As someone who works in the insurance and search marketing industry, I have to say that I am not a huge fan of GEICO. You see, GEICO can be a bit of a bully – check that – GEICO’s lawyers can be bullies. And that ain’t too cool in my book.

With that said, I love the stupid GEICO Caveman ads. The style and humor of those ads is right up my ally. But now they have taken concept even further (in a good way) with the Caveman Crib. Just go there and explore…it’s better that way.

Damn you GEICO…Damn you and your cave people!

Props to AdRants for the point.

Posted by James at 07:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I haven’t been keeping up with Seth Godin’s blog much lately. Yesterday I realized that I should probably start reading it again. You see, the Bregar-Breg pointed out an interview with Seth Godin and Mark Hurst on the 37signals blog that reminded me why I dig Seth so much.

See, Seth has this great skill – he can look at a business and find the human issues that are causing a business’ problems. A perfect example comes from the 37signals interview when the topic of airlines comes up. This is what Seth had to say:

Do you know why people complain about airlines so much? Because of power and respect. The airlines have enormous power over us, and when they disrespect us, we’re hurt. The best businesses and the best marketers have power. If you have too much choice, they don’t have a lot of profit. And if the power isn’t matched with respect… we hate them.

Interesting stuff. Take some time to do a Seth Godin on your business. What is the overall human problem that is holding back your business?

Posted by James at 06:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My Uncle Todd, the man behind Cool Fonts, and a video/TV/commerical/etc. pimpducer (pimp + producer) has put up a couple of his music videos from 1985 on YouTube. Both are pretty fun to watch, but Blind Rage is not good if you are susceptible to seizures. You have been warned.

Oh yeah, and remember kids, just say no. :)

Newt Farms

Blind Rage

Posted by James at 07:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My dad, a.k.a Mini Freak is gonna love this one.

You see, he is a Mini Cooper owner (actually he has two right now), and he loves “motoring” in his Coopers. I can’t blame him - the Mini is blessed with a great design and it provides a really good driving experience. But there is one thing that really makes the Mini successful beyond the usual car stuff – the Mini community. If you have seen a Mini commercial, billboard, or print ad, you know the Mini goes out of its way to make Mini owners feel special…

The latest incarnation of Mini giving its owners a figurative hug are the new personalized billboards that are showing up in San Francisco, Miami, New York and Chicago. The personalized Mini billboards sense when a registered Mini driver with a RFID equipped key fob is coming by and then it displays a personal message to the Mini driver like “Motor on Bob,” or “Hi Clarke, Nice Day for Your Convertible.”

Pretty neat stuff. For a brand like Mini who benefits so much from their brand evangelists, this is an amazing way to reinforce their best customer’s buying decision.

Big question for all of you out there running your business…what do you do to make your best customers feel special?

Posted by James at 07:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is a photo of me and my favorite little person in Las Vegas at the Affiliate Summit...oh yeah, there is stock car and Mini-Elvis in the shot too...

Posted by James at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The thing I love about reading blogs is finding other people’s blog posts that express your thoughts in a way you would never be capable of. Seth Godin pulled this off with his recent post, Creativity. Since it is so short, I figured I would repost it here. Check it…

99% of the time, in my experience, the hard part about creativity isn't coming up with something no one has ever thought of before. The hard part is actually executing the thing you've thought of.

The devil doesn't need an advocate. The brave need supporters, not critics.

Posted by James at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Got back from the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas at midnight last night and I am ready to go to bed early and try to get my missing voice back.

But before I do that I wanted to point over to a fun post at SEOmoz called Link Ninjas vs. Bait Pirates. Great title and fun post Scott. Respekt.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go pass the heck out.

Posted by James at 07:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you haven't heard of Aurora Borealis, today is your lucky day...

Posted by James at 09:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I’m not sure how it happened, but creativity has become part of my profession. An interesting turn of events, especially for someone who thought he would spend his life bullshitting people over the phone to get control of their cash.

Thank god that didn’t work out.

But as I become more involved in creative activities, I also realize that being creative all the time ain’t exactly easy. Which brings me to the link for tonight - Hugh MacLeod’s “How To Be Creative.” I think I have posted it before, but recently Guy Kawasaki linked to a fancy PDF version of the essay that I have never seen before.

Fancy or not, I think “How To Be Creative” is one of those things that is worth revisiting.

And yeah, that is a wall of gum...

Posted by James at 08:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight I spent the evening with Kristi helping her put together a document that, in a very small space, may help guide her and her career in the coming years. As we talked out the best way to concisely convey some fairly complex thoughts and feelings in a handful of sentences, the power of words and language really hit me.

There really are thousands of ways to say something and there are thousands of ways to interpret what someone says. Knowing how to effectively and clearly do both is a monumental skill, and one that I truly respect.

I am blessed to work with a phenomenal group of writers on a day-to-day basis. They navigate the pitfalls of language with seeming ease and saved our company from the traps of mediocre communication – an often-overlooked Achilles heel of today’s business.

Seth Godin, a writer who is known for delivering huge ideas in tiny written packages, pointed out something recently that reminded me of the great divide that one word could represent. His post, On becoming the, points to the drastic difference between being “a” something and being “the” something.

Here’s to being “the.”

Posted by James at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hugh MacLeod posted a list of twenty-six observations on entrepreneurship that he has made over the last couple of years. Being as Hugh is what I would consider a non-average entrepreneur (is there and average entrepreneur out there anyway?), I found the list quite interesting. Here are a couple of my favorites from the list. See the whole thing here.

5. In a world of over-supply and commodification, you are no longer paid to supply. You’re being paid to deliver something else. What that is exactly, is not always obvious.

6. Word of mouth is the best advertising medium of all. The best word of mouth comes from disrupting markets.

10. It’s better to be underfunded than overfunded.

13. If you’re happy in your career before the age of thirty, you’re probably doing something wrong. Heck, if you’re happy in your career before the age of seventy, you’re probably doing something wrong.

25. Bill Gates may have a million times more money than me, but he isn’t going to live a million times longer than me, watch a million times more sunsets than me, make love to a million times more women than me, drink a million times more fine wines than me, listen to a million times more Beethoven String Quartets than me, nor sire a million times more children than me. Human beings don't scale.

Great stuff. As always, Hugh is telling it like he sees it…and I’m digging what he sees.

Posted by James at 07:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

YouTube has made thousands of camcorder toting hee-haws (myself included) into video writers/directors/editors/actors…and from time to time some of us get delusions of grandeur. These inner feelings of YouTubers are captured in this video by Will Video For Food’s Nalts…

Posted by James at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I try to keep work and this blog separate…mainly because the views expressed on this blog are not those of my employer and my employer does not endorse anything I write here (pretty good disclaimer, eh?) But since a Google search for my name will show you who my employer is in like two seconds, I figure I will break my usual rule and share something work related with you. I want to share because one of the videos we put out seems to be gaining some (relative) traction on YouTube…and that makes me happy.

So please, watch and enjoy this video of my CEO getting his hair shaved into a mohawk…

Posted by James at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Walking home tonight down 16th Street, under the city lights, I realized what a fortunate person I am.

I should probably write more, but not tonight.

Posted by James at 08:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In my country there is problem,
And that problem is transport.
It take very very long,
Because Kazakhstan is big.

Throw transport down the well
So my country can be free
We must make travel easy
Then we'll have a big party

(Thanks to Borat for the tune)

Well, I’m glad I don’t live in Kazakhstan and I do live in Denver. This week I decided, since my car is still in the shop (longest repair ever), to start taking public transport…light rail to be exact. And guess what? I really like it. The trains run on time, they are pretty quick, and not having to drive really cuts out stress.

I think the best part about riding public transport (aside from saving the environment, yada, yada) is that I get to listen to a bunch of podcasts on the way to work. One podcast I checked out today and really enjoyed was the Shoemoney show where he interviewed Matt Mullenweg, the founder of Wordpress. Matt is a really smart and seemingly down to earth guy who just happened to create one of the most popular blogging platforms in the world. Way to go Matt – and happy 23rd birthday tomorrow.

Check out the podcast here.

Posted by James at 07:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I figure there are one billion blog posts today that talk about the iPhone, but this might be the only one that will be optimized for searches containing iPhone, sex, guns, and/or porn. Way to go me.

The iPhone is pretty amazing though. I think everyone who carries a cell phone and an iPod around in their pocket all day (like me) will really appreciate having their phone and iPod all in one. Of course, that brings me to my two concerns about the iPhone.

Number one, the damn thing might not fit in my pocket. I am not totally sure how big the thing is (actually I do - 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches), but based on the photos next to a hand, the damn thing looks big. And I am not a fan of carrying a phone holster (it looks bad with my…well, everything) – and no matter how cool something is, I don’t want to wear a holster for it…unless it is a firearm.

Number two, the iPhone looks like one giant screen…and since the first thing I did with my iPod Nano was protect the screen with an aftermarket screen protector, I don’t have a whole lot of faith in Apple’s ability to build a durable screen. And even if I do manage to shoehorn the damn thing into my pocket, I will have to make sure I have lined my pockets with super-soft microfiber from Switzerland (they have the best microfiber) so I don’t tear up the damn screen. Or I will have to put it in a big old protective case…and that means a holster. Which brings me back to number one.

Maybe Apple should add a derringer to the iPhone…then I would be happy to strap it to my belt.

Oh yeah, one more thing – why the hell do I have to switch to Cingular to use an iPhone? That sucks.

So will I buy an iPhone when they come out in June? No. Am I excited to see what the iPhone turns into in the next three or four years? Yes. Do I feel sorry for the R&D teams of all of the major cell phone producers? You bet your ass.

And if those Scandinavians at Nokia come out with a phone/music player/revolver, I’m going to sue.

Posted by James at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For Christmas I got a Holga from my good friend Mz. Pocket. No, a Holga isn’t a big-boned Swede lady - it is a Chinese camera that is made almost entirely of plastic, including the lens. Holgas have gained a cult following for the artistic photos that they take, the ultra ghetto-fabulousness of them (it is recommended to keep a rubber band around them so they don’t bust open), and it doesn’t hurt that the camera costs about $20.

Admittedly, I am no artist, but I have always enjoyed messing around with cameras. To see the photos from my first roll of film on the Holga, click here. (Warning: some of the photos didn’t turn out at all, but I included them anyway.

Posted by James at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This morning I was eating my breakfast, watching the traffic report on our local Fox station when this happened:

What a cool way to start the day. It turns out it was a Russian rocket booster that was buring up on reentry. Here is the story from Fox news - please don't laugh too hard at their commentary.

(This isn’t the original live video – it’s the replay they did afterwords, but when it happened live they all were freaking out.)

Posted by James at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Seth Godin points out how Home Depot does indeed suck at customer service. That makes me feel good, because I always think there is something wrong with me when I am in a Home Depot. It is like I am invisible or have a rat growing out of my face or something.

For example, Kristi and I were in Home Depot a couple weekends ago, looking for some fancy light bulbs. It took us fifteen minutes to find someone who would actually help us. It sucked.

I might rent for the rest of my life just to avoid having to go to Home Depot.

There is my rant. Thanks for instigating it Seth.

Posted by James at 08:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Christmas I was lucky enough to get an iPod Nano (Thanks Kristi!). I have a Shuffle and I have a Mini, but I just couldn’t help but lust over the Nano. The thing is beautiful and amazingly small. It makes me go crazy.

But that is not why I am going crazy tonight. Tonight I am going crazy over Nike +.

Nike +, for those who haven’t heard is only like the coolest thing ever invented for running (except for maybe shoes and spandex). Nike + is system that wirelessly connects your iPod Nano to your Nike shoes and keeps track of your walks or runs on your iPod. The system checks time, distance, calories, etc. You can also download your runs onto the Nike + site and challenge other members of the Nike + community to running contests for things like calories burned and distance run. Also, you can have a voice talk to you during your run and tell you how far you have gone, how far is left, etc. (Here is a good review of Nike + from USA Today)

So I guess what I am trying to say is Nike + has got to be one of the coolest things I have heard of in a while. I mean, I want it and I want to run…and the last time I ran (two months ago) I ran about 200 yards and almost died…thanks smoking! (I quit four years ago).

Oh yeah, did I mention you can make awesome looking custom running shoes? Make yours here at NikeID.

And no, Nike didn’t pay me to write this, but if they want to send me a pair of those custom shoes I will happily take them :)

Posted by James at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, it looks like I recently hit the 300 post mark on Marketing Punk…quite appropriate that it happened right around the new year. Blogging was certainly a big part of 2006 for me, and it looks like 2007 will be a bloggable year as well.

I am proud to say that Kristi (my lady) has started a blog of her own. And I am even more proud to say that she is doing a photo blog, which is awesome. You can check it out at Picture Peaks.

Also, want to say happy birthday to my Pops, a.k.a Mini-Freak, who turned 59 today. He looks about 20-years younger than he actually is, and he acts like he is about 40-years younger than he actually is…which is fun at times, and scary at times too. :)

I hope you are looking forward to 2007 like I am. Even though it is just another day, January 1st makes me reflect on who I am, what I am doing, and how I can improve. If you know me, you know there is a lot of room for improvement, so it looks like I am headed into a busy 2007.

Happy New Year!

Posted by James at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)