March 5th 2012
If you live in Massachusetts and are “unenrolled” you can vote in Super Tuesday’s primary. My hope is that Romney-fatigued voters, idealistic students, and lovers of political theater will vote for Ron Paul. He’s the dark horse candidate in Romney’s Massachusetts – and perhaps our best hope to deliver a Super Tuesday surprise, and start dramatic reform.
February 15th 2012
The gay rights protest site “Spreading Santorum” now eclipses the official Santorum campaign site on the major search engines. Its a text book case bad SEO decisions, and the power of offensive though apparently resonate free speech.
October 26th 2011
Herman Cain’s smoking gums political ad is all the things political ads hope to avoid. Come take a look, see how this is a perfect application of Poe’s law, and join our somewhat informed discussion. ;>
April 19th 2011
Before Jesse Jackson Jr. blamed unemployment on the iPad, he proposed a constitutional amendment to give an iPod and laptop to every student in the US. Digital marketers, meet your future regulator.
February 14th 2011
The best ever “under construction” sign has replaced the website of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Come take a look, and imagine what this site could be like in the future.
July 30th 2010
Recently, numerous political groups have been quite upfront about their intent to exert authority over different parts of the online world. It seems everybody want to rule the Web. Dept of Justice moves to regulate Web through accessibility standards. FCC proposes to regulate Web access via broadband, claims it’s part of regulating telcos. Commerce Dept [...]
February 15th 2010
Presidents Day and Valentine’s Day came together in Fortune Magazine’s feature story. This cover featured an inspired visual melding of brands, and the title promises something juicy along with tech policy. The article chronicles Google’s shift, like much of Silicon Valley, from being blind to government policy to building a lobbying arm to participate in politics [...]
November 2nd 2009
Brad Templeton, chairman of the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has produced his own “Downfall” parody video, making fun of the fact that Constantin Films has issued DMCA notices to remove all of the “Downfall” parody videos from YouTube. This little-known film has become an Internet sensation and, as I note below, Constantin Film’s [...]
October 17th 2009
I’ve written about “Brand Obama” previously; now, here’s a huge installment. RISD grad Aaron Perry-Zucker hoisted a website called Design for Obama, where artists up- and downloaded Obama poster designs during and after the election. The hundreds of submissions (including “Did The Right Thing,” sent by Don Button days after the election) caught the attention [...]
July 4th 2009
We’ve seen governments monitor private citizens through video surveillance and increased access to electronic records. Here’s a proposal for citizens, and their media, to use some of these same tools to follow the work of their representatives in government. Massachusetts’ Open Meeting Law and Public Record Law may be expanded by S1458 to provided better access [...]
The future of digital marketing will be built by strategists who grasp the full array of emerging business, social, and technical models. Specialities in user experience, branding, application design, and data are laying the foundation for richer user experiences and business models breakthrough products and revenue based marketing.
UsefulArts is a soapbox to discuss the frontline of digital marketing, and the agencies and platforms that enable it. Marketing today needs a cadre of leaders who can connect c-level enterprise strategy with these new capabilities.