Yearly Archives: 2007

AUSTIN, Texas -- High-performance MDS Advertising is among Austin's top dozen creative ad agencies according to results announced Friday in the Austin Business Journal ranking of the top 25 advertising firms in Austin. MDS has been a creative secret weapon for its clients since 1991 when MDS moved to Austin from Los Angeles.

COLUMN: A manifesto entitled 100 Ways to Kill a Concept is currently bouncing around the Internet. It is being sent in anger, frustration and/or glee by anyone who has ever had the misfortune to present an original idea to a boneheaded boss or calcified committee. Scott G lauds author Michael Iva for his horrific hundred.

BOONTON, N.J. -- The top 20 cable operators are ramping up to grab a slice of the lucrative small business phone market, a move that could cost incumbent phone companies more than four billion dollars over the next five years, says a new market research report from Insight Research Corp. Incumbent phone companies are expected to loose more than 1.5 million small business phone lines to cable competitors by the close of 2007.

ORLANDO. Fla. -- Direct Hit Media, llc, headquartered in Florida, has created a unique form of targeted advertising; it delivers one of the best one-to-one marketing venues available - the Cart-Vertising(TM) program. How is it done? Advertisements are placed on golf carts within an established network of premium golf courses throughout the United States.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Imagine: You're walking down Market St. approaching Stockton. Your cell phone beeps and you open it to see the cover of the new CD from your favorite Reggaeton artist, Don Omar. A colorful message from Virgin Records across the street scrolls across the screen: "Serena - Welcome to the neighborhood! Come in and pick up this CD and we'll give you 20% off.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Yesterday, a U.S. District Court judge unsealed a class action lawsuit (case #07cv00188) against Internet domain registrar RegisterFly along with the corporation charged with accreditation and oversight of registrars, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"), among others.

LOVELAND, Colo. -- According to the 2007 Call Center Best Practices Benchmarking Reports from leading contact center research firm Centerserve(R), key findings show that customers are the number-one driver of contact center changes. Featuring 250 companies from 51 countries, the reports show that "improving the customer experience" was listed by call center managers as the top priority for their organizations in the coming 12 to 24 months.

COLUMN: Curiouser and curiouser, weaker and weaker, stupider and stupider. That describes much recent advertising from major brands. Clogging the airwaves with badvertising is nothing new, but it does seem as if idiocy is lately on the rise. Scott G lists a few of his least favorites from the past couple of weeks.

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Elephant Ventures, a New York City based Digital Marketing and Strategic Services Company added a new member to its executive team in January - Senior Vice President of Business Development, Jannine Salo. Elephant Ventures is proud to welcome Ms. Salo, a dynamic professional who will help guide the Company's continued growth.

COLUMN: Sponsored messages worm their way into entertainment and news. Tracking of consumer purchases allows for precise targeting of those messages. Computerized production technology enables marketers or government agencies to control what you see and when you see it. Scott G plays George Orwell by putting these 3 ideas together.