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Dec 01 2008

Entries Tagged as 'Marketing'

Monty Python: Legalize it!

November 20th, 2008 : Earned Media · Marketing · Social Media · Video · WoM

A great sales negotiating tool is to identify objections early and address them up front - take them off the table.  How to get qaulity Monty Python content online has not been the easiest thing to do - not in a legal manner.  All that has changed.

Rather than sue those that put their content on YouTube (at various quality levels), they have created a YouTube Monty Python channel. And they are putting their content out there and as you will see in the video, asking for their audience ot go and buy their content. Taking the objectionable behaviour off the table, Monty Python gets it.  They get Social Media.  They get consumer Behavior.  And I hope they get monetary rewards.

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

Will they sell more?  Who knows!

Are they reaching new audiences - Absolutely.

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Ford Mustang 2010 Competition

November 8th, 2008 : Commercials · Experience · Marketing · Social Media · Strategy · Viral Videos · WoM

Scott Monty, my former crayon colleague, is now head of Social Media at Ford.  They have a gem of a site about the Ford Mustang. One of my favorite videos was Father’s Day.  Gotta admit, I shed a tear :-).  Great piece.

Loved the approach for introducing the 2010 Mustang.  Besides the leaks of images and info and other approaches, Ford did the following here:

1. They setup as this tribute site to the Mustang

2. Their passionate Mustang fans submitted stories and videos

3. they ran a competition with a phenomenal prize - the 2010 Mustang

4. The public voted for the winner

5. They had a written and a video section so ludites and technos could enter

6. The stories and videos are entertaining, funny, touching.

7. They can be easily shared

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Social Media Collaboration Age of Conversation 2 Benefits Charity

October 29th, 2008 : Blogging · Marketing · Social Media · WoM

Today marks the launch of Age of Conversation 2, a collaboration of 237 marketing professionals who blog in the U.S. and 15 other countries.  The submissions are categorized into 5 subjects all referencing the role of  conversation in marketing today.

The brainchild of bloggers Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, took off last year after they  invited other marketing professionals to commit to writing essays about conversation.  They had 103 contributors in seven days and raised over $15,000 for Variety, the international children’s charity.

This time around, they have 237 authors - 236 plus Moi.  The new book is now available in three formats – an e-book, softcover and hardcover.  All proceeds will again be donated to Variety, the international children’s charity.

Pricing for The Age of Conversation 2 is:

  • e-book: US$12.50  ($10.00 going to charity)
  • paperback book: US$19.95 ($8.02 to charity)

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Age of Conversation 2 Podcast Discussion with David Armano, Gary Cohen and Jay Ehret

October 23rd, 2008 : Blogging · Marketing · Social Media

Attached is a link to The Age of Conversation Podcast Episode 3 hosted by Jay Ehret with myself and David Armano.  David and I are 2 of 237 authors in the book each with a one page chapter.  The topic we both chose out of a number of topics was “The Accidental Marketer”.

I have followed David since I started reading social media blogs and am a huge fan of his work.  David writes at Logic+Emotion.  I came upon Jay’s Small Businees Marketing blog a few months ago and enjoy his practical advice, commentary and lessons. Check them out if you are not yet subscribing.

It was a real kick to chat with David and Jay and we had a great time. Listen to the Podcast or get it here: Age of Conversation Podcast: Episode 3 - The Accidental Marketer Starring David Armano and Gary Cohen

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Red…Bull, Red…Bull, RedBull and a great Father-Son Experience

October 21st, 2008 : Commercials · Experience · Marketing

How would you like to have 20,000 fans screaming your product’s name multiple times, supported by your name plastered all over the stadium and on the players shirts and on the T-Shirts handed out at the game, and having your name on every media channel reporting on the game?  Sounds like a sponsor’s dream opportunity.

That is exactly what happened on Saturday night at the NY RedBulls soccer game at Giants Stadium as the one side of the Stadium screamed out:  RED…. and the other side of the stadium responded …BULLS!.

Red….. Bulls   Red…… Bulls   Red…….. Bulls and on and on it went.

“This is fun Dad” said my 7 year old between screams of  “BULLS!”.  “I think we are shouting louder than the other side.  Red…. BULLS!  Red… BULLS!”

Me: (After the umpteenth BULLS! in my ear): “I get it - you don’t have to shout.”

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Meet At The Apartment

October 8th, 2008 : Experience · Marketing · Service

No, that is not spy speak or code to my sleepers!  Mark and Sara Schiller who run Electric Artists the strategic branding and marketing shop in NY, have opened a cool new meeting place in NY called “Meet At The Apartment”.

With workplaces becoming more casual and in some cases disappearing in favor of remote home and virtual options, Conference rooms are at a premium.  Enter Meet At the Apartment.

Hat tip to MediaBistro’s Agency Spy.

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Ads and Movie Trailers on TV

September 25th, 2008 : Commercials · Marketing · ROI

I like movies.  I like golf.  I like entertainment.  And I like the marketing.  What with the Ryder Cup and a bunch of shows starting up, the TV has been on in our house a lot more in recent days.  And as I watched the new shows and the inevitable “commercial breaks” came by, I noticed I did not disengage as quickly when a movie trailer was shown as I did when an ad was aired.  Hmmm??

As movies are an interest of mine, I understood my waiting to see what was coming.  As I started to think about it, I was a little stunned.  I knew it was a trailer because it was screened in wide screen - with the black space at the top and bottom of the screen.  So as a person who likes movies, I was primed and I took the bait. Well the trailer ended and you know what? The very next ad was shown in wide screen as well and and I stayed engaged until I realised it was not a movie trailer and it was definitely not a product I had the remotest interest in.

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Caveat Emptor / Buyer Beware

June 16th, 2008 : Earned Media · Marketing · Social Media · Web Experience · Websites

The headline in the New York Times on Urban Baby’s site redo says “Don’t mess with mom’s chat”. It seems that most of the changes they made left the hardcore devotees furious so they organized a boycott of the site (seems the boycott was not wildly successful). The main complaint and mistake seems to be that the changes appear to have been done with no input from the audience.

Question: What review was done? With whom? How? On the Urban Baby site it says that they posted messages “on the site front door and in newsletters”. Just goes to show how many of the devoted read these. So if a tree falls in the woods… will anyone hear it? In a community environment, not only do they hear it, they find a way to broadcast it - especially if they were not a part of the process.

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It takes a 9 year old - Tiger Woods and Tag Heuer

May 29th, 2008 : Commercials · Life · Marketing

Maybe my mind does not think this way - but my 9 year old son got it after seeing this photo on a TAG HEUER billboard countless times. He looked at it as we drove past and laughing asked me: “Is that how Tiger now spells his name?”

I am sure that he is in the target market!

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Back-end rules. Change & experimentation in the movie biz.

April 22nd, 2008 : Finance · Marketing · ROI · movies

Last week the NY Times ran an article Bridging the Gap - the Sequel about the failed efforts of Hollywood & Silicon Valley to bridge the cultural divide. It highlighted the movie business and its historical (hysterical?) requirements for cash and not equity, which reminds me of a few movie ventures I have been involved with over the last few months.

“Last year (Daniel Scheinman, a senior vice president atCisco Systems) met with an affluent film producer who marveled at the extraordinary riches afforded to Google executives. Mr. Scheinman told him that most got wealthy accepting stock options instead of million-dollar salaries. When Mr. Scheinman asked whether the producer would ever accept equity instead of cash if they worked together, the moviemaker sniffed.

“I fly a G4,” he told Mr. Scheinman, referring to the Gulfstream jet he owned. “How far do you think my G4 will go on stock options? I need cash.””

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