Media Firms Realize Slowest Growth Since 2001

September 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Source and photo credit: The Huffington Post
Link to full Ad Age article

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Styx Underwear - Card in Cheek Advertising

September 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The card says “This is the only time we are getting into your ass.” Leave it to those creative Czechs at Styx Underwear! Nod: Comunicadores

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2008 Best Global Brands List

September 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment


List: 2008 Best Global Brands
Nod: Comunicadores

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And The Winner For Best Magazine Cover Is…

September 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment

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Turning Attacks Into Marketing Opportunities

September 21, 2008 | 1 Comment

We see it all the time in politics, PR and advertising - attacks by the opponents, media and competitors. Smart marketing professionals can turn these attacks into opportunity and simultaneously earn some sympathy points. When you get hit with a negative, find the opportunity and turn it into a strength or positive. Here’s a great example of the I’m a Mac ad used as inspiration for a strong Microsoft campaign.

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SNL: Behind The McCain Ads

September 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment

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The Golden Age of Pirates as Reported by Newspapers of the Day

September 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Arrrgh. Shiver me timbers. To honor International Talk (or Blog) Like a Pirate Day, I thought I’d write about the real thing. And what better way to get the scoop about real swashbucklers than via historic newspapers? To help, I tracked down the legendary Timothy Hughes of Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers. By the way, Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers recently launched an exciting new blog called History’s Newsstand. Check it out.

According to Tim, “the ‘golden age’ of pirate activity was around 1700 thru 1730. There was reporting in newspapers of the day, typically very brief mentions of various ships having been seized, but occasionally there were half column articles when considerable details were known.”

Or, in this case, there were reports of hidden treasure left behind by pirates.

“Pirate activity was covered in the newspapers simply as a matter of reporting news of the day. Pirates interrupted the growing trade with the American colonies and as such became a serious problems for merchants in England,” said Tim.

Here is a great, but very brief newspaper report on the death of the famous pirate known as Captain Kidd. According to Tim, most pirate reports from this time were quite brief.

Edward Teach is arguably the most notorious pirate in history and spent most of his time in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic. Known better as Blackbeard, he’s the pirate that most pirate portrayals are fashioned after, including Johnny Depp’s character in Pirates of the Caribbean.

“The death of Blackbeard was reported in the Boston Weekly Newsletter in 1719 but American newspapers from this era are quite rare,” said Tim. “It was also reported in the Post-Boy from London as we sold it some years ago. Here is how the Boston Newsletter reported Blackbeard’s decapitation by Lieutenant Robert Maynard:

Maynard and Teach themselves begun the fight with their swords, Maynard making a thrust, the point of his sword against Teach’s cartridge box, and bent it to the hilt. Teach broke the guard of it, and wounded Maynard’s fingers but did not disable him, whereupon he jumped back and threw away his sword and fired his pistol which wounded Teach. Demelt struck in between them with his sword and cut Teach’s face; in the interim both companies engaged in Maynard’s sloop. Later during the battle, while Teach was loading his pistol he finally died from blood loss. Maynard then cut off his head and hung it from his bow.

Newspapers containing pirate reports — particularly those relating to famous pirates like Blackbeard and Captain Kidd — can be very scarce and therefore very expensive.

According to Tim, “I don’t recall reading of any reports prior to the late 1690s, and the amount of pirate activity dropped off considerably post-1725 when the government officials along the Atlantic coast of the colonies got more strict in controlling their coastal waters.”

“One of the problems with finding many pirate reports in period newspapers is the simple lack of ‘newsy’ newspapers from the era,” said Tim. “Save for the Boston Newsletter there were essentially no newspapers in America from the ‘golden age,’ and many of the British titles were more coffee-house type which were dialogue in format and did not cover news of the day. The Post-Boy from London was a great ‘newsy’ newspaper and we’ve discovered many issues with small pirates reports, some I suspect will be found here and here.”

For more history of pirates, Tim suggests this site.

Thanks, Tim, for making International Talk (and Blog) Like a Pirate Day special!

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MTV Engine Room: The New Creative

September 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment

MTV’s Engine Room looks awesome. With four teams from around globe competing for international creative bragging rights, it should be very entertaining. And I’m pumped that I’ll be able to watch it all online.

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Instant Classic: SNL’s Palin and Clinton

September 14, 2008 | 4 Comments

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International Blog Like a Pirate Day: Sept 19

September 13, 2008 | 10 Comments

Ahoy me mateys. In less than a week, on September 19, we’ll be celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I propose we convert the day to Blog Like a Pirate Day!

To truly distinguish yourself in today’s cluttered blogosphere, there is only one option… writing in Pirate.

Fortunately, this special day falls on a Friday, which is the perfect day of the week for a casual and fun topic like this one. So, regardless of your level — junior staffer, senior management or awkward tweener — let’s all band together and blog like a pirate for one day. At the very least, we will all benefit from a quick refresher on the lost romance language of Pirate.

I know my good blogger buddy, Leo Bottary, is onboard and will be helping to spread the word this week. But to all my other blogger buddies and loyal readers — especially Drew McLellan, Kami Huyse, Gavin Heaton, Luc Debaisieux, Paul McEnany, Todd Defren, Darryl Ohrt, Mark Goren and all others — I ask that you help spread this important public service announcement and blog like a pirate on September 19 too. Will you join me and Leo on September 19 as we turn Talk Like a Pirate Day into Blog Like a Pirate Day?

If you still need help with your Pirate lingo after watching the below video, feel free to use these English-Pirate translators and other helpful Pirate links:

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