Worst of the Week: US Census (Again)

April 2, 2010 in Advertising, Marketing, Worst of the Week
Tags: 2010 census, census results, connor flynn, connor t. flynn, fail, us census, waste of money, Worst of the Week

This story didn’t get any better from our original post on February 5. In fact it got worse. Here’s our Chairman, Connor T. Flynn Jr. with his debut blog post. You know if the old man is blogging, he’s pissed. Without further adieu…. Nearly 75% of US citizens use the internet. 42% of Americans have [...]

Worst of the Week: Michigan Meatout Day

March 19, 2010 in Public Relations, Social Media, Worst of the Week
Tags: ag day, Ag week, Agriculture, beef, beef industry, beef magazine, chet culver, facebook group, fail, farm, governor or michigan, HSUS, Iowa, jennifer granholm, michigan, michigan meatout day, national steak out, Peta, stupid, Worst of the Week

Imagine Iowa Governor, Chet Culver doing a press conference announcing that for one day every year Iowans should not eat corn products. With as many people who grow corn in the state a day without corn would create serious problems for the agriculture industry, the image of our state and Culver’s chances of a second [...]

Worst of the Week: Office Depot

January 29, 2010 in Advertising, Marketing, Worst of the Week
Tags: Advertising, advertising campaign, bad advertising, Big Box Retailer, Buy Into the Circle, Davis vs. Goliath, koch brothers, office depot, storey kenworthy, triplett office, tripletts, Worst of the Week

This week’s nominee comes from a friend of Ad Mavericks with a keen eye for detail – and a strong “Buy Into the Circle” determination to support local businesses! Have you seen the latest tv spot from Office Depot?: Creative?  Yep.  Clever?  Check.  Well produced?  You got it!  Off the mark?  Absolutely! Just for kicks, [...]

Worst of the Week: Variety Pack

January 15, 2010 in Advertising, Iowa, Marketing, Online Marketing, Worst of the Week
Tags: Axe Body Spray, burger king, generation iowa, Generation West Virginia, Goin' Postal, Hootie and the Blowfish, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, IDED, Iowa, Iowa Department of Economic Development, Megan Mullally, Turn the tub around, west des moines, west glen, west virginia, Worst of the Week

Many nominations for Worst of the Week this week so we’ll feature a variety pack if you will. Let us know which you think is the worst. First up… 1. I’ve always wanted to start a company and name it after a bad joke about insane postal workers killing their coworkers. Wouldn’t that be clever? I [...]

Worst of the Year: Burson Marsteller and IDED

December 30, 2009 in Des Moines, Iowa, Public Relations, Worst of the Week
Tags: 2008 presidential campaign, Bret Mills, Burson-Marsteller, chet culver, Chuck Larson, hillary clinton, hillary clinton debt, IDED, IDED Director, Iowa Department of Economic Development, iowa job loss, iowa jobs, iowa public relations, Joe Shannahan, Karen Slifka, Mark Penn, Penn Scheon & Berland, PR, stimulus fraud, stimulus money, The Hill, Tom Vilsack, Worst of the Week, worst of the year

Okay, let’s set the ground rules first. To be considered for Worst of the Year, the marketer had to be chosen as one of our Worst of the Week recipients. Now, on with the award! Back in May, our IDED “Worst of the Week” post received the most traffic ever on our blog … more [...]

Chevy Volt Does It Again

December 15, 2009 in Advertising, Marketing, Worst of the Week
Tags: bad marketing, bailout, Chevy, Chevy Volt, chevy volt dance, horrible marketing, Worst of the Week

I’ve never seen a company earn our Worst of the Week and then do something even more deserving of the honor within the same seven day period. The term “I just threw up in my mouth a little bit” has never been as appropriate as it was watching this fiasco. Big props to Sara Judson [...]

Worst of the Week: DDB and World Wildlife Federation

September 4, 2009 in Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations, Worst of the Week
Tags: AdFreak, bad advertising, bad publicity, Brazil, Cannes International Advertising Awards, ddb, Peta, poor taste, probono, World Wildlife Federation, Worst of the Week

We had several nominees for worst of the week this week, but it’s been awhile since we’ve had such a hands-down “winner”.  Joint congratulations goes out to DDB (one of the world’s largest ad agencies) and World Wildlife Federation. The Brazilian offices of both thought using the tragedy of 9/11 would be a good idea [...]

Worst of the Week: Spot Runner

May 22, 2009 in Advertising, Marketing, Worst of the Week
Tags: cable media buying, click and buy cable media, spot runner, tv advertising, Worst of the Week

At the risk of deflecting new business from Lessing-Flynn, this week’s worst of the week goes to a company called Spot Runner. This company offers canned t.v. creative and click-and-buy cable media buying.  You pick from several industry categories, then you choose a spot that can be voiced over and tagged with your company name [...]

Worst of the Week: Kum and Go

April 10, 2009 in Advertising, Marketing, Worst of the Week
Tags: convenience store marketing, gas coupons, gasoline advertising, Kum & Go, kum and Go, Worst of the Week

Is a nickel off a gallon of gas incentive enough for me to pass three other gas stations and fill up at Kum and Go? Let me see … if my car holds 20 gallons and I drive into Kum and Go on fumes, I might just save myself a whopping buck! Woo Hoo! But, [...]