Make Your Marketing Useful, Like Samsung and Charmin†

Take a Small Chunck Out of Those Billion-Dollar Budgets and Help Provide a Free, Helpful Service

Advertising Age, May 26, 2008 — After about half an hour of staring at the space where a plane should've been, we're granted the announcement we knew was coming: The 3:30 p.m. out of LAX is now the 4:50 p.m., which we all know means it's really the 6-something p.m. There's a brief period of eye-rolling before everyone goes back to their business, which in my case means huddling with a dozen other worshippers around the Samsung totem pole to which our BlackBerries and laptops are attached.

If you have the misfortune to run the gauntlet of America's airports with any regularity, you're all too familiar with this scene and may even know the totem I'm referring to. It's an eight-foot, electrical charging station with a little shelf about halfway up its length where devices rest and... continue reading

Learn to Use Communication's Negative Space

Prophet, November 1, 2007 — In the environment where you can reach your customers 24/7, success at building a brand—at solidifying and growing your relationship with customers—is really all about being selective. You need to pick the right time and place or, better yet, let the customer pick for you.

The best new business ideas we've covered in 2006

Springwise Newsletter, January 16, 2007 — Over the past few weeks, we've picked our favorites from the new business ideas we covered in 2006. Not because we're particularly fond of reminiscing, but because we're convinced these innovative concepts still offer plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs seeking to start something new in 2007.

Times Sq. Ads Spread Via Tourists’ Cameras

New York Times, December 11, 2006 — Advertisers have long been drawn to Times Square as a valuable place to reach consumers, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for space on billboards and blazing video screens.

Charmin to New York: ‘Go in Style’

New York Times, November 15, 2006 — A rendering shows what a toilet paper will do to get noticed over the holiday season in New York. Twenty stalls will be available