The Illinois Lottery is feeling heat from the National Football League after using copyrighted materials in a promotion for a new game that features a trip to the Super Bowl as a prize.
I don’t blame the Lottery because really, why should the NFL even care. In fact, the Lottery probably didn’t go far enough. Their […]

After commenting yesterday on the vacuous trends that pervade our culture, I thought that I would continue the marketplace dialogue by offering my take on the trend’s more virtuous cousin – brand loyalty. While trends live in the superficial world of such places as bars and malls, customer loyalty can be […]

The sign outside of the Barrel Head is announcing that they now have PBR on tap. This totally misses the point. People don’t drink Pabst Blue Ribbon because they prefer its taste over other brands of pilsners. They do so because PBR is enjoying a blip on the hipness meter, having been adopted as the […]

Now that the festivities surrounding International Newspaper Carrier Day are winding down, last Saturday was the official day for observation but you know how these holidays tend to stretch out, I would be remiss if I didn’t share my own experience as a newspaper carrier for the venerable SJ-R.
Yes, I “pitched the broadsheet” for […]

As I’ve said before, Sam Madonia is at his best when he’s discussing state and local politics with someone in the know. On Monday, that someone was Kent Redfield, professor of political studies at UIS. The conversation was interesting and insightful as the two discussed the Republican candidates for governor. But Madonia brought the discussion […]