Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

The likability of ‘Teflon’ John Key

I’ve only seen John Key when his ‘show face’ has been on, but even then he seemed to me to be what this interviewer, Adam Dudding, calls ‘Teflon’. It’s claimed in Nicky Hager’s book The Hollow Men that Key gave an assurance of support to Bill English for the National Party leadership but switched his vote […]

Psychic TV

Oh My God. I just watched the classic Bond movie From Russia With Love which finished just before half-past midnight. At the end of a satisfying, anachronistic and nostalgic motion picture experience, and as Matt Monroe started to croon through the theme song (er, no thanks Matt), I flicked around the other channels and came […]

Misinformation experts

Not a ‘Vast Right Wing Conspiracy’ This in-depth investigation conducted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund reveals not a vast right-wing conspiracy behind the rise of Islamophobia in our nation but rather a small, tightly networked group of misinformation experts guiding an effort that reaches millions of Americans through effective advocates, media partners, […]

Renting ‘The Mentalist’. For credibility?

ANZ Bank has just started running some TV spots featuring Australian actor Simon Baker in his fabulous Patrick Jane/The Mentalist role. (Tag: “I know what you’re thinking…”) It’s kinda odd, seeing and hearing him spruiking for the bank in character, but oh well. There’s been a small amount of backlash to the ads in Australia […]

Polygamy Porter. Why have just one!

My pal Ross brought this beer back from the US for me, following a discussion we had about the multiple marriages of certain church elders. It’s a dark beer called Polygamy Porter … and as well as the Rubens-esque label it carries the tagline: ‘Why have just one!’ (sic — no question mark.) Why indeed? […]

Three golden rules of crisis management

There’s a worthwhile story How the jersey row unravelled a brand in the NZ Herald today about the ‘furore’ engulfing Adidas prompted by over-pricing the All Blacks souvenir/supporters’ jersey to New Zealanders. Dumb actions (like pressuring online retailers to ban sales to NZ @!#**!) and untruthful/implausible statements from  Adidas executives only made things worse, as Geoff […]

Smoke gets in your eyes, Carrick?

Tonight TV3 broadcast an Inside New Zealand documentary: Dying for a Smoke, highlighting some of the health issues and the political debate around suggested moves to increase controls on the sale of tobacco products —  and even suggestions to eliminate tobacco products from the country by 2020 … which strikes me as a pipe dream, […]

On a collision course

I briefly mentioned in passing the small c ‘controversy’ generated by blogger Martyn ‘Bomber’ Bradbury loudly expressing his opinion about whether or not blogger Cactus Kate (Cathy Odgers) was suitable ACT MP candidate material. ‘Hell no’ Bradbury says (or words to that effect) because he says she’s a ‘far right hate merchant’ who has previously […]

It’s only ‘propaganda’ if you’re talking about the other side, right, Carrick?

A few days ago in the context of the public discourse around plain packaging legislation for tobacco products, No wonder tobacco co.s are SQUEALING … I briefly mentioned a PR flack who appears to be an advocate (paid or unpaid? Not clear) for Tobacco manufacturers. This spin doctor* Carrick Graham follows me on Twitter and […]

Richard Nixon’s dirty dirty tricks alive and well in 2011

I’m still reading Nixonland by Rick Perlstein, initially prompted by the mention of Fox News’s Roger Ailes‘s early work as a Nixon operative. Ailes is credited with teaching Nixon how to succeed in the world of television — by bending reality, faking news events and running highly staged ‘impromptu’ candidate meetings with ‘off the cuff’ […]

No wonder tobacco co.s are SQUEALING …

I follow a guy on Twitter who seems to be an apologist or spin doctor (paid or unpaid, I don’t know) for tobacco interests. This self-described ‘Public Affairs and Issues Management Specialist’ has been salting his tweets with messages baiting anti smoking groups like ASH (are they listening? Dunno) and filling the echo chamber with […]

Black hat techniques

Reminded me of Review: An odious little volume… – P

Getting around ad blockers …

We discuss web browser ad-blockers like Safari Adblock here from time to time, and since I use one routinely I enjoy a pretty much ad-free environment … so of course the heat is on to find ways to get around it. Here’s the Huffington Post’s latest attempt … ‘sponsor generated content‘: Still, without Safari Adblock […]

Sean Wood and Steve Goodey: Read the fine print

Oh boy! These, apparently, are the terms and conditions of the ‘lucky prize draw’ I referred to in my post Calling all gullible gamblers! They seem very complicated — totalling 1,114 words. An ‘Entrant Selection Draw’ followed by a separate ‘Main Prize Draw’ wherein a lucky punter (who needed to be physically be in the […]

Accountants promoting internet get-rich-quick? Good grief.

We briefly discussed fool’s gold last week … do any readers of ThePaepae.com recognise this name: WORLD INTERNET SUMMIT? I seem to recall Shaun Stenning and his overblown and ill-fated snipr and twalk schemes were hyperbolically promoted at something like this? (See how that worked out here: Is this how Shaun Stenning handles a request […]