If you ask Rob Walker (who writes about consumer culture for the New York Times Magazine), about the influence of brands on you and culture, he will barely blink an eye before responding: "subconscious behavior."
Here is his article from this weekend's NY Times Magazine. Wonderful reading if you're into cultural movements. Here is the link to the NY Times.
I was emailed yesterday by Vanity Fair for comment about the new Microsoft campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates that was pulled earlier this week. I'm particularly pleased that Vanity Fair is embracing our industry - Advertising - because advertising is on the rise, is defining culture, and a more influential industry than the entertainment industry. V cool.
Here's a relevant quote for our times, for those thinking about the future, about where to invest their energy and time in the coming months ahead:
"Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of crackpot than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost."
What can we learn from McDonald's creating their own virtual world? That they are moving into their own customized world says one thing to me, that it will become more valuable for brands to create and curate their own virtual worlds rather than joining existing public virtual worlds.
I love building brands. It's an art and a science. A brand is a set of beliefs. It's a set of expectations. Moreover it is a culture. A culture that is celebrated and lived in real terms by the people who work with the brand every day inside the company. It is also a culture to be associated with by people who have relationships with the brand in the world at large.
PARIS: The quest for gold got under way in Beijing on Friday, but some advertising executives think the real marketing medal may be won elsewhere in Asia - in India. That country does not have an Olympic story to sell. But the economy is sprinting ahead.
This old film from circa 1950 is all about the powers of outdoor advertising. But in truth it's right out of the pages of 1984 and a rather creepy v/o tells you how to lead the lemmings to the edge of the cliffs.
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