January 1, 2008
The Players
Viral but Virtuous
For two years now, Internet celebrity Matt Harding has been dancing around the world: rocking in Rwanda, shimmying in the Shetland Islands and blogging...
Power Chords
When battery maker Energizer wanted to add a community element to the marketing for its Energi to Go line of portable power devices (think mobile chargers...
Slap Shot
The National Hockey League is running a power play of new promotional and media moves to stir fan interest in the competitive U.S. pro sports marketplace....
Tuning In
Borders has begun entertaining customers in stores with cooking demonstrations and a book club series, all on Borders TV. Borders is not the only retailer...
Auto Play
Some car shoppers kick tires and check trunk space. Potential buyers of Toyota's Scion can also get a sense of what it would be like to dance on the dashboard...
Trekkies Unite
Going into a dimension where no other interactive multimedia exhibit has gone before, Star Trek The Tour embarks on a five-year excursion around the U.S....
Special Section: Retail
On the Nose
The way to a man's heart may be through his stomach. But for Yankee Candle, the way to a shopper's wallet is through the nose. The retailer which has...
Stop and Shop
If consumers are having an easier time finding that loaf of bread or catching a sale on a favorite snack, there's a reason. It's all part of a growing...
Get in here!
If you want to generate buzz, give people something to talk about. That's what Lane Bryant is doing with its first-ever viral campaign for the Right Fit...
Still Kicking
Those 65 and older feel that marketers talk down to them and don't understand their needs. Baby boomers those born between 1946 and 1964 do not want to...
Cover Story
Cyber Stumping
In case you missed it, something very interesting happened last month at Barack Obama's rally in Columbia, SC. A viral marketing event broke out. The...
Features
Party Hearty
Laptops usually aren't seen as fashion statements. But they were at an event hosted last year by Dell Computer. Dell wanted to showcase the new color...
Paper Trail
Here's news that hasn't hit the wires: Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, Huggies, Viva and other brands, no longer thinks of television...
Ambush Marketing
Sponsorship has grown up. It's multi-faceted. It's quantifiable. And it's widely acknowledged to be at the forefront of modern marketing. It is not just...
Tactics
Back-End Foundation
Simply Put, the fulfillment industry is comprised of companies that provide services such as receiving, warehousing, repackaging and sending requested...
Commentary
Laughing All the Way to the Bank
When I was a kid in the 1960s, I used to gaze at the Wheaties cereal box and visualize in my head that it was me instead of Mickey Mantle depicted in...
Warning: School Zone
Last month a lone Florida woman gave McDonald's a migraine over her 9-year-old daughter's report card. It was adorned with a promotion promising a free...
10 Ideas for 2008
Optimistic by nature, we marketers tend to rally behind the next big thing faster than you can say sub-prime mortgage. In 2008, marketers should avoid...
Letters
Letters to the editor
A gift enterprise, which is a scheme under which goods are sold for their market value but by way of inducement where each purchaser is given a chance to win a present or prize, is a lottery where the essential elements of a lottery are present. The essential elements are consideration (buying furniture), chance (Red Sox win) and prize (rebates)....
Promoland
File Under Humor
Perhaps the best published satire these days is found in the free tabloid newspaper The Onion, which weekly looks at life's absurdities firmly tongue...
Something To Chew On
The history of American celebrity candy bars is short and not too sweet. The '70s was the boom and bust era for celebrity sugar, including the (Lee Majors)...
America's Sweepstakes King
Steve Ledoux, a 47-year-old realtor from California, has won more than 500 sweepstakes and contests since the 1990s. He has walked away with a dozen trips,...
