Andrew Essex
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Articles by Andrew Essex
Windows on the World Was More Than a Restaurant — It Was a New York State of Mind
Windows on the World had a lot to prove when it opened in April of 1976. For starters, there was the curse of the 1975 Daily News headline: “Ford To City: Drop Dead.” Beset by violent crime, Himalayan mounds of garbage, and on the verge of bankruptcy, New York was looked upon as a once-great city with its best days behind it. The anticipated opening of the World Trade Center did little to dispel the sense of civic malaise.
The ultimate guide to Bond theme songs, from the people who made them
The John Barry & Orchestra performance of composer Monty Norman's James Bond theme is built on what might be the best-known guitar riff in cinematic history — but it almost didn't even happen. As the story goes, producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman enlisted Barry to help complete Norman's score for 1962's Dr. No, at which point Barry collaborated with a 25-year-old studio guitarist named Vic Flick to give what would become the "James Bond Theme" its iconic motif.
James Murdoch, Then and Now
James Murdoch, the younger son of Rupert Murdoch, who had been positioned to succeed him in leading News Corp., may face criminal charges in the phone-hacking scandal convulsing England. But there was a time not long ago when the embattled thirty-eight-year-old wanted no part of the family business.
Register Now: Ad Guru David Droga on Making Advertising Work for Your Business Now, May 27
David Droga CREDIT: Courtesy subject Join Inc. for a conversation with advertising entrepreneur David Droga at 1 p.m. ET, Wednesday, May 27, in the Inc. Real Talk: Business Reboot live event series. To RSVP, register now: https://events.inc.com/realtalk-daviddroga Droga is the founder and creative chairman of Droga5, one of the most innovative advertising companies in the world. In this exclusive Inc. webinar, he'll speak about how to stand out and communicate in unexpected ways with Inc.
Register Now: Ad Guru David Droga on Making Advertising Work for Your Business Now, May 27
David Droga CREDIT: Courtesy Subject Join Inc. for a conversation with advertising entrepreneur David Droga 1 p.m. ET, Wednesday, May 27, the next in the Inc. Real Talk: Business Reboot live event series. To RSVP, register now: https://events.inc.com/realtalk-daviddroga Droga is the founder and creative chairman of Droga5, one of the most innovative advertising companies in the world. In this exclusive Inc. webinar, he'll speak about how to stand out and communicate in unexpected ways with Inc.
Why Every Product Needs a Great Brand Story
Hey, Mr. Brand Guru, do I really need to sell a brand? Isn't that just a distraction--a way to push an inferior product by confusing the buyer with a bunch of piffle paffle? Isn't my product the most important thing?
The Devil in Details
First Person By Andrew Essex February 18, 2020 Dan Peres attends a Details magazine cocktail party in 2015.
Amazon’s Merciless Assault on Brands
Companies spent billions crafting powerful stories around their consumer products. Then came Alexa. Illustration: Jacob Rochester Around this time last year, just as most of us were tucking into Thanksgiving turkey, the sleepy world of consumer packaged goods was stunned by the news of Procter & Gamble’s $100 million cash acquisition of Native, a venture-backed natural deodorant company based in San Francisco.
A Grass-Roots Murdoch
By Andrew Essex September 8, 1996 The New Yorker, September 16, 1996 P. 44 Talk story about media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's son, James Murdoch, and the younger Murdoch's new record label, Rawkus Entertainment. It's no secret that Rupert Murdoch conducts his billion-dollar business from a steel-and-glass fortress in midtown, but in a funky Tribeca loft situated between a porn shop and a falafel joint Murdoch's 23-year-old son, James, is toiling in undergraduate squallor.
How Advertisers Blew the Super Bowl – Member Feature Stories – Medium
The Rams failed to score a single touchdown in Super Bowl LIII. They’ll live to play another day. Imagine being one of 20 massive brands that, under the scrutiny of some 110 million eyeballs, flushed away $5 million each for 30 seconds of unmemorable advertising. Talk about blown calls. What’s the penalty for $100 million squandered on blown Super Bowl spots? Having toiled as an ad guy for years, I say farewell to yet another Super Bowl with the usual mixture of relief, embarrassment, and revulsion.
Future Suck - Member Feature Stories - Medium
Most folks go to Las Vegas to gamble. Others go to party, get married, or see Cher. I visited Vegas last week to check out a fully functional A.I.-enabled laundry folding machine. I speak, of course, of the FoldiMate — a real thing, Ms. Kondo — perhaps the most compassionate of the shiny objects I fondled so you didn’t have to at the 52nd annual Consumer Electronics Show, aka CES 2019.
Amazon’s Merciless Assault on Brands – The New New – Medium
Around this time last year, just as most of us were tucking into Thanksgiving turkey, the sleepy world of consumer packaged goods was stunned by the news of Procter & Gamble’s $100 million cash acquisition of Native, a venture-backed natural deodorant company based in San Francisco.
What does the future of advertising look like?
So...I wrote a book about the end of advertising, conveniently called The End of Advertising. A few people had questions. My answers are below. Please feel free to keep the questions coming. A: There are already a bunch of cool Jetsons's style mock-ups floating around out there. The central assumption is that you won't be driving, that you won't be allowed to drive, so you're either looking out the window or at a screen, which is likely via the window shield or roof. What are you looking at?
How I learned to love adblocking and why you should love it, too
It's a moment more or less forgotten by history, but sometime in the mid-1980s, the advertising industry faced an especially dire existential threat. The Internet was still a glimmer in Al Gore's eye, but another disruptive technology had come out of nowhere to upset the natural order of things and thrust Madison Avenue into a potential death spire. That technology was of course... the remote control.
How Citi Bike Started A Transportation-And Advertising-Revolution
By Andrew Essex10 minute Read On a humid August afternoon in 2011, a small group of government executives gathered around the desk of Mayor Michael Bloomberg to seek his approval for New York’s first bike-share program. Former Department of Transportation Secretary Janette Sadik-Khan helped lead the pitch. According to Sadik-Khan, Bloomberg wasn’t exactly an easy sell, but the Mayor’s mood brightened when he heard the program would be privately operated at zero cost to taxpayers.
Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon go head-to-head
”If you make a movie with a male star,” says Susan Sarandon, ”everyone assumes you’re f—ing. If it’s a female star, everyone assumes you’re fighting.” The female star under discussion is Julia Roberts, Sarandon’s costar in Stepmom. The film unites two of the preeminent actresses of the ’90s in a duct-emptying drama about a divorced mother of two (Sarandon) whose life-threatenng illness forces her to accept her ex-husband’s fiancée (Roberts).
Brands Behaving Bigly: Advertisers Need Courage, Clarity in Trump Era
Andrew Essex is the CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, parent company of the Tribeca Film Festival. He was the founding CEO of celebrated advertising agency Droga5.
How Shark Tank Changed the Way We Speak
An embarrassing thing happened recently at a prominent Silicon Alley eatery. A young CEO was enjoying a pleasant dinner with his investors when he was suddenly shown the door by restaurant staff. Turns out, a waiter had overheard the exec say, "Guys, I need to exit immediately," and took it literally. It's hard to blame the poor food-service professional for his confusion.
Do Parking Meters Dream Of Digital Thermostats? An NYC UX Failure
By Andrew Essex 4 minute Read They started springing up on the streets of New York City last fall, like a municipal version of the infamous monolith from 2001. Without warning, there they were, nearly everywhere, five feet tall, imposing, mysterious and yet oddly inviting, something you might rub to see if it responded. Anyone who’d ever parked a car in this town, only to be made impotent without a pocketful of quarters, had genuine cause to celebrate.
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