In the News archive
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2009’s 10 most embarrassing marketing & PR blunders
2009 was a rough year for marketers. Budgets were cut, heads rolled, and projects came under tighter scrutiny than ever before. The following awkward, bizarre, and embarrassing blunders show that even with the odds stacked against them, marketers will still dare to dream the impossible dream (and pay the price in the end). Continue reading
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Don’t just sniff the digital exhaust
While listening to Marketplace on my way home last night, I heard an interesting interview with Andreas Weigend, former chief scientist at Amazon.com. In describing what he does, Weigend says, “I study people and the data they create.” Sounds like a pretty modest description for a Ph.D. with his expertise. He didn’t say it, but… Continue reading
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Should online critics be more critical?
A recent Wall Street Journal article (subscription required) made me wonder about the long-term viability of the social Web. The article is about Internet product/service ratings, and how the average grade is about 4.3 stars out of 5.
Many companies have noticed serious grade inflation. Google Inc.’s YouTube says the videos on its site average 4.6 stars… Continue reading -
Visit Denmark for a one-night stand?
When your country is part of a continent that includes France, Italy, Greece, and Spain, you must face stiff competition for tourist dollars, especially in these challenging economic times. So it stands to reason that you would be under pressure to think of innovative ways to market yourself to travelers. But VisitDenmark, the country’s official tourism agency, got a little too innovative with a recent video campaign. Continue reading
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Shock marketing: rolling out the red asphalt carpet
What’s the point of these campaigns? If it’s to start a Facebook conversation on a topic, and your topic involves sex, drugs, or automotive gore, then the path to success arguably begins and ends with capitalizing on that innate human fascination with all things morbid and taboo. Rubbernecking by ad proxy, as it were. Continue reading
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Michelin abandons total secrecy
In our social media, share everything world, secrecy is out and transparency is in. No secret there, right? But even the marketers of the famously hush-hush Michelin guides are striving to find the right balance between communicating to their audience and maintaining their editorial integrity.
The company that doesn’t let its restaurant reviewers participate… Continue reading
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Fantasy football scores big through enthusiasm
Add it to the list of things you like, but don’t need to spend your hard-earned cash on: I’m thinking Kindles, satellite radio, and, of course, fantasy football.
But fantasy football—in which participants draft real players (and their stats) for a fantasy team and then compete against other fantasy teams—has become big business. Every… Continue reading
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The latest offline/online mashups get real
In the early days of the Internet, businesses with a physical location were referred to as “brick-and-mortar,” while those on the Internet had a “Web presence.” Obviously, that distinction doesn’t hold up anymore, but a recent Google campaign and a new iPhone app got me thinking about the convergence of the online and offline worlds… Continue reading
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How to learn marketing from Radiohead
Radiohead, arguably the most influential rock band since the 1997 release of its groundbreaking album, OK Computer, surprised the recording industry once again. According to a New York Times article early last week, the band’s lead singer, Thom York, told a San Francisco literary magazine that it’s abandoning the full-length album format in favor of… Continue reading
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Feelings … the new frontier
Sure, your company has a presence on Facebook and Twitter and is probably using the social media platforms primarily for pushing public relations and marketing messages. While you’re doing all the talking, who’s listening to what your customers are saying? And not just to what they’re saying, but to how they’re saying it.
Searching… Continue reading
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Trevor Traina on Twitter
Trevor Traina previously contributed his thoughts on the importance of online communities to Tendo in an exclusive interview here.
Now, in a contributed article for Forbes, he expands on how forward-thinking companies are putting Twitter to work as a platform for one-to-one communications with their core constituents, cititng Dell and Best Buy as examples… Continue reading
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To brand, or to shill? That is the question
Last I checked, Dr. Eric Schmidt wasn’t jumping on to Google financial briefings to preach about Apple’s latest iPhone firmware update. And last I checked, the same good doctor wasn’t running across the stage at MacWorld–or whatever events Apple’s keynoting now–arm-pumping to the chant of, “Google! Google! Google!”
That’s because of a little thing… Continue reading
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Marketing a board game
The under-12 crowd probably doesn’t spend a lot of time playing Candy Land, but their parents did. And therein lies the genius of tomorrow’s marketing event in San Francisco: turning the crooked part of Lombard Street into a real-life version of the board game. The event celebrates the 60th anniversary of Candy Land, with kids from… Continue reading
