From an angry systems analyst paying out of his own pocket to place a full-page ad in the Guardian, to corporate apologies and M&C Saatchi Thatcher tributes – newspapers are still one of the strongest advertising mediums for sheer impact in a digital age. Why? By Raymond Snoddy.
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Whenever I think of tobacco companies and advertising, I think of cockroaches: however hard the government stamps on their efforts to promote themselves, they keep coming up the drainpipe and inserting themselves into your life, says Dominic Mills.
Appointing James Harding as director of news and current affairs of the BBC is a courageous move by director-general Tony Hall, says Raymond Snoddy. It’s a tough job being in charge of 3,000 journalists, so what is Harding going to be up against in the new role, and how would he have handled the most recent kerfuffles at the BBC? Pens ready; its time for an exam…
I do like a nice advertising spat, says Dominic Mills, and the row between BT and Sky over the latter’s refusal to take its ads to promote BT’s Premier League broadcasting, has all the hallmarks of turning into a real ding-dong…
In a world where seemingly every other thought from Joe Public is, often on a whim, published for the world to see and as newspapers lose their grip over their long-held monopoly setting nationwide opinion, Raymond Snoddy looks at how social media has revolutionised public debate – and charts its pitfalls after a busy week of terrible tweets and censored comments.
This week Dominic Mills asks why Viking River Cruises didn’t bother to check the storyline for ITV’s Broadchurch before abandoning their ‘proud’ sponsorship of the show after the image of a burning boat was used. If you’re proud, stick with it Mills says – otherwise you’d be ‘ashamed’ or ‘stupid’ sponsors of ITV drama.
As the new BBC director general starts this week, Raymond Snoddy explains what he will need to do to help save a corporation undergoing one of the worst crises in its long history.
Last week, nine months since Dentsu and Aegis tied the knot, the pair can get down to consummating their marriage – but what will the new partnership mean for the two industry giants? Dominic Mills investigates as the joyful couple embark on their new life together…
Yahoo has made a millionaire out of 17 year-old app developer Nick D’Aloisio with the purchase of his news summary app, Summly – and although Raymond Snoddy says it’s great that news is being made more accessible via mobile devices – it’s a little less good that quality, journalistic content is being turned into convenient bullet points.
Trevor Beattie, advertising’s self-licensed controversialist, has proclaimed the death of the 30-second ad – and asserted that in future ads should be no longer than five seconds. Aside from the fact that short-form ‘blipverts’ already exist, he is right that the long-form ad is an anachronism and a bore says Dominic Mills.
