Explore a website dedicated to reviewing books about the advertising industry

'Ogilvy on Advertising' is David Ogilvy's career memoir full of his favorite copywriting advice

Ogilvy is one of the most famous and influential advertising executives in history, known for his focus on research-driven advertising. But he also wrote multiple books, including "Ogilvy on Advertising," which the Founders podcast dives into in this episode.

An ad agency is a firm that a company contracts to assist with marketing efforts

While some corporations have marketers and advertisers as full-time employees, others contract advertising agencies to get the work done. Ad agencies typically have a variety of departments depending on their specialty, but they often include account executives to help manage client relationships and a creative department to produce the ads.

The most iconic vintage ads

Looking at vintage ads can provide a deep dive into the history of how businesses communicate with their customers. This archive of some of the most iconic print and out-of-home ads of all time breaks down why each ad resonated at the time (think brutally honest copywriting, and long copy that is a pleasure to read). See ads from Porsche, Listerine, and more.

In defense of the advertisement economy

Advertising is frequently reviled for how it clutters up public spaces and our everyday experiences. Nonetheless, it allows for vast amounts of goods and services to be rendered free to millions of users—and gives users the option to pay with money or time and attention.

Billboard began as an advertising industry magazine

The magazine was initially “devoted to the interests of advertisers, poster printers, bill posters, advertising agents & secretaries of fairs.” While it occasionally tracked music via sheet music, record, and jukebox sales through the 1930s, it added its first true top 10 singles chart in 1940.

In 2008, one writer demonstrated the fickle nature of wine reviews

Robin Goldstein submitted a fake restaurant to the well-respected Wine Spectator for a competition. He created a website for the fake Milan-based business, complete with a menu of wines the magazine itself had disparaged. That didn't stop Wine Spectator from naming Goldstein's ruse among that year's winners.

The origins of the Guinness Book of World Records

Yes, it was the beer company that started it. In 1955, the very first edition of the Guinness Book of World Records debuted as a marketing campaign for the famous Irish beer brand. Get all the details on the origins here.

The James Beard Foundation rebranded in 2025

Design firm Siberia emphasized the foundation's mission: "good food for good." This case study from Print isn't just a fascinating look at one campaign—it’s a primer on understanding how design works.

A detailed analysis of romance novel covers through history

A lot has changed in the romance genre over time, a fact that's clearest in the way that the books are marketed to consumers. This interactive data visualization surveyed decades of romance book jackets, finding that raunchy, realistic paintings of scantily clad models have largely been replaced by vibrantly colored illustrations, often with the characters drawn as cartoons.

Many of the projects major consulting firms work on are kept secret, some firms provide a few examples of real-world client work

A list of client work examples from McKinsey includes a case study on how the firm helped Starbucks design more inclusive stores, and many more.

The Black Friday Archive collects Black Friday ads from the past 25 years

The archive features advertisements from notable retailers such as Bath & Body Works, Gap, and The Home Depot, among others. These ads span from the years 2000 to 2024, in addition to some from early holiday sales at Macy’s in 1963.

Does winning a Cannes Lion matter?

It’s easy to become cynical about awards, but a study shows winning at Cannes Lions financially benefits agencies. Of course, snagging an award also helps boost creatives' egos.

The Madison Avenue Walk of Fame

In Hollywood, the most prominent celebrities get “stars” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Now, industry events producer Advertising Week has created a virtual walk of fame for the biggest stars of the ad world, from the Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Bear to the Energizer Bunny.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

Read the scathing review of '1984' by science fiction legend Isaac Asimov

Asimov, the author of the "Foundation" series and a major figure in science fiction, tore Orwell's novel apart in a 1980 review, writing, "This is not science fiction, but a distorted nostalgia for a past that never was."

Some critics view Marina Abramović as more of a brand than an artist

As the performer became more tied to A-listers like Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and James Franco, culture critics began to consider the commercialization of performance art and how audiences may have flocked to see the “brand” of Abramović more than her actual work.

'Mad Men' is loosely based on the wild antics of Madison Avenue employees

The TV show follows the employees of a New York City ad agency as they navigate the debauched culture of Madison Avenue's golden age—and the political and cultural landscape of the 1960s. The hosts explain which episode to watch first if you want to get hooked.

Find your next book by prompting this AI

Have a general idea of the sort of book you'd like to read next, but don't know how to find a specific one? Try this fun and impressive tool. Describe the type of book you're looking for. It will suggest five options which attempt to meet your prompt. Find your next page-turner with this very cool tool.

The culture Ray Dalio created at Bridgewater Associates is often criticized

Despite large returns, former employees report meticulous logs of mistakes, intense public questioning of junior-level staffers, recordings of all meetings being made available to all employees, and highly confrontational meetings—many of which are attributed to the book of more than 100 principles Dalio gives each employee. (Some users may experience a paywall)

The official podcast of A24 film studio

They've made arthouse cinema mainstream while winning critical acclaim at the Oscars, Golden Globes, and more. Catch up on the latest episode of A24's official podcast here with interview of actors, directors, and more.

Caroline Calloway: The influencer who botched two six-figure book deals

The daughter of a real estate mogul, Caroline Calloway was an Instagram influencer who leveraged her "Cambridge captions"—young adult novel-esque descriptions of college parties—into a six-figure book deal in 2014. After having failed to produce...

The National Institute on Drug Abuse's resource library

The National Institute on Drug Abuse website is an in-depth and highly prolific resource on addiction science. Explore the vast scope of this website to access comprehensive guides, data visualizations, and educational materials on all facets of addiction and its treatment.

How literary agent Scott Meredith invented the modern book auction

Prior to the 1964 auction of "The Night Action" for $13,500 to New American Library, a gentleman's code persisted in the literary world: no manuscript should be shared with more than one publisher at a time. Meredith—the agent behind Norman Mailer, Carl Sagan, and Arthur C. Clarke—leveraged his deep knowledge of the talent pool to publishers, sending around manuscripts to 19 different publishers to generate a bidding war. The Beat-influenced novel eventually flopped and is now out of print.

How companies track you around the internet, explained

Being able to track how users behave on websites is a massive opportunity for companies to hone their products, target their ads, and more. Dozens of trackers are on the average website you visit, depending on how you deal with that site's cookie policy, and Google is the chief tracker of them all. Learn about these companies and what they are tracking with this informative blog visualization.

A catalog of 3,000 ornate Chinese cigarette boxes and brands

China's vast, state-owned tobacco market has produced enough regional brands and packaging variants to sustain a dedicated collector community. Ciggies.app functions as both a product database and an enthusiast social network, with entries spanning current mainland releases, historical discontinued brands, and international imports.

The Agent podcast reveals the true story of a long-term KGB agent in America

Narrated through firsthand interviews, The Agent tells how Jack Barsky (born Albrecht Dittrich) spent a decade undercover as a Soviet KGB “illegal” in the US, balancing dual identities in Queens—from insurance programmer to deep-cover spy—until a crisis forced him to choose between loyalty and family.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness