry soul song popularized by Isaac Hayes.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Identity Thief (Movie) (Copywriting)
This is from a while ago (January). I think that the tagline is clever, "She's having the time of his life."
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Banana Republic / Mad Men (Billboard)
I have been noticing this billboard recently. It is right down the street from my apartment, and I think it is especially effective at commanding attention. Its look is clean and minimalist, and the abundance of white helps the sign to be seen and to focus the attention of its spectator. The primary and only information displayed is its focal point, directly in the center.
I believe a way in which this ad is especially interesting can be found in the fact that the left frame contains two figures, while the right has only one. The eye bounces back and forth searching for a uniformity which is not present.
The colors used (i.e. purple and turquoise) are vibrant, fitting (reminiscent of the time period in which Mad Men is set), and perhaps more importantly, infrequently seen elsewhere.
This ad is especially noticeable at night, when it is lit from below, due in part to the large amount of white that it has utilized.
This ad's visual organization is beautiful.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
KFC (Tv Commercial)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMk52pcEoDE&list=PLNQATLcMwDmZQCTnt6T-04pinvoGfITAz&index=3
I love this KFC tv commercial.
GBDC (Billboard)
I like the fact that this billboard expresses the information it wishes to convey in an extremely plain or simple, direct, well organized, and attention-getting manner.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Friday, March 1, 2013
Study / Heinz Ketchup (Brand Management)
Ketchup is ketchup, so why does the Heinz brand mean so much? [Title]
"Ketchup is weird, Malcolm Gladwell observed a few years back. It is served alongside mustard, but while mustard is a highly diverse product category, ketchup, as we all know is, well… ketchup.
Yes, it is, essentially, a type of tomato sauce, but it isn’t part of that highly diverse category either. Tomato sauce lives by a completely different set of rules.
So if ketchup isn’t like mustard, and it’s not a type of tomato sauce, what is it then? Ketchup is ketchup. Ketchup is weird. Ketchup is magic. And Heinz is its magic brand." [ - continued at http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2013/03/01/ketchup-ketchup-so-why-does-heinz-brand-mean-so-much]
"Ketchup is weird, Malcolm Gladwell observed a few years back. It is served alongside mustard, but while mustard is a highly diverse product category, ketchup, as we all know is, well… ketchup.
Yes, it is, essentially, a type of tomato sauce, but it isn’t part of that highly diverse category either. Tomato sauce lives by a completely different set of rules.
So if ketchup isn’t like mustard, and it’s not a type of tomato sauce, what is it then? Ketchup is ketchup. Ketchup is weird. Ketchup is magic. And Heinz is its magic brand." [ - continued at http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2013/03/01/ketchup-ketchup-so-why-does-heinz-brand-mean-so-much]
Thursday, February 28, 2013
"Carry Me Home" by The Killers
I like this song, a bonus track from the newest album of The Killers.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Slogan: Fashion Star
"From must-watch to must-have"
This seems to be the slogan to promote the upcoming season of Fashion Star on NBC. I saw it on a billboard today and I think it is clever. One reason for this belief is that it corresponds with my operating philosophy of "two birds with one stone." Essentially, this is about trying to maximize the utility or versatility of every message and action. This short tagline indeed does so, by covering and connecting two seemingly unrelated topics, television (i.e. "must-watch") and fashion (i.e. "must-have").
* Sidenote: I originally noticed this Fashion Star slogan on more squared-off billboard that was in portrait format, but I wasn't able to find that particular one again so I used this traditional billboard to represent it.
How 3 Small Businesses Use Instagram for Marketing (NFIB)
Using Instagram, small business owners can instantly put a face to their businesses’ name—and watch their customer relationships and sales flourish as a result.
Michael Satterfield, owner of Morgan’s and Phillip’s, an automotive-inspired apparel retailer, uses Instagram as a window into his business as well as his life. Satterfield’s Instagram feed reflects what is important to him on a daily basis. For him, that includes his dog and grilled pork burgers as much as it includes the T-shirts he sells.
He insists that when people feel personally connected to a brand, they’re more likely to “follow” your business on Twitter and Instagram and “friend” you on Facebook. Each social media channel is another venue to advertise your product.
“We just posted new shirts for summer,” Satterfield says. “And we’ve already gotten ‘likes.’ It’s a great way to showcase things, especially if you’re a visual-based company.”
Instagram’s developers describe it as a “quirky,” “fun” and “beautiful” way to share photos: You can snap a picture on your mobile device, apply a vintage-inspired filter, and then instantly push that content out to multiple social media channels simultaneously.
But beneath the app’s playful appeal is a powerful way to market your services and connect with customers. Using Instagram, small business owners can instantly put a face to their business —and watch their customer relationships and sales flourish as a result.
Three business owners explain how they have adopted Instagram as a marketing tool.
But beneath the app’s playful appeal is a powerful way to market your services and connect with customers. Using Instagram, small business owners can instantly put a face to their business —and watch their customer relationships and sales flourish as a result.
Three business owners explain how they have adopted Instagram as a marketing tool.
Build Your Brand
He insists that when people feel personally connected to a brand, they’re more likely to “follow” your business on Twitter and Instagram and “friend” you on Facebook. Each social media channel is another venue to advertise your product.
“We just posted new shirts for summer,” Satterfield says. “And we’ve already gotten ‘likes.’ It’s a great way to showcase things, especially if you’re a visual-based company.”
Share Your Expertise
Valeen Parubchenko, director of Private Picassos, which provides private art lessons in New York City, uses Instagram to document her students’ art projects from start to finish. Many of her business leads come from parents sharing and commenting on the photos, as well as people who happened to stumble across them in a search.
“I don’t do any paid advertising, so it’s a way to encourage your client to do the marketing for you,” Parubchenko says.
RELATED: 4 Ways to Get Others to Market for You
“I don’t do any paid advertising, so it’s a way to encourage your client to do the marketing for you,” Parubchenko says.
RELATED: 4 Ways to Get Others to Market for You
Harness the Power of Hashtags
Hashtags, which look like the pound symbol, corral search results into relevant categories and conversations on Instagram’s website. For instance, Satterfield may include the tags #classiccar or #hotrod along with the tag #morgansandphillips, so people who are searching for photos of classic cars will stumble across photos of his automotive-inspired apparel.
“Direct sales will come from using the correct hashtag,” Satterfield says. “When you log in, you’ll be notified if you have comments [on the photos]. Maybe people are asking when or where [the product] is available. Instantly reply to those and point people to your website, where they can buy the shirt.”
Meghan Ely, owner of OFD Consulting, a wedding consulting firm, uses hashtags to connect with her industry peers.
“I might be at an industry event or a conference and I’ll upload and tag a photo [from the event] with the appropriate hashtag,” Ely says. “That way, I can find clients and colleagues who are doing the same thing I am.” This type of real-time photo sharing can spark a conversation, deepen current colleague and client relationships and let potential clients know that you’re keeping up with trends in your industry.
“Direct sales will come from using the correct hashtag,” Satterfield says. “When you log in, you’ll be notified if you have comments [on the photos]. Maybe people are asking when or where [the product] is available. Instantly reply to those and point people to your website, where they can buy the shirt.”
Meghan Ely, owner of OFD Consulting, a wedding consulting firm, uses hashtags to connect with her industry peers.
[linked from Twitter / @NFIB to http://www.nfib.com/business-resources/business-resources-item?cmsid=60237]
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Best Foods (TV commercial)
[Transcript]
[Narrator]
Food you eat... is a BLT.
But food you love... is a BLT, with Best Foods.
Nothing tastes like it. Made with real ingredients like cage free eggs and exceptional oils and vinegar.
For the unmistakable taste - that can only be Best Foods. -
Bring out the best.
-
: I thought of this commercial as effective and well-executed, which is why I posted it.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Cobra Special Forces (Billboard / for Movie)
-
I posted this as an example of a campaign attempting to generate interest in a movie, prior to its release.
February 4th // 98.7 loves Hanni El Kraptib
I am super-mad at 98.7 fm, lately. a) They have been really attacking Kroq, which I don't think has even been a beneficial move for them in terms of business. Very (unnecessarily) polarizing. Unfortunate, too, because over the past eight months or so, I have gone through phases during which I really liked them and I would think, "Wow, they're the better radio station in town by far." b) Also, they have recently been supporting a performer named Hanni El Khatib, who is just terrible. Blatantly, unabashedly unoriginal, formulaic, basic, and bad. I don't understand how anybody could be a fan of his. He should change his name to Incompetent Black Keys or Unskilled Jack White. He's so terrible. I don't understand what's wrong with people.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
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