Be judgmental. We insist. That’s what I told the 6 judges from various disciplines that judged the work for the 2010 Addy Awards. And well RAF members, we had a very successful first day here in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. They combed through all the print work and were very impressed. [...]

Have you checked out the new “Marketers’ Constitution” which the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) recently unveiled?
Their goal: Make sure the marketing profession continues to thrive and that it contributes meaninfully to society.
Here are the 10 principles they suggested:
1. Marketing must become increasingly targeted, focused, and personal.
2. Marketing must build real, [...]

I had just about given up on Twitter for the 2nd time. My tweets have been inconsitent and lame (though not inconsistently lame) and I’ve generally found little value. Though I do know the exact travel schedule of many a branding exec. Which is obviously helpful.
Then I came across Lee Clow’s [...]

Been watching a lot of baseball on TV recently, it being the playoffs and all. Been seeing a lot of commercials over and over again, too … it being the playoffs and all. I like that there’s new work out, and some of it is pretty good. I just wish there was more of it [...]

Digital has all the evangelists it needs, often seen walking down sidewalks staring at Iphones – i think they call it connecting. We could use the occasional skeptic.
So I was happy to come across Christopher Kimball’s piece in Thursday’s NY Times. Mr. Kimball is the publisher of Cooks Illustrated. The article [...]

Organizations need to give profile pieces more teeth if they want their message to resonate.

On a warm Spring day in 1991, my brother Tim visited Rochester with his first new car – a Saturn S series coupe. We took it out on Kings Highway through Durand Park for a road test. Drove ok. But it looked different and Tim was really proud of it. He [...]

Hi, I’m Whit, and I’m a comment junkie. I live for comments. Comments are evidence that people are listening. Comments are testimony that you’ve made someone, somewhere think about something enough that they feel compelled to agree or disagree with you. Comments beget more comments. I only post status updates on Facebook when I think [...]

If you haven’t already, you should definitely make plans to see Art & Copy, playing this week at The Little Theatre. The film, directed by Doug Pray, details the creative genius of several relatively well-known and highly influential advertising creatives, such as George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, Hal Riney, and Rich Silverstein, [...]

When it comes to social media, some people are keen on writing about the pecan-encrusted tilapia or risotto Milanese they had for dinner. Others—nearly 20 percent of them—are tweeting about brand names or products, according to the “Twitter chief scientist” at Penn State University. He and a doctoral student sought to uncover why [...]