Friday, November 7, 2008
The Vet Who Did Not Vet...And When You Screen Your Nominees Like Hiring Help At Applebees...
Better late than never...
Las Vegas Tourism Tries to Bring Elephants and Donkeys Together (And Boost Tourism To Boot)
As you know, it has been both a divisive political year and a softish tourism year for the fine people of Las Vegas. In an effort to attract some buzz and attention while remaining totally true to the racy brand equity of LV, the LVCVA and R&R Partners have put out a great viral video -- one sure to make a few politicos long for fun and sun.
Happily the models in the vid are NOT Mary Matalin and James Carville. Not sure I wanna see THEM frolicking in a pool.
But alas I have strayed from the subject. Back to the ad.
The campaign is called Let The Healing Begin, and this is a great example of how to quickly turn out an ad concept for viral and other distribution based upon a timely message. Long gone are the days when we could plan a campaign for 6 months. Now the best efforts -- like this one -- come from carefully mulling opportunities and then taking brisk action.
See the vid on the LVCVA website www.visitlasvegas.com or at the reskinned LV Channel at YouTube http://www.youtube.com/LasVegas.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Campbell Brown Sounds Off on the McHandlers: Bravo To Ya, Campbell!
Bravo Campbell. If she was really THAT bad, the fault is McCain's and his advisors'.
If she really didn't know that Africa was a continent, why didn't you pull her immediately.
If you really think she is a Wasilla Hillbilly, then have the guts to say that BEFORE you send her out to talk to red neck America about how antielitist you are.
I am no fan of Sarah Palin and believe she was patently unqualified. But the real crime here is that the McCain advisors seemingly found her dumb as a block of wood, AND LEFT HER ON THE TICKET!
Country First? I am once again disgusted by the Republican Party. Not Republican voters, who I respect for their convictions and would defend against attacks. But Republican leaders so obsessed with winning at any cost that they would imperil the world with a block of wood in the White House.
And BTW Sarah, that's YOUR PARTY rubbishing you. Barack saluted your accomplishments on election night.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
If she really didn't know that Africa was a continent, why didn't you pull her immediately.
If you really think she is a Wasilla Hillbilly, then have the guts to say that BEFORE you send her out to talk to red neck America about how antielitist you are.
I am no fan of Sarah Palin and believe she was patently unqualified. But the real crime here is that the McCain advisors seemingly found her dumb as a block of wood, AND LEFT HER ON THE TICKET!
Country First? I am once again disgusted by the Republican Party. Not Republican voters, who I respect for their convictions and would defend against attacks. But Republican leaders so obsessed with winning at any cost that they would imperil the world with a block of wood in the White House.
And BTW Sarah, that's YOUR PARTY rubbishing you. Barack saluted your accomplishments on election night.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Cat Flushes Toilet: Music Video History
Is it more ridiculous that America will watch this, or that I will post it?
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Good News for Yahoo! Now Number Two in Video Plays!
As America's self appointed number one Yahoo booster, I was delighted to read this post on Tech Crunch, which indicated that in Aug/Sep 2008, Yahoo rose to the number
two position in video plays, ahead of Fox, Hulu, MSN, and Nick.
Yes yes, they still pale in comparison to YouTube plays, but if you think about video in the context of a money flow -- that a monetizable vid sends money to the shower, and that a nonmonetizable one is actually an expense to the provider, then the numbers look a lot different. TC's piece says that only about 4% of YT vids are monetizable, whereas Yahoo and Fox and Hulu and MSN have a much higher proportion of professional, prescreened vids that advertisers are delighted to run before or on top of. So Yahoo and YT may be a lot closer in revenue than it looks.
And of course it helps to have an election and a Wall Street meltdown for a property with a politics, news, and finance page view leadership.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
two position in video plays, ahead of Fox, Hulu, MSN, and Nick.
Yes yes, they still pale in comparison to YouTube plays, but if you think about video in the context of a money flow -- that a monetizable vid sends money to the shower, and that a nonmonetizable one is actually an expense to the provider, then the numbers look a lot different. TC's piece says that only about 4% of YT vids are monetizable, whereas Yahoo and Fox and Hulu and MSN have a much higher proportion of professional, prescreened vids that advertisers are delighted to run before or on top of. So Yahoo and YT may be a lot closer in revenue than it looks.
And of course it helps to have an election and a Wall Street meltdown for a property with a politics, news, and finance page view leadership.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
White Paper Thursday: Interbrand's Best Global Brands
Moving the white paper feature to Thu this week because of the election festivities yesterday.
The totally essential Interbrand Best Global Brands Report 2008 is available here. This excellent report reviews the biggest and best brands out there, best practices, and a bunch of other stuff you won't want to miss!
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
The totally essential Interbrand Best Global Brands Report 2008 is available here. This excellent report reviews the biggest and best brands out there, best practices, and a bunch of other stuff you won't want to miss!
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
White Paper Thursdays: Outdoor Versus Fitness Oriented Lifestyles
If you have an interest in consumers who have active lifestyles, check out this good new white paper from Hanson Dodge, available here on Brand Channel. It offers some deep insights into how the outrdoorsy person differs from the fitness enthusiast.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
White Paper Thursdays: Capturing Opps in Challenging Times
A quite thought provoking white paper about succeeding in economic downturns is available here. It's from DDB, which is an agency that has always placed a high value on thought leadership.
FaceBook TMI: Virgin Atlantic Fires 13 Over "Chavvy" Comments
We all know that in a digital age everything we say online can be found by exactly the people you don't want to have find it. Well, almost all of us know this. Apparently 13 Virgin Atlantic flight attendants didn't.
From the BBC article:
Virgin Atlantic started an investigation last Thursday after messages reportedly appeared on Facebook that called its passengers "chavs".
They also reportedly claimed the planes were full of cockroaches and alleged the airline's jet engines were replaced four times in one year.
In a statement, the airline said: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that 13 members of its cabin crew will be leaving the company after breaking staff policies due to totally inappropriate behaviour.
"Following a thorough investigation, it was found that all 13 staff participated in a discussion on the networking site Facebook, which brought the company into disrepute and insulted some of our passengers.
"It is impossible for these cabin crew members to uphold [our] high standards of customer service... if they hold these views."
A spokesman for the airline added that there was "a time and a place for Facebook".
"There is no justification for it to be used as a sounding board for staff of any company to criticise the very passengers who ultimately pay their salaries.
"We have numerous internal channels for our staff to feed back legitimate and appropriate issues relating to the company."
A chav, for the uninitiated, is slang for the Brit equivalent of a...well, we don't have an equivalent, but its like a juvenile delinquent. Stolen Burberry merchandise (of all things) is part of the look. Here's a female chav:
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
From the BBC article:
Virgin Atlantic started an investigation last Thursday after messages reportedly appeared on Facebook that called its passengers "chavs".
They also reportedly claimed the planes were full of cockroaches and alleged the airline's jet engines were replaced four times in one year.
In a statement, the airline said: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that 13 members of its cabin crew will be leaving the company after breaking staff policies due to totally inappropriate behaviour.
"Following a thorough investigation, it was found that all 13 staff participated in a discussion on the networking site Facebook, which brought the company into disrepute and insulted some of our passengers.
"It is impossible for these cabin crew members to uphold [our] high standards of customer service... if they hold these views."
A spokesman for the airline added that there was "a time and a place for Facebook".
"There is no justification for it to be used as a sounding board for staff of any company to criticise the very passengers who ultimately pay their salaries.
"We have numerous internal channels for our staff to feed back legitimate and appropriate issues relating to the company."
A chav, for the uninitiated, is slang for the Brit equivalent of a...well, we don't have an equivalent, but its like a juvenile delinquent. Stolen Burberry merchandise (of all things) is part of the look. Here's a female chav:
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
How Many People Should I Invite to the Party?
From our intrepid tinseltown chronicler Steve Peace
---
When I woke this morning I expected to be greeted by a purple sky, or to find that everyone now spoke Esperanto, or to learn that peace had spontaneously broken out in the Middle East . In short, I expected that the historic results of yesterday’s election would have sparked some immediate and dramatic difference in the world, such was the feeling of electricity and redemption in the air. However, I was greeted instead by traffic on the 101. Obama is probably going to need more than 12 hours to effect massive change, I suppose. The guy probably deserves a few days off, in fact, after two straight years of campaigning.
Marketers, however, never tire of plying their craft. We are always there, the lubrication in the engine of capitalism. So, when my President asks for me to work harder than ever in service of my country – I hit the blogs. To work. Today’s topic is about zeroing in on the right size target universe for any given movie marketing campaign.
In previous posts we’ve discussed both how to choose the right target and how to establish the right overall budget for a film’s media campaign. Both of those decisions rely on quite a bit of subjectivity (as noted), which generally makes me kind of queasy given the amount of dollars riding on such decisions. Regardless, we soldier on. Let’s say we’ve got a budget of $12 million and we’ve identified our audience as men and women 18-49 that enjoy watching R-rated comedies. The question then becomes, are we targeting too many people, not enough people, and what can we expect to make?
A quick look at MRI tells us that there are two hierarchies of R-rated comedy watchers, those that have seen one in the last 6 months and those that have seen one in the last month. Or, light R-rated comedy watchers and heavy R-rated comedy watchers. The first group is comprised of 19.2 million people, the second group is 7.3 million. Now we’re going to make some numbers up, and you really shouldn’t try this at work. If you’ve got access to a database of past performance, you can plug real numbers in place of the ones I’m going to make up. Let’s say that the light R-rated comedy watchers have a lower overall response rate to advertising than the heavy R-rated comedy watchers. Our quick peak at our historical database shows us that 9% of the light watchers responded to advertising on the opening weekend in the past while 15% of the heavy watchers responded (I’m lying, of course, I made up the response rates).
If we multiply our response rates, we find that we can expect 1.73 million light watchers and 1.1 million heavy watchers to actually attend the film. At an average ticket purchase of $6.88 (according to the MPAA) that would yield $19.4 million in gross revenues. If you take a look at historical box office revenue figures, you’ll find that an opening weekend gross to advertising ratio of 1.4 to 1.7 is generally considered a success. In this example, we’ve got a ratio of 1.62, which puts us right in the zone. We’ve got the right sized target universe to yield our box office goals, assuming that we can plan our campaign effectively enough to cover the audience with an appropriate mix and frequency of messaging.
In a real life situation, there would be quite a bit of rejiggering to arrive at the right numbers to make all of this turn out correctly. And, it would be especially important to ensure that your research capabilities match your planning needs. In other words, you’d actually need to have the ability to look at the response rates of different segments of consumers to your past advertising efforts. Alternatively, average response rates across all those that viewed advertising could be used to yield a simpler model.
That’s all for today. Enjoy the post-election glow and happy marketing.
---
When I woke this morning I expected to be greeted by a purple sky, or to find that everyone now spoke Esperanto, or to learn that peace had spontaneously broken out in the Middle East . In short, I expected that the historic results of yesterday’s election would have sparked some immediate and dramatic difference in the world, such was the feeling of electricity and redemption in the air. However, I was greeted instead by traffic on the 101. Obama is probably going to need more than 12 hours to effect massive change, I suppose. The guy probably deserves a few days off, in fact, after two straight years of campaigning.
Marketers, however, never tire of plying their craft. We are always there, the lubrication in the engine of capitalism. So, when my President asks for me to work harder than ever in service of my country – I hit the blogs. To work. Today’s topic is about zeroing in on the right size target universe for any given movie marketing campaign.
In previous posts we’ve discussed both how to choose the right target and how to establish the right overall budget for a film’s media campaign. Both of those decisions rely on quite a bit of subjectivity (as noted), which generally makes me kind of queasy given the amount of dollars riding on such decisions. Regardless, we soldier on. Let’s say we’ve got a budget of $12 million and we’ve identified our audience as men and women 18-49 that enjoy watching R-rated comedies. The question then becomes, are we targeting too many people, not enough people, and what can we expect to make?
A quick look at MRI tells us that there are two hierarchies of R-rated comedy watchers, those that have seen one in the last 6 months and those that have seen one in the last month. Or, light R-rated comedy watchers and heavy R-rated comedy watchers. The first group is comprised of 19.2 million people, the second group is 7.3 million. Now we’re going to make some numbers up, and you really shouldn’t try this at work. If you’ve got access to a database of past performance, you can plug real numbers in place of the ones I’m going to make up. Let’s say that the light R-rated comedy watchers have a lower overall response rate to advertising than the heavy R-rated comedy watchers. Our quick peak at our historical database shows us that 9% of the light watchers responded to advertising on the opening weekend in the past while 15% of the heavy watchers responded (I’m lying, of course, I made up the response rates).
If we multiply our response rates, we find that we can expect 1.73 million light watchers and 1.1 million heavy watchers to actually attend the film. At an average ticket purchase of $6.88 (according to the MPAA) that would yield $19.4 million in gross revenues. If you take a look at historical box office revenue figures, you’ll find that an opening weekend gross to advertising ratio of 1.4 to 1.7 is generally considered a success. In this example, we’ve got a ratio of 1.62, which puts us right in the zone. We’ve got the right sized target universe to yield our box office goals, assuming that we can plan our campaign effectively enough to cover the audience with an appropriate mix and frequency of messaging.
In a real life situation, there would be quite a bit of rejiggering to arrive at the right numbers to make all of this turn out correctly. And, it would be especially important to ensure that your research capabilities match your planning needs. In other words, you’d actually need to have the ability to look at the response rates of different segments of consumers to your past advertising efforts. Alternatively, average response rates across all those that viewed advertising could be used to yield a simpler model.
That’s all for today. Enjoy the post-election glow and happy marketing.
Totlol: Another Compelling Take on Kid Safe Video
I have reviewed a number of sites promising kid-safe environments, and see a lot to be excited about. But most offer some sort of take on the idea of the walled garden -- a protected place that kids must remain in.
Totlol takes a different approach, and it's one you should be aware of, whether you market to kids or have tykes yourself. The idea of Totlol is different. Basically it offers access to a plethora of video content from YouTube that has been preapproved by parents.
Here's how they pitch themselves:
Welcome to Totlol
If you have kids, you just found the site you have been looking for.
Totlol is a video website designed specifically for children. It is community moderated. It is constantly growing. It is powered by YouTube.
All videos were submitted, screened and rated by parents. The selection is huge and if you like, you can participate too.
Totlol is literally Video-on-Demand, and if you have kids, you already know. The video part is easy. It is the demand part that is hard. Are you ready? Here it comes: "Daddy, Mommy More Video!"
I really do like this idea. By using YouTube embeds and the preexisting environment of bajillions of vids on YT, you have a huge collection of content from which to select, and a proven platform to display it.
But it's not just another YouTube -- it's an environment where you and other parents can preexamine content to ensure it is appropriate for kids. Totlol uses a comprehensive content screening process to make this environment a reasonably safe environment for kids, without building that concrete security fence around the garden.
Here's how they describe their approval process:
The community moderation process has three parts: scouting, submitting and screening.
1. Scouting
When scouting parents search the YouTube database via a Totlol interface. The scouting interface lets parents search and watch videos just as they used to do on YouTube. When they find a video that they think is appropriate and relevant they can choose to submit it.
2. Submitting
When submitting parents are asked to review the title and tags associated with the video and to provide a review of the content. They are also asked to specify the main language of the video, what age group may enjoy it most and categorize it.
This information, together with the original YouTube information is presented at screening.
3. Screening
The screening part of the process is where the community plays the most significant role. Each Totlol user is invited to screen videos submitted by others and to answer screening questions. These answers are combined with various other data signals to grade each video.
Thus, any video on YouTube can theoretically appear on Totlol, it just needs to be submitted and approved. Which makes it less a walled garden and more...a hedged one.
Now, you don't need to join Totlol to view ads. You ca view to your heart's content without joining, in fact. But there is a lot more to this site than just screening. When you join you get the chance to change player sizes, and access to customizable controls to protect your kids. These Parental controls let you decide what age range of content is acceptable to you, and whether you are OK with your kids submitting thoughts and comments in the community features and areas.
Additionally, parents can prescreen vids and add them to their "collection", which can act as a sort of playlist.It also allows you to set a time limit -- this much and no more, so your kid doesn't end up a desk potato.
While researching the site I found this great post on Tech Crunch -- which informed me that this collection of thousands of videos was built by one dude.
In fact, Totlol was built by one developer in Vancouver, B.C. (Ron Ilan, father of two) entirely on the YouTube platform. It is a collection of thousands of child-appropriate video clips from YouTube, chosen by parents, and rated by toddlers.
...
For a video site built by one person, Totlol is impressive. And it shows how YouTube could give rise to hundreds of niche video sites with their own features and communities.
I love that last bit -- the idea that the video monolith could actually spawn a realm of hundreds or thousands of freestanding video sites, each skinned and organized in a relevant way. How is that different from a channel? Well, it's about focus and control. And in this case of course, protection.
In the meantime, were I a parent of a toddler I'd give this site a try. This sort of thing is critical to making the web a good developmental environment for kids.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Yoono: The Little Plug In That Could (Do Virtually Everything!)
There are something like 2 million people using Yoono, the Firefox plug-in that provides real time updates of the activities of you and your friends on social media.
But Yoono has done a big update I want to tell you about. At its center are a variety of widgets that make the web and sharing across it, easier than ever.
Discoveries: Recommends sites related to the content you are reading.
Webnotes: Lets you share content and grab bits of it without the annoying cut paste method. You can also publish the notes you write directly into your blog or microblog.
Video: Lets you check out the top Youtube vids or customize to the types of vid content you like.
Photos: Instant photosharing, again in the web note.
Radio: Lets you enjoy streaming music from the add on.
Feeds: Headlines and all that, right in the add on.
Email: If I need to explain this one...
Friends: The biggie. You get to see all of the social media activities of your friends across a big range of social sites, including Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, AOL, Yahoo, and more.
Here's their explanation video:
Now, according to TechCrunch, you won't even need to use Firefox to get it because starting today, it works on IE as well.
If you feel the need to be in touch with lots of folks and lots of things, and indeed add your own say to the digisphere, this is a toy you are going to like loads.
Even more now than before, in fact.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dems, GOP, already targeting 2010 gov races
Nov 5, 2:33 PM (ET)
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Their majority of gubernatorial seats larger by one, Democrats are taking aim at key states in 2010, including California, Minnesota and Connecticut. Republicans, who successfully re-elected four incumbents on an election night of big GOP losses elsewhere, want to win back Kansas, Ohio and Pennsylvania, among others.
At stake is control over the redrawing of legislative and congressional maps and the chance to influence the 2012 presidential election through governors' bully pulpits and fundraising machines.
At the end of an Election Day in which 11 governorships were decided, eight incumbents were re-elected, split evenly between the two parties. Democrats won the three governors' posts where no incumbent was running, and flipped one of those - Missouri - from Republican to Democratic hands.But Tuesday's results gave both parties reason to be optimistic about 2010.
Democrats increased their advantage over the GOP to 29-21 nationally with the Missouri win. They kept the seat in Democratic hands in an open race in North Carolina, electing Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue that state's first female governor, and re-electing Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire in a rematch of her bitter 2004 race.
Republicans were pleased to hang onto their four incumbent seats amid a Democratic rout from the presidency through Congress.
In Indiana, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels easily turned back a Democratic challenger hoping to benefit from a strong turnout for Barack Obama, who turned that red state blue.
In Vermont, Republican Gov. Jim Douglas was re-elected to a fourth two-year term after fending off challenges from two rivals.
Among other incumbents, Republicans in North Dakota and Utah won by wide margins, as did Democrats in Montana, West Virginia and New Hampshire. In Delaware, Democrat Jack Markell easily won the open seat previously held by a Democrat.
The races were a prelude to 2010, when a majority of states elect governors who will help preside over the redrawing of legislative and congressional districts - key to enabling one party or the other to win dominance in statehouses and the Congress.
Governors also often play a bigger role in how Americans live their lives than the federal government, particularly in such areas as health care, schools and higher education.
Democrats said Tuesday's results gave them momentum for the future. The Republican Governors Association said its group is on track to regain the majority of governorships it lost two years ago.
Thirty-six states elect governors in 2010. Democrats and Republicans have raised record amounts of money anticipating those elections.
Next year, Democrats will defend an open seat in Virginia they've held for eight years. In 2010, they'll try to keep seats in GOP-leaning states like Arizona, Kansas and Tennessee, all of which voted for John McCain Tuesday.
Republicans are hoping to keep California, Hawaii and Minnesota in GOP hands in 2010 and win back Pennsylvania and Ohio, which Republicans held from 1992 to 2006.
The Democrats' biggest prize Tuesday came in Missouri, where state Attorney General Jay Nixon easily beat his GOP challenger. The seat opened up when Republican Gov. Matt Blunt declined to seek re-election.
The Washington governorship was decided earlier than some had predicted, as Gregoire beat Republican Dino Rossi in a rematch of their bitterly close race four years ago.
In West Virginia, Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin easily beat two challengers to win a second term.
In New Hampshire, fellow Democrat Gov. John Lynch won a third two-year term. In North Dakota, Republican Gov. John Hoeven, a banker-turned-politician, won re-election, as did Utah's GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to Singapore.
In Montana, Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer won re-election after promoting increases in oil and gas production and a freeze in college tuition during his first term.
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On the Net:
Republican Governors Association: http://www.rga.org
Democratic Governors Association: http://www.democraticgovernors.org
What WAS The Deal With Palin?
Not to be partisan on the first day of the new beginning, but if 5% of the below is true, how on EARTH could they not have deselected her. Doesn't know Africa is a continent? Doesn't know who is in NAFTA?
Country first?
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Country first?
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Google AdSense for Games...Sizzles?
Hot new sizzle reel for Google AdSense for Games.
I think it was a good idea to do a vid like this. When I first heard the concept, my image was text ads on the pavement of GTA 4.
Looking for pavement? New album 8.99 at Target Click here!
Obviously this is a much richer and more sensible play. Though I get back to worrying about having the beast selling every ad in the universe. Not a good idea, volk. Not at all.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
I think it was a good idea to do a vid like this. When I first heard the concept, my image was text ads on the pavement of GTA 4.
Looking for pavement? New album 8.99 at Target Click here!
Obviously this is a much richer and more sensible play. Though I get back to worrying about having the beast selling every ad in the universe. Not a good idea, volk. Not at all.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Apple v. MSFT Ad War Score: 30-Love
It's like the Cola Wars all over again! Just don't say the v word.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Yes We Can? We Just Did! 34 Best Off-The-Web Photos!
First...music...
Now then, my favorites from across the web.
Now then, my favorites from across the web.
Princess Leah A Pundit for CNN? Jessica Yellin Hologram!!!
Forget MSNBC's squishy map. CNN has HOLOGRAM reporters! Actually it is a reporter named Jessica Yellin -- but just take a look and remember that R2D2 hologram from your yout', my boomer bruddas and sistas! I wonder if they can pay holgram reporters less!
"Dear Red States..."
Dear Red States:
If you manage to steal this election, too, we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii , Oregon, Washington , Minnesota , Wisconsin , Michigan , Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to ! the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.
To sum up briefly:
You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.
We get stem cell research and the best beaches.
We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.
We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.
We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.
We get 85% of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.
We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.
Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.
Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq , and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.
With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans (thanks Iowa!), most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech, UCLA, Berkeley and MIT.
With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.
We get Hollywood and Yosemite , thank you.
Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.
Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico .
Peace out,
--Blue States
If you manage to steal this election, too, we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii , Oregon, Washington , Minnesota , Wisconsin , Michigan , Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to ! the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.
To sum up briefly:
You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.
We get stem cell research and the best beaches.
We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.
We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.
We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.
We get 85% of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.
We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.
Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.
Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq , and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.
With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans (thanks Iowa!), most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech, UCLA, Berkeley and MIT.
With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.
We get Hollywood and Yosemite , thank you.
Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.
Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico .
Peace out,
--Blue States
Only Woman Less Qualified Than Sarah Palin: Global Warming Is Totally Not Hot
Frankly I'd prefer Paris.
Though I first thought the three dudes were saying Paris Whore President.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Though I first thought the three dudes were saying Paris Whore President.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Wonderful Quotation on the Election...
Heard this on the radio this AM and had to pass it on. I am not sure who said it first.
Rosa sat so Martin could walk.
Martin walked so Barack could run.
Barack ran so our kids can fly.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Rosa sat so Martin could walk.
Martin walked so Barack could run.
Barack ran so our kids can fly.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
9 Things I Would Do Online If I Were In Total Control of A Big Brand
It’s time for our industry to get past some of the chronic “shruggers” that haunt us – the problems and issues that we know are important but somehow never get solved or addressed properly. The things that make us shrug as if we don’t have the answers, when in fact we do have them. So with that in mind, here are my nine ideas.
1. Declare a six month moratorium on shiny things. Take all that misdirected shiny energy, and task the agency with figuring out how to have ENGAGEMENT and SCALE simultaneously. Three standard banner sizes, some existing technology, stir it in a pot and make standard banners that are entertaining, engaging, and interactive.
2. Overhaul the online store functionality. Face it, no matter the brand, the store sucks and does its darnedest to scare people away with schizophrenic dysfunctionality.
3. RFP the top 20 sites for my demo and tell them to figure out something on a large scale that can justify the higher cost of the direct buy CPM. I’m willing to pay it, but I want something of value in return.
4. Put my ads in online video preroll and banner placements that deliver good value for my buck. Then I’d ask the video media provider to provide some real research that demonstrates real impact on purchase intent. The lean forward nature of the medium warrants a higher CPM than Daytime, but let’s see how much higher.
5. Get Consumer Affairs tracking online discussions about the brand. And get someone hired to monitor places where the discussion was regular, and get them to participate in the name of the brand.
6. Get the CRM effort overhauled. Find out if the consumer would actually value communications from us, and if so, what they would value. If so, great, then we need to deliver THAT. If not, stop the insanity of emailing drivel.
7. Figure out a way to digitally thank users. Is it on the web site? In ads? In emails? In SMS? Not sure, it would depend upon the brand. But whatever it was, I would want to make sure that in these challenging value oriented times, people understand how much we value their business.
8. Get over the brand paranoia of content adjacency. Have standards, but recognize that the world no longer offers brand total control over the appropriateness of surrounding content.
9. After the six month moratorium, find one shiny thing with at least a little scale to test every quarter, and implement it on a large scale if test results warrant. Digital will always be changing, and having a real commitment to trying new things is essential. But AFTER we figure out what to do with standard display that can actually make such units valuable to the user.
What are your nine?
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.
1. Declare a six month moratorium on shiny things. Take all that misdirected shiny energy, and task the agency with figuring out how to have ENGAGEMENT and SCALE simultaneously. Three standard banner sizes, some existing technology, stir it in a pot and make standard banners that are entertaining, engaging, and interactive.
2. Overhaul the online store functionality. Face it, no matter the brand, the store sucks and does its darnedest to scare people away with schizophrenic dysfunctionality.
3. RFP the top 20 sites for my demo and tell them to figure out something on a large scale that can justify the higher cost of the direct buy CPM. I’m willing to pay it, but I want something of value in return.
4. Put my ads in online video preroll and banner placements that deliver good value for my buck. Then I’d ask the video media provider to provide some real research that demonstrates real impact on purchase intent. The lean forward nature of the medium warrants a higher CPM than Daytime, but let’s see how much higher.
5. Get Consumer Affairs tracking online discussions about the brand. And get someone hired to monitor places where the discussion was regular, and get them to participate in the name of the brand.
6. Get the CRM effort overhauled. Find out if the consumer would actually value communications from us, and if so, what they would value. If so, great, then we need to deliver THAT. If not, stop the insanity of emailing drivel.
7. Figure out a way to digitally thank users. Is it on the web site? In ads? In emails? In SMS? Not sure, it would depend upon the brand. But whatever it was, I would want to make sure that in these challenging value oriented times, people understand how much we value their business.
8. Get over the brand paranoia of content adjacency. Have standards, but recognize that the world no longer offers brand total control over the appropriateness of surrounding content.
9. After the six month moratorium, find one shiny thing with at least a little scale to test every quarter, and implement it on a large scale if test results warrant. Digital will always be changing, and having a real commitment to trying new things is essential. But AFTER we figure out what to do with standard display that can actually make such units valuable to the user.
What are your nine?
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.
Local Mouth - A Town Page For Everywhere in Britain
Not everyone is an iPhone totin', RSS feeding, iGoogle-iac, and for those web nonexperts, finding local info can be challenging. While major and medium sized municipalities often build their own sites, even those can be a little challenging to find.
Add to that the cost and complexity of building such a site and it soon becomes apparently why every little hamlet doesn't have a website -- or at least one that gets updated with any degree of frequency.
LocalMouth is trying to meet the need of towns, hamlets, and suburbs throughout great Britain. Essentially an online directory of small town sites, the serivce offers communities s templated destination and the opporutnity to allow people to add to and update content on a self serve basis.
LocalMouth's TC pitch is here:
It's pretty simple, actually, and I always gravitate to simple. There's a map, a house and aprtment listings page, a business directory, a plaqce that collects local blogs and blog posts, an events board, and a community forum. Check out these screens and you'll "get it" in an instant.
It's a deceptibvely simple idea, and the opportunity to sell tergeted ads may indeed make it a lucrative one.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
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