Letter from America

Letter from America

About this blog...

Things are different in America - still. Despite all the togetherness of the internet and super-easy air travel, you can even today be surprised (for good or ill) at what's going across the Atlantic. This blog, borrowing its title from the legendary Alistair Cooke, aims to keep you in the picture about things you might not otherwise know.

Obama: What happened to transparency?

Leakgate! Scorn pours on Obama over swoop on AP: 'Ability of the press to report freely is under siege'

Opinion: Letter from America

Fury is growing in the US over the Obama Justice Department's sweeping seizure of Associated Press phone records in a so-called war... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 15/05/2013
Media
The Obama message

How Obama lit a fire under the Boston fightback

Opinion: Letter from America

It was a horrific Monday in Boston, with the Marathon bombing compared - despite the obvious difference in scale - with 9/11 in New York... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 19/04/2013
Media
Tesco: Pulling out of US

Can it be that US customers really just want a bargain?

Opinion: Letter from America

What is it with British retailers and the American market? With the news that Tesco faces a £1 billion writedown on its six-year-old... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 09/04/2013
Advertising
Ron Johnson: under pressure

How an Apple genius brought chaos to a great US chain store brand

Opinion: Letter from America

It seemed like a dream idea at the time. Take the genius executive who created the iconic Apple stores around the world and transplant... Read more

1 comment
Noel Young - 08/03/2013
Advertising
gallery
Donald Trump: Could he do it?

$1 million bet says No - but will Trump do a Maxwell on the New York Times ?

Opinion: Letter from America

Could Donald Trump really be thinking about a bid to buy the New York Times? New York magazine started the ball rolling this week with... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 25/01/2013
Media
Believe it or not: police are raffling this gun!

Incredible! US police chiefs raffle gun like one used in Newtown massacre

Opinion: Letter from America

The old expression "divided by a common language" has long been used to explain the differences between Britain and America . ... Read more

6 comments
Noel Young - 20/01/2013
Media
Dreamliner: Fire at Boston airport

What Boeing needs to do to turn round the PR nightmare of the plane that they call the Dreamliner

Opinion: Letter from America

The irony of course is in the name Dreamliner. What seemed like a series of minor teething problems has in the past week become a... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 12/01/2013
Marketing
Newsweek:Final print issue

Can Tina really get a digital Newsweek back on the rails?

Opinion: Letter from America

Newsweek dropped into my mailbox on Saturday with what seemed a heavier "thunk" than usual. ... Read more

1 comment
Noel Young - 31/12/2012
Advertising
gallery
Desperate Dan: dig that cow pie

What the Dandy might have taught Murdoch's team behind the Daily

Opinion: Letter from America

The Dandy introduced me to the world of media, not that anybody called it that then . As a three-year-old living in Dundee, home town of... Read more

1 comment
Noel Young - 05/12/2012
Media
gallery
One of the ads in my bundle!

Has America got the blinkers on about its big bargain day?

Opinion: Letter from America

I knew it was Thanksgiving by the thud the morning paper made on the doormat. It wasn't the pages of news covering the Israeli ceasefire... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 23/11/2012
Advertising
National parks: in need too?

US wildlife organisation 'hits the jackpot ' as BP gives billions

Opinion: Letter from America

For some people in America, far removed from the Gulf of Mexico , BP - or British Petroleum as Obama prefers to call it - must seem ... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 18/11/2012
Media
Piers Morgan: firm demials

Stormy weather in the US for UK media stars Piers and Mark

Opinion: Letter from America

For British media figures hoping for a balmy new life in the USA, the weather has taken a turn for the worse this week . ... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 23/10/2012
Media
Scott Brown: Fighting to keep Ted Kennedy's old seat

The street remark that stunned me: "Getting rid of the nigger president"

Opinion: Letter from America

It is still possible to be shocked by the ferocity of American politics. Scratch an angry voter, and shocking racism can come to the... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 03/10/2012
Advertising
video
Cameron and Letterman Picture:CBS

'Rule Britannia' catches PM on the hop in US Letterman interview

Opinion: Letter from America

British Prime Minister David Cameron strode on to the “Late Show with David Letterman” last night - the first time a sitting British... Read more

4 comments
Noel Young - 27/09/2012
Entertainment
video
One big flaw in the iPhone5 success story

Is the iPhone maps blunder Apple's canary in the coal mine?

Opinion: Letter from America

With queues round the world to buy the new Apple iPhone5, the least likely headline of the weekend must be: Has Apple Peaked? ... Read more

1 comment
Noel Young - 22/09/2012
Advertising
video
A scene from the film at the heart of the problem

Should the US revisit the First amendment to stop this craziness?

Opinion: Letter from America

Is there a case for America looking more closely at its cherished First Amendment? This change , introduced in 1791, aimed to quell ... Read more

1 comment
Noel Young - 15/09/2012
Media

So did Clint really get it that wrong? Judge for yourself

Opinion: Letter from America
So did Clint really get it that wrong? Judge for yourself video

The Republican speaker everyone was talking about on the US chat shows this weekend was not Mitt... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 02/09/2012
Media
video

Thompson's job: Is the New York Times trying out a Hail Mary pass?

Opinion: Letter from America

I don't want to piss on somebody 's appointment just because it surprises me. But the elevation of the BBC's departing Director General... Read more

2 comments
Noel Young - 15/08/2012
Media

The Olympics: Patriotic delirium has descended, says the New York Times

Opinion: Letter from America

Sitting here in the US, gnawing my my fingernails in frustration at not being able to see Mo Farah’s s amazing 5000-metre victory, I... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 12/08/2012
Events
Ben Elowitz

Could Facebook really be the advertising emperor after all?

Opinion: Letter from America

Facebook will replace online display advertising as we know it - and will become the highest grossing media property in history. ... Read more

0 comments
Noel Young - 07/07/2012
Advertising

Pages

Feature

Bridging the gap: How mobile is tying together online and offline customer journeys for Kellogg's, Lastminute.com and TUI UK

Bridging the gap: How mobile is tying together online and offline customer journeys for Kellogg's, Lastminute.com and TUI UK
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Feature

"We are trying to learn to be a global business" - Whyte & Mackay marketing director Cara Chambers talks brand strategy, Russia and Diageo

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Feature

The High Street isn't going to go away: TUI CMO Jeremy Ellis discusses Thomson Holidays' brand strategy

Jeremy Ellis: With Thomson over 20 years
The Works

Vote for the best piece of work in our Creative Round-Up: Winners to be featured in 24 May issue of The Drum

Vote for the best piece of work in our Creative Round-Up: Winners to be featured in 24 May issue of The Drum
Knowledge Bank

10 reasons why you need RTB

10 reasons why you need RTB
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Top-10 YouTube brands revealed: Red Bull, Google, Old Spice and Nike top the chart

Top-10 YouTube brands revealed: Red Bull, Google, Old Spice and Nike top the chart
Feature

Seeing things differently: Are brands missing the boat with augmented reality?

Image courtesy of Metaio
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The future of display buying

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