A look back on seasonal trends, email activity and standout B2C marketing:Start to finish: The first reference to Halloween was on Aug. 9. The final reference was on Nov. 3.The biggest day for Halloween emails was Halloween itself, Monday, Oct. 31. Retailers sent the majority of their Halloween-themed emails after Oct. 9.View this chart larger.Most interesting emails: Sears regularly runs “Midnight Madness” campaigns offering discounts that start in the evening and end at midnight. They recognized that these campaigns would be a great fit for Halloween, sending the following email on Oct.
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Most Topular Stories
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Season Finale: Halloween 2011
The Retail Email Blog9 Feb 2012 | 6:57 am -
2014 Mercedes C-Class spied undergoing winter testing
Worldcarfans: Mercedes-Benz8 Feb 2012 | 5:38 pmDevelopment work continues on the 2014 Mercedes C-Class as our spies have caught another prototype undergoing cold weather testing. -
The very best of the Superbowl ads
BBC TopGear: Cars and Autos News8 Feb 2012 | 4:01 pmAmerica’s car manufacturers were out in force over the weekend – pick your favourite from these… -
The death of displacement.
Automobile Magazine Blog8 Feb 2012 | 4:03 pmIt was a nice try. Those logical German engineers at BMW and Mercedes came up with logical naming strategies that would help those logical German car buyers immediately identify a car’s model and engine displacement just by the badge on the back. Show Chris Cardork a Mercedes C280 and he’ll explain that “C” identifies the car as Benz’s small sedan, and “280” means it has a 2.8-liter engine. Ask Gary Gearhead what a 525i is, and he’ll use the “5” to identify it as BMW’s mid-size sedan, and the “25” to confirm that it’s 2.5 liters of piston displacement under the… -
Sports Car Challenge for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
ONEIGHTURBO8 Feb 2012 | 12:09 pmONEIGHTURBOBoy did we miss this one… Sports Car Challenge for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is the perfect racing game for our readers! Why? Because it features Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche and Volkswagen cars. We will let them slide on including the Volkswagen Scirocco R as a “supercar”. It should have been the GTI W12-650 or Nardo. Either way the list is awesome and there’s more coming!If you’ve kept up with our iOS games coverage, FISHLABS is a household name for Volkswagen. Volkswagen Polo Challenge and the Scirocco R 24H Challenge are two…
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The Retail Email Blog
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Season Finale: Halloween 2011
9 Feb 2012 | 6:57 amA look back on seasonal trends, email activity and standout B2C marketing:Start to finish: The first reference to Halloween was on Aug. 9. The final reference was on Nov. 3.The biggest day for Halloween emails was Halloween itself, Monday, Oct. 31. Retailers sent the majority of their Halloween-themed emails after Oct. 9.View this chart larger.Most interesting emails: Sears regularly runs “Midnight Madness” campaigns offering discounts that start in the evening and end at midnight. They recognized that these campaigns would be a great fit for Halloween, sending the following email on Oct. -
AM Inbox: Reacting to unforeseen events
8 Feb 2012 | 10:41 am>>2011 Halls of Fame: Design Hall of Fame, Oopsy Hall of Fame and Subject Line Hall of FameThe Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:Ann Taylor, 2/7 — A Fashion First: Michelle Obama In Ann Taylor!Sometimes you have lots of forewarning of an event, such as the Super Bowl (see Feb. 6 AM Inbox), so you have plenty of time to prepare for the possible outcomes. Other times, you might have a little bit of a warning, such as with a major hurricane like Irene (see Sept. 3, 2011 AM Inbox). -
AM Inbox: Winner of Super Inbox XLVI
6 Feb 2012 | 12:25 pm>>2011 Halls of Fame: Design Hall of Fame, Oopsy Hall of Fame and Subject Line Hall of FameThe Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:Sports Authority, 2/5 — Congrats to the Giants! Get Your Official Championship GearMore Super Bowl viewers than ever watched the game with their laptop, smartphone and tablet at their side—a trend that is only going to grow. So it’s important to seize on the excitement of the game by delivering emails, tweets and other social postings about… -
Week-End Trends: Email volume growth on record pace
4 Feb 2012 | 12:13 pmEmail activity and seasonal trends during the past week:The Retail Email Index: The top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 3.8 promotional emails on average during the week ending Feb. 3, 2012. That’s up 4% week-over-week, up 13% from where it was four weeks ago, and up 32% year-over-year.For each of the past eight consecutive weeks, year-over-year email volume growth has exceeded 20%. Considering that email volume grew 16% in 2011, 2012 growth is on track to easily eclipse that mark.The Retail Email Participation Rate: Friday was the most popular day to send retail emails last… -
Ping Time: Functional vs. emotional links, ROI of opt-out email, etc.
3 Feb 2012 | 12:37 pmMy latest spin around the mediasphere turned up the following nuggets:>>Alchemy Worx extols the outsized power of navigation bars and other functional links. >>Follow the ping>>@wise_laura: If you have to "ignore all the costs associated with complaints" to find a positive ROI on opt-out mail, is there really a positive ROI?>>Fabio Carneiro of MailChimp discusses media queries. >>Follow the ping>>Ros Hodgekiss of Campaign Monitor provides a fix for a change in Gmail that’s turning black links blue. >>Follow the black ping>>AdAge reports that…
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Worldcarfans: Mercedes-Benz
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2014 Mercedes C-Class spied undergoing winter testing
8 Feb 2012 | 5:38 pmDevelopment work continues on the 2014 Mercedes C-Class as our spies have caught another prototype undergoing cold weather testing. -
Renault flagship to be co-developed with Mercedes - report
7 Feb 2012 | 6:37 pmThe partnership between Renault and Daimler will reportedly spawn a high-end model for the French automaker. -
AMG dismisses diesel engines
7 Feb 2012 | 5:38 pmBMW has embraced diesel engines with their new M Performance Automobiles sub-brand, but AMG is charting a different course and staying committed to petrol engines. -
Mercedes introduces active seat-belt buckle technology
7 Feb 2012 | 3:23 pmMercedes has unveiled their new active seat-belt buckle technology. It features power-deployable buckles that emerge from the seats when the rear passenger doors are opened. -
Mercedes SLC likely to be green-lighted - report
7 Feb 2012 | 10:18 amAccording to a recent report, Mercedes will likely approve production of the SLC (aka the baby SLS).
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BBC TopGear: Cars and Autos News
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The very best of the Superbowl ads
8 Feb 2012 | 4:01 pmAmerica’s car manufacturers were out in force over the weekend – pick your favourite from these… -
This is the Kia Track’ster concept
8 Feb 2012 | 4:01 pmCar enthusiasts, salivate! Well, that’s what Kia reckons will happen when you see this… -
Formula One testing kicks off in Jerez
8 Feb 2012 | 4:01 pmKimi goes fastest in the first shakedown of the new cars (and their new noses) -
New Astra VXR to get Geneva reveal
8 Feb 2012 | 4:01 pmYou’ve waited long enough: Vaux’ confirms hottest ever Astra to debut next month -
Ferrari 250 GTO sells for £20.2m
8 Feb 2012 | 4:01 pmLadies and gentlemen, meet the most expensive car ever sold in Britain…
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Automobile Magazine Blog
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The death of displacement.
8 Feb 2012 | 4:03 pmIt was a nice try. Those logical German engineers at BMW and Mercedes came up with logical naming strategies that would help those logical German car buyers immediately identify a car’s model and engine displacement just by the badge on the back. Show Chris Cardork a Mercedes C280 and he’ll explain that “C” identifies the car as Benz’s small sedan, and “280” means it has a 2.8-liter engine. Ask Gary Gearhead what a 525i is, and he’ll use the “5” to identify it as BMW’s mid-size sedan, and the “25” to confirm that it’s 2.5 liters of piston displacement under the… -
Super Bowl 2012 Car Ad Watch: Dogs Rule, Adriana Lima Drools?
7 Feb 2012 | 6:06 amIt doesn’t matter if you supported the New York Giants or the New England Patriots Sunday night, because there were a few winners at this year’s Super Bowl who never clutched a pigskin, rushed a passer, or performed at halftime. We’ve rounded up what we think are the winners (and, regrettably, a couple of losers) from Sunday’s crop of, what else, car ads. Winner One: Jerry Seinfeld The comedian managed to take a car that won’t be released for a few years and turn it into comedic gold: Seinfeld’s last-ditch attempts at scoring the top slot on the Acura NSX waiting list racked… -
BMW 328i vs. 335d: Gasoline beats diesel!
31 Jan 2012 | 3:32 pmThe final EPA fuel economy numbers are in for the new 2012 F30-chassis BMW 328i, and they’re mighty impressive: 24 mpg city, 36 mpg highway, when equipped with an automatic transmission. The 240-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder isn’t just a miser, it’s powerful enough to catapult the sport sedan to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds. Not bad for the base 3-series! In fact, that’s a full second faster than the old normally aspirated six-cylinder. What’s far more interesting, however, is to look at last year’s diesel-powered 335d sedan. It’s a vehicle we adore, powered by a smooth 3.0-liter in-line… -
2011: The Highs and Lows
30 Dec 2011 | 5:00 amAfter a year of driving lots of different cars, I’ve decided to cobble together a list of highs and lows. Rather than sticking just with new models, which would likely create a roster much like other Best lists, I thought of this instead as a recounting of cars that surprised me—either to the upside or the downside—in the past twelve months. I was aiming for 10 and 10 but ended up with 11 and 9, but that’s the kind of year it’s been. HIGHS Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG coupe – A reminder of just how good the C63 is, the coupe body style seemed to amplify this car’s sportiness. The big… -
Are Low-Cost Winter Tires Worth the Bother?
19 Dec 2011 | 11:11 amWe received our first serious snow dump in Ann Arbor last week, but the Automobile Magazine fleet of Four Seasons test vehicles was ready for the cold, since we had fitted each car with a set of winter tires from various manufacturers well before Thanksgiving with the assistance of the Tire Rack, our official wheel and tire partner. We’ve been big proponents of winter tires at Automobile Magazine for more than two decades, and although I notice more and more vehicles here in Michigan are wearing them in the cold months, those cars are still definitely in the minority. I personally have…
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ONEIGHTURBO
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Sports Car Challenge for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
8 Feb 2012 | 12:09 pmONEIGHTURBOBoy did we miss this one… Sports Car Challenge for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is the perfect racing game for our readers! Why? Because it features Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche and Volkswagen cars. We will let them slide on including the Volkswagen Scirocco R as a “supercar”. It should have been the GTI W12-650 or Nardo. Either way the list is awesome and there’s more coming!If you’ve kept up with our iOS games coverage, FISHLABS is a household name for Volkswagen. Volkswagen Polo Challenge and the Scirocco R 24H Challenge are two… -
Gallery: Sebring Winter Test 2012
8 Feb 2012 | 9:15 amONEIGHTURBOA dreary Wednesday morning greeted the teams and the first of two winter test days for the American Le Mans 2012 season. Morning temps were hovering around 55* with the first session starting 8-11:30AM ET. These two days will be a bit more laid back in terms of competition as lots of data is being collected vs top times.Falken Tire, Paul Miller Racing and Flying Lizard will be giving the new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR its first laps. Both Falken and Paul Miller will also be testing new tires. Falken with its new AZENIS and Paul Miller is now running Dunlop.It is somewhat refreshing to see… -
Andy Lally joins Flying Lizard for 60th 12 Hours of Sebring
7 Feb 2012 | 6:32 amONEIGHTURBOPhoto: © 2010 Darren Pierson | oneighturbo.comFlying Lizard Motorsports announced today its driver lineup for the 2012 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The team will field two new racecars in the GT class for the ALMS season: the No. 45 and No. 44 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs. Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, both Porsche factory drivers, will return for their fourth consecutive season driving together in the No. 45; this will be Bergmeister’s fifth year with the team. Bergmeister is a five- time ALMS GT drivers’ champion (2005-2006 and 2008-2010). The 2008, 2009… -
SEAT Sport lends team support in 2012
6 Feb 2012 | 6:04 amONEIGHTURBOSEAT Sport is planning to focus its 2012 activities on lending support to the brand’s customers at different national and international championships and on personalizing SEAT models using a range of custom designed accessories.Several national and international championships will be featuring SEAT cars registered by private teams, who all rely on the technical and commercial support given to customers of SEAT Sport, bringing the number of SEAT cars competing around the world to over 250 units.In 2012, SEAT Sport’s high-profile collaboration with private teams… -
Magnus Racing Rolex 24 Victory report
2 Feb 2012 | 12:19 pmONEIGHTURBOFollowing 24 of the most closely contested hours in race history, and with one of the deepest fields ever, Magnus Racing took their historic first victory in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series by taking the checkered flag at the 50th Anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. As the signature event of the series, and featuring 45 cars in the GT category, the hype behind the 50th Anniversary was shaping the twice-around-the-clock classic to possibly be the best ever. As the event unfolded, the race definitely exceeded expectations, as the race saw three different cars finish on the…
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Holy Kaw!
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Restaurant brands flock to Kids LiveWell program
9 Feb 2012 | 8:54 amThe number of restaurant brands participating in the Kids LiveWell program has tripled to 70 companies and 20,000 restaurants across the country. Eateries are finding creative ways to participate in the program that helps parents find healthier dining choices for their children, says Healthy Dining President Anita Jones-Mueller. Full story at SmartBlog on Restaurants by SmartBrief. More SmartBrief stories. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
DIY Pop Tarts on a stick
9 Feb 2012 | 8:10 amA hungry wise man once said, “All tasty food should come on a stick.” The food gods have responded to the man’s stick wish and created mini Pop Tarts on...you guessed it...a stick. Quicker alternative: toothpick, full-size Pop Tart, knife. Full recipe and directions at caplan miller. Delicious DIY. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Fast-food diners say "downsize me"
9 Feb 2012 | 8:08 amAsking consumers if they would like a smaller portion may be a better approach to curbing overeating than posting calorie counts. The study from Tulane University found that when servers asked customers whether they’d like to “downsize” starchy side dishes at a Chinese fast-food restaurant as many as a third gladly cut back—saving an average 200 calories each meal. “Our goal was to test whether the invitation to downsize a meal component would be embraced by consumers and, importantly, whether the approach would be more effective than a purely information-based… -
The video game entertainment curve
9 Feb 2012 | 8:05 amVia loldwell. Video gaming. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
A battle of the sexes on cleanliness and hygiene [infographic]
9 Feb 2012 | 7:26 amVia Keeping It Kleen. Clean dating. Permalink | Leave a comment »
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How to Change the World
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Raising Money: What Not to Say and What Not to Believe #OfficeandGuyK
20 Jan 2012 | 10:46 amOver the past two weeks via my partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve provided templates of models for you to create enchanting PowerPoint pitches, Word business plans, and Excel financial models. They are all available for you to download from my SkyDrive account. I hope these documents and blog posts help you save a boatload of time and increase the quality of your efforts.I leave you with two sets of top ten lies: one of entrepreneurs and one of investors so that you know what not to say and what not to believe. Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs “Our projections are… -
Design a Sam Adams beer
20 Jan 2012 | 8:24 amNow this is a fun project. I’m helping Sam Adams “tap” the knowledge of beer drinkers and crowd source its next brew. Join the party by getting the app and designing your beer: The final brew will be released in Austin in the first week of March. #sponsored -
How to Create an Enchanting Financial Forecast #OfficeandGuyK
17 Jan 2012 | 1:52 pmThis is the third post in my Microsoft partnership, and it’s all about numbers. The topic is crafting your financial forecast to include in your pitch. Bill Reichert, my partner at Garage Technology Ventures, created an Excel model and wrote this blog post. There’s a lesson in this too: Get the best person for the job. His grasp of financial models and how to present them exceeds mine by two orders of magnitude. The Purpose of Financial Projections When it comes to financial projections, there are two types of entrepreneurs: first, the “visionary entrepreneur” who… -
How to Create an Enchanting Business Plan #OfficeandGuyK
12 Jan 2012 | 8:16 amHere is the second post in my series about planning, pitching, and launching a new business venture. In partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve created a Word document that outlines a good business plan. It’s saved to my SkyDrive folder here. Feel free to download it and use it as inspiration. And if you’re working with a partner, you can use the free Word Web App to stay in sync. I provided the PowerPoint document before the Word document because a good business plan is an elaboration of a good pitch as opposed to a good pitch being a distillation of good business plan. -
How to Create an Enchanting Pitch #OfficeandGuyK
9 Jan 2012 | 8:01 amWelcome to the first in a series of blog posts I’ll be doing as part of a partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps. Over the next two weeks, I’ll cover everything a budding entrepreneur needs to turn an idea into an enchanting investment opportunity—from the perfect pitch to a killer business plan to financial forecasts. I’m going to start with a little dissertation on creating effective PowerPoint pitches for your company. I embedded the sample deck for you to click through by using the PowerPoint Web App. When you’re ready to get started, you can download the…
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gapingvoid
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My next book… and some personal thoughts on the future of the economy.
8 Feb 2012 | 12:23 pm[The paperback galley copies. It’ll actually be coming out in hardback and Kindle only etc.] I already broke the news on Twitter a while back, but yeah, gapingvoid Book Number Three comes out in April [Amazon pre-order link here]. Like I said earlier: Think of it a wee love letter to the blog. As everything and everybody gets swallowed up by Facebook, Google+ and other “Death Stars”, remember the importance of having one’s own piece of real estate to call one’s own… It’s also very, very short. I was in Brevity Mode at the time. And I made sure to put lots of new cartoons in… -
You chose money
7 Feb 2012 | 8:27 am -
Story of my life:
7 Feb 2012 | 8:15 am -
All good relationships
6 Feb 2012 | 8:27 am[Sent out recently in the gapingvoid newsletter. Sign up here etc..] -
For all you zen-hipster knuckleheads in the audience:
2 Feb 2012 | 11:05 am
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Seth's Blog
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Inaccurate labels and why we need them (and need to improve them)
9 Feb 2012 | 2:46 amIf I tell you, "I'm going to the baseball game," it seems as though you're likely to understand what I mean. Of course, you won't. When George Will goes to a baseball game, it's a religious experience. Me, I don't even like baseball. Or maybe it's my nephew's ball game (the playoffs), or maybe going to the game causes me to miss an important event, and on and on. We label the experience with just two words, and two words can't possibly capture the emotions and circumstance surrounding an event. The same thing is true with brands. If I tell you that a new business was funded by USV, that might… -
How do they know you're not a flake?
8 Feb 2012 | 2:43 amBefore your link gets clicked or your proposal gets read, a busy person is going to triage it to find out if it's even worth glancing at. Since everyone is now connected, the new permeability has created a deluge of noise, and just about everyone worth contacting is taking defensive measures. Do I know this person? Did someone I trust send them over? Where does she work? (Ideo? the FDA? The New York Times?) Has she won an award? Is she famous? Are there typos and is the design sloppy? Are they pestering me? Do I already follow this person online? Does music play when I visit the website? Will… -
Horizontal marketing isn't a new idea
7 Feb 2012 | 2:09 amBut it is the new reality for just about every organization. Vertical marketing means the marketer (the one with money) is in charge. Vertical marketing starts at the top and involves running ads, sending out direct mail and pushing hype through the media. Your money, your plans, your control. It might not work, but generally the worst outcome is that you will be ignored and need to spend more money. Horizonal marketing, on the other hand, means creating a remarkable product and story and setting it up to spread from person to person. It's out of your control, because all the interactions are… -
Who is your customer?
6 Feb 2012 | 2:26 amRule one: You can build a business on the foundation of great customer service. Rule two: The only way to do great customer service is to treat different customers differently. The question: Who is your customer? It's not obvious. Zappos is a classic customer service company, and their customer is the person who buys the shoes. Nike, on the other hand, doesn't care very much at all about the people who buy the shoes, or even the retailers. They care about the athletes (often famous) that wear the shoes, sometimes for money. They name buildings after these athletes, court them, erect… -
In search of a timid trapeze artist
5 Feb 2012 | 2:01 amGood luck with that, there aren't any. If you hesitate when leaping from rope to another, you're not going to last very long. And this is at the heart of what makes innovation work in organizations, why industries die, and how painful it is to try to maintain the status quo while also participating in a revolution. Gather up as much speed as you can, find a path and let go. You can't get to the next rope if you're still holding on to this one.
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Doc Searls Weblog
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Live blogging Politics of the Internet
25 Jan 2012 | 12:30 pmSo I’m at Micah Sifry’s Politics of the Internet class at the Kennedy School, and risk live-blogging it (taxing my multitasking abilities…) Some questions in the midst of dialog between Micah (@Mlsif) and the class (#pol-int)… Was there a $trillion “internet dividend” over the old phone system, and was it a cost to the old system? Did the Internet have to happen? Is the IETF‘s “rough consensus and running code” still a prevailing ethos, or methodology? Is it an accident that the rough consensus above is so similar to the #Occupy methods? -
Surf’s up! Look north
24 Jan 2012 | 2:44 pmAccording to this… … the Aurora is on. The Kp Index has hit 5, and a geomagnetic storm is on. Here’s today’s SpaceWeather on the matter. Follow the links there. Bear in mind that the aurora are curtains of light up to a thousand miles high. So if the auroral oval is pushed down over southern Canada (which these storms tend to do), it should still be visible far south across the United States. Current links: Northern Lights over the UK metofficenews.wordpress.com) An Easy Guide To Observing Aurora mbcalyn.wordpress.com) Epic Geomagnetic Storm Erupts :… -
2025 in 2012
23 Jan 2012 | 4:07 pmMarcel Bullinga is a Dutch futurist and author of Welcome to the Future Cloud. Today I got pointed on Twitter to a Q&A with Bullinga by Aaron Saenz at SingularityHub. Interesting stuff. An excerpt: SH: Welcome to the Future Cloud seems to be very supportive of intellectual property (IP) rights and digital rights managements (DRM). Are IP and DRM necessary to the development of a healthy future? MB: Yes and no. The trend is twofold. We will have ironclad ways to protect our data, our virtual sources and our identities. We will wrap our virtual belongings with what I call a Cloud Seal. A… -
PR’s problems, 20 years later
22 Jan 2012 | 8:37 pmI was near the end of my career as a PR guy when I wrote the essay below for the January 1992 issue of Upside. Since then Upside has been erased. Some bits of it still persist on the Internet Archive, but nothing before 1996. But I did save my own draft of the piece, and put it up here, back in the mid-90s, where it has remained all but invisible. So I thought it would be fun to surface it now on the blog, on the 20th anniversary of its original publication. Here goes: THE PROBLEM WITH PR Toward a world beyond press releases and bogus news By Doc Searls There is no Pulitzer Prize for… -
Can’t lose, in a way
22 Jan 2012 | 2:34 pmI grew up in New Jersey and New York, rooting for the Giants. (And, in the Namath era, the Jets too.) Then, after 20 years in North Carolina (mostly as a college basketball fan), I lived in the Bay Area for 25 years, and rooted for the 49ers there. One daughter lives in the Bay Area, and most of my wife’s huge family lives in the Bay Area, and most of them are hard-core for the Niners. We were out there a week ago and got some great hang time watching the Niners beat the Saints. However, I’ve worked and lived in New England for five and a half years now, and have been rooting for…
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Scobleizer
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Hacker News vs. Google+
5 Feb 2012 | 10:20 amI might as well have titled this “Hacker News vs Marketers.” Or “Hacker News vs Bloggers.” Or “jerks vs nice people.” But I never participate in Hacker News for a few reasons and I just was faced with these reasons again when I read the responses there to my blog post yesterday. 1. Programmers often have an attitude of “I can code, you can’t, so I am defacto better than you.” This often comes out in Hacker News comments. 2. Programmers love to bash people anonymously and then, in real life, they will come begging for PR for their companies… -
It’s too late for Dave Winer and John Battelle to save the common web
4 Feb 2012 | 5:02 pmThe date was January 3, 2008. Facebook had kicked me off for running a script to try to save the common web. See, I worked with Plaxo to run a simple script. One that would have taken my contacts out of Facebook and put them back into the common web. The script did some very simple things: 1. It grabbed all my friends names. 2. It grabbed all their phone numbers. 3. It grabbed all their email addresses. 4. It gave me a simple CSV file with all that data so I could bring them back to Google, or Microsoft, or anywhere else I wanted to put them. Facebook’s answer was predictable. They shut… -
HTML 5 pushback in San Francisco? Best mobile app designers say yes
1 Feb 2012 | 3:39 pmThe new Path? The one that won a Crunchie last night for great design? It’s not done in HTML 5. This morning I saw something new coming soon from Storify. Not done in HTML 5. This morning I visited Foodspotting, which just shipped hot new apps on iOS, Android, and Blackberry. Not done in HTML 5. More and more I’m hearing that designers and developers are ignoring HTML 5, especially for the high end of apps. Why? Well, Path’s founders told me it just isn’t possible to build a great user interface, the way they did it in HTML 5. Storify’s founder told me it… -
Why Facebook will be worth a half trillion by 2015: the mobile and open graph revenue it’s leaving on the table
1 Feb 2012 | 2:48 pmLots of people think Facebook is overvalued, at about $100 billion (it just released their S1, announcing its IPO). But in talking with developers, like I did with Foodspotting’s founder, Alexa Andrzejewski, and in reading the S1 I see that Facebook has left most of the potential revenue on the table. That makes me think that the folks crying “overvalued” are nuts. Check that interview out, Foodspotting is one of the hottest San Francisco startups, aimed at people who are looking for better places to eat. Here it is from just this morning: See, Mark Zuckerberg is sandbagging… -
2012 brings a pause in the disruption
31 Jan 2012 | 4:58 pmOK, I’ve been talking with hundreds of geeks from around the world this year at three conferences, CES, DLD, and World Economic Forum. I’m seeing a trend that is worth talking about. What is it? We’re seeing the end of one of the most disruptive ages in human history. I believe that we’re seeing a pause in the disruption. More on that a little later. Just think about all the changes humans have been asked to adopt in the past eight years. Most of us, back then, didn’t carry mobile computers in our pockets. If we did use tablets, like I did, they were expensive,…
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Jim's Marketing Blog
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Are you prepared or playing?
8 Feb 2012 | 1:51 amOne of the BIG differences between successful business owners and those who struggle, is preparation. The average business owner doesn’t prepare very well. They want their business to succeed or their marketing to generate bankable results, but they fail to do the heavy lifting beforehand. They fail to prepare correctly, in advance. Preparation Last Monday, I launched a new project via an announcement on this blog. Just 7 days after launching Creative Thinking Hub, it has over a thousand subscribers, a Google Page Rank of 3 and more daily traffic than most older sites get. Here’s… -
Tip: Do great work & put it where the right people can see it
6 Feb 2012 | 10:10 amNo one likes to be pestered. Yet, when it comes to marketing, it seems some people still think they can pester their way to success. This post is about a different way to do business. It’s based on one of the most powerful ideas in commerce and I strongly recommend you take a few minutes to read this post in full. Pestering their way to the bottom Over the weekend, I received more than 100 emails from people I don’t know, all asking me to do something for them. Most want me to blog about their latest product or tell you how great their blog is. They send me spam email, because I… -
Generate massively more sales leads, with this simple yet powerful idea!
4 Feb 2012 | 1:32 amThis short post gives you a simple, yet powerful way to massively increase the number of sales leads you attract with your marketing. When someone who is interested in working with you calls you, emails you or meets with you, you welcome it. Furthermore, you are helpful, extremely friendly and not at all pushy. So, let people know! Lead generating: Removing the pressure If you want to increase the number of marketing leads you generate, your marketing needs to reassure prospective clients. It needs to tell them that their call is welcome and that they will be under no kind of obligation to… -
What everybody ought to know about their competitors
2 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amWhen was the last time you researched your competitors? It has never been easier for you to research the marketing you are competing against, than it is today. In minutes, you can tell if someone is serious competition to your business or simply a dabbler. For example: You can read their website and tell instantly if it was professionally written or written in-house. You can see the range of services they offer and the promises and guarantees they make in their marketing. In some cases, you can see what they charge too. You can check their social media footprint and see if they are using it… -
7 Simple, powerful productivity tips!
1 Feb 2012 | 1:07 amSuccessful business development is all about achieving measurable progress in reasonable time. Here are 7 productivity tips, to help you get the very most from your working day: Break your yearly business goals down into monthly and weekly goals. This makes it easier to ensure you are on track. When you have months and months to achieve something, without measurement points along the way, it’s too easy to drift off course. Plan your day and then work to that plan. The plan needs to incorporate the goals in the previous point. Set out what you need to achieve and make that your priority…
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Dilbert.com Blog
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The Future of Design
7 Feb 2012 | 11:00 pmI'm fascinated by trends that creep along in an unremarkable fashion until a tipping point is reached. One such trend is that governments will create more laws, codes, and regulations, until almost nothing useful can get done, and societies strangle themselves. We aren't there yet, but with every act of Congress, we get nearer. Meanwhile, computer simulations are improving daily. An architect can build a 3D rendering of your future home or business and "fly" you through it so you can experience the space as if it were real. It's a cool technology, but on a scale from one… -
Perceptual Super Power
5 Feb 2012 | 11:00 pmSuppose you lived in a country that guaranteed freedom of speech, but 90% of everything spoken or written was deliberately misleading, and you didn't have any reliable way to know which statements were accurate. In an environment in which people are buried in bullshit, would freedom of speech have any practical value?Now suppose that the biggest lie in this hypothetical land of free speech is the notion that you, and your fellow citizens, are skilled at sorting lies from truth. You readily believe in your own truth-sniffing abilities, but you're skeptical about the abilities of your… -
Good Economic News Friday
2 Feb 2012 | 11:00 pmI was chatting with a small business owner recently. He provides a service that is a purely discretionary purchase. His business had been slow for the past few years because of the economy. But over this holiday season, he had all the work he could handle, and it was all local. He considers his business an early indicator for the economy as a whole. This made me curious. Was the economy starting to revive? So I started looking for other signs of recovery.I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where you'd expect signs of an improved economy to show up first. And sure enough, things around… -
The Right Priority
31 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pmIf you had to pick one priority in your life, could you do it? That's an important question because focusing on the wrong priority would get you a bad result, and having multiple priorities isn't practical. For example, if health is your top priority, you might make choices that are good for your health and bad for your career, such as saying no to having a few drinks after work with your boss.We humans want lots of things: good health, financial freedom, success in whatever matters to us, a great social life, love, sex, recreation, travel, family, career and more. The problem is that… -
Writing Yourself Off
29 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pmOne of the many disadvantages of being me is that sometimes I have awful ideas that get stuck in my head and I have to purge them to make room for what I hope is something better. Today is one of those days. I apologize in advance for the post that follows. You should stop reading now. Seriously. Don't say I didn't warn you.We humans can't tickle ourselves as effectively as strangers can tickle us. Scientists think it has something to do with the element of unpredictability. When you try to tickle yourself, you know what's coming just ahead of the sensation and your mind…
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A VC
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The Black Hole Of Email
9 Feb 2012 | 3:40 amI have never ever been so behind on email as I am right now. I believe I am seeing about one third of all email that is sent to me. If you have sent me an email that I haven't replied to, don't be offended. You are not alone. You are in the majority. I write these posts occasionally to let people know. The result is hundreds of comments about how I can make email work better for me. Please don't leave those comments. I don't want to make email work better for me. I don't want to hire an assistant to do email for me. I don't want to try some new magical app that will make email better for me. -
Payments Day
8 Feb 2012 | 3:27 amYesterday was payments day at USV. Two pretty big things that our firm has been involved in for a while now were coincidentally announced on the same day. First, our newest portfolio company Dwolla announced the closing of a round we led on their blog. Dwolla is building a large network of engaged users via a radically lower cost payment system. How much lower? Zero for transactions below $10 and a $0.25 flat fee for transactions over $10. If you move $10,000 over the Dwolla network, you or the recipient (your choice) will be charged $0.25. That's it. Dwolla does this by avoiding credit… -
Building The Ecosystem
7 Feb 2012 | 7:35 amI've always seen the work that my colleauges and I do as more than venture capital investing. That is our main job and we need to do it very well. But we also need to work to make sure the macro environment for our investing activities remains attractive. There are two primary activities that Union Square Ventures focuses on in addition to our core venture capital activities of backing and then working closely with entrepreneurs and their teams. They are policy advocacy around protecting the freedom to innovate and efforts to build the ecosystem for startups and entrepreneurship. Longtime… -
The Management Team - Guest Post From Phil Sugar
6 Feb 2012 | 2:44 amContinuing our MBA Mondays series on The Managemet Team, we are deep into the guest post phase. This guest post comes from AVC regular Phil Sugar. I've never met Phil, but his comments here at AVC tell me that he's a very experienced entrepreneurial manager. And so I reached out to him to ask for a guest post. And he responded with this post below. There are so mant great lines in here, I'm tempted to reblog a bunch of them. Best Friends, Buddies, and Co-WorkersSince there is no way I am going to be more insightful than Matt or JLM about management process, I am going to go through three… -
Women Entrepreneurs
5 Feb 2012 | 6:05 amA few weeks ago, I spent the day at NYU ITP at the Womens Entrepreneurs Festival. This is a one day event put on by The Gotham Gal and her friend Nancy Hechinger who is on the faculty at NYU ITP. In its second year, the WE Festival features a day of panels and talks featuring women entrepreneurs. Men can attend and do, but the stage is filled with women all day long. It's a very different experience from the typical startup/tech event and I highly recommend it to anyone who is eager to see more women doing startups. My favorite panel was called Makers and featured five women who love to…
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Brian Solis
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Meet the Mother of All Processes
8 Feb 2012 | 10:32 amGuest post by John M. Bernard, author of the new book, Business at the Speed of Now, and Chairman and Founder of Mass Ingenuity. Imagine going to work in one of Henry Ford’s factories a century ago, proud that management referred to you a “hand” or a “hammer” or maybe even a “wrench.” The labels reflected Ford’s emphasis on automation and management’s view of laborers as mere cogs in the machine. Screw this nut onto that bolt; weld this strap to that frame; do it over and over and over again until your brain froze with boredom. Of course, management needed workers to get the… -
2011 Was the Year of the Mobile Consumer, What’s in Store for 2012? Value.
7 Feb 2012 | 10:10 amChris Silva, my colleague at Altimeter Group, released a useful report today that I wanted to share with you here. Mobile is important and I believe you know this. However, when we consider mobile, we often think about the experience when and where it begins. But, we often miss the opportunity to lead a more meaningful journey as it may travel from small screen to larger screens across laptops, desktops and beyond. And along the way, we must now determine our role in this journey to provide information, shape decisions, and influence behavior. In Chris’ report, he reminds us that 2011… -
Season 2 Finale: How Yamaha invests in new customer experiences
3 Feb 2012 | 10:52 amThis is it…the Season Finale! And, what a way to end Season 2 of (R)evolution…. In this episode, Yamaha shares what is by far the most expansive view of disruptive technology’s impact on business infrastructure and culture on the show to date. What you’ll see is a genuine discussion with Jeff Hawley and Rick Williams of Yamaha explore how an already successful business is exploring new opportunities to better define the customer experience before, during and after transactions. It comes down to workflow. Nowadays, it either works for you or works against you. Here,… -
Smartphones, Tablets, PCs, The Devices People Use to Discover Information in Social Media (and when)
2 Feb 2012 | 3:13 pmMy friends over at bit.ly published an interesting graph that reveals the devices as well as the days/times that people use different devices and how and when they consume information. As you can imagine, it’s across the board, but as you can see, there are waves that every device follows, except the desktop. Desktops are of course the devices that we can assume people use during work hours. As such, they are most heavily used on weekdays before noon. Interestingly enough, phone traffic peaks at about the same times, but not to similar effects. What’s also telling is that tablets… -
What’s Love Got to Do with It? The 3P’s of Identity
2 Feb 2012 | 6:16 amGuest post by Allison Cerra, author of Identity Shift With the 2012 Presidential election looming, there’s no shortage of polls to help narrow the field of candidates. I find a recent one from Fox News to be particularly fascinating. Among other questions, Republican primary voters were asked which Republican presidential candidate is most likeable and which they would most trust with a nuclear weapon. While Newt Gingrich scored at the top of the heap in earning the trust vote, he scored only marginally well on the likeability scale. The topic was discussed on the network’s “Fox &…
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Dave Winer's "Scripting News" weblog
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Take 3
8 Feb 2012 | 5:38 pmApparently we're not finished with this story. I forgot I had written this piece about Path at the end of 2012. 11/15/10: The tech industry is a virus. "After entering my name and email address, gender and password, it asked if it can use my location. I said yes. Then I went to the People section to start looking for friends to share my pictures with. I was astonished to see a list of suggestions, all of whom are people I know. I was confused. How could they know I know all these people? I jumped to an incorrect conclusion, they were all following me. I smiled -- it's really cool that all… -
I don't like my last post
8 Feb 2012 | 1:26 pmThis doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I don't like the post I wrote about Path. I'm not taking it back, and I don't want to explain it too much. I don't know what anyone else should or shouldn't do. Sometimes I get the idea that I do, but then I realize I don't. I don't like it when people say what I should do. And I'm a fan of the Golden Rule. I'm going to be more careful about software I install, and will look for developers to say clearly that they aren't doing anything with my address book. I will feel better about using Apple's products, which I do, if they would consider the… -
Glad I don't use Path
8 Feb 2012 | 7:30 amNo software company wants people to feel the way any iPhone user feels about Path right now. That's their problem. Path investor Mike Arrington gets it 100 percent wrong. Companies caught stealing private data from users have a serious problem, possibly one that can't be recovered from. He shouldn't put his own rep out there. His advice to Path is terrible. Instead he should be quietly working with his other investments to be sure they aren't doing the bone-headed thing Path was doing with users' data, and if they are, they should proactively clean up their act, publicly. I just took a look… -
Free lunches often have a price
7 Feb 2012 | 12:48 pmI care about the open web because it's the platform I develop on. I have good skills and development tools for the Web and Mac OS and Windows. So that's where I develop. If I have my way I'll be able to continue doing that indefinitely, but I worry about Apple and the future of the Mac. I have a feeling the same reasons I can't develop for IOS will turn out to make the Mac impossible for me to work on. Or maybe I'll have to stop updating my system at some point. For a while it seemed that Twitter was part of the platform. The API was open to anyone, and was largely unlimited. It was an open… -
What a wonderful game!
6 Feb 2012 | 6:29 amIt was an interesting but fairly ordinary game until the last few minutes, when it became one for the ages. And a reminder to anyone who thinks strategically, no matter what business they're in, that the linear route isn't always the right way to go. Especially when the stakes are very high. Slate has a great piece that summarizes the oddness of the last few minutes. I'll provide my own summary The Giants had the ball, down by two points, and were in field goal range at the two-minute warning. The Giants had one timeout remaining, the Patriots had two. Those are the variables. At some point…
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chrisbrogan.com
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Throw Away the Maps
6 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amPeople judge us by the path they’ve seen us walk before. They can’t anticipate our future steps. We, ourselves, look to how things have been, what seems to be the lay of the land, without realizing that the maps are not the territory. Want to succeed at work? Then don’t try to do your job. Instead, work towards something larger, more meaningful, and something that blends your convictions internally with your best ability to help others externally. Want to create something new? Then throw away the old, or maybe join two disparate old things together into something new. The… -
The Next Social Networks
5 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amThe rage in social networks right now is Pinterest, partly because it’s probably the first social network that has a much higher adoption rate by females than males, and partly because it’s an interesting concept: somewhere between visual social bookmarking and scrapbooking. What also might not be immediately obvious is that it’s just “easier” to interact there. In that way, Pinterest has something in common with Instagram, which is community around photos. What I’m interested in, though, is Gentlemint, which I keep calling “Pinterest for… -
Learn From Adele – Build Your Platform
3 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amJacq and I just watched Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (amazon affiliate link), and though every song was just wonderfully done, I found myself fascinated by what Adele was doing in between each song. Because even though most people would be interested in hearing her belt out her amazing repertoire of hits, what I took away from the performance was Adele’s real magical ability: the ability to resonate with her audience. What Adele Could Teach You About Impact I’m writing something about this right now for my upcoming book with Julien Smith, but I had to share some of the… -
Rob Gokee is a Musical Wizard
2 Feb 2012 | 8:05 amI had such a great experience working with award winning musical composer Rob Gokee. We did some musical work together, and the process was so amazing. Rob helped me create my theme song for Shhh! The Secret Show. So anyhow, he and I sat down to do an interview, and it’s a bit long, but it’s totally worth it. We talk about what collaboration feels like at a distance, what it takes to get music like this made for your own show, and a lot more. Rob’s a hero to me, and has been part of the community for a while. I was so fortunate to have worked with him. Can’t see the… -
Build Your Platform – Start
30 Jan 2012 | 1:30 amThe following is part ONE of a series called Build Your Platform. If you find it interesting, please consider subscribing for free to get the rest of the series. This post is long. You might want to bookmark it for later. The age of social media oversaturation is upon us. People are declaring Twitter bankruptcy to go along with their email bankruptcy. They cite not wanting to start on yet another social network as their reason for not getting more involved with Google+. And just as soon as you start getting into Pinterest, you hear about Path, but wait: there’s Gentlemint, which is…
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The Tom Peters Weblog
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Off the Cuff #2
7 Feb 2012 | 8:17 amOur Off the Cuff video series is a direct response from Tom to your questions. This is the second video in the series, which poses the question, "What is the greatest piece of advice you ever received that has made you a better writer or communicator?" It's a terrific question for Tom, and he discusses not only writing influences, but touches on public speaking as well. Don't miss the Dan Pink technique at the end; it may feel excruciating in practice, but there's no denying the improvement gained. -
TLBT Video #73Strategy: Measure Innovation
3 Feb 2012 | 8:46 amWe've posted the latest video in The Little BIG Things series on YouTube. Do you think it's impossible to measure innovation? In this video, Tom offers a brilliantly simple, easy-to-implement method for ensuring that a good portion of your work meets the mark on innovation. You can find the video in the right-hand column of this page or watch it at YouTube (time: 2 minutes 3 seconds). Or, get a PDF transcript of the video's content: Strategy: Measure Innovation. -
MOAP #4
30 Jan 2012 | 7:53 amThe latest installment of Tom's "Mother of All Presentations," or MOAP, is now available at ExcellenceNow.com. You can download the PowerPoint version or a PDF. We'll be releasing a section every other week throughout 2012. Part 4 introduces Tom's conviction that encouraging your people to make friends in other functions of the organization should be a top priority. Tom says you should reward such behavior, make it an agenda item. Download Part 4 of Tom's Mother of All Presentations, and learn how and why cross-functional socialization (read, idea-sharing) is essential to business excellence. -
Race to Nowhere
27 Jan 2012 | 4:51 amTom has said, "We tell our kids to 'be still,' then tell them to 'read history books'—which are replete (100%!) with tales of people ... who never sat still." This is obviously not the ideal way to cultivate a talented workforce. The education system in the United States still seems to be attempting to churn out well-behaved factory workers. With the enormous pressure placed on teachers to produce sufficient test results, the classroom becomes more about test preparation than exploration and discovery. Albert Einstein, long since deceased, had this to say: "It is nothing short of a… -
Advice, For What It's Worth ...
25 Jan 2012 | 7:20 amI was asked to contribute (a very few words) to a family page offering words of wisdom to a graduating high school senior. That's a serious challenge—and I literally spent days on the task. Here, for better or for worse, is the result: Rules For Living Life to the Hilt Nothing will turn out the way you thought it would. There is no bigger waste of time than making plans. Any success you have will be the byproduct of having thrown yourself headlong and without reserve into what you were most passionate about—and then ridden the wave you created wherever and at whatever speed it…
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Andy Sernovitz | Damn, I Wish I\'d Thought of That!
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The Home Depot’s case study: How to bring your culture to life through an online community
8 Feb 2012 | 1:00 pmCome to our upcoming BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media conference in Dallas to hear brands like Farmers Insurance, Rogers Communications, Target, Yahoo!, NVIDIA, Hitachi Data Systems, Verizon, and Autodesk share 8 great case studies on corporate social media. You’ll get practical, how-to advice on developing your social strategy, scaling your program, driving sales, engaging internal and external audiences, and measuring it all — and you’ll see some brilliant presentations like this one from BlogWell Atlanta: One of Tia Robinson’s big ideas: Don’t be afraid to let your… -
Why would a music industry visionary be writing passionately about a turtleneck?
8 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amBob Lefsetz is a well-know music industry guru who covers critical issues for industry insiders. So why did he write 625 words about a turtleneck from Uniqlo? And then email it to his thousands of email subscribers? And why did my friend Josh Dorf email it to me? Not because he was paid. Not because he was part of some cheesy word of mouth advocacy program. Not because the company asked him to. He did it because true word of mouth, driven by authentic enthusiasm for amazing products, is an unstoppable force. Read this classic example of word of mouth in action: Uniqlo Andy couldn’t stop… -
Save the Date: Word of Mouth Crash Course, May 10, Austin
7 Feb 2012 | 1:00 pmBig news: We’re bringing back the world’s greatest word of mouth marketing conference: The Word of Mouth Crash Course in Austin on May 10. It’s the original “How to be great at word of mouth marketing” conference: 12 Real-world case studies 12 How-to classes 6 Amazing authors 1 Fast day (Yes, this is the event formerly called Word of Mouth Supergenius. We changed the name to better reflect that you’re going to learn a ton, really fast, while having fantastic fun.) Learn more here: http://wordofmouth.org/crashcourse Important: The first 100 registrants will get 50 copies of new… -
It’s not over when you turn in your homework
7 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amSome advice for recent college graduates entering the corporate world: In college, you finish a paper, you take the test, you get to the end of the semester — and you’re done. You can walk away and move on to the next project. No looking back. At work, it’s the opposite. You win when you take and keep responsibility. You own a project, you see it through, you take responsibility, and you make sure it works great for the long term. When it’s time for you to move on, you are responsible for handing off your knowledge and work to the next owner, and you’re not done… -
Pull up a chair around the fire
3 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amThe purpose of a trade show booth or tabletop is to get prospective customers to come in an talk to you. You want to have a conversation. But most exhibits do a lot to block that conversation: big TV screens, laptops between the exhibitor and the prospects, or having conversations standing in front of the table so your back is to people walking past. That’s why I like this simple tabletop by Sprinklr. The fireplace catches your attention. The furniture encourages you sit down and have a deep conversation, and the whole arrangement visually draws people in.
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Lifehacker: Iphone
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Waze for iPhone Offers Voice Control for Hands-Free Operation While Driving
9 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amiPhone: Waze, our favorite turn-by-turn navigation app for iPhone (and Android) just added a great new feature: hands-free operation. Now you can control Waze with a wave of your hand and the power of your voice. More » -
Make Your Own Screen Protector Quickly and Cheaply with Adhesive Vinyl and an Xacto Knife
8 Feb 2012 | 12:30 pmWe've previously mentioned that you can make your own screen protector on the cheap with adhesive vinyl. Although it's a simple process to understand in theory, it helps to actually see it in practice. This video from Household Hacker demonstrates how to make a vinyl screen protector and apply it to your device in just a few minutes. More » -
The Best Virtual Assistant for iPhone
8 Feb 2012 | 10:30 am -
Black SMS Encrypts and Decrypts Your Text Messages
7 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pmiOS: Anyone can pick up your phone and read your text messages. It's also not that difficult for someone to install spy software or for the U.S. government to acquire your messages from your carrier. If you want to keep your text messages private, Black SMS is an app that provides a very simple method for doing so. You simply type in the message, set a password, and send it over to iMessage. The recipient can then use their copy of Black SMS to decrypt the message using the password you set by simply pasting the message into the app and entering the password. (Watch the video above for a… -
Get the Most Out of Your iPhone's Notification Center, from Beginner to Jailbreaker
7 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amMore »
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Influential Marketing
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The Best And Worst Of Super Bowl Marketing Strategy 2012
6 Feb 2012 | 1:40 amI couldn't help but feel sorry this year for anyone who only watches the Super Bowl ads for entertainment. Perhaps the most defining feature of all the ads this year was how uniformly uncreative and dated they were. Marketers turned to old and obvious gags like girls in bikinis and dogs (lots of dogs) to try and carry their ads. The result was a very disappointing collection of ads for anyone who loves marketing and the hype of Super Bowl advertising. Still, there is plenty of marketing to learn from all the efforts this year, so let's get started in breaking down the strategy behind the ads… -
What The Amish Paradox Can Teach You About Marketing
3 Feb 2012 | 4:01 amLast year on a trip back to the US from South Africa, I picked up a magazine about a topic I knew very little about. It is of the common tricks I use to learn about different industries outside of the ones I work directly with – and in this case, the magazine I ended up with was called Farmer’s Weekly. The content was as you would expect, advice for farmers on techniques, information about regulations that will affect their industry and ads for tractors and things like that. In the middle of the issue I picked up was a feature article about what the author called the “Amish Paradox”… -
The 4 Principles Of Delusional Economics
27 Jan 2012 | 4:59 amWhen it comes to economic theories, there is plenty of fascination in the business world around how to explain what drives business and purchasing activities. Behavioural economics, the field of economics concerned with examining why people behave the way they do when it comes to their purchasing behaviour, is hot right now. Bestselling books like Freakonomics and Predictably Irrational dig deep into the psyche of people to try and explain seemingly illogical actions. My own upcoming book called Likeonomics, to some degree, looks at a similar theme of why we do business with people and… -
FinnAir, Republic Day & Why Celebration Is The Best Marketing Strategy
26 Jan 2012 | 8:28 amA few weeks ago it was my birthday. The day before on a Saturday morning, my two boys came leaping into our room very excited to wake me up. It wasn't so much about my birthday, unfortunately, as it was about getting ready to do their favourite thing on a Saturday morning: going to IHOP for pancakes. And when there is a birthday involved, it is an even bigger deal. Your birthday is a celebration there. They bring over at least 6 of the wait staff to sing their own version of the birthday song to you. You get ice cream for breakfast (what kid wouldn't love that?). People love celebrations -… -
Honda Masters The Art of Marketing Timing
23 Jan 2012 | 6:44 pmEvery year at the start of the new year there is something that most of us do without realizing it. It is related to making new year's resolutions, but it is more about sequencing your long term goals into the order in which you want to achieve them. One example might be saying to yourself, "I want to be married and then have a kid before I turn 35." Life is full of these little promises. So full, in fact, that often we make them to ourselves without even thinking. It raises an interesting marketing question as well. What would it take to get a customer to reevaluate the life sequence they…
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Neuromarketing
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Super Bowl Ads: “Second Payoff” Pays Off
8 Feb 2012 | 11:11 amThe Super Bowl is the biggest day of the year for football fans, and just about as important for neuromarketing companies. The first results of neuromarketing studies from the big game are trickling out, and Innerscope Research observed a strategy employed by multiple advertisers: a “second payoff” at the end of the ad, after the [...] -
Neuromarketing Fun: Add Your Caption
7 Feb 2012 | 5:32 amWant to win a signed copy of my new book, Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing? I thought we could have a little fun while we’re waiting for the results of the Super Bowl neuromarketing studies to roll in. Read on… Neuromarketing scares some people, even though the techniques used by [...] -
NeuroBowl: Neuromarketing and Super Bowl 2012
3 Feb 2012 | 5:51 amThe Super Bowl may be the biggest sports event of the year and the biggest advertising event of the year, but it’s also the biggest event of the year for neuromarketing companies. With $3 million being spent on every 30 second spot, you can be sure that lots of advertisers rang up their favorite neuromarketing [...] -
Social Personalization and the Doppelganger Effect
1 Feb 2012 | 5:18 amAre you overlooking a way to personalize your ads that goes far beyond the usual “Dear Roger” salutation? In my recent article, Put Your Customer in the Ad, I mentioned that LinkedIn was using profile pictures for targeted ads. Since then, I’ve been able to capture a couple of examples. The first one surprised me [...] -
Time Warner Opens NYC Neuromarketing Lab
26 Jan 2012 | 5:42 amTime Warner Inc. is opening their new “Medialab” at its New York City headquarters. The media giant expects to “generate valuable insights into consumer behavior, evolving media habits and industry trends across all of Time Warner’s businesses, brands and advertising partners.” The lab sounds like one of the more diverse facilities dedicated to this kind [...]
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Social Media Darwinism
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Gut Feeling or Analytics – which is better?
8 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amSo I was talking with a CMO buddy of mine the other day over dinner and this topic came up. Of course you know as a CMO of a leading Social Media analytics firm – I think you can guess which side of this argument I was on. But seriously, my buddy honestly wanted to know – so what can you do with all this good social media analytics that you talk about? He really didn’t know. So here is what I told him that marketers should be doing with analytics but haven’t truly adopted. I think part of the problem is that some of these tactics haven’t become a standard operating procedure but… -
What Social Data can Teach You about Audiences
1 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amMy son is a senior in high school and I am beginning to help him with his search for the right school. One of the aspects of college life that he is looking forward to is belonging to a university with strong school spirit. So to help with this, I suggested that we use football teams as a proxy to find the right environment. With this in mind, we set out to find a simple list of “2011 NCAA Football Rankings” – an easy Google search is there ever was one. I assumed that the top result, ESPN’s 2011 NCAA Football Rankings, would be the perfect match for our search, until I looked at… -
Trust is hard to come by these days
25 Jan 2012 | 10:00 amFor years I have kept tabs on the Edelman Trust barometer report, which comes out every January in Davos. And this year was no exception. After last year I figured this years report could make an excellent gauge of the economy worldwide! Simply put the report states: Trust is down in every industry and every country across the board by an average of 6%. So what does this mean for marketers and for major brands in an era of social media? Well 2 things … Hidden in the data is the fact that CEOs and Government officials are at the very bottom of the totem pole when it comes to delivering a… -
Brands: It’s not enough to be liked
15 Dec 2011 | 10:00 amImagine a company that has upscale retail locations around the United States receiving tens of thousands of customer visits. Now imagine not having anyone there to greet and interact with those customers. What’s the point of the storefront? Facebook fan pages are much the same thing. But only 0.2 to 2 percent of fans go back to a page. Why? Because there is nothing going on that interests them. Fan pages are a unique marketing canvas to connect with avid consumers. Yet some brands are terribly underutilizing these pages, making them basically brochureware repositories — essentially… -
How important is real-time data? It’s all relative
7 Dec 2011 | 6:35 amThe speed with which social media spreads ideas and information has led many marketers to place a premium on capturing data in real time. But should real-time data be such a priority? Real time means different things to different people when the term is used as a proxy for recency. To an evolutionary biologist, real time could mean thousands of years of species development data. To a 911 dispatcher, real time is a few seconds worth of critical information from a telephone call. What about marketing and advertising? This notion of “relative real time” extends there, too. To a marketing…
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Ogilvy Blog Aggregator
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Digital Paris, c’est avec Reed Expositions et Ogilvy PR Paris
9 Feb 2012 | 8:23 amDigital Paris, sans doute en avez-vous entendu parler ? Les 11 et 12 avril prochains, à l’Espace Pierre Cardin se tiendra le nouveau congrès dédié au e-commerce, marketing, e-crm organisé par... Lire l'article en détails -
Don’t let go!
9 Feb 2012 | 6:04 am -
The Wolseley .
9 Feb 2012 | 2:21 amHad lunch at the Wolseley last week, a real place not a place you follow or follows you or a place I have thank the good Lord ever seen someone become Sherrif of or been ousted.Nope its a place with real people with real lives and real stories. I’d just ordered when on his way out the handsome and chiselled Brett Gosper dropped by to gloat on England’s performance in Dubai adding on parting that he and Jeremy King once considered swopping roles for a week, I’ll conclude with the probable results later but the exchange did prompt me to think further and try and analyse the… -
Pinterest Hits 11 Million UMVs (and 8 Tips for Brands)
8 Feb 2012 | 9:02 amIn case you haven’t heard, last night TechCrunch announced that Pinterest hit 11.7 million UMVs, becoming the fastest standalone site ever to surpass 10 million monthly uniques. This presents a huge opportunity for brands, as you might have already read about here. The #1 driver of consumer purchases is word of mouth recommendations from friends, and Pinterest holds the power to drive authentic “word of eye” recommendations in a way that is changing the landscape of social commerce. How? The landing page for Pinterest is an endless visual stream of subtle product… -
Just another typical creative / strategic review…
8 Feb 2012 | 8:24 amJust another typical creative / strategic review…
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Signal vs. Noise
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All or something
9 Feb 2012 | 8:37 amOne of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming. That unless you can give your business all your thoughts and hours, you don’t deserve success. You are unworthy of the startup call. This myth neatly identifies those fit for mission: Young, without obligations, and few if any extra-curricular interests. The perfect cannon fodder for 10:1 VC long shots. They’re also easier to rile up with tales of milk and honey at the end of the rainbow, or the modern equivalents, “compressing your working life into a few years” and “billon… -
Behind the scenes: Reinventing our Default Profile Pictures
8 Feb 2012 | 9:34 amMister Default Here he is: our default profile picture. You may know him as “Generic Avatar”. He’s the picture you get when you create a new account and profile on Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, and Campfire. Mr. Default is a standard guy. He’s found everywhere on the web (in variations): message boards, comments, activity streams. He forces everyone to look like him regardless of gender, race, and physicality. He’s also very boring. Time for a change People don’t usually have a picture on hand to change the default avatar. What happens is none of the… -
What's your answer?
8 Feb 2012 | 9:00 am“If a customer asked you why, how would you answer?” This is a question I’ve been asking a lot lately. Why could be “why does it work this way?” or “why can’t I do that?” or some variation on that theme. I think your answer to those questions is a great way to measure your product. Are you happy with your answers? Are they fair answers? Are they clear answers? Would you be happy with the answer if you were the one asking the question? The goal isn’t to get to “Yes” on every answer. The goal is to listen to your answer and ask… -
No framework needed
8 Feb 2012 | 7:42 amIt goes without saying that we use Rails a lot here at 37signals. Often times, when we look at a problem, we turn to Rails or something similar, because when you have a high-performance precision screwdriver, everything starts to look like a finely engineered screw. Sometimes, what you really need is a big hammer, because what you’re looking at is a nail. Our public sites – sites like 37signals.com and basecamphq.com – are a perfect example of this. Let me tell you about our journey with these sites over the years, and how we’ve landed on a simple solution that boosted… -
SaaS: Change starts easy and then gets really hard
7 Feb 2012 | 12:58 pmBasecamp just turned 8 years old. Here’s the launch announcement right here on this blog back on February 5, 2004. That’s a long time ago. We’ve learned a ton since then. One of the most interesting lessons has been the increasing degree to which time influences change. When we first launched Basecamp, we could iterate rapidly. We were incredibly prolific those first few months. We launched a bunch of new stuff and made rapid improvement every few weeks. Eventually it plateaued and slowed down. Why is that? Part of it is because many of the improvements we wanted to make…
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TechCrunch
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Fab.com Rolls Out New Mobile Apps With Browse By Color & “Fab Shops”
9 Feb 2012 | 8:05 amAfter hitting 2 million members at the end of last month, design shopping startup Fab.com is today rolling out new iOS applications that offer a number of new features and improvements. In addition to an updated layout, search and navigational elements, one of the apps’ biggest new features is the inclusion of the recently launched new storefronts called “Fab Shops.” These Fab Shops went live late January, allowing Fab.com members to visually browse through products via dedicated online storefronts that were organized around product categories, as opposed to by designers. -
YouTube’s Latest Original Programming: Olympic-Style Lightsaber Relays
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amHere’s a fun example of the original programming that YouTube is supposed to be investing in these days — a relay from Santa Monica to San Diego. With lightsabers. Geek celebrity Chris Hardwick is announcing the event, dubbed Course of the Force, on the YouTube blog. Hardwick hosts the popular Nerdist podcast, and he plans to launch a Nerdist YouTube channel in April,which he says will include “Neil Patrick Harris, Rob Zombie, Awkward Family Videos, The Dudesons and The Kids in the Hall,” plus more programming that covers “gaming, science, tech and cosplay.” As… -
Kodak Shutters Digital Camera Business In Favor Of Licensing, Photo Printing
9 Feb 2012 | 7:47 amConsider today the end of an era for one of the most iconic brands in the imaging industry. While their bankruptcy protection filing from last month signaled the need for some drastic action, it’s still a bit of a shock to see Kodak announce that they are putting all of their digital cameras, camcorders, and picture frames out to pasture. When all is said and done, Kodak expects annual operating savings of around $100 million, but the bigger loss is going to be that of a cultural icon. Kodak will still exist, sure, but primarily as a purveyor of desktop printers as well as online and retail… -
Shopzilla Founder Launches Cheers: The “Like Button” For The World Around You
9 Feb 2012 | 7:40 amThe “toast” is an age-old, time-honored tradition, where we raise a glass to pay tribute to — and express our goodwill towards — friends, loved ones, and sometimes even our fellow man. They are even known to be meaningfully punctuated with by a good drinking song or two. And now, thanks to BizRate.com and Shopzilla Founder Farhad Mohit, there is, as they say, an app for that expression of goodwill. Yes, “cheers” is no longer simply a word that accompanies toasts — or the place where everyone knows your name — it’s also the… -
Nielsen: Cord Cutting And Internet TV Viewing On The Rise
9 Feb 2012 | 7:24 amAccording to a new report from Nielsen, the number of U.S. homes that have broadband Internet, but only free, broadcast TV, is on the rise. Although representing less than 5% of TV households, the number has grown 22.8% over the past year. In addition, the behaviors within these homes are unique. These broadband/broadcast-only households stream video twice as much as the general population, says Nielsen, and they watch half as much TV. Nielsen hesitates to dump all these households in the “cord cutters” bucket, though, saying that while perhaps some are cord cutters (the term that…
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Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life
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5 Myths Haunting Your Healthy Foods
3 Feb 2012 | 8:03 amThese days, eating healthy has become a curiously difficult task. Despite the fact that the canons of healthy eating have not changed in centuries, the proliferation of health food products has continued unabated for years. It’s become a crisis of abundance.However, just because a product occupies shelf space in a boutique food store doesn’t mean it’s any better for you than its generic counterpart. Advertisers are very aware of the powers of “mood affiliation”, which is the tendency to associate familiar claims with one another. For example, consumers are very likely to believe a… -
Four Steps To Rescue Stray New Year Resolutions
2 Feb 2012 | 6:55 amLooks like it is that time of year when many New Year resolutions that people set have already strayed. Attempts to kick a smoking habit for example, might have seemed successful for a few weeks but once the realities and stresses of coming back from the holidays have resurfaced, some people may have caved into the nicotine again.Of course there is the usual health promises that get broken too. According to the fitness industry, a lot of gym memberships are sold from December to February but gym attendance significantly drops shortly afterwards when people realize that working out involves a… -
Finding the Courage to Stay the Course
30 Jan 2012 | 10:06 amAnytime you decide on the pursuit of an important goal, you’ll be faced with a series of challenges. Peaks, valleys and plateaus are par for the the course. But the thing that separates the people who make it from the ones that don’t is the courage to stay the course.At the start of any new endeavor most of us look forward to every single day with a child like excitement. We see infinite possibilities and the future appears bright. It seems as though there is absolutely nothing that can get in our way. We feel almost invincible and the possibility of failure doesn’t even occur to us. We… -
How to Deal with Difficult People and Have Constructive Conflict
28 Jan 2012 | 8:32 amLife and relationships aren't always perfect. Take a minute to think of some difficult people you have to deal with in your life? These may be people you work with, the in-laws that come to town throughout the year, or your neighbor who can’t seem to take a hint. For whatever reason, you're just not jiving with these people.Do you flee? Or, do you get flexible and learn to interact?When we encounter these extreme personalities it can feel like they are trying to make our life miserable, but more often than not, it’s simply learning about these peoples’ tendencies and how to interact in… -
7 Habits of Highly Excellent People
27 Jan 2012 | 2:16 amAre you driven in life? Do you love to excel? I believe all of us do. We are born to be the best we can be and to make the best out of our lives.When I was in high school, I wasn't exactly the kind of student teachers would like. I was truant, didn't do my homework and did badly on my examinations. I was lazy and unmotivated in school. However, after a while I realized that this wasn't who I wanted to be. This wasn't the life I saw myself leading. People around me were judging and negative, and I had enough of all of that crap. I had enough of being discriminated against and I decided to turn…
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zenhabits
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The Pause Upon Which All Else Relies
9 Feb 2012 | 7:56 amPost written by Leo Babauta. There is one little habit I’ve learned that has changed everything else in my life. The pause. When we fail, it’s because we act on urges without thinking, without realizing it. We have the urge to eat junk, and we do it. We have the urge to check email instead of writing a chapter of our book, and so we open our inbox. We have an urge to smoke, to drink, to do drugs, to chew our nails, to play a Facebook game, to procrastinate, to skip a workout, to eat more fries, to criticize, to act in jealousy or anger, to be rude … and we act on that urge. -
The Thousand Cuts Fitness Program
6 Feb 2012 | 9:43 amPost written by Leo Babauta. I’ve trained for marathons, triathlons, 10Ks, a 13.5-hour challenge, Ubanathlons, and more. But my favorite fitness program isn’t one where you train for a major event. It’s where you get fit by a thousand little actions. When the actions are tiny, they are easy. You have no excuse. You can do them anywhere, all day long. I fold fitness into my life, like blueberries into batter, and it becomes a part of the recipe, not just a topping. If you haven’t found a way to get fit, try the Thousand Cuts Fitness Program. There is nothing better for… -
The Two-Headed Beast of Successful Habit Change
2 Feb 2012 | 8:20 amEditor’s Note: This is a guest post from Tyler Tervooren of Advanced Riskology. I used to have a lot of bad habits. I still do, but I used to have a lot more. Here’s just a small sampling: I woke up late and went to bed early. I procrastinated on my most important work. I neglected my relationships. I drank too much. I bit my fingernails. I slouched a lot. I picked my nose (no joke). I bought worthless things I didn’t need. I chewed with my mouth open. I dressed like a slob. I ate tons of junk food. I could go on, but none of that’s incredibly important. What’s… -
Create the Habit of Meditation, & the Zen Habits Premium Membership
31 Jan 2012 | 2:03 pmPost written by Leo Babauta. It’s something I should have created a long time ago: the Zen Habits Premium Membership, and a mini-course that’s included with it called Create the Habit of Meditation. The membership is a monthly subscription of $19.99, but really it’s a commitment to changing your life, and the tools needed to do that. If you’ve been looking to simplify, get healthy & fit, become more effective, do work you’re passionate about, eliminate debt, find contentment, declutter, create new habits … this new program is meant to show you how to… -
Creating Silence from Chaos
27 Jan 2012 | 2:20 pmPost written by Leo Babauta. We are often afraid of silence, because its emptiness feels idle, boring, unproductive, and scary. And so we fill our lives with chaos, noise, clutter. But silence can be lovely, and therapeutic, and powerful. It can be the remedy for our stress and the habits that crush us. If we want quiet in our lives, how do we create it? I’ve been exploring this myself. As a father of six kids, I have to admit that I don’t always have silence in my life. That’s not a complaint — I love the messy noise that my family brings — but silence can be a…
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The Happiness Project
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Quiz: How Fun Is Your Workplace? Your Home?
8 Feb 2012 | 11:31 amIn The Levity Effect: Why it Pays to Lighten Up, Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher make an interesting argument that “levity” is an extremely effective tool for helping people to work better. An atmosphere of light-heartedness, it turns out, helps people pay attention, eases tensions, and enhances a feeling of connection. When I read this, I thought, “Well, levity would be tough for me, I’m not particularly funny, and I’m not particularly outgoing.” But what the authors mean by “levity” is really a sense of lightness. It's less about being funny and more about being able to… -
Do You Have The "Quality Of Keeping People Together"?
6 Feb 2012 | 8:11 amAssay: Recently, when I was rereading Gertrude Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, I was very struck by this observation about the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire: The death of Guillaume Apollinaire at this time made a very serious difference to all his friends apart from their sorrow at his death. It was the moment just after the war when many things had changed and people naturally fell apart. Guillaume would have been a bond of union, he always had a quality of keeping people together, and now that he was gone everybody ceased to be friends. The "quality of keeping people… -
"Quiet Minds Cannot Be Perplexed Or Frightened."
5 Feb 2012 | 6:40 am“Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.” --Robert Louis Stevenson I love the simile of a "clock in a thunderstorm." It makes me feel calmer, just to imagine that image. * Check out the Happiness Project Toolbox: eight free tools to help you track your own happiness project. -
A Secret To More Happiness And Energy? Give Yourself A Bedtime.
3 Feb 2012 | 11:28 amAs a result of my happiness project, I've become a sleep zealot. It's just so obvious to me—from reading the research and from personal experience—that getting enough sleep is a key to a happier life. I've noticed something, however. I noticed this in myself, before I became such a sleep nut, and I see it in the people around me: most adults don't give themselves a bedtime. Children have a fixed bedtime; we know they need their allotment of sleep, and we pack them off to bed when it's time. But many adults just go to bed whenever they feel like it. The problem with this approach is that… -
"There's Nothing Like The Comfort Of My Bed To Restore Me To My Happiness."
2 Feb 2012 | 7:06 pmHappiness interview: Agapi Stassinopoulos. Through a mutual friend, I e-met Agapi Stassinopoulos. She has a new book that's just hitting the bookstores, Unbinding the Heart. She grapples with the question of how we can "unbind our hearts" better to experience playfulness, connection, self-expression, and joy. Clearly happiness is at the heart of this challenge. Gretchen: What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier? Agapi: Getting together with the people I care for and having an intimate time, where we lovingly share and listen to each other in a safe haven, recharges me…
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Greater Good
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How to Find the Good in People We Love
8 Feb 2012 | 4:19 pmThe director of the trailblazing Stanford University Forgiveness Projects shares what he has learned from two decades of helping people let go of their grudges. -
Baby Love
7 Feb 2012 | 12:00 amIf you’re searching for the keys to a happy relationship this Valentine’s Day, new research suggests you should search back into your own childhood—way back. The research, summarized in a recent paper in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, suggests that the love and care we receive as infants—before we can even form conscious memories—can very closely predict the quality of our romantic relationships as adults. The authors studied first-born children participating in a long-term research project, in which researchers regularly assessed the social and… -
Is it Racism or Politics as Usual?
3 Feb 2012 | 12:00 amIn the news recently we saw more evidence of discrimination under our seemingly egalitarian noses: A forthcoming study in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies shows that lawyers are about twice as likely to steer black debtors filing for bankruptcy towards the harsher Chapter 13 than they are for other filers, who they are more likely to steer toward Chapter 7. It is critical to note that in their analysis, the researchers found evidence of the bias even with identical financial cases, and even when accounting for other potential explanatory factors such as debtor assets. The findings are… -
HOW to Be Involved in Occupy
2 Feb 2012 | 12:00 amParents today are busier than ever—which makes it hard to get involved in national movements like Occupy. Here are three ways to make a difference. -
Five Collaboration Tips from Introverts
1 Feb 2012 | 4:21 pmIn her new book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, attorney Susan Cain pits two starkly different work styles against each other. On one side, we have the pro-collaboration, open workspace plan camp. On the other, we have the solitude-is-good supporters clamoring to keep their offices. This debate on the best type of work style has important implications for workspace design and office environment. It also delves into fundamental questions about human nature. While we are social animals, drawn instinctively to work and cooperate with others, we are also…
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advertising/design goodness - advertising and design blog
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Ed Hardy Tattoo Stickers
9 Feb 2012 | 2:04 am“Ed Hardy. Tattoos without needles.” Agency: Y&R, Beijing, China Chief Creative Officer: Nils Andersson, Marcus Rebeschini Executive Creative Director: Gunny Park Creative Director: Ronnie Wu, Donghai Liu Copywriter: Donghai Liu, Nils Andersson, Gao Han Art Director: Ronnie Wu, Roy Luo, Rex Rui, Shi Jian Photographer: Shi Zhong -
Medicus Health Insurance
8 Feb 2012 | 2:04 am“Medical assistance for travellers.” Agency: TBWA, Buenos Aires, Argentina Chief Creative Officers: Juan Cruz Bazterrica, Guillermo Castañeda Copywriter: Emilio Pastore Art Director: Cecilia Astengo Photographer: Blumencweig-Benitez Fotografia -
Beijing Sports Radio
7 Feb 2012 | 2:08 amAgency: Ogilvy & Mather, Hong Kong Executive Creative Directors: Simon Handford, Sandy Chan Creative Director: Alvin Lim Art Directors: Alvin Lim, Sonny Tjahjadi, Jason Pan, Hubert Yeung Associate CD / Copywriter: Richard Sorensen Retoucher: A Thousand Eyes -
Amnesty International
6 Feb 2012 | 2:36 am“We’re celebrating 50 years of fighting against violence, torture and executions.” Agency: TBWA, Berlin, Germany Chief Creative Officer: Kurt Georg Dieckert, Stefan Schmidt Copywriter: Bahador Pakravesh Art Director: Behnaz Pakravesh Illustrator: Dinoso.de, Dino So, Axel Mewes -
Axe Anarchy
3 Feb 2012 | 3:25 am“New Axe Anarchy for him + for her. Unleash the chaos.” Agency: BBH, London, UK Creative Director: Dominic Goldman, David Kolbusz Creatives: Daniel Schaefer, Szymon Rose
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MarketingProfs How-To Articles
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Never Waste an Opportunity: The Value of Lead Nurturing
7 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amWhen new visitors arrive at your website, you have two ways to seize the opportunity and guide them toward becoming customers. Both opportunities can evaporate in the blink of an eye--if you don't have the proper systems in place. Read the full article at MarketingProfs -
Four Keyword Research Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
6 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amIf you are serious about the words "sales," "profit," and "conversions," you must master keyword research. Learn four common pitfalls marketers make when selecting keywords--and how to avoid them. Read the full article at MarketingProfs -
The Inside Scoop on Using Twitter Lists for Profit and Sanity
3 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amThe dirty secret of Twitter is that as helpful as it can be, it's also a time sink. Learn how properly using and cleaning up your Twitter lists can help you save time--and generate leads for your business. Read the full article at MarketingProfs -
10 Hot Tips (and a Promo Campaign Planner) for Seasonal Sale Success
2 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amCustomers today expect more deals and offers during holiday seasons, so it's important to create seasonal campaigns to increase revenues. Here are 10 tips--and a campaign planner--to help you achieve seasonal sale success. Read the full article at MarketingProfs -
Five Tips for Implementing a Successful QR Code Campaign
1 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amQR codes can be inexpensive to implement and can provide you a measureable return on investment--if you use them correctly. Learn five invaluable tips for implementing an effective QR code campaign. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
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The Future of Ads
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Pricing: It’s All About Trust
6 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amOne byproduct of the economic recession is that companies are afraid to make money. That’s not to say they’ve given up on maximizing profits, just that they’re trying to minimize the public perception of that profit, and keep any increase in fees as low profile as possible. Recent examples of this include the Netflix pricing model changes, Bank of America’s $5 debit card fee and Verizon’s $2 bill pay fee. In each case, the company raised the amount that it charges customers, received a wave of negative feedback from those customers (often through social media)… -
Kia Gives YouTube Five Hours of Adriana Lima
3 Feb 2012 | 9:15 amOf all the things I’ve seen companies do to hype their Super Bowl commercial this year, I think Kia’s is the most interesting. While the spot itself is great, and features the entertaining mix of Adriana Lima, Chuck Liddell and Motley Crue: It’s actually the video that appeared in the YouTube sidebar while I was watching this spot that caught me by surprise: What you’re looking at is a video titled “5 Hours of Adriana Lima” that just features a five hour long loop of slow motion b-roll footage of Adriana Lima waving a checkered flag. While a video like this… -
Shazam Could Replace The QR Code
27 Dec 2011 | 8:12 amAdmit it: The QR Code is never going to catch on with mainstream users. (Hell, it’s barely getting used by advertisers, and we’ll try anything once.) Asking people to download and use a 3rd party app so they can scan a code to get mysterious content related to an ad is a bit much, and until Apple decides to include a QR code scanning app with every iPhone, they’re just not going to get used by more than a fringe minority of the mobile audience. That said, the reason advertisers want QR codes to take off is clear: We live in an increasingly mobile world, and with campaigns… -
Acceptable Ads Are Good For Everyone
15 Dec 2011 | 1:58 pmThere’s a war being waged in the world of online advertising: On one side, advertisers desperately trying to get their product in front of as many readers as possible; on the other, readers desperately trying to ignore ads and get to the content they’re looking for. In this war, the readers have many weapons: Instapaper and Read It Later strip out a site’s content and present it in an easy to read way, free from ads. Apple’s Safari browser includes a new feature called Reader, which lets you view content “in a clean, uncluttered space free from blinking, annoying… -
Lay’s Potato Chip Vending Machine
21 Nov 2011 | 8:13 amLay’s Potato Chips contain just three ingredients: potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt. However, in a world where ingredient lists frequently cover half a product’s packaging, and ingredients themselves are 20 character contractions that even scientists struggles to understand, it’s safe to say that most people assume a snack food like potato chips must contain a smorgasbord of unnatural ingredients and chemical byproducts in order to taste so good. To prove them wrong, Castro, an agency out of Argentina, developed a special vending machine the turns raw potatoes into bags of…
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Box of Crayons
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Practical Coaching Series: Essential Interviews with Coaches You Need to Know About
9 Feb 2012 | 2:00 amIt’s International Coaching Week – hurrah! Much as I love professional coaches – hey, I am one after all – my real passion is about making coaching just a regular part of the way we work. In particular, how can you as a busy manager and leader use coaching more often to increase the focus, impact and meaning of the work you and those around you do. Peter Block, a man I constantly hold up as a deep influence on my work, said it best: Coaching is not a profession. It’s a way of being with one another. Indeed. I’ve had the good luck of interviewing some… -
Feedback is a Gift (but not in that horrible fake way you’re thinking)
7 Feb 2012 | 2:44 am“Feedback is a gift” Man, I hate that lyin’ stinkin’ statement. At least, I hate it when it’s offered up from the person giving it to the person receiving it. Certainly, having another person’s perspective on what’s going on can be useful and enlightening. But often what we’re given in feedback is a hellish cocktail of Data-free prejudice My reality is better than your reality This is a command but I’m calling it feedback And for some reason we’re supposed to be grateful for this download of … stuff that in fact often tells us… -
Will one of these five be your deathbed regret?
3 Feb 2012 | 2:50 amMy friend Dave just sent me this fascinating article from the Guardian newspaper. Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse working in palliative care, recorded people’s regrets as they were dying and has shared the top five. 1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. 3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. 4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. 5. I wish that I had let myself be happier. Well. That shakes me up. How about you? -
“Coaching is available to all of us…” [Great Work Quote]
2 Feb 2012 | 3:09 am“Coaching is available to all of us and is not a profession but a way of being with each other.” ~ Peter Block I’ll admit it right away. I’m a Peter Block fanboy. His books – from Flawless Consulting to The Answer to How Is Yes - are deeply influential on my work. (Community even made me cry a little. And yes, it’s a business book.) So when Peter wrote these words as a blurb for my first book Get Unstuck & Get Going on the stuff that matters, it was a little like Mozart saying to someone, “that’s an OK piece of music.” Very very… -
Tune in to Michael tomorrow
1 Feb 2012 | 8:59 amIf you’d like to listen to my dulcet tones and my Aussie-English-American-Canadian accent combination, I’ll be talking on Write Now Online radio tomorrow (Thursday 2nd) at 2pm Eastern/11am Pacific. You can listen in here http://www.blogtalkradio.com/writenow.
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Everything Counts!
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A Story of Pride, Hope and Glory
18 Jan 2012 | 3:19 pmThere’s an old story about a man who walks by a construction site and sees workmen pushing wheelbarrows, each filled with an enormous stone. He asks one what they’re doing. “What does it look like?” he says with a sneer. “Hauling rocks.” Unsatisfied with that answer, the passerby asks another construction worker the same question. The workman doesn’t bother looking up. “We’re putting up a wall.” Frustrated, the man tries one last time. “I say there,” he asks the next fellow, “can you tell me what you men are doing… -
Words of Wisdom
30 Dec 2011 | 12:13 amWhen you fail, resiliency counts. When you’re late, forgiveness counts. When you’re mad, self-control counts. When you’re broke, every penny counts. When you’re depressed, every hug counts. When you’re on a diet, self-discipline counts. When you’re in a hurry, every second counts. When you’re negotiating, transparency counts. When making a decision, good judgement counts. When you run into obstacles, perseverance counts. When you’re designing a new product, simplicity counts. Your entire life is an accumulation of tiny details and small decisions . -
Nitty-Gritty Details
28 Dec 2011 | 10:41 pmA moment’s thought reveals that our entire world is simply an accumulation of tiny details. Every action — every detail of our lives — has bottom-line repercussions, and it’s dangerous and derogatory to think of any of those details as trivial, unimportant, or inconsequential. You may be familiar with the old nursery rhyme which teaches this principle to children: For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the… -
The Right Objectives
18 Dec 2011 | 9:38 pmJust like any building needs a solid architectural design, every highly successful life and business must be purposely designed and built to achieve a specific set of appropriate objectives. I’m referring to the goals and accomplishments that will drive you to the success you desire. So what specifically is your life designed to accomplish? Brace yourself… Right now, your life and career is perfectly designed to achieve the results you are CURRENTLY GETTING! And, if you aren’t getting the results you want, that simply means you haven’t designed a life strategy that… -
The Impossible Dream
18 Dec 2011 | 9:13 pmMan of La Mancha rocked Broadway in 1966 with its thundering theme song, THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM. You remember that song, don’t you? It opens in soft reflection, “To dream the impossible dream… To fight the unbeatable foe…” but then it defies mortal gravity to rise heavenward on a column of fury like an old Apollo rocket. This is my Quest: to follow that star! No matter how hopeless, no matter how far! To fight for the right Without question or pause, To be willing to march into hell For a heavenly cause! And I know, if I’ll only be true To this glorious…
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The Garage
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Getting revved up for the Canadian Motorsports Expo this weekend in Toronto
8 Feb 2012 | 1:18 pmAs our not so nasty Winter wears on in Ontario, everyone involved with racing is itching to get on track. As has become tradition, many Canadian racers begin their season at the Canadian Motorsports Expo, presented by our friends at Inside Track. Running this weekend at Toronto’s International Centre, the CME has something for everyone from fans to photographers and of course racers. For the fans, there will be cars ranging from drag racers to road racers and everything in between. The show stage will feature appearances by drivers, along with other exciting interactive events: NASCAR… -
Lightning McQueen hangs out at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
8 Feb 2012 | 11:35 amFor the past five years, the absolute most popular post in The Garage has been a gallery of Cars movie cars that I took when they were on display at the NASCAR Speed Park on the outskirts of Toronto. We still receive regular requests from readers asking where they could see Lightning McQueen and friends in person. Finally, we have an answer for them: You will have to visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando. As part of the Lights. Motors. Action. Extreme Stunt Show at the park, Lightning McQueen and one of the villains of Cars 2, a sinister, black Gremlin, come out a put on a bit of… -
Spills and Thrills at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
8 Feb 2012 | 11:13 amLast week we took the Grant family out of The Garage to spend a week playing tourist at Walt Disney World in sunny Orlando. As always, I had my Canon in hand the whole time. I was pleasantly surprised that there was some automotive action to play with at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The Lights, Motors, Action. Extreme Stunt Show gives visitors a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes while filming a chase scene for a movie. The cars used are highly modified Opels that have been brought over from Europe for the sole purpose of stunt work in the show. How heavily modified? Well, for… -
Mazda Announces Pricing for 2013 CX-5
6 Feb 2012 | 10:49 pmFor years, Mazda has had a gaping hole in its product line, and has been completely absent from the white-hot compact crossover market. All that changes when the all-new 2013 Mazda CX-5 hits the showroom floor this month. Wisely, Mazda is marketing the CX-5 as a small CUV built for the motoring enthusiast. All CX-5′s are powered by a 2.0L SkyActiv four-cylinder rated at 155hp, with best in class 35MPG highway mileage for a non-hybrid crossover. A six-speed manual is available on the base, front-wheel drive Sport only, a six-speed automatic is the only available tranny on all other trim… -
Review: 2012 Chevy Tahoe
5 Feb 2012 | 10:27 pmI remember it like it was yesterday. I was a teenager, working at a high-end audio store in tony Old Greenwich, Connecticut, and all of a sudden this quiet downtown formally filled with Volvo’s, BMW’s and the like were suddenly replaced with wealthy stay at home mom’s wielding 2-1/2 ton V-8 full-size Chevy Tahoes. Walking across the street on my lunch break for my favorite hamburger had become a risky proposition. But that was twenty years ago. Fast forward to the present, where I tell my friend at GM I am headed to Pennsylvania with my wife and son in tow for an early…
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Jalopnik
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What Automotive Stereotypes Need To Die? [Question Of The Day]
9 Feb 2012 | 8:30 am -
Formula One Will Be A Success In America: Point/Counterpoint [Answers Of The Day]
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 am -
Aston Martin V12 Zagato: Lust Object Realized [Aston Martin V12 Zagato]
9 Feb 2012 | 7:30 amMore » -
Road Rage Ends With Sledgehammer Assault [Road Rage]
9 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amMore » -
Chevy Cruze Wagon, Ford's C-Suite Shuffle, And AMG Ain't Going Diesel [The Morning Shift]
9 Feb 2012 | 6:00 am
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The German Car Blog
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Audi TT: Latest intel about the next generation!
8 Feb 2012 | 10:08 pmHere's the latest intel about the next-generation Audi TT. It will be even hotter!Audi TT: Latest intel about the next generation! was originally published on The German Car Blog on Thursday, February 9, 2012. Related posts: VW Golf: Latest intel about next generation Audi R8: Latest intel about next generation! Audi R8: The very latest intel about the next generation! -
VW up! GTI: Latest rumors!
8 Feb 2012 | 10:06 pmWe found some fresh rumors about the VW up! GTI.VW up! GTI: Latest rumors! was originally published on The German Car Blog on Thursday, February 9, 2012. Related posts: Audi TT RS: Latest intel of US model, 360bhp, around $60K -
VW Beetle TDI: Live impressions from Chicago Motor Show
8 Feb 2012 | 10:04 pmHere are live impressions of the VW Beetle TDI from the Chicago Motor Show. Have a look!VW Beetle TDI: Live impressions from Chicago Motor Show was originally published on The German Car Blog on Thursday, February 9, 2012. Related posts: VW Beetle TDI: Debut at Chicago Motor Show VW Tiguan: Live impressions from Geneva Motor Show VW Beetle R concept: Premiere at LA Motor Show -
Mercedes-Benz C-Class: Winter spy shots!
8 Feb 2012 | 10:02 pmHere are some fresh winter spy shots of the next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class.Mercedes-Benz C-Class: Winter spy shots! was originally published on The German Car Blog on Thursday, February 9, 2012. Related posts: Mercedes-Benz C-Class: Fresh spy shots from winter testing Mercedes-Benz SL: Latest spy shots from winter testing in Sweden! Mercedes-Benz S-Class: Spy shots next to current model and Audi A8! -
Audi R8: The very latest intel about the next generation!
7 Feb 2012 | 10:18 pmThe Audi R8, center of many dreams and here's the latest intel about the next generation.Audi R8: The very latest intel about the next generation! was originally published on The German Car Blog on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. Related posts: Audi R8: Latest intel about next generation! Audi TT: Latest intel about the next generation! Audi A6 Allroad quattro: The latest intel!
