Youth Say Anti-Vaping Ads, Most Initiatives Miss the Mark

July 22, 2019 As a former ad agency creative director, when I saw a bunch of Muppets trash-talking the Juul brand for an e-cigs PSA pitch I quickly went into “what the bleep” mode wondering how the branding could be so off the mark. I’m a huge fan of the former Truth Initiative campaign that used a ‘lift and reveal’ tonality of covert, corrupt tactics spotlighting the … [Read more...]

Socially Responsible Picture Books: Dream Village Part 2

Mar. 23, 2010 Today I was honored to be the guest speaker at SFSU Professor Betsy Blosser’s Media & Social Change class, and brought a gazillion examples of cool work being done in the digital sphere ranging from Beth Kanter’s social media fundraising for Cambodian orphans to our own collaborative global effort with The Age of Conversation co-authors to benefit Variety the … [Read more...]

Rachel Simmons Tonight at GunnHS, Palo Alto!

Sept. 24, 2009 S.F. Bay Area readers, reminder Rachel Simmons is speaking TONIGHT for free at Palo Alto's Gunn High School (details here) about her new book The Curse of the Good Girl (living proof of same right here with yours truly, heh) I interviewed Rachel Simmons about what all has transpired in media and marketing since her decade of research on relational … [Read more...]

Youth Advice Slinger With A Story to Tell: Josh Shipp

June 8, 2009 One week ago today I watched Josh Shipp, a guy who self-defined as a high school class clown with hair that “looks like a chia pet” open the Ypulse Youth Marketing “Mashup” as keynote speaker. Josh Shipp is the kind of guy who charismatically creates a following like the Piped Piper, and ends up senior class president on a lark (he used the slogan “Shipp … [Read more...]