Life Done Right™

Nice to see Paul Newman on the cover of the latest GQ. GQ is celebrating 50 years in existence. Classic style. Casual vibe. It doesn’t get more male bonding metrosexual than that, amigos.

There’s always at least one person in a group who likes to count things. It doesn’t really matter what’s being counted so much as simply paying attention to the precise amount of the subject or activity at hand.
Demographers have noted that there are 78 million Baby Boomers. That’s a pretty big number. Advertisers have [...]

Little jerk: “Do you worry you might die in office?” seeing how, if elected, you would be older than Ronald Reagan.
Presidential hopeful John McCain goes on to answer this begging question by referring to his 95-year-old mother’s genes, stating he’s “very active” and emphasizing he runs 24/7. Can’t you just hear Carrie Bradshaw of [...]

A very clever ad. Watch as a man paints himself black and disappears before your very disbelieving eyes!

Baby Boomers spend $43 billion a year on apparel and yet clothing manufacturers have no clue how to design for them. Ann Taylor wants a piece of the action, so the company is putting out its hat like a sidewalk performer and hoping a few kindly Baby Boomers toss a few bucks into it. Hint: [...]

Publix, a supermarket chain, wants your business. The trick: how to get it. Free drugs just might work. Publix is giving away the following prescription antibiotics to win you over: amoxicillin, cephalexin, penicillin VK, erythromycin, ampicillin, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, and ciprofoxacin. Time to gather all your friends and carpool over to Publix. Wal-Mart and Kmart have similar [...]

“I don’t think there is anything in the entire securitization process that is at all focused on the borrower’s interest,” said Kirsten Keefe, executive director of Americans for Fairness in Lending. “Everything they do is, ‘How are we going to make a profit, and how are we going to secure ourselves against risk?’ ”
Doesn’t that [...]

© Gap
Choreographer Twyla Tharp, 66, is featured in the fall Gap ad campaign going under the pitch “Classics Redefined.” Gap’s sales continue to slide in the face of multiple competitors selling a more hip notion of what’s in fashion. This ad campaign is more of same failed strategy Gap has used in the past to [...]

© Scott Schuman, The Sartorialist
The Sartorialist Scott Schuman snapped designer Giorgio Armani’s picture recently. He has a fascinating description of how Armani labored over the details of his pose in order to insure that the resulting image conveyed an emotional feeling that matched his own inner perception of himself. Fascinating. Be sure to click on [...]

Adicolor sells expensive wall finishes. Not sure what that means? Watch this commercial and see if it all becomes clear. If not, at least admit the blood within the walls of your body started pulsing faster!

Volkswagen is pushing a min-van concept they call Caddy. It sports a boxy rear with a mini-van nose. Those who need to carpool their shorties to the pool, band lessons, and just about any activity that’s supposed to get your kid ahead will appreciate it’s roomy interior. I’m sort of shocked, though, that Cadillac isn’t [...]

How to protect children from their own inattention is a full time job when they’re younger. Here Jon Pertwee teaches children the acronym SPLINK as a safety reminder before crossing a busy road. Jon Pertwee played Dr. Who in the television series. Maybe Jon should have made PSA commercials about the danger of making a [...]

Ford Models has an open casting call for anyone who wants to join the Paris Hilton fame club. Unfortunately they are looking for models aged 16 to 35. Hey, why not show up in a two-piece bikini and demand a chance to become a Ford Model. Tell them Baby Boomers are the largest and most [...]

Yes is more than an affirmative answer to a question posed by a detective to Lindsay Lohan on her guilt or innocence regarding driving under the influence. It’s also the name of a rock group that’s been around since 1968. Cadillac has raided the Yes archive and pulled out Wonderous Stories to sell you the [...]

Fashion is a tight rope that everyone takes their turn falling off of…even those who churn out the stuff. Jeans these days are either practical or ridiculously expensive in the name of exclusivity. Those who pay $200 for their jeans are more likely to get arrested for drunk driving (Paris, Lindsay) than get caught visiting [...]

The best commercials usually make a connection between something in real life and your worst fear or pleasure. Then the marketers go to work to exploit the connection for boatloads of money. This Old Spice commercial created by Wieden and Kennedy takes that dreaded pubic hair that gets left behind on a bar [...]

The gap between the rich and poor is filled with water these days. Bling H2O water sells for $55 per bottle in luxury water bars. Yes, you heard that right. The actual water in the bottle comes from a place called Dandridge, TN. That’s just East of Knoxville. Soldiers are getting killed in Iraq and [...]

Brand Keys keeps track of which brands consumers like to lavish their disposable income on…even if it is on credit. Here’s this year’s top ten brands whose ad imagery matched the image of yourself in the mirror of the retail store.
1. Ralph Lauren
2. Levi’s
3. Polo
4. Versace
5. Chanel
6. Bebe
7. Giorgio Armani
8. Brooks Brothers
9. Dockers
10. Target

If someone calls you on the phone and launches into a story about how bad the housing market has become: hang up! Where there’s a downturn in the market, there’s sure to be a scammer or two ready to fleece you out of your assets without a guilty thought afterwards.
The latest scam goes like this…”cash [...]

The next time you turn on the TV and see Heidi Klum, beware, she’s being paid by Guthy-Renker to hustle skin care products. Since the magic of skin care products is invisible, it’s pretty hard to communicate what exactly it is you’re buying. That’s why companies hire beautiful models. Somehow by buying the products you, [...]