Author Archives: Tom Hickey

A $220 Million Ad Campaign. A Company Created Just Eight Days Earlier. And a whole lot of cronyism.

Forget about your politics for a second. This should bother you no matter which side of the aisle you sit on. If the details below are accurate, this looks a lot like taxpayer abuse. Read on. Situation Recap The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a $220 million advertising campaign in 2025, funded by U.S.Continue reading “A $220 Million Ad Campaign. A Company Created Just Eight Days Earlier. And a whole lot of cronyism.”

Hate Speech

By Tom Hickey, CEO Northampton Consulting [Author’s note: The on-going saga with Twitter is changing in real-time so my point-of-view may be rendered pointless if Elon and Co. keep changing their policies. In fact, after writing the draft of this piece, Elon suspended a number of journalists under the auspices that they doxxed Elon. HeContinue reading “Hate Speech”

Quick Take: Brand Safety

By Tom Hickey, CEO Northampton Consulting Allison Schiff, Managing Editor at AdExchanger, published an opinion piece titled: “Can We Stop It With The Brand Safety Double Standard Already?“ I couldn’t agree more with her point – why is it okay from a brand-safety perspective for brands to advertise on Criminal Minds and not on theContinue reading “Quick Take: Brand Safety”

Paywalls are Counterproductive to an Informed Electorate

“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” John F. Kennedy. The idea that an informed electorate is better than an ignorant one shouldn’t be too controversial, right? I certainly hope not. To that end, I have been doing a lot of research on the 2022 midterm elections over theContinue reading “Paywalls are Counterproductive to an Informed Electorate“

Trust in Media

According to Edelman’s newly released 2021 Trust Barometer, Media is trusted less than Business, NGOs and the Government. This is a serious problem for not only our free society but the very industry that I chose to pursue. I’d encourage you to take a spin through “How Can the Press Best Serve a Democratic Society?”Continue reading “Trust in Media”

An Unprecedented, Systemic Use of the Words Unprecedented and Systemic

Please be advised that this is a commentary on words, not the underlying reasons the words have taken on a life of their own in 2020. First, “unprecedented.” We’ve seen it EVERYWHERE: from politicians to business leaders to advertisers to the sweet little woman that lives down the street. I think her name’s Mary. IContinue reading “An Unprecedented, Systemic Use of the Words Unprecedented and Systemic”

“The Match” Made my Memorial Day Weekend

Did you see it? Any of it? It was absolutely amazing. And I’m not alone in that assessment. According to Sports Media Watch, “the latest edition of “The Match” — pitting Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady — averaged 5.8 million viewers across TBS, TNT, TruTV and HLN Sunday afternoon,Continue reading ““The Match” Made my Memorial Day Weekend”

Cocktails with Bob Hoffman

Thanks to the AAF Omaha for hosting last night’s AdReads Book Club & Happy Hour with featured guest, Bob Hoffman. The discussion centered around Bob’s book, Advertising For Skeptics. In his introduction to the book, Bob says “I like to write short books” and this one comes in at only 149 pages – each oneContinue reading “Cocktails with Bob Hoffman”