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Truth(iness) In Advertising

Marketing, Strategy

I had a poetry professor tell me once “don’t tell. Show.” We were supposed to write a poem about the color blue. I picked a trip to the California coast. She wanted me to show what that smelled like, felt like, looked like, sounded like. She...

Facebook Doesn’t Get It

Geek, Marketing, Strategy

Facebook has begun the The Inevitable Letdown. It was innovative. It was cool. It was fun. But Zuckerberg is so damned paranoid that some little startup is going to deflate his behemoth, that he’s clearly created a reactive culture. They are focusing on...
How To Be An Awesome Blogger In 3 Easy Steps

How To Be An Awesome Blogger In 3 Easy Steps

Geek, Marketing

1. Break a complex subject into 2. Three arbitrary & meaningless steps 3. Title your post “How To [insert complex subject] In 3 Easy Steps” 4. Always include a fourth “bonus” step. E.g.: Profit! Eat a donut! or (my fave) Skip to Ma Lou My...
I’m Sick of Clever

I’m Sick of Clever

Marketing

Rick Liebling just wrote an interesting piece about bringing real storytelling back to advertising. I’ve been thinking along the same lines. So many ads try to be clever– and many succeed. But I’m sick of clever. Pardon me for a sec while I mix...
How To Do A Price Increase

How To Do A Price Increase

Marketing

Netfilx just raised their prices by 11%, and I’m glad they did. I had been subscribing to the 1 DVD at a time, Unlimited Streaming plan for $8.99 a month. I’ve also never used the DVD part of the service– streaming-only (via Boxee and the Netflix...

2 Strategies To Exploit Second-Order Effects

Marketing

I predict failure (compared to revenue from previous versions): Rock Band 3 uses “real” guitar and keyboard. Guitar Hero worked because it was just hard enough to appeal to everyone who always wished they’d learned guitar, as well as all the people...