Poets of Commerce
How can we improve the process of communications so that we can create the types of messages that our audience tune into rather than turn off?How do we make headlines and content that break through the clutter and get the attention of a distracted audience?
Adiosamigo to the “Most Interesting Man in the World”
The "Most Interesting Man in the World" is perhaps the greatest brand spokesman of our time. And he has no name. NPR shows the final ad and reveals the story of the man who has played the Dos Equis character. After 10 years, the most interesting man is being...
Utilize vs. Use
Why you shouldn't use utilize in your resume. Utilize is increasingly over-used as a word for use. Maybe it started out this way because utilize is a very specific word, sharing the same root as utility, whereas use has many meanings. Almost every time I see, or...
Are people past 50 too old for creative jobs?
Tree of 40 Fruits You know the truism, "advertising is a young person's business." In talking with an old colleague, a talented A.D. who started at Y&R, we were wondering if maybe we've gotten too old for advertising. We're both feeling as creative, if not more...
Great Way to Creatively Collaborate
Whiteboards in CyberSpace There are so many great ways to develop ideas and collaborate online, it makes you wonder why so many companies, many of them professional communicators and marketers, continue to limit themselves to relatively clumsy communication tools like...
The Five Dimensions of Creativity
Who better than a couple of German marketers to come up with a methodology for defining and quantifying creativity in advertising. In a 2013 article for The Harvard Business Review, Werner Reinartz and Peter Saffert showed a trained consumer panel over 400 consumer...
Medical Terminology
14 Wonderfully Waggish Medical Words As a copywriter, I love words. Alas, I am too often tasked with simplifying medical terminology rather than celebrating it's complexity. Today, my Dictionary app sent me the word of the day, scorbutic, an adjective for scurvy....
Faster Fact Checking
Keeping track of sources is essential for writers, particularly when the subject is within a highly regulated industry such as pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceutical copywriters not only have to understand complex information, but they also have the added challenge of...
Top 10 Google Search Terms for Diseases and Medications in 2014
As the New Year rolls out, one healthcare campaign really garnered a lot of interest -- and that was the ALS ice bucket challenge. It was #6 among the top ten most searched terms of 2014. And ALS received $15.6 million in donations in just a few days, compared with...
Harrods Presents: The Land of Make Believe – A Little Christmas Tail
This year Harrods gives us a little "tail" of an insignificant mouse, called on Santa to perform a very small task only he can do. He squeezes through a tiny crevice to tighten a light bulb that turns on all the lights decorating Harrods. The message: the smallest...
Sainsbury’s Christmas 2014 Ad
Despite the dehumanizing quality of a war so brutal it was said to end all wars, on Christmas Eve 1914 a truce was called between the Germans and English. For just one night. Peace. If these warriors could find peace for just one night with their enemies, why...
ABOUT ME
I’m fascinated by the process of collaborative communication and strategic creativity in marketing communications.