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May31
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Marketing Blurb discusses in-game marketing from time-to-time, and we have even  speculated that in the future, everyone will have an online avatar. And if you believe Marketing Blurb, it only makes sense that smart companies should market to avatars. Paul Hemp, senior editor at the Harvard Business Review is responsible for this idea—and no—he is not crazy. In fact, in an interview with Advertising Age Digital, Hemp builds a credible case that marketing to avatars would be a great way to advertise to one person, two potential customers. If you are a gamer who maintains an avatar you already understand what this means. If you are puzzled, get with the program—because virtual people still spend real money.
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May31
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Marketing Blurb already alerted readers that Google will likely enter the arena to sell television advertising. And it only makes sense, of course, that Google should prepare a television search engine. According to The Business Online, Google is prepping a...
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Beginning next week, Dodge is sponsoring a promotion road trip for three teams of college students. Each team boards a new Dodge Caliber in the college town and rides to Miami to promote the vehicle and raise money for charity....
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It used to be that fast food restaurants and junk food manufacturers loved to jump about movie tie-in promotions. But concern about childhood obesity is opening the doors for other advertisers to consider movie tie-in deals. Marketing Blurb already alerted...
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In most marketing textbooks, there is still an explanation of GRP, or gross rating points. GRP is usually defined as reach times frequency, and measures the relative market share of mass media properties like television shows. By the GRP model...
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May30
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It seems that auto makers are always looking for some new angle. Here’s one we just learned about from The Wall Street Journal. If you are a hold of a Visa Card from DaimlerChrysler Financial Services, you can collect points...
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Mars Masterfoods, the producer of the ubiquitous Snickers candy bar is teaming up with the Black Eyed Peas for a funky online super hero promotion. Members of the band adopt super hero personas and appear in five webisodes (called digi-sodes)...
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If you read the general business press these days, you might get the impression that advertisers are wildly embracing new media ad buys like video game placements and social network banners. But according to Forrester Research (as reported by Adweek)...
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Let’s say that you’re at teenager, and Mom is footing the cell phone bill. If you go over your minutes, you are screwed. Ah, but help is on the way, forget Mom, and turn instead to your Virgin Mobile Sugar...
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At one time, the Maytag appliance brand was at the top of their game. They produced a quality product which readily fostered brand loyalty and company evangelism. But their quality slipped, and their relationship with consumers soured. And before Maytag...
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May29
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We just heard a very tasty rumor, one we wish we could substantiate. We are not a regular reader of a very popular blog called Blogging Baby, but this headline of theirs did pop up in Topix.net, a news source...
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NY Yankees fans who watch the season via television can grab a longer break at the end of the fifth inning. Yes network, the company that broadcasts the Yankees has just introduced a new 90-second spot at the end of...
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Back in March, Marketing Blurb told you at the Volvo Trucks promotion tied to Disney’s upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We didn’t really understand the connection, and we continued to be perplexed by Volvo cars jumping onto the same...
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May28
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Chances are you don’t think much about jukeboxes these days. Your favorite bar likely plays dribble from some unknown source, and you cannot even locate the speakers. Jukeboxes that spin real records or even CDs are novel antiques these days....
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CVS Pharmacy caught our attention with a circular page for their digital photo services. Mind you, we would never print our photos at CVS, but if you act now, in-store or online, prints are only $ .19. On the same...
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The Sunday paper weighted an extra pound this morning with every merchant and their dog including Memorial Day circulars. Best Buy assumes we want a wide screen TV every week, and will keep featuring their selection until we buy. Most...
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If you love chocolate, more chocolate is better than less chocolate. And if you are reading Marketing Blurb from Canada, maybe you have seen this billboard which features a Cadbury milk chocolate bar bigger than your driveway. Yes, we realized...
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May27
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Grocery shopping is already a hassle, but grocery shopping with children can be a hassle squared. But fortunately, more and more grocers are providing haggard parents with help. Meijer and Wal-Mart, for example, are testing video player enabled TV-carts for...
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Marketing research has changed dramatically over the years. Traditional print or telephone surveys are now online, and observing actual consumer behavior, if possible, is probably your best bet. But if you are working with a highly targeted niche, and seeking...
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My wife wants to pot the geraniums she bought for our garden. But at the garden store, she couldn’t find any potting soil. Okay, so there was in fact potting soil—but only branded gourmet dirt she explained to me. There...
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Now you might wonder why Marketing Blurb is writing about the search for Jimmy Hoffa. Well—this is not really a post about Hoffa, but rather about cup cakes. It seems that an enterprising bakery in Milford Township near the search...
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If you try to avoid shopping at the mall these days, you are not alone. In most regions of the country, mall shopping traffic is down. This trend started before high gasoline prices, and will likely continue until mall management...
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May26
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Most of country has experienced a mild Spring this year. But yesterday and today in the Ohio Valley, the weather was plain hot. So our thoughts turned to an ice cream cone. But lo—we had no cones! Fortunately, Ben and...
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While Superman is saving the world this summer, Marketing Blurb will be spending another day at the keyboard saving consumers from marketing. But Superman’s task is certainly more exciting that ours, so we will tell you that Pepsi is sponsoring...
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We already told you that McDonald’s has gone uptown with their premium brewed coffee. And we would hate to waste the brew on a life-threatening McGriddle Breakfast Sandwich. Instead, we would prefer a scone with our coffee. And Ronald is...
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When we think of Sara Lee, we think cake. This is a problem for a diversified company that also sells shoe polish, bras and underwear. And as such, it makes sense that Sara Lee decided to spin off their $...
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It has been almost four years ago now that we talked about metrosexuals to our marketing students. The term was fresh back then (and trendier, too) and we though it would prove useful in a discussion of psychographics and product...
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May25
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We love to share the story of Dell Computer with our marketing students. Dell turned the retail PC industry on its ear with their made to order direct to consumer business. But expanding into consumer electronics has taken a toll...
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Now you might think that real men eat beef, but the answer is only maybe. As it turns out, men over 45 years old are more likely to have grown up with stay at home mothers who prepared dinner. These...
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The Kaiser Family Foundation just released a report on children’s media habits, and we are afraid, very afraid. Commenting on the report, Advertising Age says: “Kaiser found that 43% of children under 2 watch TV every day and 18% of...
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Most everyone is familiar with Snapple, the product line of teas and juice drinks marketed by Cadbury Schweppes. And if you live in Boston, you are likely to hear more about these beverages. We learned from The New York Times...
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Marketing Blurb does not own a firearm. We believe our two killer attack dogs are sufficient protection from occasional burglars. For more dangerous situations, say an invasion by a foreign army, we are not worried either, because our neighbor is...
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May24
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Marketing Blurb used to play poker in college, before the game made the big leagues. We were only a so-so player, so fortunately, we did not bet our tuition and we retired before graduation. But these days, Poker is a spectator sport....
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You know the Prestone antifreeze folks. They do not spend much money on advertising, but then again, there are few brands names in this category anyway. But Prestone has other products as well, including Bug Wash, a solution for removing...
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Marketing Blurb can’t stay on top of the pop music scene, so we are not sure whether or not we should be embarrassed we have never heard of the female music group known as the Pussycats Dolls. But the group...
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We have already told readers that the upcoming World Cup Soccer Tournament is huge. And now we can tell you just how huge. In the UK, McDonald’s is celebrating the event with a limited edition World Cup Burger. This burger...
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Marketing Blurb does not go to the movies. We stopped attending years ago for a number of reasons. First, movie theatre audiences are loud and rude. Next, movie theatres run commercials, and we don’t want to see those. Finally, the...
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May23
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If you are Federated Department stores, you want to participate in the consumer electronics gold rush, but at the same time, you don’t want to loose you shirt in a category where you have little experience. But hey—Macy’s found a...
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Marketing Blurb does not ask much from our shoes. We expect them to fit properly, and feel comfortable when we walk. We expect our athletic shoes to provide comfort and support when we use the treadmill. We never ask our...
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Marketing Blurb hates to sound self-righteous, but we believe that Pop-Tarts sponsoring the American Idols Live Tour is a promo marriage made in heaven. We believe this because those consumers likely to eat Pop-Tarts are the same people with the IQ necessary to watch...
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Marketing Blurb loves print advertising more than the next pundit. We believe that reading print copy is more engaging that passively drooling over a mindless television commercial. But maybe we are wrong. For years, magazines have sold print media buyers...
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Most sports fans consider soccer an also-ran sport in the US. But world-wide, soccer makes NFL football seem like a sandlot pick-up game. The World Cup Soccer Tournament begins next month, and advertisers consider this serious business. Adidas is spending...
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May22
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Marketing Blurb is obviously behind the times when it comes to gaming. We just reported that Cadillac product placements will appear on the Microsoft Xbox360 online gaming channel. But what we didn’t know is that the drivers are 33 years...
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Marketing Blurb has commented on numerous occasions, that videogames are a promising medium for advertisers. Games are more interactive than television, and the editorial consequences of product placement are more subtle, flexible, and credible. Cadillac believes this as well, and...
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Every night on the evening news, we hear someone reminding us that Hurricane season begins next week. Thankfully, we do not live in a hurricane zone, and tornadoes are scary enough. But we can say we are pleased that MasterCard...
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The folks at Nielsen Media Research just altered readers of The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required) than Chinese consumers boosted their first quarter spending 25% over last year. Spending associated with the February handoff of the upcoming Winter Olympic...
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There are a number of advertising and television industry pundits who boldly claim that no one is watching commercials anymore. Marketing Blurb believes people are watching, but just not paying attention. But no matter, because a new network called CW...
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May21
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Marketing Blurb does not visit the bank very often. We manage our financial affairs online. (We used to take our dogs to the drive through window, because a spunky 20-something would always give us dog treats with our deposit receipt.)...
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Tipped inside our new issue of Wired magazine is a mini catalog for the Wired Gadget Lab. The cover promises the coolest and weirdest gizmos in the universe. But the real purpose of the catalog is to serve as a...
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Marketing Blurb would like to recognize advertising agency GSW, one of our Columbus neighbors, for winning the Roche Holdings creative business for Tamiflu. Tamiflu is a flu-prevention drug. But more importantly, Tamiflu is likely the government’s best response to a possible...
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If there is one thing Marketing Blurb deems worse than television, it is reality television. So we have not paid much attention to the pending Gold Rush reality show. But since the show has an online component, we might as...
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We don’t talk about television commercials often, because we believe there are more productive ways to spend an advertising budget. But it seems that savvy companies are taking commercials, posting them online, and encouraging that product enthusiasts pass them along....
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May20
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You’ve heard Subway’s imperative slogan to eat fresh, and if you frequent the chain, you might have ordered their Grilled Chicken Breast and Baby Spinach Salad. But we just learned from the June issue of Fast Company, that their grilled...
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When we teach marketing, our students quickly learn that television advertising (except for direct response TV) is generally a waste of money. Sorry about the broad brush strokes here. We tell students instead that point-of-sale marketing and sampling is far...
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If you are old enough to remember The Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom show on television, you are probably too old to read this blog. But that aside, Mutual of Omaha has decided to resuscitate the program from the 1960s...
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Marketing Blurb is not a movie critic. This is a good thing, because haven’t set foot inside a movie theatre in five years, and you really don’t know care what we think. So we are going to discuss The Da...
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Marketing Blurb readers are already familiar with VocalPoint, the women’s buzz marketing network established by Procter & Gamble. The network provides women with product samples, a newsletter and coupons to help buzz new products in their circle of friends. Marketing...
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May19
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Marketing Blurb does not drink Sprite (or any other soft drink for that matter,) but we always liked their “Obey your thirst” tagline. We tell our marketing students this is a fine example of a convincing and easy to understand...
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Pabst Blue Ribbon is another of those domestic beers too easy to forget. But it seems that a new generation of young urban professionals has rediscovered the brand, and they love the cheap—ahem—inexpensive brew. According to Eric Shepard, executive editor...
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The advertising agency for the Mini Cooper believes they are very clever. And yes, their print work is fun and effective (and reminiscent of the original Think Small campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle.) Our Fast Company magazine arrived in the...
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Unless you are a European traveler, you might not have heard of Eurostar, the transportation consortium that runs the trains under the English Channel. Well, Eurostar wants to boost their recognition with American travels, and as such, has decided to...
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Back in February, we told you how Sports Illustrated was morphing their famed annual swimsuit issue into a multimedia extravaganza. But guys, if you will read another post for a minute, we need to talk to our female readers. According...
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May18
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Every now and then, you are certain to read a survey that office workers use the Internet for personal surfing during office hours. This started years ago, before broadband connections were commonplace at home. In a recent such survey by...
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When people think consumer electronics, Radio Shack is rarely the first retailers that comes to mind. But when your 30 year old Sony amplifier does not have enough inputs jacks to accommodate a second-hand PlayStation, you know that Radio Shack...
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Those of you who follow the financial news must know that Burger King completed the IPO, and traded today on the NYSE. And yes, despite the scary King, they actually closed up about a dollar. We are not a financial...
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Back in March, Marketing Blurb told you about Hershey’s effort to use buzz marketing for Take 5, the Greatest Candy Bar Ever. Well, the campaign is now underway, and we urge you to visit their website to see the execution....
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If you are a company marketing to teens, you are probably frustrated by their fickle taste, lack of brand loyalty, and screwy media consumption habits. Other than that, you love teens, and which they would buy your product. Teens spent...
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May17
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If you think Desperate Housewives is steamy, get ready for Footballer Wive$ from BBC America. This a UK import about to hit US television screens next month. According to a BBC America Press Release, US critics are primed: “Footballers Wive$...
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Sometimes we feel tired and weary, sick of trying and racked with pain. But fortunately, we discovered how to escape, and the secred it Nestle’s PowerBar Pria. Yes, the bar is targeted to women, but we figure if we eat...
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We talk about product placement and branded entertainment often, because traditional television advertising is on the wane. But placing branded entertainment on top television shows is a time-consuming pain without rules, regulations and standards. (Think behind the scenes smoozing instead.)...
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According to Ad Age, (free registration required) 20 state attorney generals are urging the Federal Trade Commission to tighten advertising regulations for alcoholic beverages. At issue is limiting alcohol advertising to media in which only 15% of the audience is...
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We knew this had to happen. Popular dry cat food marketer Meow Mix is creating a reality TV show for cats. Here’s the deal. Ten felines, called cat-testants, will be selected from shelters across the country, and sent to New...
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May16
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USA Today reminds us that movie studio normally depend upon television advertising to pitch new movies. But as Marketing Blurb always cautions advertisers--television (unless it is direct response television) is a so-so branding medium, and a zero sales medium. Movie...
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Marketing Blurb likes to believe the best way to advertise food is product sampling. When product sampling is not practical, we urge companies to consider advertising which emphasizes taste. But, most packaged foods companies would just as soon sponsor a...
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Now you might think that a bar soap that is so pure that it floats would be protected by the US Constitution, an Act of Congress, or some other kind of proclamation, but you would be wrong, naturally. Accordin |
