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What Makes the Best Super Bowl Ads?

What? The Super Bowl is unlike any other television event when it comes to advertising: People actually want to see the commercials.
So What? Viewers want to see new and different commercials on Super Bowl Sunday, so companies have to balance that demand with the necessity to stay on target and on brand.
Now What? Google’s new marketing product, Real-Time Ads, allows an ad element like images or text to be updated in real time so a brand can build a story with itself at the center while still leveraging “buzzability.” Continue reading

For ‘Prescription Thugs’ filmmaker, drug abuse hit close to home

For 'Prescription Thugs' filmmaker, drug abuse hit close to home

“You get addicted so quick,” said Chris Bell, 43, who 10 years ago became addicted to painkillers after hip replacement surgery. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

While making a documentary on pharmaceutical companies and prescription drug abuse, Chris Bell was drinking heavily and trolling urgent-care clinics for Xanax in an unraveling of addiction and delusion similar to the slide that had killed his brother years earlier. Continue reading