What the hell is this? We work ourselves to the bone to build premium brands and consumers don't care--all they want is a good deal? What a nightmare. At the Grove Liquor Store in Montclair, N.J., the manager Anthony Singh said bottles of Grey Goose, which sell for $36.99, are gathering dust. The big sellers, he said, are Majorska and Laird's. They sell for $9.49 and $7.99 a bottle, compared with $10.99 for …
Cute, But Not User Friendly
According to Ad Age, big brands may start to compete for vanity domain extensions. For instance, Pepsi and Coca-Cola might vie for .soda or .pop; Procter & Gamble and Unilever could vie for .laundry or .soap; and McDonald's and Wendy's could bid on .burger or .fries. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the nonprofit agency that oversees the distribution and policy of domain names, would …
Yet Another Facebook Story: 566% More Time Spent
Brian Morrissey of Adweek has courteously summarized a new 16-page report from Nielsen about how people use the Internet. I'd say this graphic pretty much captures the major media trend of the moment: Morrissey adds: The search for a workable ad model is even more urgent now that social media has broken out of the youth demographic, Nielsen found. For example, Facebook's greatest growth has come from 35-49 …
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Pyper Paul + Kenney Wins 11% More Tampa Addys This Year
Ever since they hauled in 127 Tampa Addys back in 2006, I've been keeping track of Tampa agency Pyper Paul + Kenney's metallurgic sweepage. This year, I'm happy to report an uptick in ADDY wins as compared to last year. From the Tampa Bay Business Journal: Pyper Paul + Kenney won 62 Addys, including four "Best of Bay" awards, in the recently completed district competition through the Tampa Bay Advertising …
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The Internet Is A World, But It’s Not The World
Hugh MacLeod pulled a Jason Calacanis and started an email newsletter (something my friend Tom Asacker advised me to do a few months ago). I've received a couple editions now, one today. In today's edition, Hugh mentions that his time in the ad biz prepared him well for the steps he would eventually take toward an even more creative enterprise wholly his own. He also touches on why this thing called the Internet has …
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Local Content for a Global Audience
Mike Elgan of The Raw Feed, writing in Computer World, gives props to iHeart Radio, a free iTunes application from Clear Channel. I downloaded the app and it's pretty slick. But since KBCO/Boulder is the only Clear Channel station that I care about, it's not an app I'll use over and over like Pandora. However, I'm still excited by the functionality because I would love to tune in to non-commercial community radio on …
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A Textbook “Marketing As Service” Example
SPAR, founded in the Netherlands in 1932, is the world's largest international food retail chain with nearly 16,000 stores in 34 countries. According to JWT's AnxietyIndex*, SPAR supermarkets in Prague have launched a special online tool to help consumers deal with the economic crisis. Consumers can print a new discount shopping voucher every day. They can also ask online consultants from the University of Economics …
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Big Media Can’t Afford to Report Community News, But They’ll Help You Do It
The New York Times recently launched two new hyperlocal blogs. They're both called "The Local." One covers the Fort Green and Clinton Hill neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the other one covers Maplewood, Millburn and South Orange in New Jersey. In an introductory post on the Brooklyn blog, Times reporter Andy Newman says, "there's a growing consensus in the media world that one way that newspapers can sustain …
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