The Big Fat Marketing Blog

Google Turns AdMob Boss

Brian Quinton — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:01:52 +0000

So I was sitting at my desk today, gulping cold coffee and working on an item for an end-of-year/ looking-ahead feature in our upcoming issue of Chief Marketer magazine about Google’s plans to become King of All Monetizable Media. I had just written that Google’s interest in mobile marketing extends beyond search to delivering display ads of all kinds, when the news came over the wire that the company will purchase mobile ad network AdMob for $750 million in stock, regulators willing.

Hey, I should be grateful. Companies usually wait to announce acquisitions like that until print magazines have been in the mail for 24 hours. Those of us who still have print deadlines can sometimes get paranoid about brands’ uneering ability to blow our news angles once too late to do anything about it.) (more…)

Covering Our Butts

Melissa Dowling — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:01:05 +0000

One of Multichannel Merchant’s most-read stories, at least according to the “Most popular articles” box on our Website, is The 10 BEST Catalog Covers. It’s a compelling headline and a great article. There’s only one problem: It’s from June 1999.

What’s the problem with that? Well, aside from the fact that there’s been a decade of great catalog covers since the article ran, it was published before we were putting images on our Website. And because we don’t have the high-res art available any more, the article appears without pictures of the covers. (more…)

Battle of The Sexes: Trivial Pursuit

Grant Johnson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:32:57 +0000

So who’s noggin’s are filled with more useless knowledge? Trivial Pursuit wants to know and wants you to join in. Click this link.

Right now the guys are winning. The promotion is designed to promote the game online.

Dream Comes True for Home Depot’s Michael Cooper

Tim Parry — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:29:27 +0000

Home Depot’s vice president of specialty channels, Michael Cooper, had a light-hearted moment a few months ago at e-Tail in Baltimore.

In talking about the challenges the home improvement retailer had experienced trying to become a multichannel retailer, Cooper said this about Home Depot’s infrastructure:

“We’re going to come into the ‘90s, allow [online] returns in the stores, and allow store gift cards to be used as tender online,” Cooper said lightheartedly before he explained why the project is going to take some time.

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A Bill? No Thanks, Kraft

Beth Negus — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:21:40 +0000

Almost a year ago to this day, I blogged about my dismay that Kraft was turning its free Food and Family magazine into an online only venture.

I was elated a few months later to see the print magazine pop up in my mailbox again. Sure, the Web is grand, but the magazine was great to browse and I always made at least one recipe from each issue (and bought the Kraft products needed to make it).

A couple of days ago, the Holiday 09 arrived…with an invoice. An invoice for a free magazine? Hmmm…

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Starbucks Skinnies Its Rewards Choices

Brian Quinton — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:55:37 +0000

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote in this blog that I didn’t think Starbucks’ then-new Gold loyalty program offerred enough in the way of benefits beyond the basic rewards card. As I pointed out at the time, while a $25 annual fee got you the Gold card and a 10% discount on everything, I didn’t think the great mass of users would find those price savings worth the pretty hefty up-front fee. Even those who know they’ll spend that much on Starbucks coffee in a month or two, I thought, would balk at laying down $25 bills and then amortizing it at 10% a double-shot.

Well, paint me blue and call me Karnak, because 12 months later, Starbucks have come around to my way of thinking. Now if I can just persuade other holdouts to heed my advice, from the new management of the Cubs to the folks who invent flavors for Ben & Jerry’s, this would be a much better world. (more…)

GM and its Direct Marketing Ways

Grant Johnson — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:17:00 +0000

It seems like GM is finally understanding the power of incorporating long-used, proven tactics of direct marketing in its advertising. While on a business trip to Detroit this past week, I saw a story that reported that GM’s 60-day, try it before you buy it money back guarantee is working so well that they are extending it into the first part of 2010.

As a direct marketer, you already know the drill: The stronger, more convincing your guarantee is, the less you have to use it. The story also reported that due to the promotion, year-over-year sales have increased for the first time in many moon cycles.

It’s about time that general advertisers recognize the power of direct. Let’s see if it’s short lived or a long overdue shift in thinking.

Two Birthdays and a Funeral, with a Happy Ending

Brian Quinton — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:20:49 +0000

We all like having our birthdays associated with a famous or successful name. Even those of us who think astrology is the bunk suspect that maybe, just maybe, proximity on the calendar means that we’ll inherit some of those admirable qualities.

I’ve never felt particularly fortunate in the people who share my birthday, which came recently. I’ve got friends and relations whose natal days coincide with Abraham Lincoln, Golda Meir and Sandy Koufax. I’m co-birthed with Johnny Carson, Weird Al Yankovic and Gummo Marx—you know, the painfully unfunny brother. Not the kind of greatness you might hope for. (At that, I definitely fared better than one of my sisters, who shares a birthday with a Mr. A. Hitler.)

So I was very pleased to see that if I don’t have a famous person sharing my little square of the calendar, I’m at least darn close to some really major tech milestones that were celebrated recently and that have come to play an important role in my—and everyone else’s–life. (more…)

Greeting Cards at The Post Office?

Jim Tierney — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:19:32 +0000

Step right up and get your greeting cards at the local post office. Wait a minute, did you say at the post office?

Yep. For more details about how the U.S. Postal Service hopes to cash in on greeting cards, read this article from the Washington Post.

What Scares You?

Beth Negus — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:53:40 +0000

When I was a kid, Halloween lasted one day. Now that I have kids, between multiple parties, costume parades, trick-or-treating at my husband’s office and other activities it seems to last a week.

Feeling Halloween’d out when you haven’t even carved your pumpkin yet is a scary feeling. What scares you at this time of year?

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