Associations

Marketing Research Association is devoted wholly to advancing the quality of research in the field of marketing. The organization provides members with professional development opportunities and gives them access to some of the most advanced tools used in marketing research.

Internet Marketing Association is a professional organization with over 750,000 members, spanning almost every aspect of business world wide. The organization exists to provide support and professional development for its members.

Promotion Marketing Association is a non-profit trade association devoted to advancing the field of marketing, particularly behavior motivation and brand building.

American Marketing Association was founded in 1937 as a collaboration between marketing academics and practitioners. Today the organization has an over 30,000 member base that is still comprised of students, teachers, and marketing professionals seeking to come together and advance the field.

Academy of Marketing Science is an international scholarly and professional organization devoted to advancing the marketing field by facilitating communication between top academics, researchers, and practitioners.

Business Marketing Association is one of the premier business to business marketing associations in the world. The goal of the organization is to bring together the top practitioners in the field for collaboration on b2b marketing innovation.

Word of Mouth Marketing Association–chances are you’ve heard of this one from a friend. This organization concerns itself with the research of word of mouth marketing strategies, along with developing ethical standards and providing education opportunities for members.

eMarketing Association is one of the largest international associations and deals with every aspect of the broad and varied field of e-marketing. The association offers professional development courses and opportunities to its members in addition to its other offerings.

Direct Marketing Association is one of the foremost direct marketing associations in existence. The organization represents the interests of direct marketing professionals regarding policy and also performs much of the high impact research on the field.

Publications

Marketing Management is a trade journal designed to facilitate the dissemination of high quality research and strategies to marketing management professionals the world over.

Journal of Marketing Research deals with the field of marketing from a multitude of perspectives including philosophical, conceptual, and theoretical perspectives.

Journal of Marketing has been considered one of the top resources for marketing professionals available since its start in 1936. This journal surveys the marketing field as a whole with a broad approach. Journal of Marketing is scholarly in its approach and covers the most pressing issues facing the field.

Journal of Strategic Marketing is positioned at the crossroads of marketing and strategic management. The goal of the journal is to bridge these two disciplines by providing high level research and strategy articles to professionals in both realms.

Ad Age is a marketing magazine featuring the writing of some of the most established marketing professionals and journalists covering the realm of advertising.

Ad Week was established as a marketing publication more relevant to the mainstream but with the goal of maintaining the type of high impact content one would find in a trade journal.

Deliver Magazine is a mail marketing magazine run by the U.S. Postal Service. The site features friendly advice and insights from the people that deliver the mail you send.

Journal of Consumer Psychology focuses on the publication of theoretical and empirical research into consumer judgment and decision making processes.

Journal of Marketing Communications is a double-blind peer reviewed journal (the author doesn’t know who’s reviewing, the reviewer doesn’t know who wrote it) that addresses all aspects of corporate marketing and communication through the publishing of research and theoretical papers.

Journal of International Marketing is a scholarly journal that publishes articles relevant to managers and international marketers. The target audience is mid to senior level management and marketing scholars.

Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice is a trade journal that focuses primarily on the publication of peer reviewed articles that address the major issues facing marketing management.

Direct Marketing IQ is a trade magazine designed to provide direct marketing professionals with up to date research and innovations, helping them stay relevant in a field growing ever more complicated with each advancement in technology.

Journal of Non-Profit and Public Sector Marketing is a peer reviewed journal that aims to adapt the most effective marketing strategies to the non-profit sector. The journal takes into account the leverage that accompanies being a non-profit while understanding the monetary limitations most non-profit organizations face.

Journal of Product and Brand Management is an academic journal written for the benefit of both academics and practitioners. The journal publishes articles dealing with the major issues facing the professionals responsible for product and brand management.

Journal of Services Marketing publishes articles dealing with major issues in services marketing that will contribute to the advancement of the field. The journal prefers to publish articles with content that relates across multiple fields for maximum industry impact.

Marketing Theory is a peer reviewed academic publication that seeks to provide an outlet through which theorists may publish their work in alternative perspectives on marketing theory.

Marketing Science takes a scientific approach to the marketing discipline and publishes peer reviewed marketing research. The full focus of the publication is on empirical, quantitative research.

Journal of Political Marketing is one of the premier resources devoted to covering the topic of political marketing, which while it bears much similarity to other types of marketing, is different on some key fundamental levels.

Journal of Consumer Marketing is a trade journal that features contributions from marketing professionals and academics across multiple aspects of the industry. The journal is designed to be applicable primarily to any marketing professional seeking a deeper understanding of the consumer.

Conferences

Direct Marketing Association holds over twenty conferences per year, which optimizes the convenience for its members as they can choose the time of year and location that best suits their needs. The conference features educational sessions aimed at strengthening the professional skills of the attendees by keeping them up to date on the most innovative implementations in the industry.

Search Engine Strategies Conference is an internet marketing conference hosted in ten cities around the globe every year. The event spans four days and features presentations covering new search engine technology and innovations.

Digital Marketing World is a digital conference series about digital marketing. The conference features presentations and Q&A sessions with prominent digital marketing professionals and the fact that the conference takes place online makes it convenient and inexpensive to attend.

B2B Marketing Forum is a conference about choices. Not just what choices each business faces, but how to make the correct choice for your specific business. The presenters at this conference understand that each business is unique, and that there is no one right choice for all businesses, only the right choice for your business.

Marketing Management Association Spring Conference focuses on some of the most pressing issues in the marketing industry today, especially the need for innovation in marketing to the millennial generation.

Content Marketing World is the largest conference in the world on content marketing where over 1,000 marketing and public relations professionals attended during the 2012 conference. The conference features prominent speakers such as the Vice President of Global Advertising Strategy and Content Excellence at the Coca-Cola Company.

INBOUND Conference is a multi-national gathering of inbound marketing professionals. Inbound marketing focuses on attracting customers with useful prospects instead of piling on spam for something they may or may not need, and the conference is a forum for attendees to share their experiences, strategies and innovations.

Pubcon features as speakers some of the most prominent professionals in internet marketing, social media, search engines and online advertising. There are also exhibitors demonstrating tools, innovations, and services.

International Business Marketing Association Conference is one of the largest business to business marketing conferences in the world. The event features attendees and contributors from 12 countries and 300 companies. The theme of this two day conference this year is Blaze, chosen because of the consensus among business leaders that b2b marketing is entering a golden age.

FutureM is a conference devoted to exploring the possibilities of the future in marketing and technology. The conference brings together marketing and technology innovators with the goal of facilitating discussion and innovation.

Mirren Live packs in over 50 speakers and 35 sessions in its two day period. The conference is specifically targeted at the owners of new businesses and designed to help them achieve their goals and become successful.

American Bankers Association Marketing Conference is an annual conference devoted solely to marketing professionals working in the banking industry. The conference covers the challenges unique to bank marketers and keeps them up to date on changes and innovations in the industry.

General

1. Drew’s Marketing Minute is a resource for those seeking to up their game when it comes to building meaningful relationships with their customer base. Drew seeks to communicate marketing truths through stories and examples from the real world.
Highlight: Making the Most of Conferences

2. Top Rank Blog features articles from innovative, respected writers in the marketing field. The site offers a wide variety of marketing commentary from many different perspectives.
Highlight: Content Marketing Tips You can Bank On

3. Seth Godin’s Blog is chock full of articles on any number of topics, from marketing techniques to how to succeed in the industry. Seth Godin is the author of fourteen bestselling books and founder of numerous businesses, the most recent of which is Squidoo.
Highlight: Communication is a Path, Not an Event

4. PSFK is the collaborative blog of PSFK Labs, an innovation consultancy. The blog is able to offer insights into many areas of the marketing field thanks to its large and varied number of contributors. PSFK offers commentary on news and current events, and innovative branding and other strategies being pursued by some of the biggest companies in the world.
Highlight: Why Retail is Like Publishing

5. MarketingExperiments is a blog devoted to innovation in marketing through experimentation. The blog’s researchers boast the largest collection of optimization related experiments available. Marketing Experiments distributes their findings for free through the blog and The MarketingExperiments Journal.
Highlight: Pay Per Click Optimization: Tips From Peers on Regional Differences

6. Geoff Livingston’s Blog is the blog of public speaker, strategist, and consultant Geoff Livingston. He has a passion for non-profits but in addition to working with many start-ups, small businesses and non-profit organizations, he has also worked with some of the most powerful Fortune 500 companies in the world.
Highlight: You Can’t Quantify Potential Influence

Social Media Marketing

7. Brian Solis’ Blog primarily features content dealing with research and studies in social media. Brian Solis is a principal analyst at the Altimeter Group, a marketing and research advisory firm.
Highlight: The Five Pillars of New Media Strategy: There is No Box

8. Dan Zarrella is a social media scientist. His blog focuses on the numbers behind social media. Dan has been published in nearly every major business magazine including Fast Company, Forbes, and The Financial Times.
Highlight: How to Get More Likes, Comments, and Shares on Facebook

9. Scott Monty’s Blog features the musings of Scott Monty on social media and digital marketing. Forbes considers him one of the ten most influential social media marketing professionals in the business.
Highlight: Time for Real Introspection on Real Time Marketing

10. Neville Hobson is a social media afficianado and tech enthusiast whose blog is focused on presenting his thoughts regarding social media marketing. Neville uses his blog to track and talk about emerging trends in new media, and the ways society is changing regarding the consumption of information.
Highlight: Can Google Hangouts Replace Press Conferences?

11. Jeff Bullas is a social media marketing consultant and his blog covers marketing strategies for all the major players in the industry including: Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Youtube. The blog discusses multiple marketing strategies to be used within these settings including SEO, Content Marketing, and Inbound Marketing.
Highlight: 6 Things You Didn’t Know About Twitter

12. Social Media Makes a Difference focuses primarily on Facebook marketing strategy, though much of the advice can be applied on other platforms. The blog delves more deeply into Facebook specific strategy than any other blog on this list, making it the go-to source for those that need to up their Facebook game.
Highlight: Power Editor: An Alternative to Facebook Promoted Posts

Public Relations

13. Spin Sucks serves as a public relations and marketing professional development resource. The goal of the blog is to eliminate as much destructive spin from the field as possible and refocus industry professionals on more positive and constructive techniques.
Highlight: Six Benefits of Interview-style Blog Posts

14. PR in Your Pajamas PR in Your Pajamas is a light-hearted take on the PR industry, particularly its past and future evolution in the digital age.
Highlight: Content Marketing: Pro Tactics for Entrepreneurs

15. PR Blog is a marketing strategy resource that focuses on helping readers leverage new technologies to their fullest potential.
Highlight: 5 Tips for Easier Writing

16. PR-Squared is the blog of Todd Defren, an internationally recognized Social Media and Public Relations innovator. PR-Squared is all about delving into numbers and research to figure out the optimal ways to maximize your use of social networking.
Highlight: Breaking Stuff Without Breaking the Bank

17. The Flack is an analysis blog that looks at emerging trends among a broad range of industries including Politics, Journalism, Entertainment, Technology, and Social Media. The website looks at the actions of major players in these industries and seeks to determine the goals of specific strategies, and whether or not the actions taken to achieve those goals have been effective.
Highlight: Facebook’s Real Audience

18. Journalistics is a blog that looks at the relationship between PR and journalism. The blog examines the success of new media relations tactics and how the landscape of PR evolves on a near daily basis.
Highlight: PR is the MVP of Super Bowl Advertising

Search Engine Optimization

19. Search Engine Land is a collaborative blog devoted to covering up to the minute news regarding search engines. This website deals with everything from changing algorithms, search engine optimization, general search engine news and more.
Highlight: 20 Resources to Add to Your Link Took Arsenal Right Now

20. Portent is all about search engine optimization, from basic articles explaining the philosophy behind SEO, to in-depth examinations of effective SEO strategies.
Highlight: Five Ways SEO is Like the Rolling Stones

21. SEO Book Blog examines the discipline of SEO and its relationship to effective advertising. The blog looks at what makes high quality SEO rare and often times expensive, and gives readers ways to analyze the effectiveness of the SEO strategies that they, or the companies they employ utilize.
Highlight: The Rise of Paywalls

22. Big Oak Blog features both in depth technical articles on SEO, and lighter subjects such as basic ways to improve your SEO effectiveness.
Highlight: 9 Benefits of Guest Blogging for SEO

23. The Daily SEO Blog is a large collaborative blog featuring contributors at every level of the SEO industry. The contributors represent a wide range of experience and platform specialties which ensures that there is something for everybody, and a multitude of perspectives that can be of help to readers of all levels of experience.
Highlight: SEO From a Newb’s Perspective

24. Seer Interactive is a collaborative blog with contributors who write on a wide range of topics within the SEO discipline including: understanding search, breaking into advertising on new platforms, and utilizing the various tools available for search engine optimization.
Highlight: The Positive Negative

Branding

25. Six Pizels of Separation is the blog of Mitch Joel, a digital marketing professional who has been described by Marketing Magazine as the “Rockstar of Digital Marketing.” Mitch’s company (Twist Image) was founded by Mitch and is one of the foremost digital marketing and communications agencies in the business.
Highlight: Hacking the Media (again)

26. Conversation Agent is the blog of Valeria Maltoni, a highly regarded keynote speaker who has consulted with many Fortune 500 companies. She is the senior director of Empathy Lab. Conversation Agent focuses on building brands through the development of meaningful relationships with customers.
Highlight: You Don’t Get an Award for Doing What Everyone Else is Doing

27. Personal Branding is a blog focused on helping professionals market themselves in such a way as to increase their opportunities for advancement in their field through innovative personal branding techniques.
Highlight: How Can You Deal With Clashing Brands?

28. How to Make My Blog is is all about defining your personal brand with your blog. From choosing the right platform, to creating the right layout, this blog has relevant information for bloggers of every level.
Highlight: Give Your Posts a Local Perspective

29. Mario Sanchez Carrion is a blog that features one post at a time. Mario is a marketing director and the blog features notes to himself on various aspects of marketing in general and branding specifically.
Highlight: The Happy Medium

30.The Brand Builder is all about building a strong brand by harnessing your passion, creativity, and common sense to create a brand that is powerful and unique to you.
Highlight: Why it Worked

1. MultiPR

This app is very useful for marketing professionals because it is extremely easy-to-use. This app helps users check the current status of the Google PageRank of their URLs, and it has easy-to-use features and a convenient layout. With the help of this app, you will be able to store numerous web site domains into your phone.

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2. HootSuite for Twitter & Facebook

HootSuite is a fantastic app that will simplify the way you use social media. With the help of HootSuite, you will be able to write messages and communicate with your clients wherever and whenever you want. This app helps you manage your Facebook profile, Twitter profile, Linkedln and social media accounts with maximum efficiency. And on top of that, this app offers translations to different languages.

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3. BlogPress

Blogging is one of the most useful marketing tools out there. With the help of this versatile app, you can upload new pictures, text, comments and replies to your blog with the press of a finger. In addition, it makes editing and uploading pictures a snap.

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4. SEO Search Ranking

Search engine optimization is really helpful for marketing, but it can be a little tricky to get the hang of. Luckily for marketing professionals, SEO Search Ranking is an easy-to-use app that makes SEO understandable. This app allows you you add an unlimited number of keywords and keep track of an unlimited number of URLs.

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5. Analytics Tiles App

Analytics Tiles App is a versatile app that lets users monitor and analyze important information about your web sites. The best thing about this app is that it’s really easy and convenient to use. What makes this app different from similar apps is that it has a bright, cheery color scheme and a vivid design.

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6. Dropbox

Dropbox is a really useful app that lets its users share and store important documents, pictures and videos. This app lets you obtain files from other sources such as computers, iPads, iPhones and the main website. On top of that, this app offers a lot of storage space; with 2 GBs of storage capacity and easy access to important files, there is little wonder why this app made the list.

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7. Reeder

This RSS app works with Google Reader, Fever, or Readability and is a great way to keep up with all of your news interests.  It is easy to set up and sync with your other devices such as an iPad or Mac. In addition, this app lets its users share pictures, text and links.

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8. Here On Biz

This app sends its users alerts while they travel if there is a business associate in close proximity. Thanks to this app, you’ll never miss a business opportunity while you travel.

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9. Idea Sketch

Idea Sketch helps users create presentations, outlines, illustrations, flow charts, and much more.  Information can be imported into Idea Sketch to jump start your creation, and finished products can be saved and shared to other applications.

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10. Event Espresso

This app works with the Event Espresso event registration system and is designed to help manage the registration process at large events.  QR codes can be scanned for quick and easy check-in, and the app allows multiple people to check in guests at the same time from different devices.

Dan Cobley: What Physics Taught Me About Marketing

In this marketing presentation, Cobley shows how the laws of physics resemble basic marketing concepts. For instance, acceleration equals force over mass. This theory follows that the bigger the company the more difficulty it has in switching directions. Tracking and studying marketing data is similar to several proven physics principles.

Amy Lockwood: Selling Condoms in the Congo

Out of 76 million people living in the DRC, roughly 930,000 are infected with HIV. To prevent more infections Lockwood suggests that donor agencies revamp the way they promote condoms. Private companies successfully use more provocative packaging. More lives may be saved by this customer-focused strategy.

Johanna Blakley: Social Media and the End of Gender

The age of social media is providing people with the opportunity to break out of stereotypical demographic boxes. Research shows that women are now dominant users of social media across the board. Participants in online communities align themselves more with specific interests that are not gender-specific.

John Gerzema: The Post-Crisis Consumer

Consumers are no longer passive. People are increasingly making buying decisions based on the values that they hold. Less money to spend means that consumers choose products that are innovative and intuitive to their needs. Companies that want to remain relevant must take steps to become more open and transparent.

Joseph Pine: What Consumers Want

Products and services have become a commodity that are sold mostly based on price. Companies that realize consumers want to have a great experience will thrive. Consumers want authenticity. A company must stay true to who they are in order to provide an authentic experience.

Malcolm Gladwell: Choice, Happiness and Spaghetti Sauce

A jovial psychophysicist named Howard Moskowitz proved that by digging deeper into what consumers really want companies can discover a robust niche market that increases sales. Howard did something that others overlooked – he embraced diversity of taste and preferences. Uncovering this data leads to happier customers.

Renny Gleeson: 404, The Story of a Page Not Found

The 404 error page is known throughout the world as something that usually brings web surfers a feeling of disappointment. It’s like a broken relationship. Instead of being an annoyance, an error page is an opportunity to do some witty brand building. Include content that visitors find amusing and memorable.

Rory Sutherland: Life Lessons From an Ad Man

While advertising often gets a bad rap, it offers society an intangible value. Some things Sutherland has learned is that value is a matter of perception, persuasion is better than compulsion, and modern communication creates more interactivity between consumer and brands.

Seth Godin: How to Get Your Ideas to Spread

We are living in a time where ideas spread rapidly by anyone about anything. Idea diffusion gives companies an alternative. Spread the idea that your product is unique by doing something remarkable. Find out who cares and who is listening.

Sheena Iyengar: How to Make Choosing Easier

Choice overload can be a problem for executives and consumers. When consumers have too many choices they will buy fewer products. Four techniques to solve this problem are cut, concretization, categorization and condition for complexity. Be choosy about choosing.

Best iPad Apps for Marketing Professionals

1. Evernote

One of the top note-taking apps, Evernote provides a variety of ways for marketing professionals to stay organized. The app allows users to write notes, make to-do lists, write blog posts and much more. Evernote also allows users to sync everything between a computer and multiple devices.

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2. Dropbox

Marketing professionals need to have a variety of computer files on hand at all times. Whether it is a sales pitch or mockup for a new ad, Dropbox is an app that allows users to access files from anywhere. Once a file is uploaded to Dropbox, users can access files from multiple computers and devices.

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3. Facebook

Marketers know the importance of social media for reaching existing customers and finding new ones. With the Facebbok app for iPad, marketers can easily check their company page or personal profile and respond to questions, comments and more from their followers.

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4. Twitter

Like the Facebook app, the Twitter app for iPad is important for all marketers with an online presence to have. Twitter lets users update their status, tweet important information to followers and participate in conversations about the industry.

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5. Cardmunch

A network of professionals and prospective clients is the most important asset a marketer can have. Every business card that a marketer gets could be a potential lead for success. With Cardmunch, users no longer have to carry around a stack of business cards. The app lets users scan and transcribe each business card received.

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6. Square Register

If a marketer’s business also requires selling products or services, the Square Register app is a necessity. It works with the Square card reader to collect credit and debit payments from customers. The app also lets users manage their Square account from their iPad.

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7. Google Voice

For those that currently use a Google Voice account, this app lets users access their account from their iPad to make phone calls and write text messages with their Google Voice number. Text messages can be sent to any U.S. phone and phone can be made internationally.

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8. WordPress

All marketers know the importance of having a blog to help promote their businesses. With the WordPress app, marketers can easily manage their blog from their iPad by creating posts or pages, moderating user comments, viewing page stats and more. Users can also add images or videos to their blog with this app.

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9. Google Currents

Keeping up with current events in the marketing industry is important for any marketer. With the Google Currents app, iPad users can quickly scan headlines, get access to thousands of industry-specific publications and save favorite stories to read later. The app also lets users check out their favorite blogs and feed subscriptions.

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10. Waze

For marketers that have to do a lot of traveling, the Waze app for iPad can save them time and money. The app provides real-time information on traffic conditions, find the cheapest gas and can also help users share the drive to similar destinations.

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Just open a magazine or switch on the television today and it’s clear that advertisers believe that sex sells. Axe body spray, Calvin Klein, Wonderbra… There are literally dozens of brands that rely on sexual imagery to draw attention to their products and which often, at least implicitly, promise to increase the consumer’s sex appeal. An array of different sexual messages of varying degrees of subtlety have been used over the years in advertising, but which ads really changed the game when it came to sexual content? Which ones do we still remember, even years later? Which ads are or will be seen as watershed moments, decades after their release? And crucially: which ones helped to sell more products? Let’s take a look at the most sexually suggestive ads — both from our time and earlier eras — while examining what it is that makes each one work.

10. Woodbury Soap – Skin You Love to Touch (Launched 1911)

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The year 1911 marked a milestone in history: the launch of the Woodbury’s Soap “The skin you love to touch” campaign, which has been credited as the first time sex appeal was openly used in advertising. With a headline penned by Helen Lansdowne Resor for the J. Walter Thompson Company (now JWT), this sensual series of print ads appealed to the sensibilities of the female demographic as no other ad had done up until that point — by associating the product with romantic fulfillment. The vintage ad pictured above also shows how much social standards have changed in 100 years! Today, commercials must feature pop singers and supermodels stripped down to their panties in order to grab the viewing public’s attention. The 1911 Woodbury’s Soap ad depicts hand-holding in a fairly chaste manner, yet it was daringly sexual for its time.

9. Maidenform – I Dreamed I Went… (1949-1969)

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Most of us are afraid of being even half-naked in public, but bra manufacturer Maidenform’s “I dreamed…” campaign made itself memorable by embracing the concept. The ads featured models in initially somewhat everyday — but later more heroic — “dream sequences,” clad only in their bras from the waist up. They were so iconic that the campaign ran from the 1940s all the way through to the late ’60s, with 163 print ads created in total. The main selling point — and the reason the ads were so powerful — was the way the women appeared in social situations. Female sexuality had been used in advertising before, but putting it so brazenly into the public arena was truly innovative. Within the context of a burgeoning feminist movement, women all over America could now picture themselves as engineers, firefighters or boxers. Ads representing women in their underwear gleefully performing the activities associated with such traditionally male roles was the perfect way to make the target audience feel more liberated… and prompt them to buy the product by association.

8. Clairol – Does She…or Doesn’t She? (Launched 1956)

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The legendary catchphrase for Clairol, “Does she…or doesn’t she?” was supposedly inspired by the copywriter Shirley Polykoff’s mother-in-law grilling her then husband-to-be about whether she dyed her hair — and bear in mind that the two women had only just met! The ads washed away the misgivings of millions of American women who were uncertain about using hair dye. Yet it was the sexually suggestive overtones — which almost ran counter to the visual depictions of wholesome, girl-next-door types — that arguably made people sit up and take notice. It was surely no coincidence that sales of Clairol skyrocketed by 413% in the six years after the campaign was launched, and half the women in America were soon changing their natural hair color. The campaign was also voted the ninth best of all time by marketing magazine AdAge. Who would have thought that one embarrassing situation could inspire so much?

7. Calvin Klein – Nothing Gets Between Me and My Calvins (1980)

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“You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” As cringe-worthy (not to say somewhat creepy) as it was to hear 15-year-old Brooke Shields talking about going commando, this ad campaign helped to re-launch Calvin Klein as a visible brand, by connecting its clothes explicitly to sexuality. This 30-second TV spot created in 1980, together with others directed by Richard Avedon, attracted numerous complaints and was ultimately banned. However, the “shockvertising” campaign, which also included print ads, was responsible for Calvin Klein’s revenue reportedly growing by 300 percent in three months. The company is of course also one of the leading designer clothing brands in the world today, so their ongoing technique of using controversy to stimulate consumer buzz must be working. (A side note: wouldn’t wearing jeans this tight without underwear be kind of…um…itchy?)

6. Levi’s – Laundromat Commercial (1985)

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In the early 1980s, Levi’s was struggling with its younger demographic, which saw the brand as “uncool” and tied to old-fashioned stuffiness. However, rather than shying away from their popular retro image, the company tackled it head-on — while also adding a modern sexual twist. The commercial for their Classic 501 jeans, created by Bartle Bogle Hagarty, featured hot young model Nick Kamen dressed as a greaser and stripping down to his underwear in a crowded laundromat. This memorable ad was festooned with ’50s stereotypes — not to mention heady cultural ideas such as rebellion and sexual awakening. Whatever the subtleties of its message, steamy sexuality abounded in the commercial, and it worked: within a year of its release, sales of Levi’s jeans had jumped by 800 percent. The Marvin Gaye soundtrack (“I Heard It Through the Grapevine”) and beefcake performance from a young teen idol were clearly just the thing to connect with audiences — particularly female and gay male ones.

5. Paco Rabanne – What is Remembered is Up to You (1988)

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This teasingly erotic campaign from the 1980s played with the idea that what audiences imagine is always sexier than anything an advertiser can throw in their faces. The magazine and TV ads featured witty telephone conversations between two glamorous-seeming protagonists, with one of the lovers always off-screen or not visible on the page (and an empty or missing bottle of Paco Rabanne never far from the picture). It was what was not there that worked to create the intrigue of the campaign, which was replete with hazy sensuality. With their ambiguity and air of class and sophistication, the ads had the sensibility of a dreamy romance novel. The Advertising Educational Foundation underlines that the major strength of the ads was their aura of mystery: they left audiences speculating endlessly as to what the person on the other end of the phone might look like — and even whether they were male or female.

4. Cadbury Flake – Telephone Commercial (1987)

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In the real world, Cadbury Flake chocolate bars are not particularly viewed as sex objects: they melt easily, crumble into dust at the slightest pressure, and leave unpleasant looking stains on bed sheets. However, in the world of advertising, Cadbury has been happy to exploit their vaguely phallic appearance for the best part of 50 years, with TV commercials that make them out to be sexual enhancers that could compete with the likes of Viagra. Yet, it was with this famous 1987 spot that advertisers really turned up the heat, in a commercial featuring a scantily clad woman privately enjoying a Flake while ignoring a ringing telephone. “Who is this woman?” we wanted to know. “Who’s calling her?” “And what does the lizard crawling over the telephone represent?” With lingering close-ups, the sense of secret pleasure was palpable. It was a classic for lovers of both chocolate and blatant sexual innuendo everywhere, and the “Flake Girl” had such a high recall among British audiences that she was revived just three years after she had been killed off in 2004.

3. Diet Coke – Break Commercial (1994)

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Anyone who watched TV in the 1990s will remember this commercial. With its portrayal of female office employees unashamedly ogling a sexy construction worker who takes his T-shirt off to down a refreshing Diet Coke, it turned the normal paradigm of advertising on its head. The controversial ad was actually deemed demeaning to men by some, but the intoxicating effect it had on audiences is made plain by the fact that it was voted the sixth best cinema advertisement ever in a 2009 poll by Digital Cinema Media (DCM). When a commercial less than a minute long stays embedded in the public consciousness 15 years after its released, it’s probably a pretty effective use of a company’s marketing budget.

2. Agent Provocateur – Proof (2001)

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For many men, there are few sexier sights than Kylie Minogue dressed in lingerie. The raunchy 2001 cinema commercial “Proof” — featuring the Aussie singer wearing only the scantiest of Agent Provocateur’s underwear while rampantly riding a mechanical rodeo bull — was therefore always going to be a sure-fire hit. This ad was cheeky but still highly sexual charged — a winning combination few other commercials have managed to pull off, even in our modern day and age. It was voted the best cinema commercial ever in DCM’s 2009 survey, suggesting that the simple formula of advertising an erotic product in a mischievously sexy way has some staying power in people’s minds. At the end of the commercial, Kylie asks the men in the audience to stand up — and what better way to challenge male viewers to purchase something for their partners?

1. Clairol Herbal Essences – A Totally Organic Experience (1990s-2000s)

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This funny series of ads from the late 1990s and early 2000s broke one of advertising’s last taboos by actually depicting an orgasm on screen — or at least one the was so heavily implied that it was impossible to ignore. The tongue-in-cheek but still overtly sexual commercials featured women washing their hair with Herbal Essences and moaning in pleasure as a result, with the climactic noises heard by others on-screen. According to critic Bob Garfield of Advertising Age, the campaign, developed by Wells Rich Green BDDP in New York, was pure “shock advertising” — but it certainly focused attention on the pleasure of using the product. Despite attracting complaints, the risqué ads were seen as a success by Clairol executives. Herbal Essences products tripled their market share during the first five years of the campaign and became one of the leading shampoo brands, second only to Pantene. And as if their earlier commercials weren’t enough, a 2004 spot cheekily upped the ante with the line, “A multiple organic experience.”

Bonus: Fleggaard – Nude skydiving (2008)

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This Danish web commercial for supermarket company Fleggaard has been hailed the sexiest ad ever in the pages of no less of an authority than British tabloid rag The Sun — and millions of internet users across the globe seem to agree. The reason? Simple: it features dozens of topless large-breasted female skydivers jumping out of an airplane. It’s not a particularly great ad, and it barely seems to have any connection to the brand it’s trying to promote, but it’s still one of the most upfront depictions of the naked female form we’ve ever seen in advertising. Despite only being available on the web, this is one use of sex in advertising we’re sure to remember for some time.