29 Past the Hour

Ken Hanson, CEO of Hanson Dodge Creative, gives us this primer of symptoms ailing brands have in common.

2012 might not be the worst year agencies and marketers have seen but it definitely won’t be the best, either, reports Andrew McMains in AdWeek.

There are lots of ways to ruin your company blog, but these six are among the most egregious.

Via Inc.com by Jeff Haden

Tis the season, so beware of corporate gifts that might leave the wrong impression.

Via Portfolio.com

Across the board, corporate speak is out of control. In places where corporate types gather to hawk their corporate skills, it’s bound to be worse. LinkedIn suggests buzzwords are not helping us and may be hurting us.

Via Social Times

goodmenproject:

Lisa Hickey wonders why we seem to have a problem with people who are clear, direct and assertive.

I was sitting in the audience at my first advertising award show, and creative people who were my heroes would parade on stage to get their silver bowls. I watched and grew aware that everyone who walked up on stage was male, so I started looking out for the women creatives–art directors, copywriters, creative directors –to walk on stage. None and none and none. Finally a woman’s name was called, and barely had she stood up to begin her walk down the aisle when the stranger to the right of me whispered, “I heard she’s a bitch.”

I let it slide, continued to watch as several more guys walked on stage, to murmers of “wow,” “so creative,” “what talent.” Finally another woman’s name was called, and as she walked up on stage a voice from somewhere to the left of me rang out, “Too bad she’s such a bitch.”

I had just started my first job in advertising and was dumbstruck. How could it be, I thought, that the only award-winning creative women in New England were both bitches?

Read the rest of this story…»>

A strong brand can make it enormously easier to sell. However, the notion that “branding” can create a great brand is a myth. Worse, it’s a myth that can cost you a lot of money, without getting much in return.

Via Inc by Geoffrey James

goodmenproject:

Being a manipulative asshole was one of the Apple visionary’s keys to business success, but it was also something he tried to recover from outside of the professional sphere.

I read and loved every single word of the new Steve Jobs biography—I admit it. But not because it reinforced the view that Jobs is our generation’s Einstein. Not because it detailed his legendary technological vision. I loved it because the book got underneath all that to the complexity of being an artist, a genius, a perfectionist, a child abandoned by his birth parents, a father, a husband, and most of all, a raging asshole.

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The old refrains are well known—you can be anything, do what you love, make yourself indispensable—but may not reveal the path to the top … Career advice comes cheap, so be careful what you buy into.

Via Forbes by Jenna Goudreau