Tag Archives: Forbes

What’s So Wrong With a Matchmaker Ad Pitching You to ‘Date Like a CEO’?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and leafing through the New York Times, when I came across this quarter-page ad on A7.

Really, Doc? Not to be cynical about it, but do CEOs really “date”? Doesn’t seem that way from news reports.

– Date Lyin’?

Dear DL,

Maybe this is unfair, but plug CEO sexual into Google and these are the first two Autofills.

Then again, plug CEO sexual into Google News, and here’s what comes up for just the last 10 days.

As Michael Peregrine reported in Forbes, CEO sexual harassment has become a major concern for corporate boards.

What is it about codes of conduct and sexual harassment that some CEOs apparently don’t get?

Most responsible corporate boards might be excused for thinking that they’ve already addressed the issue. Prompted by the “MeToo” movement, they’ve acted with a combination of internal education programs, new codes of conduct and strong disciplinary procedures in order to protect employees from sexual abuse and intimidation. For them, that particular “box” had been “checked off” the risk and compliance list.

Not so much, apparently. But beyond the board’s responsibility to preserve and protect the company’s reputation and workforce culture, there’s this: “[The] most current, and likely most significant, incentive is the 2023 decision of the Delaware Chancery Court concluding that sexual harassment by an officer or director constitutes a breach of the fiduciary duty of loyalty. In such a situation, the board should have a claim against that officer or director for the harm his/her action caused the company.”

Date like a CEO? That would not only be good business, but a blessing, no?

Apple Ripped Off Masimo’s Technology, So Masimo Ripped Off Apple’s TV Spot?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads, 

There I was, minding my own business and paging through the Boston Globe, when I came across this full-page ad for the medical technology company Masimo, which is pursuing  a patent dispute with Apple over something something something about Apple watches.

“Here’s to the underdogs . . . “?  Why does that sound so familiar, Doc?

–  Apple Chord

Dear AC,

For starters, here’s how the Masimo ad (which also ran in the Wall Street Journal yesterday) begins.

Loose translation: Masimo is David, having developed medical monitoring technology that it alleges Apple – which would be the bully – stole for its Apple Watch, as Aaron Tilley has detailed in the Wall Street Journal.

Ad transition: The copy sounds familiar because it echoes a legendary 1997 Apple TV spot that would “eventually play a pivotal role in helping Apple achieve one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in business history,” according to adman Rob Siltanen’s inside account for Forbes.

The commercial was Here’s to the Crazy Ones, and these were its opening lines.

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules…

Here’s the spot, whose script Steve Jobs initially derided as “sh-t.”

And, for those of you keeping score at home,  here’s Masimo’s closing stock price yesterday after dropping six figures on full-page newspaper ads.

The Doc’s diagnosis: Actual underdog to be determined at a later (court) date.

Is the Diesel Brand Running on Fumes?

by Campaign Outsider

Well the Doc opened the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

I saw this full-page ad in Thursday’s New York Times:

Picture 1

You have the control?

What are you going to do with it?

#DieselReboot?

What’s going on here, Doc?

– Low Octane

Dear Low Octane,

What’s going on is a reinvention of Diesel’s brand image with a social-media twist. As blogger Nik Thakkar writes on Karl Is My Uncle:

Diesel Reboot, or aptly tagged #DIESELREBOOT is being described as the inception stage in the full blown diesel-rebootreinvention of the Diesel brand. It’s essentially a digitally based community (on Tumblr) where [new artistic director Nicola] Formichetti is enlisting a new generation of brand ambassadors to submit imagery, inspiration, ideas and art to help create a new set of iconography for the brand. It feels fresh, for the brand at least, but the concept itself is basically a simple crowd-sourcing and idea generation campaign.

(It says something about the state of the media that a mainstream vehicle like the Times is used to promote a digitally based community.)

A profile of Diesel mogul Renzo Rosso in Forbes magazine noted several months ago, “Rosso has spent the last decade snapping up majority stakes in small, prestigious fashion houses all across Europe: Paris-based Maison Martin Margiela, Amsterdam’s Viktor & Rolf and, this past December, Milanese label Marni.” But he lost out on a bid for Italian couture house Valentino “to an investment vehicle backed by Qatar’s royal family, who reportedly paid around $860 million.”

Money graf:

He’s aware that to compete with Qatari money, not to mention fashion’s two French kingpins–LVMH and PPR –he may have to consider a public offering to fuel further acquisitions. He’s just not sure if that’s what he wants. “The size of the group is quite nice,” he says, before pausing. “Never say never.”

So it’s very likely that the New York Times ad is not just a call for imagery, inspiration, ideas, and art. It’s also a shoutout to Wall Street.

Yo.