Category: marketing

  • ‘Microsoft spreads the spirit of the season on 5th Ave’

    It’s hard to maintain a spirited rivalry when your teams don’t really compete.

  • Retroactive ads.

    As commercial breaks become less and less effective (thanks to TiVo), embedded advertising will take over. Films and television are overrun by this covert advertising. In fact, almost any logo or brand mention on modern shows has almost certainly been purchased by a multinational conglomerate and placed according to a strict marketing contract. What’s the…

  • Urinal logos: flushing your brand down the drain

    Conventional wisdom says that you want to get your brand out there, no matter what. Sloan Valves, manufacturer of my school’s waterless urinals, has apparently taken that to heart. The drain canister on a Sloan waterless urinal. Photo credit: TSOMPITM. Any press is good press, right? After all, by printing their company name here, Sloan…

  • Highway signs: when ‘south’ doesn’t mean ‘south’

    This is Interstate 85 as it runs through Durham, my current hometown. Here’s the thing, though: they call this “85 South,” as it runs from right to left across your screen. Not only does this confuse the horizontal with the vertical, it completely inverts the compass. When you drive down 85 South out of Durham, you’re…