idea blog

Marketing commentary for better. Or worse.

23 Jan '14

Redefining “Real Beauty,” Part II.

More on redefining beauty, from Dove. And it’s local! (The film was shot in Great Barrington, MA, and directed by Smith alum Cynthia Wade.) And then there’s this, from Hungary:

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22 Jan '14

To Airbrush Or Not To Airbrush? Redefining “Real Beauty,” Part I

There’s been a lot of buzz in the air lately over airbrushing. After Jezebel reportedly offered $10,000 for un-retouched photos of Lena Dunham’s Vogue photo-shoot, it suddenly turned into a referendum on female beauty standards and the ethics of this kind of image editing (and marketing). Not that we haven’t been here before. But Lingerie company…

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20 Jan '14

Why Spike Jonze’s “Her” Is Actually A Movie About Marketing

So, I saw Spike Jonze’s “Her” on Wednesday, at the AMC Loews in Boston.  If you haven’t heard about the movie, it’s that one where the guy falls in love with his computer. (Actually, it’s his new operating system – the “OS1.”) And the operating system is played – or, more accurately, voiced – by Scarlett Johanssen….

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15 Jan '14

Viral Watch: Obama Does Gaga.

Okay, this one’s pretty good. Supporting the #getcovered campaign for the Affordable Care Act. Not bad, Barack. Not bad.

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06 Jan '14

Aliens or Marketers?

If you were marketing the tagline “impossibly advanced” for a tech company, what kind of tactic might you resort to? How about a crop circle: That’s exactly what computer graphics company NVIDIA created to attract attention to their latest mobile processor, the 192-core Tegra K1. Measuring 310 feet in diameter, the circle was mown into a…

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