Graphic designer to create a project where he designs "brands" for them. more ›

An intrepid New Yorker looked at a series of sites above a Duane Reade checkout counter and found a photo of Tribune Tower's Hale statue as part of its interior design. more ›

No reinforcements of stereotypes at this Tinley Park CVS. more ›

The official full lineup for Lollapalooza is set to be announced next week, but that isn't stopping the festival's organizers and marketing team from getting people to guess the lineup with a slow reveal. more ›

While last year wasn't necessarily a blowout year for businesses, it's safe to say that 2010 was a good great year for Groupon. Groupon, which launched in 2008 and has its head offices right here in Chicago, reported 2010 revenue of $760 million, seeing a gigantic leap from its 2009 numbers. more ›

Before the Super Bowl, how many of you realized Groupon had a sense of humor? And that it could be pretty offensive to some? That's what we're guessing the water cooler conversation is this morning regarding the local daily deal company and its Super Bowl ads (we've included all of them below). They may have spent millions to advertise before and during the Packers' coronation, but the reaction immediately after the spots aired is the type of publicity that can't be bought. more ›

Groupon's next step in its quest for online discount shopping domination: Advertising during the Super Bowl. The local startup has quietly partnered with marketing agencies to promote the company with some old-fashioned advertising, including buying some spots for the Super Bowl pre-game next month. Ad spots for the game itself, which command prices of up to $3 million, sold out by October. more ›

Just in time for lazy gift-givers across Chicago, Wilco is launching its own brand of Intelligentsia coffee. (You can pre-order the "Coffee Lovers Bundle" here.) As the AV Club points out, this is just the latest in a recent trend of Wilco transcending itself as a critically acclaimed alt-country band, into a powerful marketing brand that trades in comestibles. Unfortunately, if you stop for gas on the Eastern seaboard (and Chicagoist hears they serve coffee there, as well), Jeff Tweedy won't see a single penny of your purchase at a Wilco Travel Center. (They're privately held, so it's not even in his 401(k).) more ›

With the Big Ten expanding to twelve teams in the 2011 season with the addition of Nebraska, there are rumblings about the necessity of a name change for the conference. Crain's Ed Sherman notes that there is a precedence - when the conference rebranded itself the Big Nine after University of Chicago left the conference in the 1930s and became the Big 10 again in 1949 with the addition of Michigan State. Of course, the conference kept the name - even though it altered the logo - once it added Penn State in 1991. So what happens next year when it adds its twelfth team and the Big 12 falls to 10 teams (Colorado is exiting for the Pac-10 which rename itself to the Pac-12)? Sherman talked with a trio of marketing experts including one who said, "In many ways, as patently stupid as its name would sound, keeping it Big Ten and changing the logo, as they did when Penn State joined, might be the best of a number of bad options." So we're guessing that's a no, then? more ›

Every year, Chicagoist visits the Sweets and Snacks Expo at McCormick Place. Every year, our friends whine and cry about how they have always wanted to go, how it reminds them of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and how they can't understand how we don't have to be carried out on a stretcher. And every year we try to explain that while lots of candy expo is tasty and wonderful, there is also a dark underbelly of horror. Friends, read and beware - these are the worst candy products of 2010. more ›

Every year, the National Restaurant Association releases its top 20 trends in the restaurant industry on the eve of its annual trade show (closing its run today at McCormick Place). And yet we've stopped being surprised at the disconnect between the report — with its focus on local, sustainable and nutritious foodstuffs — and the realities on the show floor with its emphasis on pre-packaged, processed food, factory farms and heavy duty refrigeration. more ›

The countdown to Homaro Cantu's big reveal of his "Disruptive Food" project currently stands at 62 days. Today, however, we're gonna give you another reason to follow Cantu on Twitter. More accurately, to sign up for the messaging service yourselves. more ›

It’s no secret that theaters are trying to find a way to engage audiences in the recession, i.e. get people to come to their shows so that they then make money. (It’s not rocket science.) Theaters like the Goodman are probably struggling less than the low-budget storefronts since they have access to more marketing dollars to attract audiences, but we imagine they’re in a similar predicament. The Goodman just launched a new website, which while attempting to be innovative is really nothing more than a large marketing ploy. more ›

Want 'em or hate 'em, the push for the Chicago 2016 Olympics is going to be a big story around here over the next eight months, and especially the next several days as the IOC tours the city. Now comes this three-minute spot promoting Chicago as the host city and the crew at Chicago 2016 finally pulled out the big gun: Michael Jordan. The video is, dare we say, pretty stellar and well put together and only makes us wonder how things would be different if Mayor Daley wasn't leading this charge. [via The Windy Citizen] more ›

With the IOC's April visitation drawing closer, Chicago 2016 is revamping its marketing strategy and took things a step further today by announcing its new tagline, "Let Friendship Shine." In a press release, Patrick G. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Chicago 2016, said: more ›

The fine folks at North Shore Distillery (by the way, their Distiller's Gin No. 11, the second highest-rated American made gin— their Distiller's No. 6 is the highest rated) are looking for some good local artists to help them design some artwork for future advertising campaigns. To that end, they've decided to hold a contest to choose a winning design and want local artists to enter their best submissions. more ›

The Chicago Tribune is teaming up with CPS to form a weekly high school newspaper and website, written for and mostly by high school students. The Mash, as the new paper is tentatively titled, should eclipse the Red Eye in terms of quality and worthwhileness almost immediately. more ›

Last month the Chicagoist food and drink staff gathered at Binny's South Loop for a Riedel stemware seminar led by the current head of the company himself, Georg Riedel. For the better part of two hours, the exuberant Austrian alternately enraptured and berated his attentive audience, preaching the gospel that his Vitis stemware line (vitis being the Latin word for "vine") would make drinking any wine a religious experience. At one point we half-expected Riedel to proclaim, "If Jesus had this stemware at za vedding vere he turned vater into vine, it vould make za vine better!" more ›

For all you whiskey buffs out there, now you can vote on your favorite brands of the past year, as well as your favorite and most hated marketing campaigns, at the 2007 Drammies. more ›