The Story

I may be preaching to the choir here a bit. But I recently came across this good colloquial example of why bank and credit union branch environments matter so much, and I thought I’d share quickly. It’s nice and simple, and makes a powerful point.
Have you ever gone into a restaurant for the […]

Back in June, Fast Company asked the question many of us have been pondering, “Can Hotshot Ad Guy Alex Bogusky Make Microsoft Cool?” In short, the cover story discussed how Apple has single-handedly rebranded Microsoft as ‘uncool’ over the years, and how Microsoft is looking to change that by awarding its $300 million consumer-branding […]

As you may or may not know, Donnie Hoyle, the tutorial voice of “You Suck at Photoshop,” is not a “real” person. And if you haven’t seen the crude but useful Photoshop videos you can find them here. They were the brain child of Creative Director Troy Hitch (and team?) and were in fact not […]

Embrace Failure
Don’t be afraid of failure, it’s part of the creative process. Platform2: Art and Social Engagement, launched the Failure Support Group, an open forum to discuss failure and it’s relationship to art and production. Guests were invited to share 5 minute presentations about their failures and then discuss them with others.
On a related […]

brass is the magazine about young adults and money. Fresher than Forbes or Fortune, this publication targets Gen-Y with articles, interviews, and statistics that are relevant for them. Not only is the content original – so is the marketing. At brass, they know that the under-30 crowd doesn’t respond well to flat […]

Attention-grabbing, brilliant, tacky, non-trad, childish, irritating - a range of adjectives have been used to describe Tao Lin’s self-promotion strategy. Though people can’t come to a consensus about the author, they can firmly tell you whether they love or hate him.
Tao Lin has been putting stickers around New York that say “Britney Spears” to […]

I write this blog with apologies to Jeff, our CEO here at CBC, who is about as far away from a science-fiction fan as Romulus is from Earth. I just can’t resist going where no CBCer has gone before for this post. I was recently watching a documentary about the making of the first Star […]

It didn’t occur to me until after spending 30 initially uncomfortable minutes in the pedicure chair next to my significant other that we at CBC ask our clients–CMOs, CEOs, managers–to continually get outside their comfort zone with the wildly innovative bank marketing ideas we present, but we don’t, however, take the time to advocate they […]

Yesterday, I attended the AMA’s Forward 08 non-traditional marketing event. There was a notable concentration on word of mouth marketing - what works, what doesn’t, and why it’s important. The importance is pretty obvious (people trust their peers more than they trust advertising). But some people might still be asking: what creates […]

Oh how I wish my bank would stage something like this. The long and boring waits to speak with a loan officer would be so much more tolerable.

Lastminute.com - a site offering cheap city breaks and last minute trips - knows how to make the most of having a large captive audience of disgruntled […]