Author Archives: Cindy Harris

According to AOL’s Daily Finance site, BP has lost ALL of its $20 billion in brand value as a result of the Gulf spill. It’s No. 1 on the “10 Biggest Brand Disasters”  in 2010. They examined the companies’ actual … Continue reading →

For those grammar nerds out there, or even just casual business correspondents who wish to brush up on their skills, here are two excellent posts by journalism professor Don Ranly on when to use – or not to use – … Continue reading →

With the oil-rig explosion and subsequent oil spill, BP is facing nightmare scenarios in the Gulf, on Wall Street and on Main Street. Unimaginable amounts of its oil is soiling the Gulf, killing off wildlife and a way of life…BP’s … Continue reading →

The Tagline: A good one is worth its weight in gold. A bad one is often painfully obvious. Forbes recently published a compendium of “the best-loved advertising taglines” as judged by a panel of preeminent marketing and advertising experts – … Continue reading →

When I was judging the National Student Advertising Competition last month, a few teams included “augmented reality” in their plans. This technology allows the user to, for example, hold a “glyph” in front of their web cams and manipulate the … Continue reading →

Speechwriting can be difficult, but it’s so important to getting out your message. While I’ve met a small handful of truly gifted speechwriters in my career, most communicators at some point will have to write remarks for a client or … Continue reading →

Social media has rewritten many marketing rules, not the least of which is how to protect your brand from critics. A small group of very vocal and active detractors can do more now than ever before to damage your brand … Continue reading →

I thought the Superbowl ads were a little off the mark this year. Comments posted yesterday on my Facebook page made mention of the high number of slapping incidents; a number of the spots did seem to be a bit, … Continue reading →

According to one RCA music exec, “It’s not just about great songs. It’s a full multi-media package.” Glad we cleared that up. Long gone are the days of having worldly success on the music stage with just a guitar, great … Continue reading →

MSNBC has posted a gallery of the worst Big Game ads ever. Included in this dubious list are Go Daddy’s “shower” spot, Snickers’ “Manly” spot showing two burly guys accidentally kissing while sharing a Snickers, and GM’s suicidal robot. The … Continue reading →

The “Big Game” is coming up, and it always produces a lot of buzz in the ad world.  Today’s Wall Street Journal takes a look at the new companies that are putting up $2.5 to $2.9 million for 30 seconds … Continue reading →

Want to find out how good your grammar skills are? Then give this mini grammar quiz a go. It’s not timed or graded, and the answers and explanations are conveniently supplied on the same page. I even got tripped up … Continue reading →

It seems a fan page on Facebook is the new “must-have” marketing accessory, which is OK. The beauty of social media is that people can choose with whom – or with what organization – they interact. If I don’t have … Continue reading →

Ah, a fresh celebrity scandal, complete with accident-scene footage, a voice mail to the supposed mistress and a days-long silence that ended with a simple plea for privacy. Tiger Woods’ recent travails are certainly a private matter, but when you … Continue reading →

The San Francisco Zoo is making the world take notice of it through social media channels like Facebook, YouTube and, particularly, Twitter. Instead of forcing corporate-speak Tweets about free days or a sale at the museum store, they’ve enlisted the … Continue reading →

I’ve been writing professionally for almost 15 years, and I’ve yet to master the headline. My first boss and mentor told me that a headline should grab the reader’s attention while at the same time fitting on one line. Talk … Continue reading →

How are you going to say “2010″ next year? Will you say “two thousand and ten” or “twenty ten?” It might seem like a silly question right now, but for advertisers, language is our bread and butter. We spend a … Continue reading →

I’ve been seeing this ad on television for a couple of days. It’s too clever for its own good, I think. It does not tell me much about the candidate – Andy McKenna – who is running for governor of … Continue reading →

CBS is by far the “oldest” in terms of audience members – it’s average viewer is 55 years old. Advertisers have long shirked away from older viewers; the conventional wisdom being younger audiences make more money for them. But CBS … Continue reading →