As parties go, the little get-together for the Friends of Lou campaign was a nice warm-up for Derby Week. A hundred or so people showed up at the Bourbon Country Tent at Fest-a-Ville, where the CVB’s Stacey Yates presided over the giving away of Maker’s Mark trinkets. That’s the official Just Add Bourbon T […]

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So let’s see how many local TV stations and newspapers fall for this Churchill Downs gimmick — some dude named Stymie is the track’s Chief Party Officer, based on his 15 years of Infield partying experience and the ability to piece together a video and drunken photos of himself. Don’t forget now, Stymie is […]

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Maybe it’s because I just saw Semi-Pro, the Will Ferrell movie about the ABA, but I’m struck by the oddball and over-the-top promotional efforts by the Derby City Rollergirls — who have two “bouts” coming up at the Fair and Expo Center’s West Wing.
Let’s see, they’ve got “suicide seats” right next to the action (no […]

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Haha so, funny story, we need to hire a creative and capable advertising executive to grow our media sales team.
Could that be you? Would you relish the opportunity to work with some very sexy and powerful bloggers and politico/media types?
We’re obviously a flourishing media operation with trillions of dedicated readers per day so it’ll […]

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Some 50 Louisville restaurants—known around town as the Louisville Originals—announced the formation of an independent body set up to promote locally owned eateries. The move marks the severance of its association with Dine Originals, a national group set up to do much the same, but on a national scale.
The Louisville chapter was founded in 2005, […]

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According to the Blood-Horse, this logo is the result of feedback from focus groups and customers. You’re going to see it on everything from t-shirts to Derby glasses between now and May 3. It’s nothing special, but then how many different designs can there be featuring a horse and the twin spires?

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From PageOne:
The Herald-Leader’s Rich Copley wrote a “culture” column about the actors from Kentucky he likes and why they’ll win awards. Folks like Ashley Judd, Johnny Depp, George Clooney and several unknowns. He thinks a couple unknown films have a shot because they’re already award winners. And at the end of the piece he throws […]

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The University of Louisville’s Cardinal Athletic Fund has begun its campaign to extort cash from fans to pay for the football stadium expansion and the downtown basketball arena. The brochure mailed yesterday was pretty cool — photoshop-ed images of a basketball and football huddle with “Redding” and “Jeanine” placed realistically on the backs of Edgar […]

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Remember Louisville’s controversy-stirring Brand Aid from a few weeks ago? Greater Louisville Inc’s strangely conceived attempt at a branding campaign dogged other metro areas and caused many of Louisville’s city leaders a bit of understandable embarrassment.
In a funny turn of events a group called Push for Cheese Films has produced two hilarious spots that take […]

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Frosty Treatment: Don’t let this one go under the radar — last week Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office sent an e-mail accelerating the GOP’s campaign to slime Graeme Frost, a 12-year-old whose story illustrates why the S-CHIP bill that Mitch opposes is a good thing. The New York Times adds to the furor exposed […]

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Next Issue: Our Governor, it’s becoming more clear daily, doesn’t really stand a chance in next month’s election. John David Dyche gives a great number of reasons why in the C-J.
Him, Too: If you watched the A.G. debate on KET last night, there’s only one conclusion you could come too — Don’t trust men with […]

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Nobody likes to be criticized, but everyone is drawn to conflict. That’s what sells newspapers and it’s why a lot of blogs are so popular. I’m not above being critical to get some attention right here. It certainly attracts notice, and when you’re keeping score based on measurements like site visits, insulting others is as […]

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Here’s a news release for an important charity event I’m involved in.

Sixty Five Roses Gala Featuring More Fun!
LOUISVILLE, Ky., Sept. 20, 2007 – Try to get a child to pronounce Cystic Fibrosis, and you’re likely to hear something sounding a lot like “Sixty Five Roses.”
So the folks at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation decided […]

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I can’t decide if I like these spots from the city’s long-awaited branding campaign. There are five spots like this, basically pointing out how bad big cities are compared with how nice it is here in Louisville. I agree. I hate the traffic in Atlanta, too. I like the idea that Louisville is a “Possibility […]

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There seems to be a relatively new media strategy going around, designed with the sole purpose of persuading Internet junkies to let their inner fan loose online. These two sites are more like a tribute to bad video. Seems a bit shallow, but maybe it’s working for the marketing folks. From the looks of […]

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Enough with the heat already. High school football starts up around here tonight and maybe we’ll have something to talk about other than “you know what.” Don’t tell me your troubles - I’ve been riding around in a car with no A.C.
Don’t Drink and Dive - On Wednesday, local stations led newscasts with live reports […]

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With the launch of Page One Kentucky, The ‘Ville Voice gets a great new big brother. Look for some changes, all for the better, as Full Signal Media grows. Nothing wrong with a little shameless self-promotion:
For Immediate Release August 22, 2007
Contacts: Jacob Payne (502) 413-5247;
Rick Redding (502) 439-5589
info@pageonekentucky.com www.PageOneKentucky.com
PAGE ONE LAUNCHES IN […]

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Will Wolford is looking for a little love and a little money, and if he doesn’t get it, he’ll take one of the city’s only hopes for a long-term professional sports tenant for its big new downtown arena elsewhere.
Wolford wants Louisville to embrace his team the way the community of Green Bay loves its Packers. […]

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For the last four months, I spent my life working to get Bruce Lunsford elected as governor of Kentucky. It didn’t work out, but I’m richer for the experience, and have no regrets. I got a quick, fire-in-the-frying-pan education on the way political campaigns work, and met a lot of great people. I got to […]

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It’s not often that the Courier-Journal advertises its product on television, so I took notice when the new spot started airing this week.
And it’s pretty good. If you haven’t seen it — it shows a bunch of different individuals dancing with graphics behind them touting different parts of the paper’s offering, primarily touting […]

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