The Cranky Creative, Author at The Cranky Creative Blog

This vintage print ad from Bell Telephone connects with heartfelt human emotion

January 12, 2025 The Cranky Creative

Remember when ads had heart? A Bell Telephone masterpiece

There’s something missing from advertising today. Amidst all the snarky voiceovers, fast cuts, dumb jokes, and conspicuously diverse actors, there’s an emptiness. Today’s ads, with their glossy visuals and overproduced

The Cranky Creative blog: Why better advertising is worth fighting for

January 5, 2025 The Cranky Creative

We can’t let them win: why better ads are worth fighting for

I’ve been feeling a little defeated lately, to the point where I considered quitting the blog. Ever since Google changed its search algorithm to shortchange small blogs like mine in

December 15, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Creativity without accountability is killing the ad industry

The advertising industry as we know it is dying, and for good reason. Just … not the reason many ad people would have you believe. Over the past year, I

November 26, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Rollback: Walmart abandons DEI and other ‘woke’ policies

BREAKING: In a seismic shift that will send shockwaves throughout corporate America, retail giant Walmart said on Monday that it will roll back a number of diversity, equity, and inclusion

Car company Jaguar ‘Bud Lights’ itself with new woke ad

November 25, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Ad Review: Jaguar ‘Bud Lights’ itself with ridiculous new ad

With its controversial new ad campaign, “Copy Nothing,” British luxury car company Jaguar becomes the latest brand to sacrifice its reputation and sales at the altar of “modern audiences.” I

A young female marketer carrying a cardboard box as she leaves the office on her last day of work

November 11, 2024 The Cranky Creative

How to survive The Great Marketing Shakeout

If you haven’t noticed, the marketing and advertising fields are a bloodbath right now. AI is surely one reason for all the layoffs, but mostly, I think it’s a reckoning

Cranky Creative blog the new vice president from hell

October 29, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Cranky Case File: The communications VP from Hell

In the spirit of Halloween, this Cranky Case File tells the tale of my first-ever meeting with a new VP of communications — an encounter that might have scared me

As AI advances and takes over tasks traditionally performed by human creatives, the days of copywriters and designers may be numbered.

October 17, 2024 The Cranky Creative

‘Writers have two years left. Designers a little more.’

So says Nick Galanadies, founder and creative director at TAXI FOR NICK, in a LinkedIn thread in which he shares his candid assessment of the marketing jobs market as artificial

September 29, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Doritos dares us to make a better Super Bowl ad

When I called out Doritos for its dopey and overproduced Super Bowl 2023 commercial with its trite focus on “triangles,” I did not expect a response. But now, a year

cranky creative ad review of Pepsi chase cars advertising campaign

September 13, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Short Pepsi film shows how obnoxious brands have become

Just when you thought ads and advertising couldn’t get any more obnoxious, here comes Pepsi with a ‘short film’ showing everything that’s wrong with the industry and the culture today.

Marketing disguised as content - whether a webinar, an ebook, a whitepaper, or a blog post - is one sleazy tactic

July 7, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Marketing disguised as content is sleazy AF

Gah, marketing. The land of “free” consultations that turn into high-pressure sales pitches, “thought-leader” articles written by glorified SEO jockeys, and infographics so cluttered with logos they look like a