How Seth McFarlane Turned Family Guy Into $2 Billion

Family Guy = $2 Billion.

It’s not hard to find someone who delights in attacking the show Family Guy. Which isn’t a criticism, per se. Much of the animated sitcom’s purpose seems to be to stoke the opposition, to offend the easily offended. But that’s not the only reason it annoys people. There is a school of thought that says the show is hackish — crudely drawn and derivative of its cartoon forebears. Members of this school would include, most prominently, Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the fathers of South Park, which is probably the only show on television that rivals Family Guy for objectionable content per half hour. South Park has devoted entire episodes to attacking Family Guy, portraying the show’s writers as manatees who push “idea balls” with random jokes down tubes to generate plotlines. Kricfalusi has said, “You can draw Family Guy when you’re 10 years old.” read more

The Purple Cow Branding Experiment

For years, marketers have talked about the “five Ps” (actually, there are more than five, but everyone picks their favorite handful): product, pricing, promotion, positioning, publicity, packaging, pass along, permission. Sound familiar? This has become the basic marketing checklist, a quick way to make sure that you’ve done your job. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but it used to be that if you dotted your is and paid attention to your five Ps, then you were more likely than not to succeed.

No longer. It’s time to add an exceptionally important new P to the list: Purple Cow. Weird? Let me explain. read more

Alex Bogusky + Microsoft = Dangerous Combo

Crispin+Porter completely changed the image of Apple, and returned a brand thought to have been gone in the dump. Partner Alex Bogusky now joins Microsoft to see if he can reinstill the magic that once was the Seattle superpower. read more

Branding Remix

Fast Company ran a neat article about big brands coming together to make new products. See if you can figure out which are real or fake. read more

Make Yourself Famous Like Julia Allison

Meet Julia Allison. She’s made a brand of her own name, via self-promotion. What does she does? Well she models, posts her entire life online, and let’s the world watch. Her LIFECAST. In other words - she’s famous because she’s famous. read more

High Flying Advertising

Selection.com is a great tool for HR professionals, providing background checks and other information gathering techniques to help hire the right people. But while most companies spend their ad dollars on magazines, radio, television, and other conventional media, CEO John Hart has better ideas. At a cost of about $30,000/year, Hart sponsors Team Fastrax, a skydiving group with chutes emblazed with the companies logo. read more

Don’t Forget to Brand Yourself

If you’re not thinking of yourself as a brand, you need to start now.

Fast Company explains what to do when you’re branded. read more

Absolut Viral Marketing

Without a doubt, the marketing team at Absolut Vodka has to be one of the most innovative and impactful of all time. They take it to the next level in this incredible viral video, staring Kanye West and his new insta-celeb medicine: BeKanye.