Anyone remember me asking at the end of last year whatever happened to Karen Hughes… Yeah, her? The one Bush crowned as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in early 2005. Taking over from my favorite “Lady-in-Advertising.” Charlotte Beers. Then Ms. Hughes went on a trip to the Middle East which turned into […]

I already posted on this on MadScam, my UK blog. But I think it’s important, and for all you wankers that don’t read ALL my blogs, I’ll post it here… Only this version has all the swearing in it. There’s an interesting short video on Business 2.0’s web site. Shot in the heart of Silicon […]

As I said earlier from New York, people are coming out of the fucking woodwork begging me not to give up on Julie… ‘Cos people just eat that shit up. Well, I do, and it’s my fucking blog… And even if it pisses the Tangarine Toad off, I’m going to do the odd one, or […]

As you should know, I am now writing a third blog “MadScam” for the UK magazine “Brand Republic.” There are other bloggers on the site as well, not as good as me, but worth a read… JUST FUCKING KIDDING, before anyone thinks I’m an egomaniac! Yeah, right!!! Anyway, the Editor, Gordon MacMillan has a post […]

Today’s news out of O&M is that Bruce Lee has “resigned” to “pursue his “novel writing career” and that Jan “What color and how big, would you like that logo” Leth will be taking over as head of Ogilvy Direct. That’s a crying shame. Bruce was not only a talented and smart person; he was […]

OK… I’m back from New York… I think I have alcoholic poisoning. Which means I’ll cut it down to just six G&T’s a day for the next week. Anyway… The PSFK Conference was great… Lots of good stuff which I’ll talk about over the next couple of days… I was broken hearted the Julie and […]

OK I’m sat in a cybercafe nursing a giant hangover… So what else is new? The conference went well yesterday and I’m pretty sure all the attendees enjoyed it… Some excellent speakers and a lot of really interesting stuff. I shall go into it in more detail when I get back… Right now my head […]

I know you don’t give a toss, but I won’t be able to post a lot over the next three days or so. “Cos I’m speaking and hosting a panel at the PSFK Conference in New York on Tuesday. An as I live in the mountains of Idaho, I have to wrestle bears and strangle […]

Today, I saw two things I want. The Toad pointed me in the direction of a a cell phone that just does phone calls… How fucking great is that. No camera, games, bat phone noises. No episodes of wanky TV shows you wouldn’t even watch on a TV. It’s called Jitterbug and it’s advertised in […]

The news out of London is that “The Poisoned Dwarf” is about to merge Grey and Joke network “United.” Apparently, the deal is done and the lawyers are carving up the beast to make sure management gets their golden parachutes, while the wankers in the trenches get fucked… As usual! United’s head honcho, Robert Campbell […]

There was an unbelievable article in the UK’s Independent newspaper last week. It’s all about one of my favorite people… Jonah Bloom… Here’s the headline… “Jonah Bloom: When this man speaks, New York sits up and listens.” - As editor of the Manhattan-based weekly ‘Advertising Age’, Jonah Bloom is about as influential an Englishman as […]

Just to show you how fucked up this whole Second Life thing is, news flying around the Blogosphere would indicate that John Edwards’s Second Life HQ has been vandalized by Republican avatars!!! According to a very badly spelled post from “robinrising” on the John Edwards web site… Yeah, his fucking web site, remember what they […]

Hey, I don’t mind if CP+B has finally come to its senses and decided that most of the stuff they’ve been doing for VW ever since they got the account sucks!!! With the mad German scientist taking the biscuit for juvenile bullshit. So now, they finally have some really nice print stuff out that is […]

I just noticed something on my last post with the side-by-side comparison of the current CP+B, VW ad and the forty year old DDB, VW ad… In the CP+B ad, done by the “Hip & Groovy” guys in Florida who are establishing new paradigms in breakthrough communications… The car is bigger… The headline is bigger… […]

As all my loyal readers may know, a week or so ago, I posted about my brand new UK blog on behalf of Haymarket Press, publishers of Campaign and Brand Republic. This Magnum Opus is called “MadScam.” Same as my red-hot book of the insanities and fuck-ups of the Ad Biz, “MadScam.” Which I am […]

Piers over at PSFK has a great post about the news that Second Life is about to introduce audio capabilities for all the wankers that spend far too much time in the dream world. He heads it… “98% of female Second Life avatars to be revealed as Real Life Man by June.” As he says, […]

Hey, how weird is this? Yesterday an American historian jailed in Romania for pedophile offences was released from jail more than two years early because he wrote a book about Dracula. According to the law, Kurt Treptow was entitled to early release because his writing counted as work in prison. Well, beats the shit out […]

I’m sure all my Art Director friends will yawn at this post and say… “Oh him, he’s been around forever.” But I just came across the work of this Japanese fashion photographer, Izima Kaoru, who shoots these amazing fashion shots using DEAD models. Well, I’m sure they’re only pretending to be dead, but based on […]

I always get a laugh whenever I read about another dumb company dumping millions into another dumb sports sponsorship. Yeah I know everyone in America is a sports nut, but when I read that my old client Qwest is tying up a deal with USA Hockey that names Qwest the “Official Communications Services Sponsor of […]

If you ever wanted proof that this business is going to hell in a hand basket, look no further than the story in all the trades about the firing of Cramer-Krasselt by client, CareerBuilder. Yeah, we all know about agencies being fired after doing great work and gaining increases for them in market share, sales, […]

There’s an interesting interview in today’s AdWeek with new Y&R CEO Peter Stringham. Unlike the Jonah Bloom puff pieces over at AdAge, whoever did this (there’s no byline) did a good, intelligent and probing job. It’s no secret Y&R has not been doing well over the last few years, and Ann Fudge did not steer […]

My favorite agency, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, has decided to give the Volvo pitch “The Elbow” as we used to say in Britain. According to the trade rags, this is so they can chase something four times as big… Although they’re not saying, it’s obviously the Hyundai account. Which just gave “The Elbow’ to incumbents, […]

OK… Before you all settle down with your nachos, burritos, pork cracklingo’s, or whatever you shove in your pie-holes while watching “The Oscars.” The biggest clusterfuck in the universe after the Super Bowl. Keep this in mind… You won’t have to watch K’Fed doing his pseudo, bling, rap thing (yawn) for the umpteenth time. Yes, […]

I know I’ve done a few minor rants about this in the past, but every time I read… As in AdWeek yesterday that Nokia will brief SIX semifinalists to pitch for its $120 million account… I have to ask, as people in the communications business, could you please communicate logically. You can only have FOUR […]

OK… So here’s my question. Is it possible that Star-Fucking agency BBDO New York could actually do a spot for a major brand without using a fucking star? I just watched their latest effort for Mountain Dew about a couple of geeks that CG Chuck Norris’s head on an ostrich and get a few geeky-yucks […]

Everyone seems to be all hot and bothered about the use of the infamous Burt Reynolds 1972 naked pose that originally appeared in an issue of Cosmopolitan that particular year, in the upcoming Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Well hey, fuck, he was a gnarly dude before he had the $10 million plastic job done on […]

I know I’ve posted about this a few times before, and I don’t want to sound paranoid… But reading in the circuits section of the New York Times, David Pogue’s interview with Phillip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab, the fuckers who’ve already turned two million crack heads onto the vicarious pleasures of “Second Life,” I […]

Dontcha just love the way popular culture is so fucked up that after we have been bombarded with days of coverage of Anna Nicole’s choking on vomit… OD’ing on fat pills, or just having the clock run out on her allotted span… The hot news out of “Swinging London” is that “Supermodel” Kate Moss is […]

Loved reading this bit about the Bank of America launching its largest advertising campaign during the 79th Academy Awards on Sunday. Apparently the bank’s theme for the campaign is dubbed “Bank of Opportunity.” According to B of A, the brand positioning reflects the company’s business strengths and global presence. Wow… That’s pretty damn powerful shit. […]

Dontcha just love the way popular culture is so fucked up that after we have been bombarded with days of coverage of Anna Nicole’s choking on vomit… OD’ing on fat pills, or just having the clock run out on her allotted span… The hot news out of “Swinging London” is that “Supermodel” Kate Moss is […]