Thought Particles | Driving issues in the world of media and communications.

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Values, Values, Who’s Got Values?

April 16, 2013

In 1891, P.T. Barnum read his own obituary on the front page of the New York Sun. A few weeks later, he died. The end of his life deserved such a curious twist. It had to be glorious. Anything normal would have been ill suited. (That may have been why, after Barnum remarked “nothing nice is printed about a person until they die”, the New York Sun decided to run his obituary on the front page under the headline, “Great And Only Barnum — He Wanted To Read His Obituary — Here It Is.”) In life, Barnum was in the…

Pay No Attention to the Company Behind the Curtain

March 14, 2013

Domino’s Pizza rewrote their story. And it looked surprisingly like The Wizard of Oz. Not that there were yellow brick roads for the pizza delivery boys. Or an Emerald City, or a talking lion, or a farm girl with some remarkably flashy shoes. (If that was part of their story, they didn’t share it.) The common thread between Domino’s Pizza and The Wizard came down to one major hurdle: an image problem. Both had it, but each took separate roads in response to it. One stayed behind the curtain until forced out; the other willingly stepped forward. These were their choices. These…

Every Goliath has his David

February 19, 2013

Herb Brooks set the mood from the first introduction. “I’ll be your coach, I won’t be your friend. If you need one of those, take it up with Doc or Coach Patrick.” And there is where our story begins. Brooks was tasked with one goal: train the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York. Instead, he trained them for life. That might not have been his initial objective. In fact, it may have never crossed his mind. But he accomplished it anyway, along with beating the unbeatable Russians in that historic game and going…

Oreo Won the Super Bowl Blackout

February 7, 2013

This is not our regular February Thought Particles. Just a quick buzz about a great marketing/advertising story from the Super Bowl. Oreo had a 15-member team ready to respond online to anything that happened during the Super Bowl. During the power outage they tweeted this ad - Some 15,000 retweets later, Oreo had conquered (for the day) the citadel of a multi-screen culture. This is just too much fun! There’s more. Read the Wired article here - http://bit.ly/VN3Mu5 Isn’t this just the best time for a marketer to be alive?

2013 Predictions: What absolutely will not happen

January 16, 2013

In 389 B.C., the world didn’t end. It didn’t end again in 1260, 1525, 1844, 1900, or 1988. It didn’t even end in 2012. Yet the predictions said otherwise. Each of these dates, as well as many more, was slated to be the end of all that was and all that ever would be. But, hey, the end of the world is tricky. According to Jason Boyett’s “Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse”, a detailed and scampering take on doom and destruction, many have attempted these last day predictions. Many. Enough to keep you entertained until the end of time, whenever…

How to Live “A Wonderful Life”

December 18, 2012

In 1946, it fizzled out. “It’s a Wonderful Life” came, showed, and went with little more than a few nods, five Academy Award nominations, mixed reviews, and only enough box office buzz to cover the cost. In the beginning, George Bailey didn’t appear to matter. He sat upon the shelf, along with Mary, ZuZu, Mr. Potter, Bert and Ernie, and even Clarence, without so much as a nod. In 1974, when the movie’s copyright expired, “It’s a Wonderful Life” got a second chance at life, exactly like George Bailey. Since the 70s and 80s, the Frank Capra tale has become a…