Tag: Advertising

  • Being Broke Is Changing Ethics In Journalism

    Being Broke Is Changing Ethics In Journalism

    Jonathan Snowden wrote an incredibly thoughtful article about ethics in MMA media, and journalism more broadly. What Snowden points out is just how arbitrary the lines of ethics often are in reporting. I have another point. The ethical lines in reporting are changing, because they cannot be sustained. Look, I’m an ad agency demon who…

  • The AI Anti-Utopia, And Other Stories

    The AI Anti-Utopia, And Other Stories

    Software is replacing artists and writers who enjoy their work while warehouse staffers pee in bottles to make quota. AI is turning into a shitty anti-utopia. As I write this, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike for 28 days. In a negotiation with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers…

  • The Advertising Pyramid Scheme

    The Advertising Pyramid Scheme

    The advertising economy is starting to resemble a collection of interconnected multi-level marketing schemes. Some kind of intermediary firm sits atop each pyramid brokering the serving of ads to eyeballs. Under that are ad agencies, and tech firms that work on sales and bid management. The bottom are ad buyers, perhaps too few to sustain…

  • The Business of Helping Build Businesses

    The Business of Helping Build Businesses

    This goes out to freelancers and those who run professional service companies. Are you building a business or helping others build theirs? It can be both. But that requires awareness, caution, and focus. 

  • Ad Fed Brains, And Other Stories

    Ad Fed Brains, And Other Stories

    People absorb information passively. Humans can, of course, intently study; but few can fully switch off passive learning. This gives advertising incredible power over people they do not recognize. I vividly remember a multi-month period in my childhood when headlines about Tylenol overdoses dominated the nightly news. I also remember Aleve’s commercial saying, “Just two…

  • Stephen King’s Happiness Is A Twitter Success Metric

    Stephen King’s Happiness Is A Twitter Success Metric

    As a writer, Stephen King is famous, prolific, and respected. He’s published over 70 novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. Whatever brain chemicals Stephen King gets from using Twitter is all he receives from his free work to add value to the platform. Since King has perhaps the fewest reasons to use Twitter of any famous…

  • Advertising Scams With MrBeast and Cory Doctorow

    Advertising Scams With MrBeast and Cory Doctorow

    Every digital advertising platform wants more revenue and less expense. Policing ad quality is an expense, whereas advertising, whether the purpose is legitimate or not, generates revenue. Only when the economic incentives shift due to public outrage, demands from large advertisers or investor pressure will the companies in a position to stop advertisements of scams…

  • Is Online Ads Management A ‘High Demand’ Skill?’

    Is Online Ads Management A ‘High Demand’ Skill?’

    Every “learn that high demand skill [online ads]” course is bull shit. How do I know? Because I’ve run an absolutely obscene amount of digital ads, and I just had to explain to a VP of marketing that advertising online is actually still relevant. I’ve been managing client ads since 2013, and I’ve run well…

  • Snake Oil Sales Dominant Social Media

    Snake Oil Sales Dominant Social Media

    Snake oil sales dominate social media to the extent that burns my eyes. Instagram booty models want me to buy a useless detox tea, and if you call out a guru selling the word salad to success, they will flag your YouTube video for copyright infringement. All while the MD’s of Twitter, are either cringing…

  • Online Gurus Are Beyond Parody

    Online Gurus Are Beyond Parody

    I used to make videos mocking the folks you see in ads on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. selling you some form of info product. I had to stop, because, while standing in front of a U-Haul place and talking about the haters who will claim I the great, “Dutch Ovens” don’t own all these trucks,…

  • How-To Course Market Saturation Index

    How-To Course Market Saturation Index

    People often love simple correlation metrics, in part because (aside from post hoc fallacies, like more ice cream means more murder), correlation can be an easy indicator of a broader trend. My favorite correlation metric example is the Hot Waitress Index, so dubbed by Hugo Lindgren in an article for New York Magazine. Lindgren’s point,…

  • Partner Or Employee With Extra Steps?

    Partner Or Employee With Extra Steps?

    This morning I saw a post by Paul O’Brien titled “A VC is asking 6% for acting as an advisor…” – My first thought, that is some b******t – O’Brien agreed. His post is well worth reading, and it lead me down another thought pathway. When you give out a lot of equity, you are…