CRAFT MARKETING – A TALE OF TWO WINES
verbosity alert Throughout human history, winemaking has been a craft industry, ruled by artisans and run by families. In modern times, we believe that categorisation applies even to the big producers in traditional Old World winemaking countries [1]. They got big one of two [...]
WHAT ChatGPT & NUCLEAR FUSION HAVE IN COMMON
The marketing world is currently all aTwitter about ChatGPT, a newly-released AI-driven chatbot technology, and what it will mean for the future of marketing. The wider Western world is all aTwitter about a nuclear fusion experiment in a California-based laboratory that has created a ‘net [...]
THE RYAN REYNOLDS SHOW
rabbit hole alert In 2018, after a truly amazing rise to Hollywood A-List [1] stardom following his breakthrough role in Deadpool two years earlier, Canadian-born Ryan Reynolds co-founded a production-company-cum-ad-agency called Maximum Effort. According to Reynolds, it was created to support the launch of Deadpool [...]
WHEN GREAT BRANDS BREAK OUR HEART
It doesn’t happen very often, but every once in a while, a brand you really love will break your heart. VW and Loblaws are brands beloved by consumers for decades of quality products and services. Also beloved by marketers for decades of great marketing [...]
FAIL BETTER
There’s a great phrase often used by entrepreneurs, startup founders and those who consult for them: Fail Better. Like so many phrases in modern business lexicon, it is of curious origin (see sidebar). For the purpose of this discussion, let’s assume it means learn from [...]
THE WORLD’S BEST OLYMPIC STRATEGY
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have certainly been interesting. There were many great individual stories and surprises, but the top 10 medal-winning countries were the usual suspects. Canada came in 11th in total medals. We know who the world’s best decathlete was in Tokyo, Canada's [...]
POST-COVID CREATIVE RENAISSANCE?
We’re starting to see this idea in the marketing industry media and we’re hearing it from some of our peers. The idea that the marketing world will enjoy a post-COVID creative renaissance is a lovely thought. Then came Canada’s record-breaking award haul at Cannes 2021 [1]. [...]
AS THE COOKIE CRUMBLES – Chap 4
The story that started here as GOOGLE’S DÉJÀ VU will have lots of future twists and turns as the (third-party) cookie crumbles. We decided to follow the chapters that we actually understand and think are important in the Marketing Wilderness context: “Google Grants a [...]
AS THE COOKIE CRUMBLES – Chaps 2 &3
The story that started here as GOOGLE’S DÉJÀ VU will have lots of future twists and turns as the (third-party) cookie crumbles. We decided to follow the chapters that we actually understand and think are important in the Marketing Wilderness context. Let’s do this in [...]
ASTRAZENECA’S VERY UNFORTUNEATE BRAND FAIL
From a product development point of view, the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is a miracle. It is the world’s best single hope in defeating the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s also a marketing failure. This is significant because it means people have lost trust in the vaccine, [...]
ONCE A MAC
In one of the most critically-acclaimed and popular North American advertising campaigns of all time, actor Justin Long was… a Mac (computer). Apple’s four-year, 65+-spot ‘Get a Mac’ campaign was previously highlighted here: WIELDING THE SWORDS OF HUMOUR. Have a quick look to remind yourself [...]
GOOGLE’S DÉJÀ VU
In January, 2020, Google advised the marketing world that it was doing away with the third-party browser cookie in its industry-leading Chrome browser by 2022. Then came the pandemic. So earlier this month, when Google (Alphabet Inc) announced it would not develop its own replacement [...]
HOPE AND THE PORSCHE EXPERIMENT
At the very end of 2020, a story appeared in multiple automotive news publications that seemed, at the time, to be not-so-significant automotive news. It initially caught my eye because it involved the Porsche brand, an old client of ours. But the varying headlines made [...]
MEC: END OF A CANADIAN BRAND ICON
MEC, formerly Mountain Equipment Co-op, is one of Canada’s most trusted and beloved brands. Beloved by me personally, but also by many Canadians. Over the last five years, it has consistently ranked in the top two most trusted brands in Canada [1]. So last week [...]
AUNTIE E CONFESSIONAL
I continue to visit my centenarian Auntie E, but these visits don’t really generate marketing-relevant content, so they aren’t reported here. Here’s the history of my past off-topic indulgences: Post Date Title Auntie's Age Jun 6, 2010 THE GRACIOUSNESS OF 'NO' 92 Sep [...]
A NEW DECADE OF FITNESS CLUB MARKETING
The campaign cycle for fitness clubs follows the New Year’s Resolution cycle, so right now we have new marketing from some of the biggest brands. We use TV commercials and video as examples here because they are the fastest way to communicate marketing and creative [...]
JEFF BEZOS, THE REDUX
Almost two years ago, here, we posted CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING. Ironically, it has become the most popular post in Marketing Wilderness' 10-year history. Ironic because the main point of that post was that context is accidentally or intentionally left out of so much on the [...]
ONLY IN THE BEER BUSINESS
Three fairly recent developments in the frothy beer business lead to the title of this post: The craft brand that isn’t really a beer. The no name brand that isn’t really a no name. Big Beer advertising that appears to be cannabis-infused. The craft brand [...]
CANNABIS’ INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Oct 18, 2019, will mark one-year since cannabis was made legal for recreational use in Canada. How’s the industry going? Surprisingly, given the hype leading up to Legalisation 1.0, not that great. In our opinion, that result flows from an inconvenient truth. How's it going? [...]
INTERNET TRENDS 2019
verbosity alert About a month ago, Mary Meeker, aka The Queen of the Internet, delivered the annual report that Silicon Valley loves the most: the Internet Trends report [1]. It’s also reported in the marketing media. This year’s report is a 333-page slide deck that [...]