Adios, Middleman: The Rise of Direct-to-Consumer Platforms

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 25 Apr 2012

Turning a great idea into a reality is getting easier by the minute. Small businesses and individuals can pitch, barter and sell straight to the masses. The audience is connected directly to the creator, sans middleman. With the help of platforms like Kickstarter, Kiva and Etsy, funding any number of projects has become a democratic, and virtually seamless, process. More and more the crowd is enabling individuals to make great things happen. If this is the marketplace of the future, how do already established brands fit in? Let’s delve deeper.

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“Go Shit in the Ocean!” (Mad Men Season 4, Episode 8)

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 14 Sep 2010
It took half a season to pick up, but Mad Men is certainly on to something in these last few episodes. Sure, Sunday night was light on the actual advertising process, but all the HR/office dramatics more than made up for it (and touched on an altogether different side of agency life). Also, there was a voice over! A voice over is a sure-fire narrative technique! Or, wait, maybe a voice over is just a slapdash emergency, the equivalent of Vodka and Mountain Dew?
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NERF Geeks, CheapTickets Thrifters Latest to Join the Crowdsourcing Craze

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 05 Jun 2010
Ever since Doritos debuted its annual do-it-yourself Superbowl campaign, wherein the company outsources its Superbowl advertising to filmmakers vying for a million dollar prize, it seems everyone's getting into the crowdsourcing game. Mountain Dew’s Dewmocracy, and LG’s Design the Future, among others, are getting consumers more involved in company marketing campaigns than ever before. But does crowdsourcing TV and internet spots make more sense for some brands than it does for others? To examine this question we look at niche brands NERF and CheapTickets, two recent bandwagon jumpers looking to bring their faithful followers a bit closer.
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A Sound Move for Brands

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 08 Feb 2010
This year at MIDEM, a gathering in France for the music industry elite, a number of panels focused on branding. Execs from Converse, NASCAR, PepsiCo, and Carhartt shed some light on the current state of music-based branding efforts. Advertising and the music industry are getting in harmony, Brandweek explains.
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