I love this. Reminds me of something I would do when I was a kid.

Posted by James at 08:16 PM | Permalink

Toss this one in the "it would have been better to apologize" file...

Since I'm a super-duper US Airways patron (the cheapest way to get to Barcelona), I was fortunate enough to get the following email today:

Subject: We're bringing back free drinks

We're bringing back free drinks

On March 1, we're bringing back free drinks in our Coach cabin. This includes sodas, juices, tea, coffee and water on all US Airways and US Airways Express flights.

We believe in our pay-for-what-you-choose-to-use – or "a la carte" – business model, but it's a work-in-progress. We are committed to remaining competitive and that's the main reason we have decided to bring back free drinks.

You still have the choice to only pay for the things you want – like checked bags, Choice Seats or First Class upgrades. And, those services will continue to be free for our Preferred members.

Always get the latest news and our best offers at usairways.com.

Sincerely,

Fernand Fernandez
Director, Marketing Programs

Now I know that the airline business has been hurting, and the future likely looks bleak, but seriously, would it have killed them to admit it was a bad call?

I mean, it's kinda obvious it was, and anyone who flies on a regular basis or ANY of your flight attendants could have told you that before you started the program. But you tried it and it didn't work.

So admit it. Apologize for it. Act like you care.

And an FYI - checked baggage had NEVER been something I want to pay for. Seriously Fern-Daddy.

Posted by James at 09:02 PM | Permalink

At some point in the middle of the 8-hour overnight stopover of doom in Frankfurt (on the way back from Tenerife in November) I ran across the following scene:

Maybe it was that I was underfed, underslept and freezing cold, but does it not look like two businessmen who just self-upgraded to Follow the White Light Airlines?

Turns out it was just an advertisement for a newspaper that was supposed to look like this:

Since there were ads on either side you could only really understand the whole concept if you saw the ad from up close. Execution fail to be sure. (Pun intended)

So thanks for the laugh Frankfurt, and for proving that in advertising, it's all about the angles.

Posted by James at 03:55 PM | Permalink

Leave it to Seth Godin to remind me why I got into the marketing biz...

Posted by James at 06:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm sure I may be a little late to the game on this one, but today I ran across an audio slide show on the New York Times website and realized that audio slide shows, when done correctly, can be just as effective as a traditional online video. I'm also thinking that an a slide show like this can be put together in less time and more efficiently than a regular video through iMovie.

Check out this example from NYTimes.com about a guy in New York who is using an unconventional way to sell his loft.

Pretty good, no?

[via Curbed - the blog I am totally infatuated with right now]

Posted by James at 07:45 PM | Permalink

Flying United, to me, is like crossing the Andes in a prison bus. There is no question in my mind that somebody like Pat Nixon personally approves every United stewardess. Nowhere in the Western world is there anything to equal the collection of self-righteous shrews who staff the “friendly skies of United.”

Hunter S. Thompson, Scanlan’s Monthly, vol.1, no.1, March 1970

So they are trapped between the need for warmth and the need for freedom. Trapped in limbo between two ingrained survival instincts.

As my father would say, sucks to be them.

Continue reading "Fly Season (A Long Rant)" »

Posted by James at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Just had an interesting conversation with a customer service representative at Verizon. You know, America’s most reliable network. It turns out that “the network,” famously represented by a hoard of Verizon employees in their advertisements, are more outdoor cats than indoor cats, so to speak.

Let me explain.

I made a call to Verizon today because, since we moved to this apartment a few months back, we’ve not been able to have any clear conversations on our mobiles without having to stand next to a window or going outside on the balcony. If we don’t, our conversations cut out and sometimes our calls drop. Also, strangely, Verizon to Verizon calls seem to be the worst, and with both of our families exclusively on Verizon, that’s an issue.

Obviously, the reception here isn’t good, and conversations with others in the building confirm that this is a bad spot for Verizon, and a number of people have dropped Verizon when they got here.

No biggie, I thought. If there isn’t reliable service here, Verizon will understand, apologize and let us out of our contract without fees. I mean, if you can’t service a customer properly, you’re not going to force them to keep your service or pay a fee, right?

Wrong.

Continue reading "Verizon – America’s Most Reliable Network As Long As You Are Outside" »

Posted by James at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal talking about the John McCain campaign's effective use of paid search ads to "ambush" Obama related searches. Definitely worth a read for you search marketing types.

One thing in the article that bugs me though is this:

Sen. Obama can also claim a huge lead in nonpaid search traffic, which suggests that he has done a good job optimizing its Web pages for search engines.

I think this is more of a "big brand" thing than an optimization thing. Kind of similar to the reason that GEICO gets as much search traffic on Google as the term "auto insurance."

Picky, picky. I know.

Posted by James at 04:29 PM | Permalink

Todd Dever of Cool Fonts fame passed this video on to me, and I highly recommend watching no matter who you are or what you do. It makes a good case for the progression of media into an active, rather than passive, activity.

Posted by James at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Great spot for the new XBox game, Viva Piñata.

[via The Egotist]

Posted by James at 03:40 PM | Permalink

I've been spending A LOT of time looking at site that could be a potential like targets for the company I'm working with, and I can honestly say I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of the web over the last couple months.

While I think it's safe to say there are a pile of contenders in the property search market, some of the sites that are popping up on the real estate fringe are quite interesting. Two examples I found today are StreetAdvisor and Walk Score.

StreetAdvisor is a site that uses user generated content to help you decided on a street to live on. As with any user generated content site, there are areas that have not yet been contributed to, but doing some searches around the Denver area I found some good reviews for my favorite streets. A very cool concept, and a company that could pretty logically be snatched up by a big property search player looking for interesting neighborhood data.

Walk Score is a site that looks at the schools, stores, shops, parks, etc. and rates address' "walkability score." It's a great tool for anyone looking to move to a city they don't know well, and that might not have or want to use a car in this age of rising gas prices. Not sure if this is a target for purchase, since they pretty much explain their algorithm on their site, and are using Google Maps as their data source. Still, I have a feeling selling out may not really be the endgame for Walk Score.

Know of any other fun sites like this in the property world? If so, leave me a note in the comments!

Posted by James at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's the confirmation.

How long until you think someone is going to use the "fake bigfoot" theme in a commercial.

I give it 1 month.

Posted by James at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ran across this advert in the Frankfurt airport a couple days ago:

It's almost like the printer lost the actual ad copy and instead used part of the copy from the agencies justification presentation to their clients.

I'm not sure if this was a mistake, a high form of "lost in translation" or the future of marketing - full explanation of your targeting strategy in lieu actual feature and benefit statements.

We shall see.

Posted by James at 01:25 PM | Permalink

The execution of this Vauxhall piece is pretty awesome.

First, the Flickr photos of the piece.

Now the explanation.

You've gotta admit, that's pretty rad.

Posted by James at 06:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Did you ever sell lemonade to make some extra scratch when you were a kid? I know I did a couple of times...and while selling the 'ade wasn't that profitable in the burbs, the kids featured in this article are making some serious bucks and learning some real business and marketing skills.

A good example, Fischer and Alston, best friends who run a lemonade stand in Tribeca. Here's a part of their interview with New York Magazine's Joanna Goddard:

How do you make your lemonade?
FISCHER: My family took lemons and squeezed and squeezed. We were sweating. But Alston’s family mixed powder with water. And the thing is, when you taste it, there’s really no difference.

Did you draw signs?
FISCHER: Alston made signs and spelled some things wrong.
ALSTON: When you spell things wrong, they say, “Oh, that’s cute.”

So you do it on purpose?
We misspelled lemonade: LEMADE.

Classic stuff - read all the interviews with lemonade stand entrepreneurs here.

Big thanks to Creative Victuals for the link.

Posted by James at 05:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Take a few minutes and check out Brand Tags.

In short it shows you how people describe big brands in a word using a tag cloud methodology.

Particularly fun is the page for Wal Mart.

Enjoy.

[via Autoblog]

Posted by James at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Alright, so the Loren Feldman - Shel Israel spat might be a little out of hand, but you've got to admit, Loren is making some entertaining videos. This one really cracked me up.

HA-CHA-CHA-CHA-CHA!

Posted by James at 06:58 PM | Permalink

This video captures the magic of the Subaru WRX STI - sadly, it also shows how underwhelming the new body style is as well. Still, great marketing showing the soul of the STI.

Posted by James at 06:53 PM | Permalink

Gotta love my sister. Last night she presented me with my marketing hero, Seth Godin, in action figure form. I had no idea they really made these...

Thanks sis!!!

Posted by James at 07:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

...doesn't mean you should.

No, I'm not talking about ski resorts seeding the clouds, I'm talking about this website that I ran across today.

I mean, this is a good looking site - the pictures are good, the design is solid - but then someone decided it would be cool if it was snowing...in all of the still photos.

Just like the process of creating art, web design has a lot to do with knowing when your work is done.

This particular site was done just before it started snowing.

Posted by James at 06:19 PM | Permalink

...if you use it, you might get your ass kicked.

Learn more about the Nubrella here...great concept, but it'll be hard to convince people to look like a Storm Trooper bobble-head when it rains.

[via]

Posted by James at 07:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I mentioned a little while back that I might be speaking at a conference this September in Dallas about online branding and reputation management...well, that was confirmed, so I will be a speaker. Needless to say I'm excited as online reputation management and branding is of great interest to me...but it seems like I'm not the only one who's thinking this topic.

Here's a video from the social media Super-Hero Gary Vaynerchuk talking about how the tech world of 2008 = the hip hop world of 1985.

God, Gary is a stud.

Posted by James at 08:33 PM | Permalink

In case you don't want to read, here's a video version of the post:

As you may already know, Kristi and I have been on the hunt for a new place to live. Something about having rusty, dirty water for the last month (yes, month) has rubbed us the wrong way.

So the last few weeks have been filled with the ups and downs common to anyone trying to find a new, “perfect” place to live in a particular area. Our best friend through this whole process has been that amazing Internet invention, and killer of newspaper classified ads, Craigslist (Hi Craig!).

We’ve been glued to Craigslist, checking it multiple times a day, trying to find a condo that meets our particular requirements for size, cost, finish, location and view. In the process, Kristi and I have seen the best and worst of Criagslist rental listing, and I thought as a public service I’d post our 5 tips for putting rental properties on Craigslist.

They are:

Continue reading "5 Tips for Putting Rental Properties on Craigslist" »

Posted by James at 09:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Just a quick video post about why I think SouthParkStudios.com is a good idea, and why the bastards who purposely schedule shows to screw up DVR recordings need to take notice. Sorry about the lighting...maybe I'll get a better lamp sometime. :)

Posted by James at 07:27 PM | Permalink

Great find by Seth Godin. Check out this video, and for you marketing folks, think of how what happens in this video applies to your work…

Posted by James at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Don't want to watch the video? You can read the post by clicking through...

Continue reading "Online Reputation Management for Insurance Agents" »

Posted by James at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

...you know they don't take themselves so seriously.

Case in point, when I asked my representative from HotBanana to send me a list of the new features of the latest release of their HotBanana CMS software, one of the six new upgrade selling points was this:

That's right folks, for some reason they decided to call their new WYSIWYG editor the FCK. I mean, I can't be the only one who is mentally adding the "u," right?

FCKing right!

Props to the HotBanana crew for embracing the quirky naming of all things Banana...even if you don't get more customers from it, you sure are keeping me entertained :)

Posted by James at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was looking through the posts on the supercool website NOTCOT.ORG and ran across a great AdBusteresque idea of improving the advertising landscape with moustaches.

The site, MoustacheMe.com, encourages would-be advertisement modification experts (that's the technical name) to buy moustache stickers that can be used on posters, bus stop adverts or maybe even billboards (they don't sell those ones yet).

Like the slightly more extreme Decapitator, the MoustacheMe crew is seems to be making a statement about the advertising messages that surround us. Unfortunately, they don't have the guts to stand for anything, except selling stickers.

Of course, that reduces the need for a good lawyer...

Posted by James at 06:35 PM | Permalink

If you look on the right sidebar of the blog you will notice I have added a couple of new things. One is a MyBlogLog widget, which may be the subject of another post, and a widget marked Twitter Feed. But what is Twitter?

That's a great question - and I always have a really tough time answering it. Tonight at dinner, I tried to explain Twitter to Kristi...and failed miserably. So let's look to Twitter for the official explanation from the website:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Interesting, but it doesn't really mean that much to me. And actually, after I first signed up for Twitter, I played around with it for a bit and then stopped using it for a number of months. But after hearing a lot of the bloggers I follow buzzing about Twitter (Hugh being the most vocal) I tried Twitter out again...and you know what? I get it.

So here's my best explanation of Twitter, at least the way I see it:

Twitter gives people in different physical locations the ability to quickly communicate their location, status and points of interest to their friends and contacts in what can best be described as a virtual workplace/cafe. This virtual workplace may be the reason why so many web/independent workers find Twitter so useful - it lets them broadcast simple ideas and concepts with the people they care about without going through the formality of a blog post, email or even instant message.

Now I'm not going to sit here and tell most people to use Twitter - it really seems to only make sense for tech industry and web-savvy folks at this point. But if you are an active member in the online community, it might be time to get involved with Twitter...it's a great way to get in touch with and keep up to date with the people you know and the people that matter in the online world.

I think Hugh put it best, half joking - "Note to World: If you're not on Twitter, I don't want to make friends with you." (Here are his thoughts on Twitter).

If you'd like to check out my Twitter page, you can head over to http://twitter.com/marketingpunk.

Posted by James at 07:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I love making short videos for the web. I love it so much so that if I could figure a way to make it into a fulltime gig, I think I would. The big problem is figuring out how to make money off of all that fun online video goodness...I mean heck, even Google seems to be struggling how to make a profit off of YouTube's content.

Jim Kukral, a man who is no stranger to finding ways to monitize content, has figure out how to cash in on video content. Jim runs a podcast called the Daily Flip (subscribe to it if you haven't already), and in the clip below he tells us how we can monetize our videos content by finding corporate sponsorships...take it away Jim!

Posted by James at 04:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I love marketing speak. I think it's ridiculous and hurts the companies that use it, but there is a special place in my heart for people who have "turn-key solutions" to stuff.

With my personal love for marketing jargon in mind, I'd like to offer up this challenge/contest...

$5 goes to the first person who can accuratly and precisely tell me what this company actually does. I mean, from the first sentence I can see that they create and operate online tools, websites and services - but what does that mean? Where are the examples? And what does it mean to go "beyond traditional web-page metaphors to deliver rich user experiences?"

No cheating - you have to figure it out just by reading the text on their website, you can't call them.

Leave a comment with your guess.

Good luck.

Posted by James at 08:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Shipoopi!

[Thanks to the Creative Victual Queen for the link...I will never forgive you, but thanks.]

Posted by James at 07:10 PM | Permalink

Exciting news - I've been accepted as a member of the "press" (meaning I got a press pass) for the 2008 Affiliate Summit West conference in Las Vegas in a couple weeks! Affiliate Summit is the premier affiliate marketing conference series, and once a year affiliate marketers and merchants descend on Las Vegas to learn, network, and let's face it, party for three jam packed days.

One thing that I like about Affiliate Summit is that I've been in the affiliate marketing business long enough to have seen the conference organizers, Shawn Collins and Missy Ward, take the Summit from an unknown series to a world class event. The conference has had its growing pains, but now it has events across the US and even in Europe...a wonderful success story.

Some of you might remember that I went to Affiliate Summit last year through work, but I'm pretty stoked to be going as an independent blogger this go round, with nothing to do but enjoy and document my experience.

I'm hoping to cover most of the conference through video blog posts, technology permitting.

Anyway, more about Affiliate Summit over the coming days. Tomorrow (or soon) - the conference agenda!

Tags: affiliatesummit

Posted by James at 07:24 PM | Permalink

The reason I think the logo free grill was the right way to go was this - Hyundai has a branding problem. Many people just can't get over the logo and the sordid past that it represents. Even though Hyundai has turned themselves around and produces high-quality, feature-rich, affordable cars, some people just won't give a second look to a car with the slanted H on the hood.

While I think (and hope) over time people will get over the "Hyundai thing," I think keeping the Hyundai badge off of the front of this remarkable car will let people enjoy what the Genisis is all about, a high-class ride at an affordable price.

Posted by James at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I never thought I would be giving a shout out to the Elle show on this blog, but these two clips made it possible. May I present the difference between an infomercial and reality...

Infomercial

Reality

Marketing lesson of the day - in today's world of YouTube, blogs and social networks, people will see thought your bullshit and spread the word...no matter how hard (or not hard in this case) you try to cover it up.

Posted by James at 07:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Get the details from Jalopnik. Nice job Leo Burnett (make sure you check out their site...very cool).

Posted by James at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So if you walked out to your car and saw this post-it note on your car's mirror, what would you think?

Well for Kristi, who did get this note on her car today, she thought someone had run into her car. Totally freaked out, she walked around her car looking for damage. Nothing. So then, being a woman, in a dark parking garage, she got a little freaked out and worried.

So she got in her car, called to tell me what was happening. We figured she should call and find out what was going on in case her car was broken somehow, so she did. A few minutes later she called me back and told me who left it there. You know what it was?

A FREEKIN' SMART AUTO GLASS TRYING TO DRUM UP BUSINESS!

Unbelievable. Is putting cryptic post-it notes on people's cars and tricking them into calling your company really a good marketing plan? NO. Kristi didn't appreciate it, I didn't appreciate it, and you ladies and gents shouldn't appreciate it.

So let's fight back, eh?

If you have a blog, and you would be so kind, please make a post (it can be super short) that talks about what Smart Glass did to Kristi. If you'd like to voice your dissatisfaction directly, you can reach Smart Glass by calling 303-296-0809.

Thanks in advance for your help. Let me know if you write a post and I'll link to it from here.

UPDATE: Looks like we are getting some traction her. Check out these posts about Smart Glass:

• Kristi's Smart Glass Denver post


• Megan's Smart Glass Denver post


• InsureMe Agent Blog's Smart Glass Denver post


• The Consumerist's Smart Glass Denver post (check the 67+ comments!)


• Jack's Smart Glass Denver post


• DrunkBunny's Smart Glass Denver post


• Brofax's Smart Glass Denver post

Posted by James at 06:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

If you are working on something totally mindless:

a) Welcome to the club, and
b) Here is a download of a great conversation between Seth Godin, Tim Ferris, Chris Anderson and John Jantsch you can listen to so your brain doesn't continue to rot in your head.

You are welcome.

(Source)

Posted by James at 09:06 PM | Permalink

And then there is Pontiac. A brand that can't seem to get any traction. And you know what? I think I'm starting to understand why.

You see, Autoblog recently pointed out that, even two years after it was discontinued, the Pontiac Aztec sold 25 new units in 2007. At first glance you might think, wow, after two years they are still selling Aztecs? That's good right?

Wrong.

You have to think what that symbolizes. That means that there are Pontiac dealers out there who are still showing a car that may very well have been the lowest of low points in modern car design. In the process the dealers are reminding everyone who walks on their lot why Pontiac is struggling in the auto market. Yeah, they might have sold a few Aztecs, but how many sales did they lose by keeping those beasts sitting around, stinking up their new product line?

If your brand is in trouble, find out the cause and do what you can to correct and distance yourself from it. In Pontiac's case, they should round up every "new" Aztec that is left, pay the dealers for them, and quietly donate them to a needy organization...and then never mention the Aztec again.

You gotta lose the losers to save your brand.

Posted by James at 06:06 PM | Permalink

I wrote about this at work, so check the post there, but hopefully your business plan isn't like this...

Posted by James at 06:13 PM | Permalink

Ugh.

Denver's NBC affiliate, 9 News, has an amazing ability to add innovations to their website that manage to annoy much more than they inform (kind of like their morning show). The latest example of misunderstanding how to translate offline promotional methods to online is this totally awesome page that popped up after I clicked through a story on their homepage...

I'm sorry, but if you are going to run a survey like this on your website, here's some suggestions:

• Ask one or two questions max...anything more is intrusive
• Remember that you are interrupting a process that is not normally interrupted, act accordingly
• Ask yourself if the information you are looking for is worth the inevitable drop-off of users from your site
• ALWAYS PROVIDE A WAY TO SKIP THE SURVEY - THIS IS A NO BRAINER

So there you go 9News...remember that the web isn't TV. You can't force us to do anything we don't want to do...and if you try we know where else we can go to get the exact same news stories.

And if you're taking suggestions, take the STUPID rollover functionality off of the NIMBUS weather thing on the top of your homepage, Make it clickable like everything else on your site...if I open that thing on accident one more time I'm going to come down there and egg your building.

Yeah, egging is how I roll.

Posted by James at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

A few months back, BusinessWeek did a total make-over of its magazine and the changes were quite noticeable. At first I was a bit thrown off by it all, but over time I got used to it. Aside from occasional oddities (like the use of drawings of photos while using captions that would fit only pictures in a recent article on ICE immigration raids) things seem to be looking quite good at BusinessWeek.

A great example is the layout pictured below from a recent article on the stealth oil giant Schlumberger. Something about the black and white photo along with the text layout and the use of red for the larger text and page number just make my eyeballs happy. Check it:

Nice, eh?

Oh, and if you want to hear a little more about Schlumberger and how it fits with the idea of Professional Service Firms, check out this post from Tom Peters.

Posted by James at 07:04 PM | Permalink

Sometimes when street art and mainstream advertising intersect, the results can be gruesome...gruesome in a good way! Exhibit A - the work of the suddenly famous Decapitator.

Check these shots of to see the before and after pictures of the Decapitator's AdBusting goodness....

Before

After

Check out more pictures here.

Yeah, it's gross, but it takes another blah ad and makes it into something truly remarkable. Not sure if this the the remarkability that Seth Godin was talking about in the Purple Cow. :)

This might be an extreme example, but I'd say this, if you are cranking out the type of AdverPollution that would be more interesting post-decapitation, maybe you should try a bit harder, eh?

Big up to the Egotist for the link.

Posted by James at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hugh MacLeod has been talking about "social objects" for a while now, but I had a hard time wrapping my head around the concept. A couple of his recent posts have cleared things up for me, and if you are trying to sell/market anything, you should hop on the social object train. Read the posts here and here.

As social marketers like to say, it's all about the conversation...or is it that it's all about the people. Either way, getting people to talk about your product is key - which is what social objects are all about.

Also, I wanted to point out my favorite marketing quote ever -

"Advertising is a tax you pay for unremarkable thinking.” - Robert Stephens, founder, Geek Squad

All I can say is that it's nice that there is so much unremarkability in the world (job security and all) :)

[Thanks to CreativeVictuals for pointing that one out]

Posted by James at 07:03 PM | Permalink

BusinessWeek has a great article that talks about the short lifespan of people who end up in the Chief Marketing Officer role. It seems that the world of marketing is moving a little too fast for many traditionally minded marketing chiefs to keep up, and the pressures of knowing what to do with new media and old media are overwhelming.

There was one bit of the article I have to point out that seems to really show what today's CMOs are going through...

Marc Lefar, who was chief marketing officer at Cingular (now AT&T (T)) until leaving for personal reasons in April, knew he needed to get his head around a geeky marketing tool called search engine optimization (SEO). Now more important than Nielsen ratings, SEO is used to make sure a company's site shows up as high as possible on search results. Getting this right can mean the difference between capturing a potential cell phone customer or losing him to a rival.

Pretty crazy, eh? I'm glad I got my start in the new media world...trying to catch up later would be really tough.

Posted by James at 06:57 PM | Permalink

Seriously, I have never seen a website that uses SitePal that doesn't end up looking creepy.

Want an example?

Try this and this.

Posted by James at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[NOTE: It's my early New Years resolution to try to put some type of marketing edge on every post I do. I mean, this is Marketing Punk, so there should be something marketing related here, right?]

When Kristi and I were in Venice this spring, we spent one evening doing as Venetians do and went out for cicchetti - Venice's answer to Spain's tapa-hopping. After our second bar, we walked up to a very popular (and Rick Steves recommended) cicchetti bar called Al Marca right off the Grand Canal and near to the Rialto Bridge. Here's what it looked like:

As you can see, the bar was nothing more than an awning and a window on the side of the building. You couldn't go in, and there weren't even any seats or tables. You just ordered your drink, chicchetti and then enjoyed it where you wanted. And when I say where you wanted, I mean you could wander off, go a hundred meters away, around the corner and no one would give you a second glance.

Now here is the crazy part (if you are American) - they gave you real wine glasses and real plates when you ordered food and drinks. No plastic. No paper. The real stuff. Here's a picture.

For Americans, it was a wild thing. How could these people risk losing expensive wine glasses and plates? Don't they lose a ton of them? Can people really be trusted with "the good stuff"?

I'm sure this bar, and all the other bars in the area (who also let you wonder with your drinks), lose some glasses and plates. But by trusting its customers, the bar showed that it respected its patrons, and the patrons did what they could to live up to that respect.

Trusting customers is a great way to show you respect them. Showing respect builds strong customer relationships.

So my thought for today is this:

What can your business do to show your customers you trust them?

Now you know what you can do, try it out and see what happens.

Posted by James at 06:38 PM | Permalink

Imagine a technology that projects sound in to a precise spot, and unless you are in the spot, you can't hear it. What's more, the sound isn't heard through your ears, it is heard because it is banging around in your skull, which serves as an amplifier.

Now imagine who would use such a creepy technology.

No, it's not the CIA. It's marketers.

Learn how A&E is projecting voices into skulls of civilians to promote a show about ghosts here.

[Thumbs up to The Denver Egotist for the point.]

Posted by James at 07:50 PM | Permalink

I mean...what is up with that picture? Is that a dude in a wig or a woman with a Hitler 'stache? I'm so confused?

Posted by James at 09:10 PM | Permalink

Just wanted to give props to Hugh MacLeod for writing Blogging is Dead? According to Whom?

When you are a "cool guy" in the tech world, it's certainly not cool to stick up for blogs these days...but Hugh has the nuts to point out that blogs are still a useful tool. Nice to see someone who built their personal brand with a blog not giving it the cold shoulder just because it's not the latest and greatest innovation.

Posted by James at 08:04 PM | Permalink

Kristi and I watched the movie The Queen the other night, and I got to say that aside from being a really good movie, it should also be used as a parable for old Madison Avenue advertisers.

I mean, big ad agencies tend to act like the royalty of the advertising world, but over the years their high-horse, Lovemarks, "we make art not ads" attitude has caused many of the big agencies to become totally detached from reality...kind of like the royal family of England. And now, like in the movie, the royal family of Madison Avenue are starting to wake up and realized that the world they once knew has changed...and now they have to try to catch back up with reality.

Don't believe me? Read this article about the folks at Saatchi & Saatchi facing this newfangled creation called the Intarwebs.

Good luck to all the royal families of the ad world...hope you all can find your Tony Blair.

Posted by James at 08:41 PM | Permalink

If you were heading up the tourism board for Scotland, and you spent $250,000 to have an agency create a new tourism slogan for your country, and your old slogan was "the best small country in the world," how would you feel about the following slogan, after 6 months of work?

"Welcome to Scotland"

Yes, that's what $250,000 buys you these days. Becuase I'm such a nice guy, I'll do some work for free here and give the Scotland tourism board a few other suggestions for free:

"Scotland, Ays Like Fookin Amasin!"

(Irvine Welsh readers will understand that one)

"If You Don't Like Scotland, You Can Hop Over to Ireland and Get a Guinness"

or

"Scotland - You Might Not Understand What We're Saying, But We Swear It's All Nice"

and finally,

"Scotland - We Promise It's Nothing Like Trainspotting"

Of course, a serious heroin habit might explain paying $250,000 for "Welcome to Scotland," so axe that last one.

[Thumbs up to The Denver Egotist for the link]

Posted by James at 06:58 PM | Permalink

It's pretty rare when this blog and my work blog get a post about the same topic, but seriously, BlogStorm's list of the Top Ten Worst Websites You Wish You Hadn't Seen is flippin' hilarious. Read it and make sure you click on the screenshots to visit these web atrocities (especially the rainbow church site).

Posted by James at 08:09 PM | Permalink

I was quite excited to see that this blog, in all of its randomness, has been added to The Denver Egotist's blogroll...which is quite an honor when you see the other local blogs that are listed. I'm realizing I need to add a blogroll of my own on this blog.

Not surprisingly I feel a bit more pressure to write about marketing related stuff since this recognition from the Egotist...but in the mean time here are some videos of FIRE ANTS!

Posted by James at 06:08 PM | Permalink

If they had these in Hollywood, The Superficial's traffic would drop by 25%.

Posted by James at 04:26 PM | Permalink

If you've been around me as of late, you have likely heard me talk about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The show is awesome, in a totally twisted kinda sick way. I mean, what other show on TV has a scene like this?

OK, so maybe the Day Man song wasn't the right example to give you to start, but I swear, this show is great. I mean c'mon, Danny DeVito liked the show so much he asked for a part on it (and got one).

But the important thing here, from a marketing standpoint is this - the only reason I ever watched the show was because it sponsored one of my favorite podcasts, Diggnation. You see, I figured that if the Diggnation guys enjoyed the show, I would too...and I do.

So podcast sponsorship worked for Sunny, and it might work for other marketers too.

Of course, if your product sucks, no need to bother.

Posted by James at 08:46 PM | Permalink

...You make me so happy with that WoooWoooooooooo!

P.S. - if anyone buys these in my 'hood, I'll burn down their car.

Posted by James at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

...when you've got well programmed trained kids!!!

Yay for South Korea!

[Props to the Denver Egotist for the link.]

Posted by James at 06:38 PM | Permalink

Who says marketing insurance can't be ridiculously...well, ridiculous? Ladies and gents, I present to you the hottest SHIPOOPI InterMet ads ever. DANCE!

By the way, they get funnier the more you watch them.

Posted by James at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Freelance Switch had a very cool (but apparently error filled) article on a place called Independent's Hall. What is it? Freelance Hall is a shared workspace for freelance workers to get together and work in a (fun) office-like environment. Check out their site here.

Unfortunately for most of us, Independents Hall is in Philadelphia...and that's a heck of a commute from Denver.

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

It's a damn embarrassment that the American auto powerhouse Ford is now in this situation:

On the other extreme, Ford Motor (Charts, Fortune 500) saw sales plummet more than 20 percent in September, as the embattled U.S. automaker continues to lose market share.

The company saw sales of light trucks, fall 9 percent, while the sale of car models plunged 38.9 percent. The decline was widespread across its brand, with only Lincoln and Land Rover posting a sales gain.

Is anyone surprised? All you have to do is take a spin around the model line up here to see why Ford is f-ed.

Quote thanks to CNN...lameness thanks to Unions, bad marketing, asinine management and brainless designers.

[Photo thanks to cpizzoman.]

Posted by James at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I read Jack and Suzy Welch's column in BusinessWeek recently and they discussed one of the toughest management dilemmas out there - managing creative people. It turns out the online version of the column is an Podcast (very cool BusinessWeek), which is even better than the article since you can really hear how tough the situation is for even two seasoned business professionals.

If you have to manage creatives, if you work with creatives, or you are a creative yourself, give a listen to the Velvet Hammer.

Posted by James at 09:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you live in Poland and you want to mess with the president, please don’t call him a Kutas (penis). You see, one Polish search engine hacker decided to Google bomb Google in Poland to rank their president #1 for the word kutas, and he was put in jail for it. Ouch. Not so freedom of speechy, eh?

Luckily, us Americans get to sit back and watch our president make himself into a penis every time he talks, and no one has to go to jail – YAY!

Oh yeah, speaking of jail, you hear about OJ getting busted in Vegas? It goes to show, if you are famous you can kill whomever you want in LA and get away with it, but in Vegas you can’t get away with a darn thing.

(Thanks to Search Engine Land for the kutas story...thanks to OJ Simpson for being a total friggin' dumbass.)

Posted by James at 07:28 PM | Permalink

I'm in, who's with me?

Thanks (surprisingly) to Seth Godin for pointing this out.

Posted by James at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bank of America proved to the world that they care more about making money than winning customers today by announcing that they will be raising their non-customer ATM fees from $2 to $3, proving in one fell swoop that they are big fans of exorbitant fees. Sweet moves gents and ladies (I'm picturing the pen filled with bankers from that Washington Mutual commercial).

BofA's spokeswoman Betty Riess laid out their superior logic in the following statement:

"We really want to make our ATM network convenient for our customers," said Riess. "In order to maintain that, it is appropriate to charge people who aren't our customers for accessing our convenience."

There are so many things wrong with that quote.

People who aren't your customers, eh? Well, you've guaranteed that I'll never be one of your customers, so sweet job Betty.

Here is the story I saw on CNN. Hopefully Seth Godin will chime in on this bold move of marketing genius .

Posted by James at 06:37 PM | Permalink

I figure creating a tourist tag line for your city isn't an easy thing to do, especially when your city isn't known for a whole lot. But as we were preparing for our trip to New Mexico, we were doing some research and ran across the least inspiring city motto ever. Ladies and gents, here it is...

Albuequerque, It's a Trip!

It's a trip? Sounds like you'd say that while you shrug your shoulders. Like the kids are saying "we wanted to go to Disneyland" and dad says "hey, it's a trip!"

Maybe it has something to do with peyote.

Oh well, I guess it's better than "Albuquerque, it's just like a mini mall." Oh right, that's already taken.

Posted by James at 07:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Seth had an interesting post today about terrorism, the war and the role of marketing in the whole thing. Feel free to read it here.

If you aren't going to read it, I'll give you this quote from it and you can get this gist:

If you want moderate ideas to spread in a community, promote the people who are spreading those ideas. Make them heroes. Amplify their message and help it spread.

If you're down with the idea of becoming a hero for someone to amplify the positive messages from our country, you might want to start giving through an organization like Kiva.org. If you recall, I started making loans through Kiva a little while back, and it's been quite rewarding.

You can see my Kiva profile here.

Posted by James at 08:06 PM | Permalink

I can't tell you how bummed I am that my favorite business magazine, Business 2.0 is being killed by its parent Time, Inc.

Business 2.0 is the one magazine that I can effortlessly read cover to cover without even thinking about it. Their magazine is highly relevant, often on the leading edge of the tech world...usually finding new trends earlier than their big competitor, Fast Company.

I don't really agree with Time's decision to absorb the Business 2.0 staff into Fortune magazine, since trying to harness the talent at B2.0 into a stogy mag like Fortune isn't going to work.

Best of luck to the Business 2.0 staff, you all rock, and deserve to work for a publication that will showcase your skills, not slip you into a "tech section" between articles about investing in pork-bellies.

Here's the story from the New York Times.

Posted by James at 07:26 PM | Permalink

If you are interested in the history of the internet, you'll probably like this list of the first 100 domain names registered on the net. It kind of gives you an idea of the first movers on the Internet, and gives you a peek at the interesting ideas that never really became anything...Octopus.com anyone? (it's #46)

Big ups to the Forrester for having the list.

Posted by James at 07:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Seth Godin pointed to this post, and I was both amazed and very pleasantly surprised to see what Bill Gates is capable of.

I’m not sure why Microsoft doesn’t tap into Bill’s silly skills more often…God knows they could kick the crap out of the Mac ads with some funny Bill spots.

Posted by James at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I recently read a Business 2.0 Magazine story about the Working Nomad Anthony Page and was both impressed and inspired by his story. You see, Anthony has been traveling around the world and working successfully at building an online business which is now bringing in over $10,000 a month…not too shabby.

While I don’t think it would be a long-term lifestyle for me, it would be amazing to travel the world and work on the web while you are at it.

You can keep up with the “Working Nomad” by reading his blog at www.WorkingNomad.com.

Thanks to Linda at 5 Star Affiliate Programs for reminding me to blog about this awesome article.

Posted by James at 07:18 PM | Permalink

The Denver Egotist just got a nod from AdRants, so you might want to take heed. Looks like a place where talented creatives can get a little attention and come together in a city that might not be known for its creativity…but hopefully will be.

Posted by James at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sean from Atteversumption gives us a new marketing term that I'm digging the most - Bikini Concept.

If you don't get it, you need to start getting it right now.

Posted by James at 08:25 PM | Permalink

Here’s a nice little mash-up of Steve Balmer’s wild on-stage freak out with a little iPod flair. Enjoy.

But of course, nothing beats the original, which you can enjoy after the jump…

Continue reading "Microsoft’s CEO iPod Freak Out Dance Thing" »

Posted by James at 08:16 PM | Permalink

Well, not so surprisingly, Amp’d mobile has officially bit the big one. I've actually never met anyone who was cool/alternative/MySpacey enough to have actually paid to have Amp’d mobile, which probably explains a lot, but I’m sure there are a lot of sad teenyboppers out there who are having to beg mom and dad for an iPhone tonight.

But if there is anyone who is outwardly pissed/sad/emotionally destroyed about the end of Amp’d mobile, it is their copywriter. If you want proof, check out this web page on the Amp’d site that explains the death of Amp’d to Amp’d subscribers.

By the way, I find it really ironic that the URL of this page is http://promotions.ampd.com/q_and_a/. Since when was going out of business a promotion?

Update! Amp'd's copywriter left a comment...and this photo.

Posted by James at 08:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here is an article from Fast Company magazine that you should read and then make your friends read.

Props to Gapingvoid for the cartoon.

Posted by James at 06:55 PM | Permalink

Thought #1

In a world where “Brand You” is a lot more important than the brand you work for, does it make sense that the only time you have a business card is when you work for a company?

Thought #2

When I come back from conferences with a pile of business cards the ones I always remember are the ones that are out of the ordinary. Odd shapes, unexpected pictures, etc. always make for a remarkable business card.

Recommendation

If you don’t have a personal business card, it might be time to get some made up. And if you want to have something both personal and remarkable, check out the mini-cards from Moo.com. Moo let’s you make business cards from your photos on different photo sharing sites like Flickr – and the Moo site will actually connect to your account, making the card creation process a cinch. For $19.99 you can get 100 cards made up, and the amazing thing is that you can get your 100 cards made with up to 100 different pictures.

So what’s stopping you – get some cards made up for yourself. I promise they will be a lot more memorable than the ones the give you at work.

Big up to Copyblogger for showing me Moo...

Posted by James at 08:00 PM | Permalink

I hated business writing classes in college. My professors were a little less than connected to the real world. I remember explaining to one of them that if I wrote a one page long email to ask my boss to a meeting (no joke, that’s what he was telling me to do), I would be fired in a second. I also recall a time when I got into a wildly heated yelling match with that same professor that made him go catatonic…but that’s another story.

Anyway, in college I always thought that business writing was some stupid hoop they made you jump through with no real application for most business people. But times have changed my friends. Steve Rubel’s post, Writing is a Part of Everyone’s Job, really points out that the digital age has made writing one of the most important skills any business person must possess.

Make sure you read the post...and find a way to practice your writing.

Posted by James at 08:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

American car companies are having a pretty crappy time these days – and most people you would talk to would tell you that the problems they face are mainly self-inflicted. Occasionally, an American car company will do something smart, and for better or for worse, making a smart business move becomes news. Want an example?

Saturn recently announced that it will let customers test drive Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys alongside the Saturn line up. I love this move by Saturn, since it shows that they are willing to put their product up against the supposedly “superior” cars from Japan.

I hope Hyundai is taking notes…their cars kick butt and a little head-to-head at the dealership should help push a few more of their cars.

Read the full article here from CNN. Hat tip to Seth for finding the article.

Posted by James at 08:00 PM | Permalink

Today I ran across a story on MarketingVOX that looked promising. The headline – ad:tech: Group to Strike for Creativity. The premise – a group called No More Landing Pages is going to “strike” at ad:tech in San Francisco for the end of the use of landing pages. Sounded kind of interesting…a bit convoluted, but interesting. I clicked through to the No More Landing Pages site and guess what I found? The No More Landing Pages LANDING PAGE!

Ok, so it’s not a landing page, it’s a blog. But if the key to being successful without landing pages is “be passionate, not complacent,” I think the no more landing page revolution is doomed. Reading the seven blog posts on the page really left me confused. We can all wax poetically about a problem…but can you give a solution? And before you give us a solution, what do you consider a landing page? Give examples my friends. Then solve all of our landing page problems.

I’m curious to know more…kinda…

Posted by James at 07:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As everyone is aware, there was an extremely violent and senseless shooting today in Blacksburg, Virginia. I am saddened by the tragedy, as I’m sure everyone is…but that’s not what I want to post about tonight. Tonight I want to post about the balance between advertising and news.

I think we can all remember the days after 9/11…when every TV station was focused on the attack and the aftermath. For days, no one advertised. The focus was on the tragedy, and nothing else. Today was similar in that programs like NBC Nightly News ran with minimal commercial interruption. It’s the right thing to do for viewers and advertisers, and I commend NBC for doing it.

But these days more and more of us are turning to the Internet for our information, and when we do, we run into one place where the Internet is falling behind when it comes to knowing when to advertise. You see, many of the news web sites out there have advertising on them…and usually the advertising is controlled by separate business units. Today, I went to the CNN.com web site as events were unfolding in Virginia, and I decided to watch the “Pipeline” on CNN’s site. The Pipline is a live feed that has live content and breaking news. As I fired up the feed, I was surprised to see that I was about to start my 3-minute Pipeline preview feed.

Continue reading "There’s A Time for Previews and Ads, But This Isn’t It." »

Posted by James at 07:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tom Peter’s book Re-Imagine! introduced me to the “brand you” concept – and it has stuck with me since I read it. If you want to learn about “brand you” thinking (and you should), you can read this Fast Company article from August 2007.

I started thinking about “brand you” again this week when I saw this classic example of bad personal branding. When you click through, scroll down to this person’s profile.

My question for you – are you projecting your personal brand, in one way or another, like this person? If so, you might want to try to reposition your brand…I know I’m trying.

Posted by James at 07:36 PM | Permalink

Matt McGee, over at Search Engine Land, wrote a fantastic post about why small businesses need to get on the social media bandwagon. The way I look at it, Matt’s got a point. There are a lot of industries out there where a small business doesn’t have much of a chance of succeeding at search engine optimization (or pay-per-click for that matter) because massive companies dominate the premium space on search engines (think real estate or insurance).

Social media rewards people who are willing to take the time to make a contribution to their community and elevates people who are experts in their fields. The thing that small businesses can do more effectively than big ones is communicate on a personal level.

If you’re running a small business, and you want to promote your business online, make sure you read and understand this article. It could drastically change your approach to marketing, and maybe even save you some time and money…

Posted by James at 07:36 PM | Permalink

First off, the PBS web site rules. It amazes me to look at our local TV station’s web sites and compare them to the PBS site. I mean, local news stations have ad revenue to keep them going, but for some reason they all end up looking like a high school kid’s computer class project. A perfect example is the always changing, always annoying and often unusable 9 News web site. What the hell happened there guys?

Where was I…oh yeah, the PBS site rules. Not only is it a joy to look at but they actually provide full length shows for people to watch on the site – for free. And that makes me very happy, because one of my favorite shows on TV is Frontline. Recently Frontline had an amazing episode in their News War series called “What’s Happening to News.” If you want to see an well done program that talks about how the Internet has affected the news and how the newspaper industry is falling apart, watch this program (click on the "Part Three" tab).

Posted by James at 07:46 PM | Permalink

Saw this today on SuperAff...still cracking up. Good luck not getting this tune stuck in your head.

Posted by James at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In a world where web design is heading towards clean, bright, smooth looking web sites, there is something strangely beautiful about a site that totally defies the definition of good design, yet fully captures the essence of the person and service being advertised. And with that in mind, I give you Pro Ghost Hunter.

Time to get this guy some love from StumbleUpon…

Posted by James at 08:32 PM | Permalink

The thing I really like about super talented businesspeople/designers/artists/marketers who blog is that they often share the same insights with their readers as they do with their big consulting clients. A perfect example is Hugh MacLeod’s post, Edelman Talk. If you want to read about what marketing is about these days, make the jump and read the post.

Also, for you design lovers out there, make sure you read Mark Borden’s Less Hulk, More Bruce Lee article from Fast Company. It’s a great story about Michael Jager, his company JDK, and how they won the Xbox 360 account.

Posted by James at 07:36 PM | Permalink

Standing out in this over-saturated media market is beyond tough. Luckily, there are still some people out there who are talented and strange enough to break through the clutter. Here are two TV ads and two interactive sites that are just strange enough to grab my attention…

Orange ad for Innocent Juice:

Continue reading "Bizarre, Yet Remarkable Marketing" »

Posted by James at 07:00 PM | Permalink

Mac users are an interesting group of people. Most are true brand evangelists, and many treat being a Mac user as almost a religion. Quite frankly, Mac users can be a bit annoying about their love for the Mac.

I know that Macs rule for making movies and doing creative stuff…but PCs are good at stuff too. For example this site shows the one thing that PC users can do that Mac users can’t.

And speaking of brands that people are learning to hate, let’s see how things are going for good ‘ol Sony with the PlayStation 3…

Posted by James at 09:21 PM | Permalink

Seth Godin is coming to DU on April 19th, and if you are a marketing type, it might be worth the $95.00 to go and watch him. Seth has an amazing way of looking at marketing issues in a fresh and insightful way – and his observations can help take your company’s marketing to a higher level.

Check out the DU site to get the info.

Oh yeah, the title of my post is wishful thinking. But Seth, if you read this, I’d love to take you to dinner if you have any interest…I know it’s a long shot, but hey, a guy’s gotta try.

Posted by James at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I’m in the middle of reading Mavericks at Work and I ran across a quote that really hit home with me. The quote is from Dennis DeFlorio, the president of retail operations for Commerce Bankcorp. Dennis says:

Banking is a dead business. It’s a utility, like a gas company. We’re creating an emotional attachment with our customers. The world didn’t need another bank on the corner – and then we came along. We created a phenomenon, a buzz, around convenience, service, and the culture of our people. We’re wacky. The majority of people in leadership roles in this bank are on the lunatic fringe. We have to be. We’ve created a cult brand in a dead business.

If you think about it, a lot of online businesses are “dead” in the commoditised sense of the word. There are a million mortgage sites, a million shoe sites, and a million places to buy that sweet digital camera. Just like Commerce Bancorp did with banking, if you are starting up an online business in an established marketplace, it is more important than ever to be a purple cow.

Posted by James at 08:20 PM | Permalink

Today at work I was trying to put together a quick top banner for one of our web sites and I was in need of a little inspiration. After a quick search on Google I came across The Logos of Web 2.0 by The FontFeed. Check out the logos, figure out what fonts they are using, and go to the sites to get an idea of what is hot in web design these days. Once you find a site you like, copy the hell out of it when you are making your own site. Yeah, I know it isn’t going to look original, but it’s better than nothing.

Posted by James at 08:46 PM | Permalink

I never got a chance to post about the LED mayhem that overtook Boston a couple of weeks ago. I personally thought it was a great marketing piece, and I dug that it was a hat tip to the Graffiti Research Lab. Alas, the butt-bags of Boston decided that LEDs + Duracells + cartoons with middle fingers up = explosives.

To add insult to injury, the CEO of the Cartoon Network decided to fall on his sword last week and resign because of the issue. You can see the letter over at AdRants.

Seriously people, Cartoon Network is paying a huge fine, and the company apologized about a billion and a half times. Let’s move on shall we?

I bet real terrorists are laughing their asses off at us right now.

If you can’t tell, I’ve got angst folks.

Luckily, Dywell.com has created a game that will help me with my issues called Save Boston. Go to the site and see if you can save Boston too.

Also, feel free to make your own virtual bomb over at the Lite-Brite site.

[Oh yeah - this was my favorite article about this. Hair questions only please.]

Posted by James at 08:00 PM | Permalink

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One of my roles at work is helping with hiring. For the last two months I have been looking for talent to fill a number of positions in my department, and I really haven’t had the best luck. Maybe it is the time of year. Maybe it is the job market. Who knows.

In the last two days I estimate I looked at 100 resumes – and after looking at that many resumes, some patterns begin to emerge. The thing that is freaking me out is that almost every resume and cover letter I look at seems to be similar to the one that comes before it. And I’m not saying they are all bad, because they are not.

The freaky thing is they are all written exactly like we were taught to write a resume and cover letter – and they’re just not cutting it. They are all very formulaic and dry. They all tend to regurgitate the things I am looking for – and everyone is a “good/perfect/great fit” for the job…even though they may lack any relevant experience.

It actually reminds me of Google AdWords a bit. See, when you attend a PPC class or conference they tell you that the best thing to do for the click-through rate of your advertisement is to use the keyword in the title of your advertisement (dynamic keyword insertion). It seems that over the last couple of years, everyone took this advice to heart and started to use the keyword for the title to their ad – and as a result they all have the same damn title in their ads. Now the ads that really draw attention are the ones that aren’t using the industry best practice.

I think this same lesson can be applied to writing a cover letter or resume these days. We all know what the best practices are for a resume and cover letter – which is great. As you are writing up yours, think about what you are “supposed to do” and then do something different.

Don’t get me wrong. Don’t write anything that will make you look bad. Use good judgement and common sense. Don’t come off too cocky or strange or random. But make sure you do stand out.

When you are putting together that cover letter and resume, think of ways to be a purple cow in the job market. Remember that you are in charge of promoting brand you – and the best promotions are the ones that stand out and get noticed.

I’ll let you know if I find any purple cows out there.

Posted by James at 08:07 PM | Permalink

Your product (or service) doesn’t have to be perfect to be loved by your customers.

That’s something I was reminded of today when I hopped into my car and saw that the outside air temperature was reading 122 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s 50 degrees Celsius). Since I was wearing a jacket and still a little chilly, I realized that it might be time to take my car into the shop.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason I was taking my car into the shop. Here is the laundry list of issues that have cropped up over the last couple of months:

• Driver’s side automatic window button partially broken
• Passenger side rear window button partially broken
• Center console cup holder partially broken (tried to pull out my water bottle and the whole damn thing came out…actually kind of funny)
• Some electric short is causing the warning indicator to show a problem with the passenger side rear lights, even though there isn’t a problem.

Aside from that, I know that the automatic window mechanisms are prone to failure…meaning the window mechanism will randomly break and the glass will fall into the door. One has already failed. My girlfriend’s car (same model) has had all four windows break…and the mechanic at the dealer’s service center said that the manufacturer did a bad job and put in cheap plastic parts to save on weight – meaning they will likely keep breaking.

With issues like that, you might think I would be a little more than frustrated with my car. Well guess what? I’m not. I love the hell out of my car.

Why?

Continue reading "It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Loved" »

Posted by James at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Microsoft Zune in not getting too much love from the media. I have seen skeptical articles on various websites, in BusinessWeek, and even in The Economist. However, the folks over at CNN take the cake with their on-air Zune review, which turns into a public Zune flogging. Hilarious stuff, especially at the end.

I wonder how many heads are rolling in Microsoft’s PR department.

Posted by James at 07:10 PM | Permalink

I ran across an article in this month’s BusinessWeek that talks about the cool things IBM is doing in Second Life. From making their CEO a snazzy avatar, to rebuilding the Chinese Forbidden City, to holding meetings and brainstorms on Second Life islands – IBM is making a commitment to virtual worlds. A $100,000,000 commitment.

Read the article here (don’t be scared, it’s short) and check out the virtual CEO slideshow.

Posted by James at 08:10 PM | Permalink

Thank you Seth Stevenson. Thank you for pointing out that those Esurance anime ads are some of the most random crap on TV. I mean seriously, watch one of the ads and pay attention to what is happening…it is ridiculous.

I will admit that the ads have managed to help increase awareness of the Esurance brand, but with the amount of money that Esurance spends (Super Bowl ad anyone?), they should have more than just awareness.

Make sure you read the article, I love that Seth actually contacted the person who creates the ads.

[Bonus: Apple finally realizes that the "Apple Guy" was a reminder why everyone hates Mac snobs - so they can him.]

[Bonus Update: AdRants bursts my bubble and says that Apple Guy is still on the payroll at Apple. DAMN YOU! YOU'VE WON THIS TIME MAC SNOBS!!!]

Posted by James at 07:10 PM | Permalink

I find this whole marketing in Second Life thing fascinating. Partially because it is starting to look like a train wreck…and it’s hard to look away from a train wreck.

But some marketers have done things right when it comes to Second Life…people like Erik Hauser from Swivel Media.

AdRants has a really interesting post from Erik Hauser, who was involved in Wells Fargo’s early entry into the Second Life relm. Eric talks about how Wells Fargo created Stagecoach Island, and the tactics they used to be accepted by the general Second Life populous.

Good stuff – give it a read.

Posted by James at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There was a lot of talk at the Blog Business Summit about Second Life (check out the Wikipedia page for Second Life if you have no idea what it is)and the move of mainstream marketers to the Second Life world. A few people mentioned the Crayon Agency, which has decided to run their office in the Second Life world (since their employees are all over the world).

Many agencies have been dipping their toe into the Second Life world, and wouldn’t you know it, they have managed to start pissing people off. Who woulda thunk it? Just like WalMart pissing off the blogosphere with their fo’ blog. And now Ogilvy has managed to piss on all of the industrious Second Lifers by pointing out a ton of “firsts” in the Second Life world, while ignoring all of amazing things that have happened in Second Life for years.

The scary part? Missteps like this will make it harder for other, more informed companies to succeed in Second Life…which really sucks. I really wonder how many more of these screw ups the Second Life community will take before there is a full fledged backlash against “first life” companies.

From the looks of this blog post, not many more.

Marketers are such a-holes.

Oh wait…I’m a marketer. Crap.

[Semi-Unrealated Update: Seems like Second Life has some inflation problems as well. Thanks to Scoble for the point.]

Posted by James at 07:35 PM | Permalink

Working in the insurance industry can be a little, how you say, creatively challenging. Let’s face it, insurance, while a very good thing, is not exciting. Not at all.

I think the making a good public service announcement is a lot like trying to make insurance interesting and fun. Unless you can add a level of remarkability or entertainment, no one is going to want to watch your PSA. PSAs like the “Truth” anti-smoking campaign do a good job of pulling off entertainment and education.

Today our designer extraordinaire forwarded me a good example of an entertaining PSA website…although it is a bit morbid :)

Posted by James at 07:41 PM | Permalink

I just got back from my first real speaking gig. I spoke at in Santa Barbara about blogging to a crowd that I would guess was a little over a hundred. I had an awesome time, met some fantastic people and got some really good feedback.

I think the coolest part was getting people excited and passionate about the opportunities they have in their businesses. And I was amazed by the number of companies that are “thinking about blogging” and I hope I got some of them motivated enough to take the plunge and start a blog of their own.

On an unrelated note, if you checked this blog yesterday you probably noticed that I was out of bandwidth. Thanks to the Bregar for hooking me up with more bandwidth – I swear I will stop freeloading and move this site to a new server soon.

In other news, Banksy is making more headlines, and instead of linking you directly to the news I am going to send you to my Banksy page on Squidoo, where I have updated the links section. Please go and visit the page, check out the RSS feeds, etc. I just broke the top 1,000 lenses on Squidoo and I want to see if I can keep the momentum going.

Oh yeah, and when you are there take a second and rate the page (the stars up at the top) – I think that is a part of the Squidoo ranking algorithm. Yeah, it’s a little cheap, but hey, a guy has gotta experiment right?

Posted by James at 08:06 PM | Permalink

Seth Godin’s new book is titled Small is the New Big and it is basically a collection of his blog posts over the last few years. I read the original post when he first published it, and I read it when I read his book. And now I think that it is your time to read it my friends. :)

One of my favorite parts, which is reflected in Tom Peter’s book Re-imagine:

Small means that you will outsource the boring, low-impact stuff like manufacturing and shipping and billing and packing to others, while you keep the power because you invent the remarkable and tell stories to people who want to hear them.

Like Seth says - "it is time to act small and think big." I think that will be the key to our business’s success, and I have a feeling it is the key to your business’s success as well.

Posted by James at 07:28 PM | Permalink

I took some time yesterday to build my first Squidoo lens – and I gotta say it was a pretty cool experience. Building the lens was very easy, the UI is straightforward, and the end result is darn good.

Here is the Banksy lens I created. I really dug the ability to add a the YouTube video and Flickr photo modules.

The more I check out other Squidoo lenses, the more opportunity I see in the idea.

Very cool stuff.

Posted by James at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My girlfriend/roommate/best fried/love of my life Kristi sent me an email with a link to the this video – When I Grow Up I Want to Work in Advertising. She works at an advertising agency and from the impressive list of “@ad-agency-name-here” email addresses this was forwarded to I think there might be some truth in it.

Actually – I know there is truth in it…

[Update: Kristi is also my best friend...not just my best fried...whatever that means.]

Posted by James at 06:53 PM | Permalink

Adrants pointed out a new Sony PSP Dustball commercial...watch it here…I love that guy…

Posted by James at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A great commercial for Amsterdam’s Cross Media Week. Does contain vomiting, drugs and women’s wobbily bits…you have been warned

Thanks to AdRants for the video.

Posted by James at 07:04 PM | Permalink

I was out this evening so I thought a short post was appropriate.

And a short post it is – Ladies and gents, watch George Ellis and his amazing, self-promotional, videos.

Thanks to AdRants for the story.

Posted by James at 09:16 PM | Permalink

Bad ass concept agencyish thingy Big Heads' boss John Palumbo recounts the fun he gets to have with traditional ad agencies.

Boy...that's gotta be fun.

Posted by James at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While the excitement and wonder of the Million Dollar Homepage is long gone, it looks like there is a new version of the “Million Dollar” concept.

Ladies and Gents, may I present the Million Dollar Building.

If only the poor imitating bastards had thought of this one…

[Bonus: Rubber Band Gatling Gun]

Posted by James at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Adrants posted about this ad today and it cracked my ass up. If you are easily offended, you will want to skip it.

Important Note – Kristi’s reaction to this ad – “Ew…that is gross…it is dirty”

You have been warned.

Posted by James at 08:21 PM | Permalink

With the departure of Robert Scoble and Bill Gates (kinda) in the same week, Hugh Macleod thinks Microsoft is on its way out…eventually…kinda like GM.

The post is worth a read.

So what do you think? Is MSFT on its way to the GM wasteland?

[Update: More from Hugh]

Posted by James at 08:31 PM | Permalink

Adrants lays a smack down on Coke’s less than enlightened position about the Mentos + Diet Coke = BIG AWESOME EXPLOSION phenomenon.

Check it (and forgive them for the unproofread post).

[Oh yeah - and don't forget to be FREAKED OUT by Genpets.]

Posted by James at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The company I work for is pretty “pure” when it comes to things. We recently printed up some blog business cards and I was told that in future printings we should avoid having a cigar in the photo.

Playstation is nothing like my company. Check out the ads below and see what nastiness their agency is up to.

[Warning – Violence and nudity ahead!]

The Interesting
Carnivorous
Plain Old Weird
Sex and Violence

Posted by James at 07:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yes, Mr. Scott Springer, you are an evil jackass. How else can you explain your recent article The New Frontier For Retailers, where you suggest that people should be subjected to text message spam?

I hope you are reading this because marketers like you make all marketers look bad. You tout that marketers should utilize a new form of spam that uses the same concepts that spyware vendors utilize. How could you suggest that people download ringtones and screensavers so you can have the right to bombard them with text message advertisements?

I know you did not invent text message spam, but just because you have the ability to do something does not mean you should do it Scott. Take a look in the mirror and ask yourself if you really want to be the guy who publicly promoted text message spam. Is it really worth it?

If you agree that Scott is an evil jackass, send an email to editor@destinationcrm.com that says “Scott Springer is an evil jackass.” Don’t worry, he deserves it.

Posted by James at 08:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Adrants points us to John Palumbo’s BigHeads agency – an agency that was created with the idea that hiring interesting people, not agency people, would make for a better agency.

An interesting concept, especially since BigHeads has hired over 300 people with backgrounds like a reality show producer, a tattoo artist, a Harlem Club owner and even strippers to work for the company.

I kinda like the way they are thinking here – tapping into creative and experienced people who may not be marketers, but can lend a great deal of insight and direction.

A fresh set of eyes can be a very good thing.

Make sure you check out the BigHeads site learn more. You might even be inspired to find a fresh set of eyes yourself. :)

Posted by James at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Looks like Ronald McDonald is eating the souls of the young in India.

See proof here.

Enjoy the Happy Meal kids.

Posted by James at 09:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As I have said before, I don’t eat meat. Haven’t liked the stuff for years.

But some people do.

Introducing Meatylicious.

If you are a meat lover, make sure you take part in the virtual parade (so you don’t even have to stap away from your burger).

Posted by James at 08:33 PM | Permalink

Looks like Norelco has found a new and exciting way of selling shavers – by telling men it add an inch in all the right places.

Enjoy!

Posted by James at 08:51 PM | Permalink

You know those commercials for the VW GTi? You know, the ones with the little round character that represents your “fast?”

If you are, great. If not, get heducated over here.

Well, looks like Subaru has decided that it doesn’t take a made-up character to show their fast.

Check this out!

[Thanks to AdRants for the link]

Posted by James at 07:21 PM | Permalink

Toyota has paid for front-page placement today on Yahoo.com and this is what they are showing:

I find it amazing that the agency who came up with the ad for the new Yaris decided that the most important feature of the car is the fact that it is “MP3 Compatible.”

Let me ask you this, is being MP3 compatible really so remarkable that you would promote it as the main feature of a car?

I don’t think so.

Posted by James at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tonight I went to the bookstore to do some work and on my way out I wandered past the marketing book section. While there, I noticed two things.

Thing number one, there are an assload of books on branding. I would even say that maybe 1/5 of the books on marketing are branding books. I find this amazing because there are not a whole lot of big brands out there but there are a relatively large amount of people who feel that they are able to write a book about it.

I find that weird.

The second thing I noticed was the one book in the marketing section that was so unremarkable it was remarkable. Ladies and gents, may I present to you:

Marketing Your Service by Jean Withers, Carol Vipperman.

Not only does the book have a wildly boring name as compared to all the other marketing books, but it has a workbook looking boring cover. I am not quite sure if this is marketing genius (being remarkable by being un-remarkable looking) or if it is a byproduct of the authors only knowing how to market a service, not a book.

What do you think?

Posted by James at 08:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My girlfriend Kristi and I had Kristi’s parents over for Easter dinner on Sunday. We had a great time and, as usual, I had an enjoyable conversation with her father, Neil.

Neil is a very successful marketing guy who has decided to leave the marketing world and pursue his passion - human sexuality and counseling. A very big change and one that he is enjoying immensely.

The funny thing about Neil is that he is still a marketer at heart, and he can’t help but see the marketing opportunities that abound in his new industry.

Anyway, long story kinda short (and meandering), Neil and I talked about blogs, sites like Flickr, and Seth Godin’s Squidoo. I am very excited about the concept of making the users of your Web site the creators of the content and I think all of these site we discussed leverage the power of users and readers to create content.

So today as luck would have it (and strangely, my luck usually does), I ran across a very appropriate reading material that delves into this topic a bit. The book, Seth Godin’s short e-book “Flipping the Funnel,” is a good starting point for many people who are trying to understand some of the new trends in the online space.

This is the second time I ran across “Flipping the Funnel” but the first time I actually read it – and I am glad I did.

Pay special attention to the idea of Squidoo. I have said it before, I think Seth is on to something.

Posted by James at 07:48 PM | Permalink

An angry comment from one Gregory Kohs has hit yesterday’s Strumpette post.

Accusations fly. Strumpette is a suer pants and has a penis, etc.

These PR people are a vicious bunch, eh? I guess I would be too if I operated in a business as crazy as theirs.

Here is Gregory the Angry's Blog of Power. Behold and take heed (and enjoy the first comment on his post)

Posted by James at 06:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

To start off, I want to say that I don’t like text messages. I am annoyed every time I get one – mainly because I don’t see why someone wouldn’t just call me if they wanted to tell me something. Also, I have a pretty basic phone plan, so it costs me money to respond to the texts (which I rarely do).

With that said, I am a big fan of market disruption, and a little company called Hotxt is about to start disrupting the market big time.

In this week’s Economist, Hotxt is profiled as the new Skype for the text messaging market.

How does it work? All a user has to do is download the Hotxt software to their handset, sign up for an account, and pay $1.75 per week. Once this is done, Hotxt users can send text messages to other Hotxt users for only about a penny – a lot less than traditional text messaging.

Text messaging accounts for 20% of a typical mobile operators revenues – and texting has margins in excess of 90%. So it will be interesting to see what mobile phone operators will do to keep a hold on the texting market.

The really cool thing with a product like Hotxt is the potential of it going viral. Texting is all about communication and community. If you are able to get enough people using Hotxt to reach the tipping point, the growth of the product will be exponential.

Hotxt is only available in the UK at this point, but the company is looking to expand into other countries soon. I am sure it will find a happy following in the US.

So, will something like Hotxt make me more likely to start texting? I doubt it – but then again, I am not Hotxt’s target market, am I?

Posted by James at 07:33 PM | Permalink

Once again I have to admit that I am wrong. I am wrong about my earlier statements that American car companies can pull themselves back from the brink of oblivion by copying successful design of foreign cars.

That was what I thought until I saw the Frankenstein of a car called the Buick Lucerne.

Why is it a Frankenstein? Because it looks like Buick grabbed design elements from BMW, Acura, Mercedes and attached them to the body of a Buick.

I went the Denver Auto Show today and snapped these pictures to prove my point:

First the side view of the Frankenstein –

Now a look at those gills, Lucerne on the left, BMW M3 on the right –

And a look at those tail lights, Lucerne on the left, Acura Integra on the right (photo not from the auto show) –

Next, the rear half of the car, Lucerne left, Mercedes CLS500 –

But don’t worry Buick fans, the Lucerne keeps its wildly ugly Buick nose-

So, do you see what I am talking about?

Very strange…very strange.

Posted by James at 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So imagine this – you are the head of an airline that is on the brink of insolvency. In an attempt to find new and profitable markets, you add service to Budapest, Hungary. With the rollout of the new route, you know you need to market properly to a) let people know you are now flying to Budapest, and b) show your company as a leader in overseas travel.

You think through your options. You could tap into the Hungarian population in the United States by finding out where they are, where they congregate, and how they like to travel. Or you could find the demographic makeup of the average American who travels to Hungary and then target that population. You could even spend your advertising dollars to improve the planes on the Hungarian route, and build some buzz about the great flights to Hungary.

Or, you could advertise on bus stop billboards.

Continue reading "Who’s Going to Budapest? Or Market Carpet Bombing" »

Posted by James at 08:14 PM | Permalink

I am diggin’ the new “Un-Pimp Your Ride” campaign that VW is running right now for the GTI.

Check out the two commercials here.

Make sure you notice the purple testicles on the blue car – not sure how that got past the censors :)

Thanks to AdRants for pointing me in the right direction.

Posted by James at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Necessary viewing – Seth Godin speaking at Google.

Nothing like a Seth explaining to a bunch of technologists that the reason that Google is so successful has little to do with their technology. He says it has to do with marketing (however inadvertent).

Take the 48 minutes to watch this. There is a reason why the entire blogoshpere is linking to this video.

Posted by James at 08:05 PM | Permalink

There are a lot of businesses. Millions actually. And most of them are just businesses.

No personality- just businesses that are in business to do business.

Big companies with big marketing budgets usually have personalities. Their ad agency calls this branding, but it is really just a corporate personality.

Small and medium-sized business that can’t afford branding usually don’t have much of a personality. There are too many things to worry about already. There are customers who need to be served, bills to pay, and employees to deal with. They don’t have the money or the time to worry about their corporate personalities.

But ad agencies are lying to you when they tell you that branding gives your company a personality. And you are lying to yourself if you think building a corporate personality costs those big “branding dollars.”

Giving your company a personality can be done on the cheap, an important thing for a small or medium sized business.

The real cost of a corporate personality is commitment. A commitment to represent yourself through your corporate, personal and community communications with a consistent (and positive) personality.

Personality makes you a brand – not the other way around. Personality is what makes people remember you, for better or worse. A good personality makes people come back for more.

A personality can make your business remarkable.

So my questions for you are:

Does your business have a personality?

And if no, why the hell not?

Posted by James at 06:12 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (2)

I thought it would be a good night to check out the latest progress on my two favorite Million Dollar Homepage knock-offs – Web20MillionDollarHomepage.com and SmashMyViper.com.

First off, SmashMyViper.

I just checked out the most recent damage video from SmashMyViper – they drilled holes in the hood (again) and the dashboard and made various key marks on the car. During the video the mentioned that the replacement cost of the hood was $17,000 – and the hood has a few holes in it already.

So, with all of this damage, what is the total amount of money raised? $5,900. Ouch. And strangely the SmashMyViper girls were not in the latest damage video – I hope that doesn’t mean the boys are running out of money :)

Pixel orders at SMV seem to be slowing, and a loss of momentum is not a good thing in a buzz driven market.

Which brings me to my homeboy Srinivasan and the Web20MillionDollarHomepage.

Now remember, I like Srinivasan, not for his idea but because he seems like a generally nice guy with a dream and I respect him for that. He also was nice enough to post follow-up comments after the blog comment campaign he ran to get the site off the ground.

But with all of that work, how much has the Web20MillionDollarHomepage made so far? Sadly, $300 – the same amount he had made when he originally posted on this blog. That means that the page never even got the enough buzz to get off of the ground. Not good.

So what’s up Srinivasan? What is your theory on your lack of success so far? And how are you going to make this work?

Oh, but to Srinivasan credit, he did get a reply from Guy Kawasaki regarding their thoughts on the new “focused curiosity advertising” landscape…I just wish he would have posted the entire reply, not just the part that makes him look good.

So, what can we get out of all of this? I would say that it shows us that a) the million dollar concept was a one off, and b) the market for pixel ads is not showing the growth that pixel ad sites would like to see, oh yeah, and c) pixel ad sites should try the real Web 2.0 version of their idea – the $0 homepage.

You might laugh at the idea, but if you gave away space on your site for free, but allowed people to pay you if they want, I bet you would make more than you are making now. Seriously – a Google PageRank 4 or 5 inbound link can be worth some cash to a text link ad buyer these days. You have the PageRank, now why don’t you make some money from that?

Also, if done right, you can get a buzz going from the companies that you are targeting in the first place. Who wouldn't want a link if they were free? And if you could pay a little more for a bigger pixel ad, on a site that has a good amount of buzz traffic, why wouldn't you spend a few bucks? Think about it, it might save your business.

Srinivasan, are you listening? That one was for free bud. :)

Posted by James at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Alright, this was going to be a reply to a comment, but the reply got a bit long, so I am going to make it a post. Hey, I think a rant is worth a post of its own, ok?

Before you read on, check out the comments on this post about the Million Dollar Homepage and the hordes of imitators.

Alright, now that you have done that, here is the reply:

Thanks for the comments Srinivasan and Fantast. Sorry it has taken so long for me to post a reply.

Obviously, I tend to agree with Fantast on this one. I visited your site Srinivasan, and I must admit that I find it hard to agree with your assertion that the Million Dollar Homepage is a trend that will continue to grow and thrive – your page is a great example of this. I see that you have sold 3 pixel blocks – only 9,997 to go, eh?

I am curious to know what makes your Web site stand out from the clutter out there? What makes it better than the thousand of other sites just like yours? Is the “Web 2.0” thing? Do you think that name will take you further than all of the other imitators out there? I am curious, what makes your site so special?

The biggest challenge that marketers have right now is breaking through the all of the marketing clutter that they created. How do you make a remarkable TV ad, billboard, or print ad? It happens, but rarely. Your chance of success is low with traditional media, and oddly, traditional media keeps charging more and more for their diminishing returns.

Traditional media is clutter most of the time. I think the same thing can be said for all of the Million Dollar Homepages out there – all but the original is just clutter.

If that is the case, how did the original Million Dollar Homepage become such a success? I mean, isn’t it just a page of clutter? Yes, but the ads have nothing to do with the success of the page.

Continue reading "A Reply to My Buddy Srinivasan" »

Posted by James at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Seth finally comments on the Million Dollar Homepage after Tom Peters posts his own comment.

Main point - Alex Tew’s Million Dollar Homepage business model is a great business model - for Alex Tew. The page has little value for advertisers, no chance of making a long-term difference in anyone’s world (except Alex Tew), and no chance of being repeatable (sorry SmashMyViper, looks like the experts are against you too).

Check out the posts – have a great day.

Posted by James at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

In a recent post, Seth Godin compares two different types of workout regiments and explains why one is more successful spreading its "idea virus" than the other - even though the more successful one, Crossfit, is almost killing people (people love that!)

The post ties in well with Seth's book "All Marketers Are Liars” which explains that the essence of marketing is the art of telling stories.

Crossfit has a kick ass story. It makes people want to be involved just to be a part of something so hardcore and cool.

And by cool, I mean totally sweet.

Posted by James at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)