There is something seriously wrong with JC Penney, and it is endemic to every retail marketer that thinks it can magically cut marketing expenditures (spend less) and achieve greater results (get more). Marvin Ellison, the new CEO at JC Penney (the one who replaced Ullman, who replaced Johnson, who was preceded by Ullman) was quoted by Ad Age as saying: "We think more one-to-one marketing, leveraging digital ... vs.

Ron Johnson (yeah, that Ron Johnson) is back. And this time he has his own business, a startup company called Enjoy. Focused on providing the marketplace with "a whole new way to buy and enjoy technology," Enjoy is an idea (like Uber) whose time has come.

I am Don Draper, a flawed husband, flawed father, flawed brother, flawed friend. I mean well. I do my best. But I usually come up short... even in my finest hours. I am also a brilliant advertising man. I am handsome.

Measuring publicity results is considered one of America's great past times. Organizations love to know how well their news releases performed. They love clips and clip reports and pass-along readership impression numbers and the previously mentioned advertising value equivalencies. They love metrics and dashboards and infographics.

About a decade ago (before anyone actually cared about digital and social media coverage), organizations would often ask for and receive “ad value equivalency” reports to determine the value of their publicity campaigns. It was one of a thousand wrong ways to determine the value of publicity.

There is this age-old story about David and Goliath, which in theory is about how some young shepherd boy took down this fierce giant with the toss of a single stone. But in fact, as Malcolm Gladwell will attest, it is about something else.

So, not too long ago, JC Penney committed itself to revolutionary change. They hired ex-Apple Stores guru Ron Johnson to change everything. Then they cut his legs off a year and a half into the campaign. Surprisingly, two years later, JC Penney still sucks.

Last night, my 83-year-old mom upgraded her AT&T U-verse package (it was not an option) and as part of the upgrade, they cancelled all of the high-def stations. So my brother spent an hour on the phone explaining to the geniuses at AT&T why they had to turn the HD stations back on.

It's like my dear old dad used to say, "If you wait around long enough, you will eventually see everything." And with the introduction of Amazon Dash, it is official: I have seen everything and it is not pretty. I mean seriously, does anyone, including Jeff Bezos, foresee a future in which your entire life is supplemented with tiny branded panic buttons. "OMG, I forgot to buy coffee pods...

There is a great scene from the 4th episode of the 7th season of Mad Men. Peggy has just told Don Draper and John Mathis that she will need then to supply 25 taglines each for the Burger Chef pitch. John naturally submits, but Don simply recoils: "what's the strategy?" Don asks, brows furled in absolute dismay.