Advertising Age - Jonah Bloom

What Will a Successful Media Company Look Like in the Future?

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Some in media circles seem to be waiting for the return of yesteryear instead of using these turbulent times to make the changes necessary for their media businesses to thrive in the future.

Will.i.am Has Mastered the Art of the Continuous Campaign

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Will.i.am is my marketer of the year. Most brands are still grappling like first-time makeout artists with the most fundamental shift of the last decade -- from marketer as message-pushing machine to marketer as creators of stuff consumers will actually pull toward them. But the Black Eyed Peas, having mastered that shift, are already showing an understanding of perhaps the second-most important change: from campaign to continuous conversation.

Help Remedies Overhauls OTC, Pushes for Better Health Care

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Help Remedies could loosely be described as a marketer of over-the-counter drugs (and bandages). But it's also one of those potentially category-changing offerings that tries to solve a problem.

Seven Steps to Help Your Agency Fight Commoditization

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Based on reader thoughts and some further discussion with industry leaders, here are seven ways to combat commoditization.

Agencies and Media Brands Turning Into Commodities

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Commoditization may be the biggest threat facing agencies and media companies today -- yet we hear precious little about it, and few can articulate a strategy to combat it.

Dedicated Social-Media Silos? That's the Last Thing We Need

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

You know that social-media department you just built? Go and dismantle it right now, because this stuff is too important to be left to the experts.

Before Marketers Ask for Trust, Perhaps They Should Apologize

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 25 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

There are many ads today from our imperiled banks, insurance companies and automakers telling us that we can still trust them and should still buy their products. But there's one word consumers haven't heard much that might serve these companies better than their current dirges: sorry.

With PR on the Rise, Here's a Refresher Course in the Basics

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 11 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Based on much of what we see and hear, there are a lot of marketers out there who don't seem to understand the principles or ethics of PR. So here's a refresher on the rudiments of PR. Even if you don't need them, I know you know someone who does.

Mr. Sorrell, Big Agencies Are Not Outpacing Smaller Rivals

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Despite an assertion by Martin Sorrell, most marketers we speak to want a single, full-service marketing agency with strong ideas that can improve its business and an ability to execute regardless of discipline.

Big Idea From a Small Business: A Market-Based Pricing Model

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Whether the world needs another T-shirt brand is up for debate, but America definitely needs hard-working, ingenious young entrepreneurs like Jeremy Parker.

AIG Hiring Kekst, Burson for PR Not Necessarily an Evil Move

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The only hope that we see any of the $160 million we've poured into AIG is if the company survives and can be made sufficiently attractive to be broken up and sold. Maintaining even existing customers is going to require explanation and reassurance, functions that PR (and advertising) can help fulfill.

Turn the Oscars From Boring Twaddle to a Marketing Tool

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The Oscars should be the ultimate marketing tool, but few have been able to show much ROI for the movie business from the current show, beyond a little lift in sales for a small handful of generally low-budget movies.

Super Bowl Ad Winner: Hyundai's Big Marketing Idea

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

It won't top any of the many meaningless Super Bowl ad charts, but the best advertising in the big game was Hyundai's "Contract." With the Assurance program promoted in the spot, the automaker confronts the recession head-on and does something tangible to tackle its effects.

Two Steps for Agencies Who Want to Go From Good to Great

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

We do not pretend, nor would their principals contend, that any of the A-List agencies are the finished article offering everything today's marketers might reasonably be looking for, but they do point to a couple of the ways agencies must evolve in the coming years.

Recession Provides a Chance to Build a Better Capitalism

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

To simply complete a taxpayer rescue plan and then wait it out would be a missed opportunity to rework some of the principles of Western capitalism so it better serves brands, society and the environment.

Despite Claims to Contrary, Magazines Still Rooted in Past

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Very few magazines -- the exceptions being ESPN, National Geographic, Real Simple and The Economist -- can be considered brands that have established much meaning beyond their printed forms.

Very Short List Offers Glimpse at Power of Simplicity, Editing

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

As someone whose main function in life is editing, I wonder, in the dark moments, whether I will soon be redundant.

Self-Absorbed Media Missing the Biggest Story of Our Time

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

There can be a positive in this mess, if we hear the alarm bell and confront the real challenge -- the need to rebuild the American economy for the 21st century.

Carat Mishap Offers Lessons in HR, PR and Accountability

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

These are tough times for all of us in the marketing and media businesses and they're likely to get tougher, which is why I hope you read our report on the Carat management team's slipshod approach to communicating layoffs as a cautionary tale.

The Newspaper Doomsayers Still Can Be Proved Wrong

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

U.S. newspapers could be fixed if they could just be pried from the hands of those who milk them for short-term gain and are either woefully ignorant of where readers are going or miserably negligent in terms of investing in that future.

Dear Sir: I Write to Inform You That I've Taken Offense ...

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

This week everyone was offended. I thought I'd reassure them they're not alone, so I looked back through the archive (in my head) and found these letters...

The Good, the Bad and Ugly Answers to Recent Questions

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I revisited a handful of questions that have popped up in my e-mail, on my Facebook page or even in good-old booze-based human conversation, in case any of them inspired a column. They did. Sort of.

Good Work Graced Cannes, Not That Everyone Noticed

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

It is easy to lose sight of the advertising at the Cannes advertising festival.

Careful, Yahoo -- It Looks as If Your Vision Is Finally Showing

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Read between the lines of the deals Yahoo President Sue Decker revealed at Advertising 2.0, and a focus emerges -- on display.

Make Your Marketing Useful, Like Samsung and Charmin

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 26 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Do I think Samsung's airport charging stations sell phones? Unlikely. But they're way more likely to leave me feeling affection for the brand than some mind-numbing airport billboard that has nothing to do with the frustration and boredom I'm experiencing. They're classic examples of marketing as service, a concept worthy of more attention and dollars than it's getting.

Ogilvy, Dove Miss Chance to Turn Bad Press Into 'Debate'

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The latest Dove controversy epitomizes the ad industry's struggle to reinvent itself as a participant in an ongoing conversation rather than an old guy with a megaphone barking orders to people who no longer follow them.

Marketers, Not Consumers, Need Environmental Education

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

In a world in which oil companies claim they're green, it's not surprising that consumers are growing more skeptical of such claims.

Of PR, Music and Bikes

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

France isn't at the top of the list of countries the U.S. looks to for leadership. This is especially true in business, where that nation's 35-hour workweek does little to change the perception that the French citizenry do little more than quaff good wine, nibble stinky cheese and paint the occasional masterpiece. But today's Paris is offering some interesting glimpses into what could be our future.

Want to Survive? You'll Have to Put Some Skin in the Game

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

If you listen to Irwin Gotlieb, CEO of WPP's Group M and a man acknowledged by many as being one of the cleverest people in the business today, owning intellectual property is no longer just gold at the end of the rainbow but is becoming essential to the survival, or at least the continued profitability, of media agencies.

Discussion of Tilley's Death Brings Out Worst in Industry

jbloom@adage.com(Jonah Bloom) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The tragic death of Paul Tilley last week triggered one of the ugliest, most narcissistic displays I've seen from the ad industry.