Archives: March 2007

Underperformance Plus 5% Often Still Equals Underperformance

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 30

Time Inc. Shutters Life, Mediaweek, 3/26/07 The iconic title, which will continue to operate online and through its books, had begun to find its footing after a rocky start since...

Bob Garfield: Chaos, A.D.

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 28

My former Ad Age colleague Bob Garfield has just penned a sequel to his “Chaos Scenario” treatise from April 2005. (The original--Chaos, B.C., I guess--is here.) By “Chaos Scenario” he...

Has Britney Spears People-ized TMZ.com?

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 27

Anyone thinking that fast-growing site TMZ.com is strictly takedown- or gawker-central (that's gawker the concept, not gawker the site) evidently hasn't seen the valentines they're sending to the nation's best-known...

Democratic Party's Media Bias Revealed

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 23

The just-out Rolling Stone has an interesting piece that points to an achilles heel of Democratic Presidential campaigns: the media consultant. Money quote (emphasis mine): The party's campaign strategists operate...

NewTube: Biggest Launch of a Non-Existent Product Since The iPhone

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 22

Oh, the ways we can peel today's news apart. For starters, I was convinced when I wrote this a few months back that none of this could even get this...

Whoa. Just: Whoa.

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 20

The New York Times Co. reports its February revenues. It is not pretty: The New York Times Company announced today that in February 2007 advertising revenues from continuing operations decreased...

Advertiser’s Attempt To Become Network Has Bumpy Beginning

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 16

I wrote a column recently about some interesting marketing moves from Anheuser Busch that, among other things, dealt with bud.tv, the company’s $30 million bid to program its own Web...

More Famous Redundant Quotes That Are Famous!

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 13

"But in this ever changing world in which we live in. . . " --Paul McCartney, singing Wings' "Live and Let Die." "Only time will tell if we stand the...

Now Taking Bets On How Long Before YouTube and Viacom Kiss And Make Up

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 13

The first shoe drops: Viacom sues YouTube for a billion-plus dollars, claiming "massive, intentional" copyright infringement. Is it the last shoe to fall? Probably not. Is this the end of...

Hello, Larry And The Death Of The Sitcom Theme Song

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 12

A colleague forwarded me the below YouTube clip. He advised me to watch all the way to the end, in order to catch the supporting star who pops up out...

The Music Business Is Unbundling The Song. Now The Newspaper Business Unbundling The Paragraph

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 08

The Washington Post's Frank Ahrens' writes today about how the tiny local newspaper remains a good business. (My BusinessWeek colleague Tom Lowry previously did an excellent piece on the same...

Sighted: The Limits Of The User-Generated Ad

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 06

I have very little patience for arguments that hinge on exalting “professional” content over “amateur” stuff. Much of that divide came about when there was more scarcity in distribution back...