Staying True to the Story: Where ‘The Lorax’ Went Wrong

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 28 Mar 2012

It's been weeks. Why haven’t I gone to see the movie adaptation of my favorite childhood story, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax? It wasn’t the trailers or previews, but rather the antics of Universal Pictures’ marketing department and their eagerness to slap a “Lorax Approved” logo on any product within earshot and produce beaming endorsements for any brand—however ill-suited they might be—willing to pony up. When compared to the lessons from the original story, the irony kills. The blasphemy is palpable.

From a marketer's perspective, The Lorax's awkward corporate love-fest, and the resulting backlash, prove that it’s now imperative to define your brand’s story platform—the core narrative at the heart of your brand, where all promotions and marketing should tie back to and stay true to. Read up on The Lorax's worst offense yet, the overall saga, and other exploits in nostalgic cinema after the jump.

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When Political Ads Attack, Everyone Loses

Posted by Andrea Fjeld, 11 Jan 2012

With additional reporting by Adam Uhrynowski.

We’re all familiar with mudslinging in political commercials, debates and speeches. In the recent Iowa caucuses, negative advertising was more apparent than ever. But why do America’s leaders spend so much time pointing out the competition’s flaws and defending their political (and personal) histories rather than promoting themselves? Does it even work? What if brands reverted to this tactic? We’ll answer these questions and more after the jump.

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Facebook Sponsored Stories Turn Your Life into a Commodity

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 22 Feb 2011

This post originally appeared in our February  issue of “Live Report from the Future of Marketing,” our monthly Post-Advertising newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

Facebook’s Stories project has, for all intents and purposes, fulfilled its end goal. Now a fully-fledged, first-of-its-kind ad network named Sponsored Stories, not unrelated to Twitter’s Promoted Tweets/Trends/Accounts, it allows brands to affix their name (and corresponding Facebook page) to an organic, consumer-generated activity in the hopes of populating the well-intentioned promoter’s friend network with a more compelling push to purchase. This approach is infinitely more engaging, and invasive, than any brand-spun messaging could hope to be—and that could be what makes it pure (or evil, depending on your perspective) genius. It raises the inevitable question: Is your privacy even more at stake these days? Let’s look behind the stories.

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