Did you know almost 7 in 10 middle and high school students are exposed to e-cigarette ads. E-cigarette advertising dollars have risen from $6.4 million in 2011 to $115 million in 2014…

Bud light has put a new message on their bud light bottles. The message “The perfect beer for removing ‘No’ from your vocabulary for the night… The perfect beer for whatever happens”.

Some questions immediately off the bat.

Another heart warming ad from Apple.

Someone finds an old voice recorded vinyl by her grandma. She remasters it, ads her voice and music accompaniment and gives to her grandma. Of course everything is done on a mac, and played on an iPad, where else?

The PBS Frontline documentary film, Generation Like” (2014) points out that teenagers are often unknowingly taking part in marketing studies and become de facto marketing agents when they “Like” a Facebook page or otherwise share their preferences online. In effect, consumers have become unwitting members of the company sales force. Welcome to the new world of advertising.

Ever since Dove’s Real Beauty campaign reeled in great viral success, numerous powerhouse feminine care companies have started to focus their advertising on boosting the confidence of their consumers.

Rather than focusing on their products, ads have increasingly focused on a feel-good message in the hopes of lifting their brand image.

For the first time in 2013, US internet advertising revenue has surpassed broadcast television advertising revenue.

Online ad sales in the US went up 17% to $42.8 billion according to data by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Broadcast Television came in second at $40.1 million. However television as a whole leads at a fairly wide margin if you combined the revenue totals of both broadcast and cable.

Enjoy this spot from Proctor & Gamble called “Thank You, Mom”. This is a feel-good, tear-filling video spot created for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The video speaks of athletes practicing, falling and getting back up again, with the encouragement and faithfulness of mom. Just watch it…

WestJet, a Canadian Airline created this sweet video that will undoubtedly bring a smile to your face. Not only is this an incredible way to build a great brand and advertise, they were able to make this Christmas time, a wonderful memory for all the travelers that were involved.

WestJet created a fun way to ask their travelers what was on their wishlist. Then during their flight, more than 150 WestJet employees ran around, purchased these gifts, wrapped them and delivered them at baggage claim.

This is the type of clean cut advertising I can get on board with. Pun intended.

I love this this iPad Air Pencil Ad video. It’s beautiful, it artsy, it brings out emotions, it shares how the product could be useful and it’s memorable.

I’ve always thought that a good TV commercial should be able to connect the viewer with the product in several ways.

1) Connect thru a specific emotion that the company wants to tie to the product
2) Connect thru showing the relevance of the product to the viewer by painting a picture of how they may use the product…

Ever wonder why a medium soda at Jack in the box soda is a size of a tub and why Starbucks insists calling it’s small drink a tall?

Well here is something to chew on. A new study from the Cornell Food Brand Lab found that simply calling the same portion of spaghetti “double-size” caused the diners to eat considerably less. The group thinking they were eating double-sized meals left 10x as much food leftover.

Love it or hate it, product placement in television, movies, music videos and even Broadway plays is here to stay. Product placement is the art and science of getting a company’s brand featured in a popular movie or television series with the implied endorsement that goes along with the placement. Broadcasting & Cable reported that two-thirds of advertisers use product placement as part of their marketing plans, most of which (80 percent) is used in television, according to an Association of National Advertisers survey. With this proliferation of products in the media, it’s difficult to know just how such use of products in media affects the general public.

This past year there was a significant shift in the smartphone world. Samsung has vaulted up the charts and have become a huge player alongside Apple. With the launch of Apple iPhone, the smartphone industry was for a while a one big-player industry. As blackberries and palms faded into obscurity, there was Apple and everyone else.

Here’s a question: How much of that has been due to Samsung’s increased marketing spend?