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.
Another missed opportunity by Facebook’s advertisers
I'm not an idiot, so I understand Facebook needs to generate revenue somehow. That means ads, and I'm okay with that. "Monetizing" the social media platform is challenging because people are there to interact with their friends, not advertisers. Right now, ads are the only way to generate income from this sort of site. But advertisers need to step it up... this example of a "targeted" ad was a fail.
Read MoreWhy Taster's Choice should fire their ad agency
Driving around the last few weeks I've seen a number of billboards for instant coffee. Starbucks instant coffee. But wait... why do Starbucks' billboards say Taster's Choice? I'm confused. Oh, I see now... they're Taster's Choice billboards talking about Starbucks. And that, in a nutshell, is why Nescafé (Taster's Choice's parent company) should fire their ad agency.
Read MoreEl Burger Furioso
On our recent trip the Yucatan peninsula, I was surprised at the level of corporate American influence in some of the smaller towns. Perhaps that’s naive of me… but I didn’t expect to see a Burger King in Merida, the capital city of the Mexican state of Yucatan. Normally, I’d not be happy to see a Burger King. This time, though, I was. Why? Because this made me...
Read MoreIs this the best or worst PPC ad?
Yesterday I was testing ways to create an ICS file (it’s a calendar file) that can be sent out in an e-mail so recipients can simply click an attachment to add the event to their ICS file-aware calendar application, such as Outlook, iCal, Google calendar, etc. When I popped into Gmail to see how it handled the file, I noticed a strange text ad: I’ve commented on AdWord oddities in...
Read MoreThe best marketing ever comes from somewhere you wouldn’t expect
No, Nova Scotia is not some crazy name for a new frozen-yogurt shop. It's the actual province in Canada (you know the Canadian provinces, don't you? Nova Scotia is the one on the east coast of Canada, with all the fishing? Yeah... I thought you knew it). They've come out with a new smartphone that makes the iPhone look like a Nokia 5160. Or, is it just a crazy, well-planned marketing campaign?
Read MoreContradiction in terms
Recent e-mail from Yahoo!’s search marketing department: Hello Scott, Yahoo! is committed to the success of account 0000000000 and we believe there is an opportunity to provide you with improved performance. Hmmm… if they’re so committed to my success, why couldn’t they be bothered to identify my account with something other than a ten-digit account number (which, for...
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