Archive for October, 2006
The Price of Popularity
It seems like there’s been a constant trickle of news about problems with Apple products, from iPods that carried Windows viruses to flaky MacBook laptops. Kind of a blow for a company whose reputation is that of the computer company whose stuff just works without all the headaches of Windows machines.
But as this Wired [...]
Sincerely
I was listening just now to Fresh Air on WBUR, and the non-ad ad told me that one of the underwriters or sponsors or whatever they call their, well, advertisers, is Loomis Sayles, a money management firm in Boston. The mention of Loomis Sayles said that the company is “sincerely committed” to something or other [...]
When Does It Become Okay?
Gawker.com notes that a bar in New York’s Financial District has a sign in its window advertising its happy hour that reads, “The happiest Happy Hour south of Ground Zero.” (There’s a photo if you follow that link.)
Okay, I saw it and thought… ick. I expect a lot of people react that way. It’s not what I’d [...]
When marketing meets charity
Encouraging people to give money to a worthy cause is a noble thing. Companies that make donations to charity are doing good work. But I get a bit uncomfortable when the lines between charitable donations and marketing get blurred.
I will be honest about my bias here: I think that charitable work and donations are [...]
A Good Value Proposition: Non-Profit Edition
The other evening I attended a fundraising event for a homeless shelter in Boston. There are, of course, some people who don’t find the homeless all that cuddly and sympathetic, and consider homelessness the result of bad choices. But fortunately most people view homelessness as more a matter of bad luck - likely compounded by [...]
MarketingProfs on Why Rebranding Fails
If you’re considering rebranding a product or your organization, spend a few minutes reading this MarketingProfs article on Why Rebranding Often Fails.
Galen de Young talks about why rebranding sometimes fails to accomplish what it’s intended to do - or even makes things worse. Many of the issues come down to the branding truth test - are [...]
You Always Hurt the One You Love
Email: a great way to stay in touch with customers, a medium that’s engaging and immediate. Well, it used to be; smart marketers starting using it very quickly, everybody followed, and now… people tune out most email marketing. And the story keeps repeating itself.
It’s marketing’s tragedy of the commons: when we find a medium [...]
Revisiting the Trade Show
Trade shows: they’re not sexy. They’re not glamorous. For many marcom pros, they are the least exciting part of the job. (For a small group of people who just love doing events, on the other hand, they’re great - and thank goodness, because we can hire them to be events managers!)
But they are still an [...]
Changing Your Marketing Mindset
This morning I went to the Houston Interactive Marketing Association’s regular breakfast event, and the speaker was Mary Bermel, HP’s Director of Interactive and Emerging Media. Her presentation covered a lot of material about interactive media and HP’s activities in that area, but there were two themes that I thought were worth mentioning here, both [...]
Dumb Luck? Genius Marketing?
I was just checking the weather the local paper’s site, and the video insert was showing news of a big, unseasonal snow storm in Colorado. An ad from a local travel agency came flying across the scene, advertising tropical getaways to Hawaii. In a couple of months, we’ll be looking at the same scenes here, [...]
