Last night, Coca-Cola aired a new 2-minute anti-obesity ad that looks more like a public service announcement than a commercial. Is anyone buying the mega-corporation's attempts at rebranding itself as a health-focused company? Cindy Gallop, an advertising consultant who focuses on brand reinvention, has been watching the new Coca-Cola campaign closely.
Yesterday The Weather Channel announced that they want to "proactively name winter storms" freeing us from the uncreative "blizzard of 2007" construction. Cindy Gallop, an ad consultant and former chairman of BBH New York, explains the move.
"The glass cliff" — it's a concept coined by two female University of Exeter professors that has since been used to analyze gender roles in senior leadership for companies that are struggling to keep above ground.
Actress Ashley Judd is again in the media spotlight for slamming the media spotlight. This week, Judd penned an article in Daily Beast about her appearance — specifically her so-called "puffy face" — and the media’s obsession with it. Mary Elizabeth Williams writes about women and the media as a Staff Writer for Salon. Cindy Gallop is an advertising consultant and former chairwoman of the advertising agency BBH.
Last month The Takeaway discussed "All-American Muslim," TLC's latest reality show. In the month that the show has been on air, the Florida Family Association mounted a campaign against the program. Last week, one of the show's advertisers, Lowe's, announced that they would no longer run their ads on "All-American Muslim." "Lowe's has received a significant amount of communication on this program, from every perspective possible," the company's statement said. "Individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic, and this program became a lightning rod for many of those views."
After Steve Jobs died on Wednesday, many reflected on his innovations, and how they changed what the world has come to expect from technology. His intuitive understanding of design and human psychology helped him to create a user-friendly approach to high-tech computing which, in turn, made Apple one of the most popular brands in the world.
In the coming months, the domain ".xxx" will become available to pornographic websites — and PETA wants in. Many companies are planning to buy the domain in order to stop X-rated sites from using their brand name with the new .xxx domain. But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, no stranger to provocative methods of gaining attention, is going to do so with the full intent of making its .xxx domain name deliver nothing less than what those three letters imply — all in the name of animal rights, of course.
Advertising consultant, Cindy Gallop, reacts to the news that Disney has applied to trademark "Seal Team 6," the name of the elite unit that carried out the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound. She says she's torn between admiration for how swiftly Disney jumped in combined with "absolute horror at the idea of this" as it is "completely at odds with the way we've been appreciating the activities of Seal Team 6." Does this trademark reduce the seriousness of the brand?
Listeners have responded to the news as well.
Jason Chubb Custer Veith writes on our Facebook wall: So Disney wants to trademark "Seal Team Six." Why not? The way this Country is headed it will not be too long until our entire Government is run by corporations anyway.
The slogans “Yes We Can” and “Change We Can Believe In” transformed then-Senator Barack Obama’s underdog bid for presidency into a frenzied, anti-incumbency movement that launched him to the Oval Office. Fast forward to today, and President Barack Obama has officially begun his re-election bid, though the word “change” is probably the last one he wants to hear.
We often hear debates about whether porn exploits women in the industry or plants seeds of immorality in the children who so easily access it online. But Cindy Gallop is more concerned with another question: What does porn do to both men and women – in terms of how they think about intimacy? Cindy is the creator of the website “Make Love Not Porn" and the author of “Make Love, Not Porn: Technology's Hardcore Impact on Human Behavior.”
The rainbow and the rainbow flag have represented LGBT issues and gay rights since the 1970s. But now a group is saying it wants that to stop. The leader of a National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has asked opponents of marriage equality to reclaim the symbol from "the gay lobby," saying that the rainbow is "a sign of God's covenant with man." But can anyone really take ownership of a group of colors?
Smokers going to buy a pack of cigarettes will soon be greeted with a warning label containing graphic images of dead bodies, blackened organs and women crying. As of 2011, the Food and Drug Administration will require cigarette packs and ads to show more detailed images of the consequences of smoking, and 36 images (pdf) (some of them fairly graphic) have been approved. But how effective will this approach be in preventing smokers from lighting up?
In the wake of Arizona's new immigration law, the state is facing a growing public relations problem, and big potential losses in tourism and other forms of revenue. Everyone from convention-goers to bands on tour are avoiding the state, and the city of Phoenix predicts a loss of $90 million over the next five years because of these cancellations. We want to know from you: If you were to rebrand YOUR state, what slogan would you come up with? Tell us in six words or fewer.
Have former governors Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee chosen to forgo politics in order to cultivate their celebrity status? That's the view of our guest, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, who writes in an op-ed this week that both candidates chose to cash in on their celebrity following the 2008 elections, instead of working towards wider policy and governing experience. We also speak with Cindy Gallop, an advertising consultant and former chair of the advertising agency BBH.
President Obama is addressing a joint session of Congress tonight. His mission? To sell health care reform. In what may be the pitch of his presidency, President Obama hopes to jumpstart the debate that has stalled over the summer while critics of his health proposals dominated many public forums and his approval ratings dropped. To help President Obama get in touch with his inner Willie Loman and sell health care reform to a seemingly skeptical audience, we have gathered a roundtable of experts: Ted Widmer is a former speechwriter for Bill Clinton; Lisa Schiffren is a former speechwriter for Vice President Dan Quayle; and Cindy Gallop, an advertising consultant and former chair of ad agency BBH.
This Sunday, AMC kicks off the third season of its runaway hit, Mad Men. Set in 1960’s New York City, the show celebrates the world-weary cool of the Madison Avenue advertising world. It also portrays an America in transition, having passed through the doldrums of the Eisenhower era and not yet ready for the free lovin’ Woodstock nation. For a look at what this year’s Mad Men brings to the small screen, we are joined by Eric Deggans. He is the television and media critic for the St. Petersburg Times. And to gauge if Mad Men gets the advertising world right, we are joined by Cindy Gallop. She is an advertising consultant and former chairman of the advertising agency BBH.
Courtesy of AMC TV, here's the finale of season 2:
As much as the world of journalism is having to react and evolve quickly due to the proliferation of blogs and social networking sites like Twitter taking over much of the fast-paced reporting, so too does the world of advertising. In the face of technological advances like TiVo, which allow viewers to fast forward over their very bread-and-butter, ad agencies and the companies they represent are having to get very creative to capture consumers' attention. To discuss the brave new world of 30-second spot- free advertising, we turn to advertising consultant and former chairman of ad agency BBH, Cindy Gallop.
Here's how one company is handling the change in advertising:
Consumers are spending less money, so companies are using increasingly aggressive advertising techniques to compete for dwindling dollars. Does bashing your competitors help or hurt? Advertising consultant Cindy Gallop joins The Takeaway to describe the fierce ad climate.
"It's the brands that project the most confidence in themselves that can sell themselves on their own merits, and not attack the competition, that will ultimately succeed."
— Advertising consultant Cindy Gallop on advertising in the recession
This Domino's commercial is an example of the battle of the brands. Take a look.
Defining Normal After a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia, The Mayor of Oklahoma City, A New Kind of Commencement Speech
The DSM and Mental Health in America
Lessons From a Female Union Electrician
Diplomatic Damage Caused by Drone Strikes, In Defense of the DSM-5, Bob Woodruff's Advice for New Grads
Defining Normal After a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
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