When was the last time unsubscribing to an email made you chuckle? This was sure a first for me. I meant to click ‘view in browser’, but clicked ‘unsubscribe’ by mistake on today’s Groupon email. I’m glad I fat fingered it because I stumbled upon one of those marketing gems that I wish I’d thought of first.
Click here to see what happens when you click unsubscribe. There’s no audio track, but it’s pretty easy to create your own. Read More

Know your target market: Even though you may be tempted to go for a logo design that is pleasing to you, it’s important to remember that your logo is for your customer and not you. Focus on your market segment, design for that demographic, and your brand will be successful. Read More

Ok, so we all know the results from last nights’ Oscars: Sandra Bullock was awarded best actress, Jeff Bridges was best actor and Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win Best Director. But here’s something that may surprise you that I found while doing a quick scan of the news today.
In the 44 films in 2009 that topped the box office for at least one weekend, an Apple logo or device could be seen in at least 18 of them. Read More

When I first moved to Omaha from the Northeast many people asked me if I’d taken leave of my senses.  And maybe at the time I had.  Never having lived outside of the Northeast before I admit to being somewhat sheltered from any knowledge of what it was really like to live anywhere else.
What struck me almost immediately was a variation in weather patterns that had a huge effect on my mood.  When you woke up in Connecticut and it was raining – you were in for a rainy day – or two – or three – as much as a week.  Read More

Granted, when you chose Marie Osmond as your spokesperson you had no way of knowing her son would lose his battle with depression and plummet to his death.  Nevertheless, I would suggest that you pull those “perky” “chirpy” little TV spots and allow her the ability to show the necessary decorum during this difficult time.  For your own sake if not for that of Marie or her fans. These spots are not currently helping your brand. Read More

With the advent of the Internet and social networking sites, we have all become more comfortable and complacent in communicating with clients and colleagues online. What we forget is that for thousands of years before the digital revolution, our primary form of communication has always been face-to-face conversation. It is important for us to step away from our keyboards from time to time and have a real conversation with someone. Read More

I wasn’t the only one unimpressed by Tiger Woods’ public apology. Today (Friday) Gatorade officially dropped Tiger Woods after “unofficially” dropping him in December.  “We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship,” said a Gatorade spokeswoman in an announcement Friday.
AT&T and technology outsourcing and consulting company Accenture have already ended their sponsorships, while others, such as Procter & Gamble Co.’s Gillette and Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer, Read More

A study of affluent donors performed by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, sponsored by Bank of America, reports in 2007, even prior to the economic issues of the past two years, that 38% of donors surveyed stopped supporting one charitable organization that they had previously supported and 26% discontinued support of at least two charities with which they had a prior relationship. The top three reasons donors reported they stopped giving to a particular non-profit were, Read More

It’s tough out there. The competition is fierce. So if you are a small business owner, you need to leverage everything you can to get a leg up. If you are not currently leveraging technology to get the word out about your business, it’s time to start. It doesn’t require a lot of money and doesn’t take a lot of effort to get stared if you take it one step at a time. Here are three steps to get you started. Read More

“To err is human; to forgive divine.” —  Alexander Pope
The fact is, we all make mistakes. So do brands. And we all learn the hard way that people never listen more closely than when you admit failure. While there are lots of examples, recently we’ve seen two big brands own up to problems and mistakes and publicly apologize. In very different ways.
Friday Tiger Woods’ abject, and very rehearsed, press conference/public apology came off as as a bit insincere to me. Read More