Digital and direct marketing powerhouse, Digitas, recently conducted a study of online behavior. Marianne Oglo posted some of the findings on Digital Hive, the blog from the agency's brand planning department. One of the more polarizing observations gleaned from our mini-ethnographies involves consumers perceptions of blogs. We witnessed a pervasive “blogs are for liberals” attitude among consumers residing in …
Hecho En Mexico
Cultural anthropologist, Grant McCracken, on Hispanic American's preference for Coca-Cola made in Mexico: You might think that The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) would embrace this development. After all, Classic sales are down %10 (since 2000) and the TCCC's share of the industry is at an eight-year low. Consumers are so passionate about "hecho en Mexico" Coke that they are prepared to pay a premium, as much as $.25 a …
Myrtle Vegas Wants To Be Your Beach
According to The Sun News, high energy prices and economic uncertainties - combined with fewer state marketing dollars for the Grand Strand - present the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce with significant challenges for the 2006 summer vacation season. The chamber, the area's main tourism promoter, is trying to grow the number of visitors from 14 million to 20 million. Perhaps a new branding campaign--the first …
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Mmmmmm…Shrimp
Over the years, I've developed a taste for shrimp. Seems I'm not alone. Accourding to this article in Slate, "the average American ate 4.2 pounds of the curved critters in 2004, up from 2.2 pounds in 1990." It's a marketing phenomenon as well as a biological and economic one. The price of shrimp has fallen in the last 20 years because researchers have found a way to raise shrimp in controlled conditions on farms. …
Goodbye, Literary Industrial Complex
MarketingVOX, via the Boston Globe: Boston-based Gather.com, set to receive $6 million funding this week, intends to become an eBay of sorts for bloggers, other writers and their readers—with a business model that recruits writers by offering them a share of online advertising revenue, writes the Boston Globe. The most popular writers would eventually earn hefty paychecks, according to Gather founder Tom Gerace. The …
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Founding Father’s 300th Birthday Presents PR Opportunity
My alma mater is running a full page ad in today's New York Times to celebrate the 300th birthday of Ben Franklin. Dennis Trotter, F&M's Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing, said, "This ad is just the beginning of an aggressive marketing campaign to make sure that people know about Franklin & Marshall College.” Modernista! created the ad. …
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The Absolute Redirect
USA TODAY: After 25 years and 1,500 versions of print ads built around the shape of its bottle, Absolut vodka is shelving the campaign that made it famous. Absolut will spend $20 million on a new effort that includes its first TV ads as the brand battles slower growth and tougher competition for vodkas. "We're introducing the brand to a new generation of vodka drinkers," says Tim Murphy, brand director. "Those in …
This Is A Web Site
I was pleased to read Simon Dumenco's piece on blogging in Ad Age today. He says there's no such thing as a blog. It occurred to me that there is no such thing as blogging. There is no such thing as a blogger. Blogging is just writing -- writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology. Even though I tend to first use Microsoft Word on the way to being published, I am not, say, a Worder or …
