Howard Davidson Arlington, MA

Marketing Guy – Arlington, MA

Fear Factor of Prankvertising

Advertising is getting into the reality TV kick, and I don’t mean those “We’ve secretly replaced Mary Holgrom’s coffee with Folgers Crystals,” spots, either.  Ad agencies are hitting up prankvertising fear factor style. No, marketers are staging high-octane scenes with seemingly unwitting participants, a technique called “prankvertising”.  It puts unsuspecting folks in heart-stopping situations where […]

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Millennial Apathy Chews into Gum Profits at Wrigley

Creative destruction is a staple of the free market, but somehow I just never considered the possibility that gum would ever be at risk of becoming unpopular. After all, it’s been a staple of American life for more than a century now.  But these days, millennial apathy is chewing into gum profits at Wrigley. But […]

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Stormtroopers Hawk Nissan, Individualism

Lucasfilm has let Nissan borrow the iconic Star Wars Stormtroopers for a spot touting the carmarker’s Juke.  There’s little to the ad except Stormtroopers getting Juke envy when they spy the car, which sports red paint and a white racing stripe.  By the end, the Stormtroopers have adopted the Juke’s individualized color scheme. It’s all […]

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JCPenney Sounds the Back to School Battle Cry in New Ads

Remember the first day back at school? Does that gauntlet of high-stakes social gymnastics send existential shivers down your spine? Well, JCPenney’s new Back to School ad campaign certainly hopes so. The department store chain has had their fair share of troubles lately – investor Bill Ackman’s departure chief among them – so it seems […]

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If You Are Happy, Coke Says You Should Be Moving

By Howard Davidson Arlington MA If you are you happy because you watch commercials? Do you watch commercials because you are happy? If you watch Coca-Cola’s new ad, you’ll see that if you are happy, Coke says you should be moving. With advertising animation guru Johnny Kelly at the helm, the ad follows the happy […]

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The Egg McMuffin Reaches Its Midlife Crisis?

Posted By – Howard Davidson Arlington MA It’s been 40 years since the oozy, celluloid McMuffin has been introduced to breakfast eaters in the USA.  But has the McMuffin reached a midlife crisis At first, it was quite a feat in itself to get people to go to a fast-food chain in the morning – […]

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Mello Yello Steers A Comeback With NHRA

Posted By – Howard Davidson Arlington MA Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Dr. Pepper: soda royalty. But what happened to the runt of the family, Mello Yello? Scarcely seen, if not entirely M.I.A for the past fifteen years, Mello Yello is but a fading memory except for maybe that jingle. The super sweet and fuzzy […]

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Howard Davidson Arlington MA