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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I am a PC ad

Latest Iteration of Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s Ads for Microsoft Are…I Just Don’t Care

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 30 Oct 2008
The whole ad industry has gotten its panties in a twist over the $300 million Crispin Porter + Bogusky Microsoft ad campaign. There has been a lot of discussion, a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking, and a lot of incorrect assumptions. I want to go over the facts of the matter here, but I'll save it for next week. For now, let's just go over the latest iteration, ImaPC.LifeWithoutWall.com, a supposedly user-generated site with "I'm a PC" testimonials. My initial thought here is that if MS wants to combat the John Hodgman-as-PC image, it shouldn't try to drown out Hodgman/Apple with a chorus of nobodies but instead create a strong character of its own. I like Pharrel Williams, but he just doesn't cut it here...and what was that philosophical tangent about the future of technology all about? Where does that celebrity confidence to talk about complicated issues they know little about inarticulately come from?
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Pharrell Williams of N*E*R*D

Pharrell Williams and Big Boi Rock Advertising Week

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 23 Sep 2008
On a spectacular opening night celebration for Advertising Week V, a week-long NYC advertising industry orgy, media buyers, creatives, top execs and hangers-on were treated to a spirited performance by N*E*R*D and Outkast's Big Boi. Pharrell Williams of N*E*R*D delighted the left-leaning crowd with his astute observations on foreign policy and the presidential election: "I don't want the person going after Osama holding a baby in one hand and a soccer ball in the other," adding, "but she's a hot MILF, isn't she?" And the post-advertising age was heralded with jubliant celebration.
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