King Marketing

AJ Kandy
Creative Director

AJ brings over 17 years' experience to KMA+C.

Previously in charge of Branding, Interactive and Creative at telecom software maker Interstar Technologies, AJ also served as Art Director at magazine publisher EMG Media. He's also worked on projects for Power Corporation, Air Canada, Merck Frosst and BCE Teleglobe.

AJ is a graduate of Concordia University's Communication Studies program.

Other KMA+C Blogs

Ken King, President

March 2005

camera buying advice

I've just about had it with me old HP 315 digital camera. It's insanely slow, it's horrible in low light, the contrast sucks, the resolution is low, there's no optical zoom, I get all sorts of fringing artifacts and the images are usually full of noise.

I'm looking at two options: a compact, pocket-sized camera, or an SLR / SLR-like camera, maybe even with swappable lenses (like the Canon EOS Digital Rebel). The minimum true resolution should be 4 megapixels.

So gimme your recommendations!

March 30, 2005 in Technology | ✍ 11

Blogjacking

So yesterday I'm using Google to find an old post of mine (yes, ego-surfing) and what should come up but this Astroturf marketing site for Wellbutrin.

Essentially, this site snarfed up the text of an old post of mine from last year simply because it contained the word "Wellbutrin," and placed it as an entry in a faux depression-support forum called "depressionforums.com."

The domain registry resolved to Patient Experiences, LLC, located at 827 Central Avenue, Suite 117, Dover, NH 03820 USA.

That company had no website, but the street address revealed that Patient Experiences is a front company for 1st Approach, a "street team" marketing firm that specializes in product placement in television, film, at celebrity events, etc.

They have a whole division devoted to creating Astroturf -- i.e. fake grassroots -- "buzz" campaigns on the Internet, which apparently includes "link traps" like the site above, so that you see "real people" talking about the product wherever you go.

What I really deplore about this episode is that it sets back the efforts of ethical marketers -- who want to use mailing lists, the Web, forums and blogs to generate real conversation in the marketplace.

We're all dragged down and tarnished by people who hijack these tools for a quick buck.

I include the pharmaceutical companies (GlaxoSmithKline, I'm lookin' at you) that do business with such people, too -- they stand to lose more in credibility than they will gain in sales by pursuing such tactics.

EDITED: while I ponder my legal options under the DMCA and international copyright law. Anyone know anyone at the EFF who deals in cases like these?

March 24, 2005 in Branding | ✍ 2

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