Reading that Paramount greenlighted the Frazier reboot with Kelsey Grammer for a second season reminded me of a product placement for the ages. As part of our Sony consumer electronics assignment at the time, we supported Aibo, a robotic dog. While I love B2B tech, periodically landing in consumer space delivers a nice change of …more
A recent interview on NPR’s Fresh Air caught my attention. Terry Gross is interviewing Time Magazine journalist Simon Shuster about the dodgy relationship between Rudy Giuliani and Andrii Derkach, a Russian intelligence agent. The two did their best to sabotage Joe Biden during last year’s presidential campaign. At one point, an incredulous Gross asks if …more
It’s not easy to put a face on an oil company. These days, geography pretty much dictates the few fans of fossil fuel. Yet, ExxonMobil showed the best of improv marketing, transforming Trump’s words into a human moment. During a campaign speech in Prescott, Arizona, earlier this week, Trump slipped into his stand-up comedian schtick: …more
By Jackson Dulzo, Senior Account Executive At Hoffman we’re increasingly executing integrated communications campaigns that roll earned, owned and paid media into a single client budget to reach B2B audiences. It’s here that traditional PR techniques like media relations and thought leadership combine beautifully with the new generation of publicity tools, including paid social ads …more
By Andree Latibeaudiere, Senior Account Manager, Hoffman Europe Who could’ve predicted that an invisible entity could cause so much disruption? Salesforce’s flagship event, Dreamforce, was the latest industry event to fall victim to the Covid-19 pandemic, following a long list of trade show cancellations which punctuated the past few months. However, long before the recent …more
By Mark Pinsent, Managing Director, Hoffman Europe In light of restrictions on movement and the risks of bringing large groups of people together, one of the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the cancellation of tech trade shows and conferences. There’s no real sign of how quickly such industry events might return …more
What do you remember about the 2013 Super Bowl? Unless you’re a fan of the Baltimore Ravens or the San Francisco 49ers, your overriding memory is the blackout, when someone pulled the plug at the Superdome for 34 minutes. And if you work under the marketing umbrella, you admired the nimbleness of Oreo Cookie to …more
Game 5 of the NBA finals takes place tonight. Let’s forget for a minute that Kawhi Leonard has the strength of Paul Bunyan and Andre Iguodala misplaced his jump shot since hitting that dagger in the Warrior’s Game 2 win. There are lessons to be had from the communications and branding perspectives. And I’m not …more
The battle between New England and Los Angeles in the 2019 Super Bowl didn’t exactly turn out to be a humdinger (old-school adjective fits the style of play). I found the ads to be a letdown as well. Maybe it was an unrealistic expectation, but I was hoping to watch 60 seconds of storytelling that …more
