Crowd at Milwaukee's Deer District celebrate the Bucks Championship win

NBA FINALS EXPOSURE: Trying to calculate the incalculable

As Milwaukee basks in the afterglow of the Bucks NBA championship, it is hard to believe that the Fiserv Forum almost didn’t get built. Back in 2015, the new ownership’s request for partial state funding was met with scorn by many, and the negotiations to build the stadium (and keep the team) teetered on collapse.…

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AT&T, Time Warner merger intriguing for advertisers

Judge Richard Leon’s recent ruling on the pending AT&T/Time Warner merger was of great interest on many levels, from its potential impact on future anti-trust law and the tech and entertainment industries to its ramifications for the Trump Administration and the viewing public. While it’s ultimate effect is still largely TBD, there is one segment…

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Super Bowl LII: Will Ads Overshadow Game?

Ah, the Dog Days of Winter. Christmas and New Years are long gone, spring is several months away and there’s another snow storm coming next week. Yippee! Fortunately, there is one interesting thing on the horizon: the Super Bowl. Unlike almost any other sports event—save the Olympics—the annual NFL championship draws interest from all segments…

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Taco-Bell, Boelter Lincoln, Blog, Food, Health

Taco Bell: Going Healthy, Staying Real

I’ve always had a guilty, secret thing for Taco Bell … and now it is following me to work. In the past week, I came across two completely unexpected news items about Taco Bell and, in the process, gained a newfound respect for a company that manages to be relentlessly innovative yet never gets pulled…

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Butterfinger Batters Bears on Thursday Night Twitter

The Chicago Bears’ 35-14 trouncing by the Packers wasn’t their only embarrassing, real-time loss on a national media outlet last Thursday. They were also manhandled on Twitter … by the Butterfinger candy brand. The action began in the first quarter, when Bears quarterback Mike Glennon lost a snap off his knee for a fumble that…

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Blog, Boelter Lincoln, Disney, Netflix

Disney/Netflix: The sky is falling! Or not.

Disney’s recent decision to leave Netflix and start its own streaming services sent shockwaves from Madison Avenue to Main Street. Like the Disney character Chicken Little, people nationwide wondered aloud if the sky was falling. Not only did the split mean the undoing of one of the entertainment industry’s most powerful alliances, it underscored the…

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Blog, boelter lincoln, quit social media

Quit Social Media?

While scrolling through Facebook at work last week, I came across a New York Times opinion editorial imploring readers to quit using social media if they want to advance their careers. Although I agreed with many of author Cal Newport’s points – particularly about social’s addictive, distracting, narcissistic nature – I immediately considered writing a…

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blog, Boelter + Lincoln, Pitch Emails, Emails

Six Tips for “Pitch” Emails

Unsolicited emails are an annoying fact of life. I begin every morning by wading through dozens and dozens of them, deleting at least 90 percent. Ironically, once I’m finished, I often begin sending unsolicited emails myself. This is probably true for many businesspeople. While person-to-person networking, inbound marketing and social media interactions are all important…

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Blog, Boelter + Lincoln, Organizational Culture, Agency Culture

Organizational Culture: Not Just a Buzzword

“Organizational culture” is a buzzword that I used to be skeptical of, particularly in relation to agency management. In the dog-eat-dog world of advertising, it just seemed too squishy. Why not let hard data (like billing projections and balance statements) drive management discussions? Certainly, that’s the safe, CYA approach; having a quantitative rationale makes any…

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Boelter + Lincoln, Blog, Influencer-Marketing, Public Relations

Evaluating Influencer Marketing Proposals

The rise of social media has altered literally every facet of marketing communications, and perhaps none as much as public relations.  Like many long-time PR professionals, I’ve slowly come to grips with the changing rules of the media relations game – starting with what constitutes “media.”  While traditional media and professional journalists are still important,…

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