After backlash from customers, the producer of Maker’s Mark bourbon is reversing a decision to cut the amount of alcohol in bottles of its famous whiskey. Rob Samuels, Maker’s Mark’s Chief Operating Officer, said that the company is restoring the alcohol volume of its product to its historic level of 45 percent, or 90 proof....Read More

Pop star Beyoncé caused a bit of a stir when she was alleged to have lip synched ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ at the Presidential Inauguration ceremonies on Monday, January 21. Just 13 days later, she found herself on one of the world’s biggest stages at the Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show, making a resonating...Read More

Did you know there was a football game played Sunday night in New Orleans? The Super Bowl matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the winning Baltimore Ravens turned out to be highly competitive and compelling until the end, keeping 200 million televisions locked on CBS’ well-managed but unremarkable broadcast. But notwithstanding the action on...Read More

Welcome to Junction’s Book Nook. At Junction, we dedicate a significant amount of time educating ourselves on the complexities of the business and marketing ecosystem. We would like to share insights from some of the pages of the books we are reading.   As part of my New Year’s resolution to put down the technology...Read More

We are well aware of the power of social networks to effectively disseminate a brand message and create real, mutually-beneficial relationships between consumers and brands. But there are two sides to the coin – a great deal of the content brands perceive as engaging to audiences falls short of expectations when the metrics on conversions...Read More

A Snapshot of our Blog in 2012 2012 was truly a year worthy of conversation. Facebook’s IPO opened the world’s eyes to a new understanding of social media, mobile technology continued to grow and captured more of our attention and our dollars, the Summer Olympic Games unfolded in London, Hurricane Sandy became the most digitally...Read More

We often discuss how brands must be much more personal to create equity in the age of social media, but when the relationship between brand and consumer becomes so intimate, the negative impact of a breach of trust can be exponentially greater than ever before. Hurricane Sandy was an opportunity for social media to show...Read More

In celebration of registering its billionth user, Facebook decided to create and release its first ever television advertisement. Titled “The Things that Connect Us,” the 90 second spot by Weiden+Kennedy features some nice cinematography, but raises a number of questions about the motives, expectations, and intentions of the social media giant. What is the goal...Read More

Junction Executive Director of Business Development & Partnerships Mark Cropp recently joined Sherry Heyl, CEO of Concept Hub Inc. and Julie Squires, CEO of Softscribe Inc. as featured speakers on a panel of experts leading a conversation on launching new brands. The event, part of the Empower Concepts series, held at The Work Spot in Duluth, GA, attracted business...Read More

In a world of incredible scale, the internet and its power to connect us is truly amazing. The connected world is now generating mind-boggling amounts of data every minute of every day – a breadth of available data that is vast enough to hold the power to predict user behaviors and market trends. Armed with...Read More