Archive for September, 2009
District 9 Ad Campaign
Published under Advertising (good vs misleading), Funnies, Innovation Sep 08, 2009PC vs Mac: behind the scene
Published under Advertising (good vs misleading), Innovation Sep 08, 2009Devin Leonard wrote an excellent article [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/business/media/30ad.html?_r=1&sq=hey%20pc&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print] about the epic advertising rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. It includes nice lessons & insights for students of advertising.
Feedback about Feedback
Published under Entrepreneurship and Management, Introspection, Leadership Sep 06, 2009Alina Tugend wrote a piece last week in the New York Times that I think contains some valuable insights about how to give and receive criticism.
About Van Jones and Partisan Politics
Published under Leadership, Philanthropy, Science and Technology, United States Sep 06, 2009Very few people in my life have struck me as much as Van Jones for being as exceptionally inspiring, as extraordinarily sincere in their commitment to help improve the lot of others, and as leaders with such well rounded qualifications as Van’s.
Van is a fellow "Young Global Leader" from the World Economic Forum and the subject of a Skoll/Sundance "Stories of Change" documentary. I have known him for many years in very intimate settings, including in international settings where someone else could have been negative about the US or extreme in some sense, but this was never the case with Van Jones.
Van is all about positively inspiring others – and he does that like few others. There is not one bone in Van that is not authentic.
His resignation from the US Administration today – apparently provoked by dirty partisan politics – is a sad step for all Americans. He had been appointed as the "Green Czar" with a brilliant concept of tackling two problems at once with an entrepreneurial solution: overcome disenfranchisement and unemployment of inner-city youth, and address climate change challenges and lack of US competitiveness in the green industry by building programs that train young people with green manufacturing and green industry skills.
Whoever engineered these silly attacks may have won a battle but will lose the war: Van will not be stopped from doing great work for America and the world, and this forced attention at least puts a spotlight on an extraordinary public leader that deserves our support.
People ask me why I hate partisan politics – this is Exhibit #1.
Ben & Jerry’s at the forefront of progressive marketing
Published under Entrepreneurship and Management, Leadership, Marketing, PeaceWorks Business, United States Sep 01, 2009Ben Cohen, one of my mentors and founding Board members of PeaceWorks, is truly one of the great social marketing geniuses of all time. Much of the reason for it is that he BELIEVES in what he does.
And now they did it again, with, as my team member Phil shared, "a gutsy (and arguably brilliant) branding move" – to rename "Chubby Hubby" to "Hubby Hubby" in support of marriage equality.