I Hate Ads: Archive

Factual inaccuracies in Matt Warman's anti-iPhone...

Matt Warman, “Consumer Technology Editor” for The Telegraph, posted an anti-iPhone tirade last Thursday on The Telegraph’s website, which has drawn a lot of criticism. The piece, 10 reasons not to buy Apple’s new iPhone was aimed to be controversial. This is fine. However, apparently Warman’s idea of controversy is to spread misinformation. This is not fine. Below...

Jun 7th

14 notes

“Mr. Jobs is indeed starting to behave like that other convicted monopolist we...”

– Stanislav Datskovskiy on Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs

Apr 16th

6 notes

Is the term "blog" used by online newspapers as an...

At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite – posting this on my blog – I’ve noticed that online newspapers have been using so-called “blogging” and using it as an excuse for lazy, shitty journalism. This allows the newspapers to post attention-grabbing headlines on their websites, without any substance behind them. Rather than a well-thought out, balanced, heavily researched...

Mar 29th

Nov 22nd

Learn from the best, learn from the worst

Today I bring you two stories (both via Daring Fireball). The first is about one of the best performing CEOs of our time, the second is an astonishing story from one of the world’s largest airlines and their spectacular fuck-up. The Best Fortune Magazine has named Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple as their CEO of The Decade. If you know me you’ll know I think this is an...

Nov 14th

Nov 7th

1 note

Nov 6th

http://ilovelocalcommercials.com/ →

If more ads were like this, this blog might not exist. Make sure you check out the “best of the web” section. Gold.

Nov 4th

The Choice Shonky Awards 2009 →

This years winners of Choice’s award for the shonkiest business practices in 2009 include L’Oreal, Uncle Toby’s, Qantas and Tiger Airways.

Oct 27th

Killing two birds with one stone →

This is really neat. Google are now using a technology designed to prevent spam and fraud to help translate old books and documents. Absolutely brilliant!

Oct 12th

“It was too easy for them; they were too successful raising money. If...”

– Paul Graham on The Trouble With The Segway

Sep 30th

http://www.youtube.com/fastforward →

A resource put together by Google for marketers, looks interesting.

Sep 23rd

Sep 20th

I’m 4 days late here, but Happy 10th Birthday Blogger! Although I chose not to use you, you’ve certainly changed the world palpably in your first decade.

Sep 12th

“The AFA pointed to an independent Australian Communications and Media Authority...”

– Well then, that changes everything (NB: sarcasm intended) http://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/view/afa-calls-for-evidence-in-advertising-ban-1539

Sep 6th

http://www.partyacrosstheinternet.com.au/ →

Check out this cool site from Lynx!

Aug 31st

Aug 30th

“We realised a long time ago that what you make people feel is more important...”

– BMW

Aug 29th

Nokia has just moved into the PC industry →

“After more than 25 years as a pioneer and leader in the mobile industry, Nokia will bring its rich mobility heritage and knowledge to the PC world with the new, Windows based, Nokia Booklet 3G.” This will be interesting. Too bad they didn’t choose a different OS, though.

Aug 24th

Still stuck in Hotmail-land?

Great news for those still stuck over in Hotmail land. Hotmail is now accessible using POP3 (POP3, how quaint*!). This means that you can now access your Hotmail through any email client you like, such as Mozilla Thunderbird or Apple Mail, and best of all, through Gmail! All you need to do is set up a Gmail account, go into the settings and add your hotmail account under POP3. You’ll then be...

Jul 26th

“Indeed, the incandescent bulb is turning into a case study of the way government...”

– While the Australian Government has mandated an incoming ban on incandescent light globes, the US has taken a different approach, setting energy efficiency standards For light globes and thus the industry has become an interesting case study in innovation; read the full story at NYTimes (via Daring...

Jul 6th

Jun 20th

90 notes

I haven't been doing my homework...

I have another confession to make… I haven’t been doing my homework. Part of what we’ve been told to do as marketing students is take in a lot of marketing communications from the world around us, including advertisements on TV, radio, junk mail, and so on. This morning I was trying to remember when the last time I actually watched broadcast TV was. I couldn’t. I honestly...

Jun 20th

When you've got nothing left to lose...

It’s no secret that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has been waning in popularity, with some statistics showing IE’s global browser usage market share hitting a new low of 65.8% this year as Firefox continues it’s phenomenal growth (22.56%) and new browsers such as Google Chrome (1.58%) and Apple Safari (8.3%) diversify the market. So when flat out lies and deception still...

Jun 19th

squashed: Barack Obama has asked Cass Sunstein to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. If you’ve heard of a law professor (who isn’t Lawrence Lessig), it’s probably Cass Sunstein. Sunstein recently wrote a book called Nudge in which he advocated what he called a sort of “paternal libertarianism.” While the name should send shivers down libertarian’s spines, the idea is pretty...

Apr 20th

Apr 6th

Apr 1st

I hate blogs with no Older/Newer or Previous/Next buttons…

Apr 1st

Mar 31st

“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People...”

– Steve Jobs, via Daring Fireball

Mar 21st

Dec 9th

Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging →

Here’s another great example of Making People Happy. Amazon are working with their suppliers to ship their goods in easy-to-open packaging. This also means the packaging doesn’t need to be put inside another box for shipping, and that the packaging is also highly recyclable. A fantastic idea, in recognition of the different requirements and priorotoes of physical retail and online...

Nov 3rd

Sensis concedes defeat to Google →

Part of great marketing is recognising your strengths and weaknesses, and those of your competitors. Sensis has recognised that they’ll never beat Google Maps for market-share in the online maps and search industry, and if you can’t beat them, join them! That Yellow Pages directory listings will now be available to consumers through Google Maps comes as welcome news to customers of...

Nov 2nd

Marketing Today Episode 78 →

Hear me on the latest episode of Marketing Today with Peter Wagstaff and Colin Jevons. Not available on iTunes yet for some reason.

Oct 28th

Quality vs. advertising needed

This post is a response to Zac reposting this diagram with the title “Purple Cow”: The sentiment here is right. It reflects this quote I posted a while ago, attributed to industrial designer Yyves Behar: “Advertising is the price you pay for being unoriginal.” Of course, while they ring true to some degree, both the quote and the graph are overly simplistic - but...

Oct 22nd

A very simplistic definition

marketing (verb) Making people happy. Yes, I have a very rosy view of the world. But isn’t this essentially what we’re trying to do? Perhaps it’s a naive definition, as there are certainly those that are in the game just to profit. But surely the best way to secure a profit is to make people happy. Discuss.

Oct 16th

Oct 8th

There's Nothing There →

A brilliant post by John Gruber on Microsoft’s advertising campaign and their branding in general.

Sep 20th

Watch

Here’s another reason I’m not so fond of ads: sometimes they just make my head hurt. Like this Microsoft one, part of a $300m campaign. What in the hell are they trying to achieve???

Sep 6th

Some food for thought

In 2000, Google launched AdWords, changing the entire landscape of internet advertising. AdWords is now Google’s main source of revenue, earning over $16 billion for Google last year. AdWords refers to the contextual text ads which now populate many sites on the internet. Three short lines of text related to the content on the page they’re displayed on. They include ads on the...

Sep 4th

Aug 10th

Jul 27th

Jul 22nd

Jul 19th

Bad apple

Apple is a company I have a great deal of respect for and their marketing of late has been pretty damn good. Most of all this comes down to their fantastic products which sell themselves, something I believe should be the cornerstone of any marketing campaign. Their new 3G iPhone is no exception; a truly remarkable product. I also tend to think of Apple as a respectable company, with their...

Jun 13th

Web 2.0 terminology

Wiki A website, or the software used to create such a website, in which users can easily create, edit and modify the content of interlinked pages using a standard web browser with a simplified mark-up language. Wikipedia A large and well-known Wiki site used as an encyclopedia, operated by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Please don’t use these terms interchangeably, they have...

Jun 13th