I must admit that I was part of that wonderful dot com marketing era where obscene budgets were the norm and full page placement in the Wall Street Journal were aplenty. Market research? Who needs its? We have plenty of money to target everybody.
Well...so much for that. What do you do now with that $10 marketing budget? Lots, according to Martin Lindstrom writing for Clickz's Brand Marketing Newsletter. In his articles he rallies behind the basics. And one of my favorites has always been the Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages you say? How can I build a brand in the Yellow Pages? It's all about being accessible. Read on:
Big Brand, Zero Bucks Cheap?
How can you establish a dream brand if you're not equipped with a wallet as heavy as Coca-Cola's and a communications network as expansive as AOL Time Warner's? There are plenty of things you can do that don't cost a fortune.
This line of thinking is key to helping your brand grow and survive these days. Hey, it's not sexy, but the unemployment lines are long enough these days.
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Well...it was nice while it lasted. Poor CMGI, the once strong Internet giant must now step down and yield to a stodgy old razaor company called Gillette. It's about time. Did we really want to call the new Patriots stadium CMGI field? I could never get used to it. While I actually hate branded stadium names like the Tweeter Center and Fleet Center in Boston, the Gillette name is far more comfortable in my mind.
I just hope Fenway Park stays Fenway Park when and if it is ever actually re-built. (We do things VERY slowly here in Boston)
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Please excuse the changes in the navbars to the right and the left. I am converting all my links to Blogrolling. MUCH easier!
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We always knew that America had a collective short term memory span of 3-6 months max. Well it is now born out with our relationship with the news media. On 9/11 and thereafter, we came to love a cherish our media and had no complaint as to how they fed us our daily dose of news. We are now back to our old cynical selves looking down our noses at the likes of MSNBC, 20/20, NPR, etc. From the Washington Times.
Study says begrudging media is back on track -- The Washington Times The honeymoon is over. America is once again annoyed with its media, according to a new Pew Research Center survey released yesterday.
I guess we just love to complain.
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It's nice to see that there is enough value on the web today that people will pay for it. That is exactly why is happening according to a study done by the Online Publishers Association and reported in eMarketer. This is good news. What is paid for is perceived to have higher value for the user. Why else would they pay?
Business content, by far, is the highest paid category in this study. Perhaps because those subscribers are expensing the cost to their employer as part of their job requirement.
According to a study released by the Online Publishers Association, conducted by comScore Networks, US consumers spent $675 million on online content in 2001. In fact, spending grew by at least $20 million each fiscal quarter between Q1 2001 and Q1 2002.
Perhaps there is some hope, after all, for a subscription based model of survival. The Wall Street Journal has succeeded on line. It's nice to see other models work as well.
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Leave it to the Japanese to stealthily lead the way in yet another area of business. Early adopters of 3G wireless technology, they have also jumped on the video phone band wagon as well with 5 million units sold already.
Just wait, now all of you SMS chatters will have to put your clothes on!
Wireless: Phone, Camera Combo Sales Developing
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Consumers have received bills for utility usage and other purchases for eons. An open line of communication exists between biller and payee. As marketer, why not take advantage on the movement towards online bill payment. With online invoicing and bill payment, there are tremendous cost savings for both sides as well as tremendous marketing communications channels that can be opened with an existing customer base. Additionally, new marketers can piggyback on this method of communication to open up new communications channels with potential new customers.
Al DiGuido writing in Clickz sheds interesting light on this untapped marketing communications channel.
Not a week goes by in which the average consumer doesn't receive or pay a bill. In fact, bill payment and transaction mail represents almost half (49.1 percent) of all first-class mail in the United States today, according to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). Add to that the rising costs of postage, paper, and printing and a challenging economic environment, and you have strong catalysts for change, innovation, and opportunity.
With all the shams going on with online advertising, let's approach this one very intelligently. It could be a very important line of communication between marketer and consumer.
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So now we have M. Night Shyamalan's newest flick, Signs. Supposedly all about the alien influence of this phenomenon because how excited would a movie be about the reality of this whole thing. You do know there is a whole contingent of crop circles creators out there, don't you? Yes, they are entirely man made. Sorry to burst your bubble.
But, now that this is out in the open why not take advantage of it like marketing does of everything else? How about a giant crop circle of the Coke logo? Or, god forbid, an X10 camera configuration? Or even the Golden Arches? Come on marketers...this is your chance to jump on the latest trend in "intrusive" media. Well, intrusive only to aerial photographers and airline passengers but that's a minor point, right?
Besides, it's for a good cause too. Help the farmers of our nation with fees for field usage so that they could actually afford to live in their world of fixed prices that beat down their ability to make a profit.
In fact, farmers have all the right equipment for this too. Instead of tramping down the hay or corn and ruining it, why not cut it with the appropriate farm equipment....in the light of day no less. Surely, easier then the late night foot stomping method. And, a double win for the farmer. He gets his crops and some cash just for mowing it.
Come on all you marketers with deep pockets. Do your part! Give to the needy and get your flashy logo splattered all over the last remaining piece of nature not yet splattered with the filth of commercialism.
Oh, wait...commercialism. Oh, that's a good thing. Sorry. Repeat after me: Marketing is Good! Marketing is Good! Marketing is good....
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Leave it to the Brady Bunch to become the "new cool" in Old Navy's new campaign:
"The Rugby Bunch" is the story of a lovely lady (Fairchild), a man and six kids, who dance around in a very Brandy house and replicate images from the classic TV show's opening scenes, including a march-and-pose on the steps and the legendary tic-tac-toe box featuring close-ups of Fairchild and her co-actors. The ad, which promotes Old Navy's Rugby shirt collection for men, women and kids, broke nationally late last week on network and cable, per parent San Francisco-based Gap's in-house creative unit with ad agency Modernista, Boston.
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I think that with all the new "rich media" ad formats that have appeared lately, this one from Point Roll has some good things going for it. It's a banner. We're all used to that. It doesn't dance across your screen in an annoying fashion, yet, it drops down a full mini site's worth of informatiom. I think it has serious merit. Story from Clickz:
A new trend in ad design has emerged over the past year few years, and it's beginning to take hold -- so much so that I venture to say the days of struggling to fit a coherent ad message into a 468 x 60 pixel banner are coming to an end. The ads, and the company that creates the technology behind them, are called Point�Roll, and they're providing advertisers with much more space within a banner than was previously available.
It's MUCH better then Shoskeles
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