James Forr
Pittsburgh
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Articles by James Forr
Marketing Mamdani
Four messaging lessons for Democrats from the NYC mayoral primary This commentary originally ran on MediaPost on June 27, 2025. Democrats seem stunned: How did Zohran Mamdani — polling at just four percent in March — storm past former governor Andrew Cuomo to capture the party’s nomination for mayor of New York? Most great politicians are marketers at heart, and Mamdani’s campaign was a marketing tour de force.
Friends and Lovers
A Q&A with Kourosh Newman-Zand, Managing Partner at the UK semiotics studio Axis Mundi, about how brands can build true relationships in the age of social media hype. James Forr · Follow Published in Olson Zaltman · 9 min read · -- In today’s speed-of-light marketing environment, it can be challenging for marketers to carve out time to think in lieu of just reacting to whatever meme or online trend is hot at this moment in the digital hype cycle.
Feeling happy? Click here
A Q&A with Dr. Sarah Whitley from the University of Georgia about how our mood can affect clickthrough rates when shopping online James Forr · Follow Published in Olson Zaltman · 5 min read · -- US advertisers spend more than $100 billion a year on paid search ads, but in some ways it is an area that still isn’t well understood. Researchers are still trying to figure out what prompts a consumer to click on one ad but ignore another.
Man Up
When we are beaten down, we want to lash out. It usually isn't physical or even visible. We might not even know we're doing it. But, in fact, we often use brands to reassert our strength when coping with defeat. In an article in the Journal of Marketing Research titled, Niusha Jones and her co-authors Blair Kidwell and Anne Hamby suggest that failure can make us more likely to purchase brands that are perceived as aggressive and masculine.
Telling a book by the cover
A Q&A with Lan Anh Ton from Texas Christian University about what package designs say about the product inside They say the clothes make the person. Similarly, the packaging can make the product. Lan Anh Ton is Assistant Professor of Marketing at TCU’s Neeley School of Business. In this Q&A, we discuss her research, recently published in the Journal of Marketing, on simple vs. complex package designs.
A Failure To Communicate
by James Forr , Op-Ed Contributor, 24 minutes ago Shallow research and aimless messaging have put Democrats -- and democracy -- in jeopardy. In late November 2018, I visited Washington for an appointment with one of the grand imperial poohbahs of Democratic strategy. My mission: to open his eyes to modern ways of understanding and influencing voters, many of whom had drifted away from the party and couldn’t relate to its values.
Everybody plays the fool
I was thinking of your book last weekend when I was on the highway. I'm in the left lane. And there's a road sign, "Left lane closed one mile ahead." I did what most other people on the road do, the socially acceptable thing, which is to merge into the right lane as quickly as possible. So we're all puttering along in the right lane for a few seconds. And then, inevitably, here's one or two people in the left lane, flying by at, like, 80 miles an hour.
Ye Olde Parking Meter?
Municipalities struggle with parking. some have eliminated parking meters. Pittsburgh, Sewickley, Mt. Lebanon, and Carnegie have installed kiosks instead. The time for parking meters hasn’t expired, but in many communities, you’ll no longer need coins. In Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Dormont, McKeesport, and others, meters still exist, but thanks to the innovative Pittsburgh-based app company MeterFeeder, payments can be made online.
Renewing the Promise of Pittsburgh
Editor’s note: Historian David McCullough delivered the following words on a Pittsburgh riverboat in a speech to a select group of local leaders at the launch of the Riverlife Task Force. We are publishing this essay for the first time with permission of The Heinz Endowments on the occasion of the launch of a new campaign of renewal: Pittsburgh Tomorrow. His words are as potent now as then in pointing the way to a new Pittsburgh. I think this is an opportunity such as no city in the country has.
Remembering a Steelers Season to Forget. CARD-PITT
The fresh snow and twinkling lights had Pittsburghers in the holiday spirit, but alone in his hotel room John Grigas had spiraled into a dark place. He had played 19 games in his professional football career. His teams had lost all 19. With his soul suffering and his body battered, could he drag himself through one last game?
Losing my religion — Olson Zaltman
What is with the Liver King? Cultural theorist Matt Klein suggests it is no coincidence that a guy who promotes a carnivore diet is popular now, in a time when meat alternatives are emerging. He goes a step further to argue that the Liver King (and meat consumption, in general) promises mastery over one’s world, in a time when many people feel out of control. It also suggests masculinity and virility in a moment when some people may feel threatened by world that is increasingly gender non-binary.
How good research can help resolve the brand purpose conundrum | Article | Quirks.com
The death of brands? Or new life? Editor's note: James Forr is head of insights at Olson Zaltman. He can be reached at jforr@olsonzaltman.com. The heavyweights of marketing and branding love to battle over brand purpose. How should a brand communicate its purpose? How much do consumers care? How can we measure the impact on the bottom line?
Brand Fetterman: Pennsylvania Democrat Is Running A Campaign For The Ages
by James Forr , Op-Ed Contributor, August 18, 2022 Americans like Democratic ideas. They don’t necessarily like Democrats. When you contrast the popularity of Democratic policies with the relative lack of power Democrats hold at federal and state levels, one can argue that, in its current iteration, this is the most inept major political party in American history. Democrats think like scientists. If you present the facts, voters will make the logical choices. Republicans think like marketers.
Brand Fetterman: The Pennsylvania Democrat Is Running A Campaign For The Ages
Americans like Democratic ideas. They don’t necessarily like Democrats. When you contrast the popularity of Democratic policies with the relative lack of power Democrats hold at federal and state levels, one can argue that, in its current iteration, this is the most inept major political party in American history. Democrats think like scientists. If you present the facts, voters will make the logical choices. Republicans think like marketers.
Roberto Clemente in Retrospect
The last time Roberto Clemente stepped up to home plate was on a field on Puerto Rico’s west coast where he was teaching boys to play baseball. Locals had coaxed him into taking a swing, and he obliged, hitting the ball out of the park. It’s not surprising that one of the world’s greatest athletes could hit a home run, whether against local amateurs or professional baseball players. As Clemente once said of himself: “To me, I am the best.” His honored life attests to Clemente’s self-esteem.
Teaching, Preaching And Screeching: What's Wrong With Vaccine Messaging
by James Forr , Op-Ed Contributor, 5 hours ago In late August, as the FDA neared full approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, Dr. Megan Ranney, associate dean at Brown University’s School of Public Health, declared: “With this full approval in hand, we're going to have a chance to message again about the safety and effectiveness of this vaccine.” It is perplexing, given what we know about decision-making, that public health leaders still insist the key to persuasion is the endless repetition...
Just Askin’... Derek Shelton
Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Pirates Pirates Manager Derek Shelton. July 12, 2021 Q: What’s the most interesting thing about your job? A: The wide variety of people I interact with on a daily basis. Q: What’s the best advice anybody ever gave you? A: To do your job right the first time. Not half-assed. Q: How do you start the day? A: I drink a lot of water, take some Vitamin C and Stormio Nespresso coffee (I am obsessed with Nespresso). Q: Outside of work, what do you hope to accomplish in life?
Lovable and Inimitable
Original research for this story was conducted by the author for a book he co-authored with David Proctor entitled “Pie Traynor: A Baseball Biography.” Hunched over a lathe on a steamy factory floor, Pie Traynor — World Series champion, future Hall of Famer, and the man widely considered the greatest third baseman who had ever lived — was looking for an exit. Traynor had wandered a twisty road from the baseball diamond to the metal shop.
Society for American Baseball Research
Baseball parks offer a smorgasbord for the senses. Ask some longtime Pittsburghers to describe Forbes Field and you will find yourself awash in sensory detail, little things that made the place vivid and unforgettable. Those older Pirate fans may recall the lush, green ivy that cloaked the outfield wall. They may recall the bracing, manly odor of old beer and cigarettes, which hung in the air like a permanent cloud and mingled with the tantalizing scent of red hots and roasted peanuts.
Reading Between The Lines: The Problem With The Metaphor 'Re-Open The Country'
by James Forr , Op-Ed Contributor, 6 minutes ago The greatest magicians and the greatest persuaders share a secret — the ease with which people can be influenced when they don't know they are being influenced. While the magician uses various forms of distraction to surprise and delight, the rhetorician's sleight of hand is rooted in metaphor. This is no less true for politicians swaying voters than it is for marketers advertising to consumers about a brand of soap.
Society for American Baseball Research
Few jobs can match the excitement, adulation, and income that come with a spot on a major-league roster. Some old ballplayers inevitably seal themselves in amber, forever living vicariously through the men they used to be. The New York Giants’ Al Corwin was different. For him the game was “more paycheck than passion,” as one author put it.1 When it was done, it was done.
Willie Stargell | Society for American Baseball Research
Following the Pittsburgh Pirates’ loss to the Chicago Cubs on October 1, 2000, 60-year-old Willie Stargell emerged to throw a ceremonial final pitch at the soon-to-be-demolished Three Rivers Stadium. Even though most people who followed the Pirates knew “Pops” was in poor health his frail, spectral appearance that afternoon was shocking. He was almost unrecognizable, barely able to walk on his own, a much-too-large gold Pirate jersey drooping pitifully from his emaciated shoulders.
Society for American Baseball Research
For one generation of Pittsburghers, Pie Traynor was that tanned, silver-haired old man on Studio Wrestling. For another generation, he was the monotone voice that came out of the radio every evening to talk about sports. But for an older generation – and for most baseball fans outside the Pittsburgh area – he was the greatest third baseman of their time. Harold Joseph Traynor was born on November 11, 1898, in Framingham, Massachusetts, about 22 miles west of Boston.
Society for American Baseball Research
Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Prince was a man of paradox.
September 28, 1938: Hartnett hits Homer in the Gloamin'
Pittsburgh manager Pie Traynor trudged back to the Belmont Hotel in Chicago wondering what the hell had just happened. Four weeks earlier, his Pirates led the National League by seven games. Fans in Pittsburgh were buying World Series tickets. The club had expanded the press box to accommodate all the writers who would be descending on Forbes Field from all over the country. But now the lead--and, as it turned out, the season--was gone, thanks to one swing of the bat from Gabby Hartnett.
Toward a New Marketing Science for Hospitality Managers
A New Marketing Science (NMS) is proposed that can dramatically improve a firm’s marketplace performance. The NMS challenges managers to dare to think and act differently. It generates deep insights into the thoughts and actions of both customers and managers and how the two mind-sets interact.
Van Lingle Mungo: The Man, The Song, The Players|Paperback
English 1933599766 Just as 1930s and 1940s Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants pitcher Van Lingle Mungo was surprised that Dave Frishberg wrote a song around his name back in 1969, so he might have been surprised to come across this book in the year 2014. Frishberg's song "Van Lingle Mungo" listed 37 ballplayers in the lyrics. A different version contained three different names. That's a total of 40, and all 40 are represented with biographies in this book.
Willie Stargell - Society for American Baseball Research
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