The invasion of the advertising blogs

Once upon a time there were precious few sites in this vast world wide web that talked about advertising - Zeldmans ad graveyard was one of the few back then, portfolios.com appeared way back in 1995 as well and in 1996 the humble first steps of Adland were made.

These days there are ad sites everywhere - and a new niche is blooming, advertising blogs, dedicated to advertising, PR, Branding and snarking the ad blogs are booming - I've decided to list a few, say 70 odd links for your surfing pleasure.

Man where do we begin? Rumor has it that a new advertising blog is born every week these days - so this listing is far from complete but it is a good start. All of these links come from the much underrated ad links* - if your blog is missing perhaps you should add it!

Agency Blogs
Coudal.com The grandpappy of ad agencies that blog, Coudal has shown us the way since way back in 1999. Unlike most agencies pages - Coudal.com is a usable and fun site in its own right. It's a very active blog postings from agency employees and guest writers , our own Dabitch was the guest writer in June, they direct you to yummy fresh designer and ad-links, have a museum of online museums and don't miss their photoshop tennis games. Gold star!

Saatchi Kevin - domain registered since 1998 (ad free)
Kevin Roberts is CEO worldwide of Saatchi and Saatchi. Here's his take on the vanity site. Nice that such a big guy has a place to chat about the ad biz. Informative and interesting articles are posted semi-regularly.

Influx insights - since January 2003 (ad-free)
Influx is a think tank specializing in brand positioning for the 13-25 market, they say. Set up like a marketing blog, you'll find posts about interesting trends here. Behind it? The ex-Goodby guys Butler Shine and Stern over in Sausalito, CA. A great place to observe trends and soak up inspiration. Gold star!

Partners and Simons blog - since June 2003 (ad-free)
This is actually several blogs in one as the agency employees at Partner and Simons (Boston) blog away about advertising, related law, new interactive innovation etc. Nice to see agencies getting into blogging. They post relevant articles about the biz in multiple departments. It really is a shame it doesn't get updated more regularly.

JayDay - since May 2003 (ad-free)
Dedicated to the vision, energy, and irritability of Jay Chiat. A place where those who worked for Jay can keep in touch and share articles on any topic that might have interested Jay! Fun reading, even if you didn't work at Chiat. Not run by Chiat/Day

w+k blog - since April 2004 (ad-free)
Weiden and Kennedy London have their own typepad blog full of images!Wonderful agency blog. Serving up tidbits of information and pictures of the crew there. I just wish other agencies had blogs like this.

BlogFonk - since May 2004 (ad-free)
To find relevant and effective ways to be distinctive, 'input' for individual cases is needed. That's why we, The People at Fonkstra, created BlogFonk. To provide you and ourselves with enough input which improves the development of more distinctive communication concepts. News, links, and articles about what "fonks" creative peoples thoughts. Yum. Gold star!

Werbeblogger.de - since June 2004 (ad-free)
Marketing und Werbung. In German only, the ups and downs of European marketing and ads. Nice looking blog from breitenbach-und-partner.de.

Ad Agency Blog - since July 2004 (Has Google ads in banner on the top of the page)
A nice little corner shop of a blog from the UK for those interested in the world of advertising, a touch of gossip with a hint of truth! Shame that this page hasn't been updated in ages. It has the start of being interesting. Maybe they just want to tease us. Bastards.

TBWA blog - since September 2004 (ad-free)
TBWA Portugal has their very own blog, anything from ads to office-gossip can be found here. Ads, agency news, and moment of the day videos are all worth checking out. They also have introduced an English version of the site, although it has fewer posts.

Adgrunts Blogging

AdWeak - since November 2000 (new edition since August 2004) (ad-free)
Way back in December 2000 Dabitch had a little chat with the editor. Think "the Onion" for Adgeeks. Freshly updated sarcasm - now in Blog-form! Great zings at the world of advertising. It went dead for a whole 17 months but is now back with a vengeance

Paolo Vanossi - since December 2001 (ad-free)
available in both Italian and English, Paolo Vanossi blogs on marketing, online advertising, management ideas etc.

caffeinegoddess - since 2002 (ad-free)
Our friend the caffeinegoddess does her daily brew of advertising and life around her here. Life around her contains lots of ads and marketing mishaps served as a daily dose of inspiration to be as great as or better than much of what is out there. Gold star!

Trademark Blog - since May 2002 (ad free!)
Martin Schwimmer has carved his own niche here where he reports on trademark disputes and mishaps interesting for both adgrunts and lawyers. A cross between an adblog and a blawg!

Adrants rantworks - since march 2002 (ads everywhere - including paid for articles)
Steve Hall writes about ads virals marketing and PR - with the occasional diversion into marketing magic Britney Spears or Paris Hiltons life.

Creative generalist - since April 2002 (ad-free)
Creative Generalist is for curious divergent thinkers who appreciate new ideas and the wide mix of sources- including architecture, fashion, advertising, graphic design, animation, industrial design, interior design, travel, technology, writing, film, music, theatre, etc. - needed to generate them. Little bit of everything- from inspiration to news to fun links. Generally speaking, it's a great stop when you need food for thought. Gold star!

Texturl - since April 2002 (Google ads on right side column)
Brandon Barr's texturl shoves together the terms "text" and "URL". Texturl is a URL containing text and about text. Texturl is digital text, webbed text, URLed text: textURL. Texturl spawns two different readings hinged on a single letter substitution: textu(a)l and textu(r)l: textural. Text is textural; words are concrete and measurable and have concrete and measurable results. texturl is words, working. Brandons blog was born in April 2002 - for two and a half years he's amused us with a love for words, language and advertising. Loads of good links. Nice design. Fun reading! Gold star!

consumerwhore - since September 2002 (ad-free)
"The only .biz address anyone will ever bother linking to" has returned posting about advertising ups and downs - this place is a hoot, where do they find all the crazy marketing and branding schemes? Gold star!

Snarkhunting - since October 2002 (ad-free)
Well written! Words and Brands in pop culture and ten thousands snarks about bad naming decisions. Snarkhunting has a niche all it's own. Gold star!

Steve Garfield vlog - since October 2002 (ad-free)
Steve is an independent video producer/director from Boston who sort of vlogs here, as many many entries contain links to Quicktime clips.

webmaster republic.it - since January 2003 (Google ads on left side column)
Italian based blog that writes in English, interested in ads, illustration, design and virals.

ad blog by John Kuraoka - since February 2003 (ad-free)
John Kuraoka, freelance advertising copywriter runs a - what else - text only ad blog where the words are the heroes. Good links to stories around the net.

Life(?) of Trillian - since April 2003 (ad-free)
Total Perspective Vortex. Adventures in work and love. Amusing reading. Great way to spend some time, this girl has stories to tell and she tells them well, if you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall of any agency... You can! Just pop by here and hear the strange happenings crazy ad-biz land. I want to buy this gal a beer just to hear her tell more stories of her crazy ad life. What do you say Trillian, can I buy you a drink?

The hidden persuader - since August 2003 (ad-free)
Portuguese adblog straight out of Lisbon, written in English. The Portuguese language version is located at thehiddenpersuader.blogspot.com
and is updated more frequently. What a great site. Shame the more updated version is in Portuguese, where the comments from visiting persuaders flow like water. But the English version still has plenty to offer. Loads of great links, ad images, and comments.

Duncan's Ad Land -since September 2003 (ad-free)
A journal of TV commercial viewing online kept by Duncan Macleod, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Ad blogging from a regular Joe. Just goes to prove that good ads that entertain are enjoyed by viewers. It's always nice to get an 'outsiders' opinion on the ad world.

Wishful thinking in New York - since December 2003 (ad-free)
Guy Brighton moved to New York from London in Summer 2003 to seek work and new experience. This blog is a tongue-in-cheek online diary of this Brit's trials and tribulations together with his guide to New York's restaurants, bars and nightlife; and it also includes some tips for other alien job hunters too.

Russel Davis - since December 2003 (ad-free)
w+k planner blogs from a planners point of view - " reflecting some of my strange obsessions. The main one here reflects the things I notice because of my job. I'm an account planner at W+K and I spend my days thinking about brands and marketing and communications, and trying to persuade people to make the stuff we pump out into the world more interesting and respectful." He's got some very interesting stuff here. It's a nice extension from the agency blog.

AD HOC - since December 2003 (ad-free)
Semi-daily ad blogging from NikaVee, working in a major ad agency located in downtown Montreal, Canada. Ah the little things in life. And the not so little. Ad Hoc has some great tales and is a fun way to spend your time. The adventures of an adgrunt with attitude.

ad bêtise - since May 2004 (ad-free)
Trying figure out what is true, right, or lasting in advertising.
I wish this person would update their site. Great start here - some nice writing and interesting ideas.

ENCYCLOPEDIA HANASIANA - since May 2004 (ad-free)
Jim Hanas is the editor of AdCritic.com has his very own blog! And he has a moblog called Shiny Pointy and Tall where he photographs the photographers. Who watches the strained neck watchmen? Jim does! Nice assortment of things to check out.

Cameron Moll - since January 2004 (ad-free)
authentic boredom - Cameron Moll, designer serves a pretty dish of shiny things that catch his eye, be it words, ads, fonts or logos.
Wins the "prettiest personal adgrunt blog" award easy!

CreativePost - since ? (ad-free)
Not sure when this adblog was "born", it's a Dutch based but written in English art, design, creative and adblog that looks like a tabloid paper. Loads of links and and pretty things to keep you busy.

themixingbowl - since June 2004 (ad-free)
A random amalgamation of thoughts on life, design and culture.

Screen Arts - since June 2004 (ad-free)
A weblog for the Screen Arts community of NSCC to help enjoy, understand and make films.

Brand Focused Blogs

BrandMantra - since December 2003 (ad-free)
Jennifer Rice is the Queen of Branding, Marketing and the Ecology of Business. Educated chat on brands. Some basic stuff mixed in with some things to get you thinking.

Brand Autopsy - since December 2003 (ad-free)
Paul Williams and John Moore blog about brands.
Nicely written. Some good info on brands and current issues.

inluminent - since August 2002 (ad-free)
Shedding light on small business, marketing, leadership and other developments. Not bad but his linkblog (inluminent.com/linkblog) is better and updated more often, so check that out too.

Blogging about online/internet/technology ads

Adverblog - since May 2003
The cream of the crop Adverblog is a blog about web and wireless advertising, with a special focus on what's going on in Europe run by an Italian journalist, Martina Zavagno - it's crisp clean and chock full of good news stories. Nice collection of internet/wireless ad news.

Nate Elliott - March 2004 (ad-free)
Analyst Weblog: Nate Elliott - online marketing weblog.

Hypulp (ad-free)
Hypulp documents the influence of the internet on print design.

mmeiser - since June 2004 (ad-free)
Michael Meiser designs and develops award winning web sites, identity, brands, and collateral, with a special emphasis on user interfaces and the statistical and technical display of information.

Brand Suicide - since July 2004 (small at at very top for blog host)
Blog dedicated to those online ads that truly suck. "We are here to slay" A look at how major brands savage the online experience by using intrusive ad formats. Includes ratings of online ads. Good to check out and see their comments for things to avoid. Wins the cockiest kid on the block award. Not that there is one, I just made that up.

Chris Ray blog - since May 2004 (ad-free)
Interactively Speaking - Good commentary on the world of interactive marketing.

Media Blogs

Media Savvy - since March 2002 (ad at bottom of right side column)
Barry Parr blogs about media and media savvy marketing.

RexBlog - since January 2002 (Google ads throughout the left side column and other ads)
Rex Hammock's Weblog, about magazines, the magazine industry
and custom publishing and advertising on occasion mixed with whatever strikes Rex fancy at any given time.

Outdoor blog - since July 2003 (ad-free)
The blog that concentrates on Outdoor advertising that sadly hasn't been updated in a while.

The Media Drop -since January 2004 (google ads)
obey your media - media, advertising, marketing and
real life blogged. Just shy of a it's first birthday the media drop has been keeping an eye on all things related to media - the papers the stories, the slants the use of internet, the abuse of same on a daily basis. Tom Biro blogs daily about all sorts of media mishaps. Gold star!

Trend watchers

The Big Smoker - birth date unknown (ad-free)
The 'Smoker includes daily news updates on topics such as cinema, music, technology and design. Rob Hinchcliffe and Euan Mitchell won the Guardian award 'The best of British blogging' in the best design category. * edt: now relaunched as The Londonist

Octopusdropkick - since January 2004 (ad-free)
Blogs about pop culture, ads, crazy celebrity stuff, new gadget stuff and best of all has wacky japanese commercials in the sidebar. Lots of good cultural stuff here. And a bounty of Japanese stuff.

PSFK Trend - since June 2004 (Google ads on right side column)
PSFK is a (new) global trend reporting resource run by Piers Fawkes and Simon King with a team of contributors in Europe, the US and Asia.

Communal Blogs

ad.ville - since August 2002 (ad-free)
Description: just like us it is "the collaborative ad.blog" founded by https://smi.twoday.net/ Has not updated in a while. But what's there is a ncie mix of news from around the globe.

Speak up - since August 2002 (small ad spot on left side column)
A graphic design and commercial art community rather than "just a blog" with long well written articles and graphic fun! Great articles to get the synapses firing. Fun competitions where designers duke it out. Plus it's just so damn nice looking all over. Gold star!

Blogs at Fabrica A blog made up and linking to all the Fabrica blogs. Find designers, photographers and general creative mayhem.

Design Blogs

Typograpi.ca - since May 2002 (ad-free)
Typographica is a journal of typography featuring news, observations, and open commentary on fonts and typographic design. Formerly at the URL typographi.ca now at https://typographi.com/

Veer : ideas Unknown birth date but it's been a few years. There are no ads other than links to Veers own products.
Veer - visual elements different stock photos, fonts, illustration and creative juices served fresh in blog form. This blog is also a vehicle for Veer the brand Visual elements for creatives, purdy photography, illustration and of course, fonts!.

Design Observer - since September 2003 (ad-free)
Observing and blogging about design
Group effort- getting people talking about design, a lot of talk about a lot of design - from gum packaging to beautiful books and back.

robotjohhny - since July 2003 (ad-free)
RobotJohhny, a journal of creative proportions, illustration, design and visual culture. Fonts too! Right now Found Type in Ottawa, a photo exhibition.

Marketing Blogs

Red door - since March 2002 (ad-free)
Red door has an advertising blog keeping track of marketing news

Crossroads dispatches - since February 2004 (Older blog March 2003) (ad-free)
The generalist synthesist weblog - quite often about innovations in innovation and marketing. Juxtaposing the right brain and left. Yin and yang. Analytical and intuitive. Technical and visceral. Future and in-the-now. Intersection of technology, creativity & innovation, leadership, systems, beliefs and world views. Eventually, on-the-road coverage from a world journey to the emerging creative class centers of the world.

PR Blogs

NatterjackPR - since March 2002 (ad-free)
Some thoughts and opinions on the Public Relations profession
and industry. Hosted by Tom Murphy.

POP! Public Relations - since July 2003 (Google ads on left side column)
A diary of the trials and tribulations of starting my own public relations firm. Yah, it's nice and fun and stressful.

PR Communications - since December 2003
John Cass writes about PR, marketing and the Internet

Seth Godin - since December 2003 (ad-free except for own ads for books)
Seth Godin, author of "Free Prize Inside", "Idea Virus" and "Purple Cow" has his own blog.

Trevor Cook - since February 2004 (ad-free)
Trever Cooks Australian PR commentary blog. Whats up down under? Ask Trevor!

Our Foreign language friends perhaps not foreign to all of us these are some notable ad and marketing blogs not written in english.

Mediafact NL - unknown birth date, ad free
Mediafact.nl is een persoonlijke weblog van Marco Derksen, in het dagelijkse leven werkzaam als e-business consultant bij Share of Mind. Dutch only - but Dabitch tells me that it's quite good even though I don't understand a word of it.

Adpara.de - since January 2003 (some small ads on the left side column)
Klassenbuch für Werbung und Marketing - in German only.

Bold - since (google ads/banner ads)
a.k.a. 99reklam , Swedish advertising and marketing communal blog with forums and some quicktime commercials. (in Swedish only)

Researcher (ad-free)
A planner turned copywriter researches everything about advertising in Sweden and the world here (Swedish only). Update: He really is a former priest now praying in the church of consumerism!

Massimo Bernardi .italy - since July 2004 (ad-free)
Italian ad-obsessed and pop culture watching blog - in Italian only.

Publicidade off the record
Blog de escárnio, zombaria & ironia » "O dia-a-dia na vida de um publicitário"

Marketing Alternatif
This one at least looks real nice, even though I can't read it. Créer de véritables connexions émotionnelles avec la cible pour développer un puissant « bouche à oreille» en utilisant des supports et des opérations originales dans la rue et sur internet : guerrilla marketing, real life product placement, interaction One2one.

Marketing, propaganda and Rock'n'Roll
Meu nome é Carlos Henrique Vilela, moro em Campinas - SP e curso publicidade na PUC.

To advertise on blogs or get blogs talking about you....

blogads
Blogads stir opinion makers. Read by fanatics, pundits and journalists, blogs increasingly set the insider agenda. Use blogads to start advertising where opinions are made. This place actually has it's own blog too.

Textads
A flat 10% of revenue generated from the ads is taken by the host and all financial transactions are done using PayPal

Blogversations
Sponsor a blogger to discuss your product. Sort of like a product placement in the blog-word.

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* note since this post is old, much has changed. Since spammers kept adding links to the link section via mean scripts, while real people never quite grokked it, we've removed it.