https://www.mediapost.com/en-usMon, 22 May 2017 08:00:06 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/301538/much-adieu-about-nothing.htmlSo this is my swan song. Naturally, I have gone back to review what has gone on in this space over the course of 200 columns.Mon, 22 May 2017 08:00:06 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/301538/much-adieu-about-nothing.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/301073/a-modest-proposal.htmlAmid steep audience declines, prime-time shows that were deemed ratings failures a few years ago suddenly look like going propositions. Meh is the new wow.Mon, 15 May 2017 08:15:04 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/301073/a-modest-proposal.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/300577/the-funnest-facebook-quiz-ever.htmlTake this easy, super-fun quiz. It's so simple -- and a hoot to share with your Friends and the vendors of every app in your phone! Just fill in the blanks.Mon, 08 May 2017 08:00:06 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/300577/the-funnest-facebook-quiz-ever.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/300174/i-bobot.htmlDude, I have a bot -- a digital slave who answers questions, directs inquiries and offers all kinds of really useful information about me.Mon, 01 May 2017 16:38:25 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/300174/i-bobot.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/299640/insta-escorts.htmlReality TV figures, YouTube stars, recording artists and others with huge followings among Millennials use their social media platforms as paid shills for brands, without disclosing the quid pro quo. This is not a matter of a few isolated bad actors.Mon, 24 Apr 2017 08:00:06 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/299640/insta-escorts.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/299246/my-hero-donald-trump.htmlThe paradox is almost dizzying: we need a healthy press as a watchdog of democracy, and that press is being revived by interest in a regime doing everything in its power to dismantle democracy.Mon, 17 Apr 2017 08:00:05 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/299246/my-hero-donald-trump.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/298795/generationvexed.htmlIt's time for a gut check. There are those who saw the spot as somehow exploitative and/or trivializing of serious social issues, such as racial justice, religious freedom, women's rights, police brutality and abuse of super-slow motion. Once again -- in hindsight -- these are fair points. But this was not a failure of strategy.Mon, 10 Apr 2017 08:03:03 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/298795/generationvexed.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/298318/pr-wild-pitches-spring-2017.htmlIn this semi-annual rite, Bob loses his patience with irrelevant press-release blasts and blasts right back.Mon, 03 Apr 2017 08:00:06 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/298318/pr-wild-pitches-spring-2017.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/297879/monkey-see-monkey-dont.htmlThe overall problem is that metadata for videos remains thin, and relies mainly on the tagging by posters, who don't typically label their work "hate speech" or "kill the Jews." And the technology for the semantic Web, AI, image screening and other means for detecting repulsive content is simply inadequate. Where porn, racism and gore are concerned, the flagging mechanisms are woefully intermittent.Mon, 27 Mar 2017 08:00:04 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/297879/monkey-see-monkey-dont.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/297403/window-window-in-the-wall.htmlThe ANA wants a window into the walled gardens. Fair enough. The gardens are so lush and inviting.Mon, 20 Mar 2017 08:00:05 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/297403/window-window-in-the-wall.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/296920/rushmore-idle-less.htmlAUSTIN, TEXAS -- The thing about SXSW is, it's eclectic. Pay no mind to the stereotype of bearded hipsters stumbling around actual reality trying to pioneer enhanced reality. On Saturday, I ran into so many other distinct characters pursuing distinct endeavors.Mon, 13 Mar 2017 08:00:06 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/296920/rushmore-idle-less.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/296390/know-your-media-and-consider-the-source.htmlNews Item: Under siege from Democrats and fellow Republicans about Attorney General Jeff Sessions' false confirmation-hearing testimony, President Trump took to Twitter over the weekend to change the subject, accusing his predecessor of illegally tapping his phones.Mon, 06 Mar 2017 08:00:06 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/296390/know-your-media-and-consider-the-source.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/295914/and-the-whiner-is.htmlAn annual tribute to all that is not real, by and for personas that are not real but inhabiting bodies that are, ahem, augmented reality, presuming to weigh in on political affairs that are all too real.Mon, 27 Feb 2017 08:08:02 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/295914/and-the-whiner-is.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/295475/the-zuckerberg-blog-post-first-draft.htmlTo our community: On our journey to rule the world, we often discuss products we're building and the promises we shall later renege on. Today I want to focus on the most important question of all: do we yet own your DNA?Mon, 20 Feb 2017 08:00:05 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/295475/the-zuckerberg-blog-post-first-draft.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/294978/and-it-is-so-decreed.htmlThe media, the intelligence agencies, the judiciary and next...Nordstrom?Mon, 13 Feb 2017 08:00:05 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/294978/and-it-is-so-decreed.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/294462/the-so-called-advertisers-talk-back.htmlThe real loser Sunday night was nothing less than Trumpism, which was repudiated bigly by the advertisers. Some of the biggest companies in the world spent fortunes to voice an alternative to the resentment, suspicion, fear, ignorance and blind hatred that brought Donald Trump to power.Mon, 06 Feb 2017 07:21:29 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/294462/the-so-called-advertisers-talk-back.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/293895/the-only-day-for-advertising.htmlIt's not just the Biggest Day for Advertising, it's kind of the Only Day for Advertising -- when armies of frightened marketers, agency people and production houses are at pains to come up withs something memorable. Naturally, this will not end well.Mon, 30 Jan 2017 09:05:04 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/293895/the-only-day-for-advertising.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/293415/how-to-instantly-repair-the-media-economy.htmlSEAN SPICER: We recognize the important role of a thriving media in a democracy, namely to blame it for all that we do wrong. As such, we're announcing that the Trump Administration will take charge.Mon, 23 Jan 2017 07:35:17 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/293415/how-to-instantly-repair-the-media-economy.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/292898/aint-nobody-here-but-us-chickens.htmlThere is no surprise in the news that FTC Chair Edith Ramirez is leaving the agency. And not just because a Republican will take the chair. It is because the FTC will basically cease to exist.Tue, 17 Jan 2017 07:44:00 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/292898/aint-nobody-here-but-us-chickens.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/292413/im-with-the-bandwidth.htmlHere are two sentences that don't seem to match: This may well be a watershed moment in marketing communication. AOL is at the vanguard.Mon, 09 Jan 2017 06:49:31 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/292413/im-with-the-bandwidth.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/291737/new-years-resolution-a-schnorrer-no-more.htmlThe stuff is out there. It's free. Why subscribe? Well, there are several reasons, and isn't it high time for publishers to get busy offering them?Tue, 03 Jan 2017 07:31:32 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/291737/new-years-resolution-a-schnorrer-no-more.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/291282/no-ifs-ands-or-bots.htmlBot: Are you interested in purchasing a Handi-Douse Kitchen Fire Extinguisher? Consumer: No, I'm interested in operating it. I have a fire in my kitchen.Mon, 19 Dec 2016 08:00:05 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/291282/no-ifs-ands-or-bots.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/290765/faking-cokegasm.htmlWhy has a succession of marketing chiefs tried to persuade us that Coke is a fixture in our larger emotional lives? It isn't. Coke is not, never has been and never will be a player.Mon, 12 Dec 2016 08:00:05 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/290765/faking-cokegasm.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/290272/good-grief.htmlHa! I knew I was right! "Get rid of Snoopy," I advised Met Life, in print, because, obviously, the ads were just a particularly saccharine form of celebrity endorsement. And because their Peanuts-ness distracted from whatever the given message was supposed to be. And because life insurance is as serious as a morbidity table and requires faith in the financial stability, stewardship and dependability of the insurer -- values not well communicated via whimsy. And because cartoon characters don't require insurance, because they are drawings.Mon, 05 Dec 2016 07:35:36 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/290272/good-grief.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/289797/versailles-of-belief.htmlPermit me to sit out the Great Media Apology Tour of 2016. Since election night, we have been fed a steady stream of mea culpas for the press's failure to see it all coming, and especially for negligently ignoring the fear, anxiety and despair in the Rust Belt, the oil patch and rural America. Benighted Trump voters were singing the Red America Blues while we elites were tuned to Live from the Met or some such.Mon, 28 Nov 2016 08:00:06 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/289797/versailles-of-belief.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/288924/the-night-mike-pence-twerked-drunken-gay-bar-fias.htmlFake news has been all the (out)rage in the past few days, as it emerged that incendiary phony stories -- almost all of them benefitting Donald Trump -- actually outperformed major news outlets on Facebook over the last three months of the presidential campaign.Mon, 21 Nov 2016 08:00:05 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/288924/the-night-mike-pence-twerked-drunken-gay-bar-fias.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/288414/beware-the-native-of-brazile.htmlFor CNN to air Democratic insiders like Donna Brazile and David Axelrod, and Trump proxies Cory Lewandowski and Jeffrey Lord is (to coin an adjective) deplorable. They are not commentators. They are shills, offering none of the insight, context, informed opinion or even insider knowledge the audience has the right to expect from opinion journalists. Rather, they are destined to say only what they deem beneficial to their candidate or party. Which makes them useless, and which makes CNN a nightly purveyor of consumer deception.Mon, 07 Nov 2016 07:09:00 -0500https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/288414/beware-the-native-of-brazile.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/287924/the-united-states-of-facebook.htmlIf you are concerned about democracy and consumer choice, direct your attention to "social distribution" -- a shift in publishing, and a threat to publishing independence, that's advancing at a breathtaking pace and scale. When you click on a Facebook Instant Article or an item from Google Amp, somewhere an important story is dying -- because social distribution, like high school and presidential campaigns, overwhelmingly benefits the popular.Mon, 31 Oct 2016 08:00:05 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/287924/the-united-states-of-facebook.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/287386/att-marketing-practices-part-ii-zeroing-in.htmlIf you are one of the handful of Americans who still watches commercials, you know that AT&T already offers subscribers of its recently acquired DirecTV subsidiary free streaming on its wireless network. You can watch a whole movie or next week's Eagles-Cowboys showdown without using any data from your plan. Now, if its announced $85.4 billion acquisition of Time-Warner goes through, presumably the same deal will apply for streaming CNN, TNT and HBO.Mon, 24 Oct 2016 05:55:59 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/287386/att-marketing-practices-part-ii-zeroing-in.htmlhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/286913/from-the-folks-who-brought-you-tyranny.htmlThe FTC warns that if it has no regulatory authority here, then wireless carriers, cloud networks, email platforms and others will be able to violate privacy, bait and switch prospects, throttle their networks and otherwise run roughshod over consumers of digital services -- which is to say: everyone. But the 9th Circuit told the government no dice.Mon, 17 Oct 2016 06:54:18 -0400https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/286913/from-the-folks-who-brought-you-tyranny.html