Marketing
With advertising encroaching into more and more facets of our lives, the topic of marketing is ever widening. From print ads to social media “fans,” marketing is an intriguing subject.
Three marketing slogans that (really) don’t suck
"Where's the beef" might be the champion of product slogans from the 80s. And while the examples I found recently may not match that masterful three-word winner, they are good examples of marketing slogans that don't suck. At all.
Read MoreCross-posts: Two blog entries about the UW’s academic calendar web service
What's the best part of doing good work at a university? Why, writing about it of course! I recently launched a web service (of sorts) for the University of Washington's academic calendar. Part of that launch was getting the word out to students and the campus community, so I wrote posts on two blogs. One for a technical audience that discussed the features of and some drawbacks to the service; the other for the wider University of Washington audience that focused on the academic calendar web service's benefit to students. Read both posts here.
Read MoreGood marketing or .org abuse?
The first thing that comes to mind when I hear "Hot Pockets" is, of course, Jim Gaffigan's hilarious stand-up bit. So I was intrigued by the use of a .org domain in an AdSense ad for Hot Pockets. Clicking brought me to an animated marketing site for a fictional movement to "eat freely," by which they mean the ability to eat nasty meat stuffed inside a Pop Tart without having to be bothered by inconveniences like chairs and cutlery. Is this what the venerable .org domain has come to?
Read MoreInescapable advertising
Ads are nothing new, from Burma Shave billboards to American Idol judges swilling Coke and peddling Fords. I was recently exposed to two new ways advertisers have discovered to annoy the consumer while traveling: seat-tray advertisements and big screens near the baggage carousel. Will it ever end?
Read MoreDell's marketing e-mail FAIL
Recently I purchased a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 with the sole purpose of creating a “Hackintosh,” a computer running Apple’s OS X operating system on non-Apple hardware. I could (and may) write an entire post on that subject, mostly about how (sort of) fun it is and that a 9″ netbook keyboard is this close to unusable. Instead I’m going to illustrate a perfect example of...
Read MoreAn open letter to the yellow pages
To whom it may concern: I'm writing today to offer a generous thank you for the years of faithful service you've provided by delivering to my home--unbidden--thick piles of bound, yellow paper. Though appreciated, I politely request that you stop. Please... stop already. I don't need any more doorstops, fire-starting material, or props. That, and I've heard of the Internet.
Read MoreNow Reading
Planned books:
None
Current books:
The Player of Games (Culture) by Iain M. Banks
Recent books:
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
- House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
- The Santaroga Barrier by Frank Herbert
- Stardust by Neil Gaiman