You Sleep When You Die

Thanks to Ed Ethridge for providing one of last week’s top questions. Remember, get your questions about advertising, business, the economy and more answered every Wednesday by posting comments to blog posts or, better yet, on Twitter via #askjz.

“What is your response to Jonathan Salem Baskin’s recent Ad Age article, “What If Giving Up Your Brand Really Means Giving Up?” If the trend is moving towards NOT trusting the people we engage with through social media platforms, how will advertisers and marketers adjust? And will it even still be relevant?

You’ve always espoused growing a brand while simultaneously driving traffic and sales. Where does social media fit into this Brandtailing pyramid?”

So you know Apple made the Super Bowl ‘super’ with its ‘1984’ Macintosh commercial. But I bet you didn’t know that Chiat/Day – the agency behind the commercial – almost got FIRED for it!

Every revolution starts with a single shot. In everything we see in life, some event or breakthrough opened the gate. Most people will be glued to their TV sets this weekend watching the Super Bowl. Did you ever wonder how it got ‘super?’ After all, there are championships in every sport, but only one Super Bowl. How did it really happen?

A recent Ad Age article announced an effort to re-brand New Orleans’ Mardi Gras celebration as “clean and wholesome.” The goal is to position Mardi Gras as offering more than drunkenness and debauchery. Those involved with the effort say that in addition to the more well known aspects of the celebration, Mardi Gras actually offers family-friendly activities such as parades and great food.

Of course New Orleans is a great city. It’s got history, architecture, culture, sports, cuisine, events and more. But aren’t those the same things that make Mardi Gras so FANTASTIC in the first place?!

Toyota announced yesterday that they are recalling 2.3 million vehicles. The recall affects eight Toyota brands. As if that weren’t catastrophic enough, the automaker has also completely shut down the assembly line for these eight vehicles.

I’ve never seen anything like this in all my years in the automotive ad business. Check out my column in Ad Age to find out what Toyota must do immediately to fix the situation…before it’s too late.