September Archives
Facebook Therapy
by Jeff Hirsch My piece on “The Evils of PowerPoint” in the last newsletter sparked this comment from a senior Consumer Insights executive at a major packaged goods company. Starting with a pet peeve about her research consultants using PowerPoint to confound rather than clarify, she went on to say: “…I hate that people believe [...]
Life Imitates SNL: Part 2
by Jeff Hirsch Last year, I blogged about how marketing imitates Saturday Night Live. (“Does Life Imitate Art?” posted April 11, 2008,) The show’s fake commercials have predicted three and four bladed razors, Southwest Airlines, and sweet breakfast cereals in the form of confections, to name a few. The trend continues. Earlier this summer, John [...]
Bad Karma
by Jeff Hirsch John Lennon must be turning over in his grave. First, “Revolution” and “Instant Karma” were used in TV commercials to sell sneakers. At least the latter spot was successful in equating hard work with athletic performance and reward. Very karma-like, indeed. Now “Instant Karma” has been co-opted by the banking giant Chase [...]
Einstein on Marketing
One of my favorite quotes comes from Albert Einstein: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Such an incisive thought for marketers, as it is so easy for all of us to fall into the trap of the comfortable familiar when we deal with professional challenge. Finally, I [...]