Yearly Archives: 2007
FoxSpace
Jesus! MySpace already owns the “middle” of the social networking space now they want to add professional news content? They would be better off adding a channel called people’s news, where regular people report what they see, a la, “there’s a traffic accident on Route 80.” Or, “there’s a hold-up underway in the 7-11 in Bumpus Mills.
The Gap Spot.
Gap comeback.
Poor Gap. They have been taking so much heat lately in the press for lack of vision and leadership and for being out of touch with today’s consumer. That said, Gap is a strong American brand that over the years has had some great advertising and should be able to make a come back.
That comeback started today.
Gap ran a wonderful spread ad today in the New York Times showing 4 young ladies in various states of drape. Draped baggy shirts, draped and tucked hair, rumpled khaki pants pulled up, pulled down. We are made privy to wonderfully sexy silhouettes thanks to exceptional art direction. The cropping of the models on the page, their poses and the color – a khaki patina that is so, well, khaki.
Huge breasts are not a distraction, no booty pictures, just semi- androgynous, tough but confident women wearing “the boyfriend” trouser. Even the headline and product name tell a story. Mark my words, these babies (the pants) and accompanying white shirts are going to fly off the shelves. I can wait for the TV.
The new ‘um.
Size Matters
Wow!
Dashboard my ass.
The pop marketing term of the last couple of years has been “dashboard.” As a brand planner who advocates “windshield” planning rather than the more common “rear view mirror planning” approach, I get the dashboard metaphor.
The marketing dashboard contains dials and gauges that monitor the performance of marketing programs. These metrics are valuable for sure but if one doesn’t look out the windshield, beyond the dials, and see what’s coming, they are driving with their head down.
Great marketers don’t wait around for consumer behaviors to be measured, great marketers decide what consumers will like…before they like it. They see in front of the dashboard. The future is a beautiful thing.