Back Seat Marketers

In the last couple of months, there have been a number of newly launched Internet capable products. What is interesting to me is that many of these products are able to connect to you anywhere. But what the ex-Apple people have done with nest.com is offer a product that is more than connected to [...]

When Lance Armstrong signed up with Radio Shack for a new cycling team, it seemed like a match of convenience. Being a cycling fan that puts in the hours watching Versus, I’ve learned that there are only a few marketers that seem to care to advertise to our quirky US niche audience (not to mention [...]

Is it too late for the Detroit 3 to tune up its marketing strategy? In good times and bad, having Unique Selling Propositions (USP’s) are important part of maintaining and growing share. USP’s create a reason to talk to consumers via advertising. In bad times, brand campaigns for the sake of brand recognition die, but [...]

Dilbert is spot on today about writing up a business plan:

A bit of optimism goes a long way in getting a new project off the ground. I guess folks that start businesses and new projects run at a 10 out of 10 on the optimism scale (which is hard in times like these).
The other [...]

At work, we talk about determining user problems, finding innovative solutions that hit top concerns, and finally creating delight in the experience. Enter: Zappos.com, an online retailer for clothes, shoes and other gear.
Today, I got this note from the customer service team after buying some shoes:
Dear Cory,
Good news!
Although you originally ordered Standard (4 to 5 [...]

Sorting through StumbeUpon, I came across AdobeCards.com, impressive little interactive ad. Well done, Adobe, right when I thought no one was doing anything interesting. If only it were a value priced creative license because Photoshop is no cheap date.

Disney has been a master of using limited offers to foster demand. They did it with VHS, they did it again with with DVD’s by using limited offerings “from the vault”. We had to scour the market for a Pixar Toy Story 2 DVD which we paid a hefty premium for because it [...]

Don Dodge points to Comcast’s CES presentation which included a Flight of Concords cameo worth the watch…

Nice job, Comcast, on providing a novel product offering + entertainment (instead of either one or the other, but not both).

Apple revolutionized the cell phone industry, problem is, the company did so with a tether to a carrier that may have been the best starting solution, but lacked vision to the increasing speed of change happening in most industries.
Nokia has lined up a combo one-two-three-four punch in the past month in response:
1. Buys Navteq [...]

Yes, Michelob Ultra, I definitely don’t like the fluffy TV and print spots, but when you go sporting events, there’s nothing better than hitting Dewey Beach, DE in the summer at the Bottle & Cork. Check out this line up (and yes, I did just rip this right out of some sports mag)…

Let’s keep it [...]