Snack Puppet Masters, YouTube Smarts, Silly Marketing Mistakes

The Strategist picks the day’s most interesting stories for the content aficionados who love the backstory and reading between the lines. Here are the gems you need to kickstart your Thursday.

Ad of the Day: Wheat Thins (AdWeek)

From an advertising standpoint, snack foods have many faces. They’re cheesy, healthy, family-friendly, satisfying, and awesome.

Now, Nabisco’s trying something different in the form of over-the-top and ridiculous humor. Here’s what happens when you cram together Wheat Thins, a puppet, and an awkward comedic twist. Does it work? Oddly, yes.

10 YouTube Channels That Will Make You Smarter (Mashable)
YouTube has value beyond dancing cats, viral memes, and hilarious television platforms.

Brands, educators, and industry experts are leveraging the platform as an educational platform for connecting with audiences. Check out these 10 channels for some killer inspiration.

9 Silly Mistakes that Marketers Make (Inc)
Key takeaways: adapt to your customers, give engineers their freedom, don’t expect customers to read, and don’t teach your salespeople how to sell.

Be a growth engine, but most importantly, be your company’s collaborative pillar.

The Orange County Register’s New Owners Want to Reinvent Newspapers (PaidContent)
This newspaper’s new owners — two entrepreneurs with no background in traditional media — are pouring money into resources for online journalism as well as print.

Their core strategy is a rigid paywall — if you want content, you need to pay. No exceptions. Smart move or risky business? Time will tell.