• So Gay
    Some things are just universal. In the case of teenagers, for example, it's pretty much expected they'll spout off incendiary things at their peers, parents and anyone else unfortunate enough to stand within a 50-foot radius.
  • Run Willie Run
    As Sarah "Drill, baby, drill!" Palin toured Midtown Manhattan photo ops, two charismatic biodiesel missionaries were preaching renewable energy at NYU - along with the spirit (and namesake biodiesel) of Willie Nelson. Nik Bristow and Brian Pierce, copywriters for Fitzgerald & Co., prepared Willie One, a Volkswagen Jetta fueled by BioWillie, for the first-ever "green" cross-country Cannonball Run, dubbed WillieRun.
  • D-Day
    Guns N' Roses fans have waited 17 years for a new album, but technology has not. In October, Universal Music was rumored to be hunting for an interactive agency to market Chinese Democracy, due out this month (and they really, really mean it this time). Around the same time, fan sites lit up with the news that Best Buy was taking pre-orders online. And this summer, a blogger was arrested on suspicion of posting nine unreleased tracks (nine! almost the whole album!) online.
  • You Go (Away), Girl
    In these tough economic times (see Page 11), even the kings of publishing with the most luxurious offices must cut back to make ends meet. Yes, Hearst has shuttered its second magazine this year. This time, it threw CosmoGirl out of its big, shiny tower and onto her Abercrombie-clad behind.
  • Ratings Maverick
    Not everyone stays home on Saturday nights, least of all just to watch Saturday Night Live. But, as Integrated Media Measurement Inc. found out, no one has to worry about missing Tina Fey mimic vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's "fancy pageant walkin'" because they were at the bar instead.
  • Flat Screen
    Looks like advertisers are facing an awkward step into the third dimension. At IBC2008 - the international video trade schmooze-fest that recently wrapped in Amsterdam - TV vendors and producers were agog over 3-D production. Gear-makers like Samsung and Hitachi were on hand pushing their new 3-D TVs. Hollywood production shops were out in force, hyping the several-dozen 3-D films due out in 2009. And there is talk of live simulcast 3-D events in movie theaters by the end of the year: The NBA is already producing the All-Star game in 3-D.
  • Silent Auction Site
    People are gambling with eBay. We mean, literally. As in: in Vegas. Since April, eBay-themed slot machines manufactured and distributed by IGT have been popping up in casinos across the nation.
  • Stopping the Presses
    This is not another newspaper obituary. But, more than a hundred years since its first edition, The Christian Science Monitor will literally stop its daily presses this coming April. The Monitor, long recognized for its reliable journalism, will adopt a "Web-first strategy, supplemented by a large-format weekly print product," says John Yemma, editor-in-chief.
  • Everybody Play the Game
    Fluid, agile, dynamic, nimble: That's how agencies and marketers are expected to be these days, always in a position to react to discoveries and changes in the culture or marketplace. Innovation and ideas flow in real time online, and in order to be part of the conversation, you have to be fast. Everyone agrees on that at this point. Well, they do in theory. But in real life, it seems the structures and processes on both the agency side and the client side are designed to prevent this at all costs.
  • Running with an Idea
    A thriving community was an unexpected plus for Nike. Nike + Apple = run with the music you love. It was a no-brainer. But when Nike let runners connect and compete, its marketing effort went down a new path.
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