PDFs of stories on strategic marketing

• Learning to count in Chinese: A look at how hard it is for business to cash in on the “China Dream”
• Creating an “anti-brand”: BMW came up with the Mini to appeal to people who would never buy a BMW
• Out & About: Companies are quietly embracing gay and lesbian consumers

My blog about online journalism and publishing at Emedia Vitals. 

Here are links to some of my work for Brandweek:

• Don Imus & Uncle Ben: “Two icons emblematic of a very strange moment in how Americans and the people who market to them think about race. Call it cultural schizophrenia—we denounce racism but still find it commercially appealing.”
• Second Life Loses Luster For Marketers: “Marketers continue to rush to the virtual world of Second Life despite increasing evidence they don’t really know what to do when they get there.”
• Is It Just Me Or Is It Getting Manly In Here?: “While there’s always been money to be made preying on men’s insecurity, it seems to have reached truly ridiculous proportions of late. How else to explain the prevalence of the Hummer or “nutraceuticals,” whose only effect is to enlarge the seller’s wallet? Since Brokeback Mountain broke, this trend seems bigger, firmer and more pronounced than ever.”

Here are three stories I did about marketing to children:

• From Sierra Magazine — Branding Baby’s Brain: If you want to mold a hyperconsumer you’ve got to start early
• From Brandweek — ‘Adult’ Brands Get Parents Where The Kids Are
• From Boston Magazine — An Expose of “The Baby-Industrial Complex”

And some invective about Google for Computerworld:

• China Censorship: Google & Other Scoundrels

A long loving look at my corrupt home town:

• There’s Something About Providence