Creativity is your greatest ally.

Hey, MUSIC MARKETING students, you know how I'm always saying that knowing the concepts and theories are one thing, but what puts you on the map is your ability to come up with creative strategies and tactics to implement them? Well, here's something for you from Weezer, to promote their album. My opinion follows...



It's funny and it's attention-getting. It's going viral quite nicely. Their timing is perfect in terms of its release.(Just in time for the holidays!) I doubt it was ever intended to run on television -- a really good viral ad doesn't need this expensive medium to reach people. It will probably help sell CDs to current fans of Weezer, but for a lot of people who aren't already sold on he band, I think it will just be something funny that they are motivated to share, but not to buy. In other words, I don't think it will expand their market by too much. But it does do its job to get attention and interest and get the name out there. Because it uses direct marketing, results will be measurable. I wonder of someone in their camp would share that info with me if i asked nicely?

One last thought: Why might they have chosen to do a Snuggly ad? Think Macro Environmental trends.... Which environmental factor does this relate to? An extra point for the first Fall 2009 student (in any class) to tell me.

Here's a candidate who understands the hierarchy of effects.

As discussed in PROMOTIONS MANAGEMENT CLASS...



See how the hierarchy works? The ad's already generated a nice slice of media coverage and its YouTube preview has generated over 16,000 views. I think someone has a marketing-savvy campaign manager.

Radio Promotion 101: How to Promote Your Music on Radio

For MUSIC MARKETING students...

Bunches of articles from MusicBizAcademy.com:

Radio Promotion 101: How to Promote Your Music on Radio

Check it out!

Guerilla Marketing in the News

"Captain Morgan may have pulled off the quietest and shortest-lived advertising ambush in sports history last Sunday. One that was almost universally unknown, barely noticed, and yet, promptly squashed by the NFL this week."

Read the whole article at this link:
NFL shipwrecks Captain Morgan campaign - NFL - Yahoo! Sports:

Comic Relief

MUSIC MARKETING

Weren't we just talking about this iPhone app in Fall 2009 Music Marketing?

In case anyone thought I was making this up...

Remember the first step in the Hierarchy of Effects model?

Well, here it is:



(This should be familiar to Advertising and Promotion students.)

Show Me the Money

The Future of Music Coalition has identified 29 Streams of Income for music. Read about them here.

Music Marketing:A Real Innovator

Josh Freese sets the bar high when it comes to creative product bundling and pricing. Check out the packages on the right sidebar this page. Note: the $5000 and $20,000 narcissist's packages (limited quantities!) have sold out.

Promoting Complementary Products at the Point of Purchase

Integrated Marketing Communications? Hah.

Popped up to the top for Fall 2009 MKT 3540 Students.

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"We usually do not have the opportunity to overhear Microsoft’s most senior executives vent their personal frustrations with Windows. But a lawsuit filed against Microsoft in March 2007 in United States District Court in Seattle has pried loose a packet of internal company documents. The plaintiffs, Dianne Kelley and Kenneth Hansen, bought PCs in late 2006, before Vista’s release, and contend that Microsoft’s “Windows Vista Capable” stickers were misleading when affixed to machines that turned out to be incapable of running the versions of Vista that offered the features Microsoft was marketing as distinctive Vista benefits."

Source: They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know. - New York Times

Read and comment. Or bring the subject up in class. You know I like that.

Major Labels: The Problem With Music

For Music Marketing Students and anyone else who's interested. (This item was posted last fall and bumped back to the top for Fall 2009.)

This classic and oft-referenced article by Steve Albini (linked below) was first published in Maximum Rock 'n' Roll magazine in the early 1990s. While some of the information and figures listed here are dated, the point is still valid and the major label deal can still be the same losing proposition, especially given the prospect of the new 360° Deals being favored by majors today. (This was mentioned in class, but go and read the article at the link below, anyway. )

Steve Albini: Major Labels: The Problem With Music
(This article contains many expletives, but hopefully you'll understand why the author felt them necessary.)

360 DEALS: The Final Nail In The Major Label Coffin?

Note- I'd like to give credit for the graphic but don't know its origin. It's not mine.

Just a Bunch of NonCensus

Weren't we just talking about the census in MKT 3501? Here's a timely installment and some comic relief from Stephen Colbert on the subject.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Noncensus
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum

And the World Keeps Turning...

The Macro-Environment never sleeps. See statistics on world population, births, deaths, how much oil is left, the amount of money spent on video games in the world today, and much, much more, all in real time.

Worldometers - real time world statistics

What Were They Thinking?

Here are the 2008 Grand Prize Winning student submissions for WFT? ads. (Sorry if I offended anyone with use of the letter F above, but...)

Winner in the Print Category.

Once again, an Austrian student took home the gold with this submission in the video category.

I posted this video on my other blog and asked friends to answer the question in the title of this post. My friend Richard's response: Objectifying cows for milk or meat is just like objectifying women for their looks or promiscuous behavior???

My Reply and Analysis:

Richard, I think you've drawn a sound conclusion about the underlying message, but I doubt that this is immediately apparent to the average viewer. The audience is required to do a lot more work to get to that point, partially because the ad depicts the "dairy cowgirls" as willing participants in the milk debauchery, but I don't think the creators of the ad really meant for the conclusion to be drawn from the ad alone. And the important question is: how effective is this strategy if the objective is to turn people off to dairy products for ethical reasons?

From a critical perspective, the ad is definitely attention-getting. That's good. The engorged udder-bearing females and the milk-drunk males give it somewhat of a simultaneously enthralling yet repulsive effect. And anyone who's ever seen a Girls Gone Wild commercial definitely gets the connection. But...

Humor, generally, is not an effective appeal when the subject is serious. My opinion (based in part on my students' reactions) is that, aside from being stunned by the visuals, the ad is regarded as a spoof more than anything and the very brief appearance of the PETA logo at the end is overshadowed by what preceded it and is easily overlooked. (A large number of students didn't "get" the ad because they missed the logo, probably because of all the cognitive "noise" created by the ad, itself.) And the titillating "hot chicks with udders" theme is not enough to drive people to milkgonewild.com to see more of it, especially if they don't already know what PETA is and is all about. Actually, even if they do know, it could work against the organization's objectives. (If I know about PETA and know it uses the same kind of repulsion tactics that the pro-lifers use at abortion clinics,I'm not chancing a visit to that site. And if I know and I'm already a PETA convert, I'm not part of the target anyway.)

So, if the viewer is somehow motivated to visit the site (by what, I'm not sure), it still looks like a spoof. You'd have to be motivated to watch the "sequel" for a lot more of the same antics before you get the serious message. And I'm just not sure that anyone would want to see more of Milk Gone Wild than what was already seen in the ad.

Bottom line, I think this whole proposition was a real leap of faith, maybe too big.

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So, what do you think?

Race Ethnicity Culture

Don't just take my word for it:

DNA studies do not indicate that separate classifiable subspecies (races) exist within modern humans. While different genes for physical traits such as skin and hair color can be identified between individuals, no consistent patterns of genes across the human genome exist to distinguish one race from another. There also is no genetic basis for divisions of human ethnicity. People who have lived in the same geographic region for many generations may have some alleles in common, but no allele will be found in all members of one population and in no members of any other. Indeed, it has been proven that there is more genetic variation within races than exists between them.-Human Genome Project - U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health

Why is the Department of Energy involved? I wondered, too and found the answer here.

Note: The image above is from the 2000 U.S Census questionnaire.

The Language Of Emotion: Ad Slogans In Native Tongues Connect To Consumers' Emotions

Link:The Language Of Emotion: Ad Slogans In Native Tongues Connect To Consumers' Emotions:

"ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2008) — In our globalized world, consumers are exposed to marketing messages in many languages. But a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says messages expressed in people's native languages are most effective at triggering emotional reactions."

Initially, I wasn't going to post this because it was just another one of the many articles I see and think, Gee wiz! Really? (Maybe I'll start a category of posts called Gee wiz! Really? so you can see what I mean.) I guess every intuitively obvious thing will at some point be approached as a subject worthy of research when the pressure is on to publish or perish.

So, why did I bother to post this? Because a similar topic came up in tonight's Promotions Management class and I mentioned the article. Go ahead. Read it. It won't hurt you.

Do you really get a better deal at warehouse stores?

Here's a question fresh out of a recent MKT 3501 (Principles of Marketing) class discussion. A student from the Fall 2008 class looked for an answer and found this:

The Best and Worst Warehouse Club Deals

If you like to shop in bulk, you may want to read it.

(Thanks to Christian Briceno for the submitting the article.)

12 Steps to iTunes Success

How indie artist Making April systematically went from 0 to 1,000 sales a week on iTunes in one year: 12 Steps to iTunes Success

No one said they were easy steps...

Social Class in America

New York Times- Class Matters: A team of reporters spent more than a year exploring ways that class - defined as a combination of income, education, wealth and occupation - influences destiny in a society that likes to think of itself as a land of unbounded opportunity.

Check out this comprehensive piece on social class- there's a lot of substance for you to peruse. (And I know the graphic is from The New Yorker and not the NYT, but it's one of those classic upper-class icons.) Again, here's the link.

Maxim Magazine Reviews Album Without Hearing It

From:MusicDish Industry e-Journal

How is it that a magazine can review an entire album--and assign a star rating to it--without actually hearing the album?

Case in point: the "review" of Warpaint--the new album by THE BLACK CROWES--in the March issue of Maxim magazine. The writer--who has not heard the album since advance CDs were not made available--wrote what appears to be a disparaging assessment anyway, citing "it hasn't left Chris Robinson and the gang much room for growth."

I told you this business was ugly...

Who Said You Could Use My Song? Bon Jovi Joins Rock Horde Mad at McCain

"John McCain has run afoul of Foo Fighters, Van Halen, Heart, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp and even that hack Paris Hilton. But the hits just keep on coming: On Wednesday, Bon Jovi added his name to the list of rockers angry at the McCain-Palin campaign for using their tunes for political purposes."

Read the article: "Bon Jovi Joins Rock Horde Mad at McCain | Listening Post from Wired.com

I weighed in on the issue in the Comments section of the Wired article. Feel free to add your own thoughts here or there. (If you comment there, please leave a note here telling us that you did.

Boston's Tom Scholz sums the issue up in his letter to Huckabee earlier this year, compliments of Rolling Stone.

UPDATE: I saved the best for last. There's an excellent interview with Jackson Browne's lawyer, Lawrence Iser from The Am Law Daily, wherein he discusses the use of music in advertising. But here's a snippet related directly to the topic of this post:

How does the law differentiate between rallies and ads?
There's a different kind of license required for the television commercial--the synchronization license--than there is to play it live at an event. Most of the time when you play something live at an event, it's covered by the public performance license and the campaigns purchase a traveling public performance license from ASCAP and BMI--the two leading public performance organizations--that covers the use of songs at the rallies.

And that upsets some musicians even more?
Yep. But what some artists are complaining about here is more than just publishing, it's the implied endorsement. They don't want their song, talent, or persona associated with Republicans. And that's why the Lanham Act exists, because of that false endorsement. Nobody has decided to take on the Republicans other than Jackson at this point. They could, but musicians by nature are not litigious.

Don't stop with just this. Read the rest of the article.

Nine Inch Nails: One Outstanding Example of Creating Consumer Involvement

The fan involvement in the promotion of Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero release has been called a "marketing team's dream."

Before you do anything else, click this link and watch 42Entertainment's interactive case study on the year zero concept. (Reminder: Interactive means you should eventually be pointing and clicking, but watch and listen first.)

From a February 2007 article in Rolling Stone:

In what has to be the most innovative promotion scheme since the leaked sex tape, NIN have treated their fans to a sort of Where’s Waldo game that includes tour merchandising, a dizzying network of websites and, umm, bathrooms in European concert halls. We’d be lying if we said we weren’t checking echoingthesound, the main fan checkpoint, every hour to see what the latest update is.(Read the complete article. The comments offer some interesting insights as well.)

There are lots of great sources for getting acquainted with the Year Zero story. For the most straightforward, start with Wikipedia's entry. Read about how the intrigue played out in this timeline. Then check out this forum to see the involvement firsthand, as fans try to figure things out.

The Year Zero story may take on another incarnation as an HBO series. Stay tuned...

ASCAP Shakedown?

It's a good read. ASCAP delivers an ass-cap:

The sounds of silence in Bernal Heights / Tavern owner ends live music after ASCAP suits.

Feel free to express yourselves in the comments.

As Promised- My List

NOTE: This was originally posted during the spring semester of 2007 for my students in Consumer Behavior. I've changed the date to move it to the top of the blog to facilitate access for this semester's students who were asked to do the same exercise tonight. I also added the photo of my pre-Katrina living room/studio, where several of the material manifestations of my extended self are housed.

--LP
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In my last post, I said that I would produce the same list that I asked you guys to produce in class to illustrate the extended self in material symbolism. When I asked you guys to do this, I said to list possessions --objects you purchased or owned, since they may not have been purchased, but given to you. I also said that you may not want to look at this from the perspective of ownership, because it may go against your grain to think of something like a pet in those terms. Lots of you listed things like "family" because, understandably, family is important to you. But things like your family or your faith are not material symbols. And because my intention is to demonstrate how the extended self is reflected in the material goods we acquire, you will not find things like these on my list. However, it doesn't mean they won't be represented in some form.

Here's my list of objects and what they say about me (in they order that they occur to me and not necessarily in order of importance):

My house. It was a pretty nice, old Victorian before the storm. (And it will be again, one day.) It's in Orleans Parish and is over 100 years old. It's almost twice the size of the house I grew up in, it's paid for, and I paid for every penny of it myself. It's in a very ethnically and socio-economically diverse neighborhood. It says that I am a responsible adult, that I've achieved some degree of success, that I value diversity, that I'm not afraid of "the city" and prefer to live in it, and that I appreciate architecture and the character of an old house.

My Macs. (I have 4 working Macs and 3 that have earned their eternal rest.) To me, the Mac is not just a computer. It represents my self as a non-conformist, as a highly creative person, as a semi-geek with as much of an appreciation for design aesthetics as for function (and not just in terms of computers), and as a tech-savvy early adopter who is not very price sensitive when it comes to these machines. My mac is my hub of communication as well as the locus of my creative activities.

My cameras and the pictures I've taken over the years. I practically grew up with a camera in my hand and was in the darkroom developing pictures with my father, (who was a pro), from the time I was in kindergarten. My brother is a very successful commercial photographer. It's in my blood. (Extended self on the family level.) And it is the primary mechanism through which I capture images of the important people in my life (my children, in particular), my experiences, the places I visit, and the many forms of beauty I find in this world. It says that I'm nostalgic. I'm not willing to leave these moments of life behind without a way to capture and revisit them later.

My musical instruments. Most important are my piano, bass and guitars. These things attest to the fact that I'm musical. For a long time I kept my musical proclivities a secret from most people. Many still do not know the degree to which I am musically inclined. My instruments and audio equipment (see next) allow me to "say it without saying it."

My audio recording equipment (audio interfaces, microphones, etc.). These symbolize a certain seriousness I have about composing and recording music, even though I am not terribly motivated to make any money off of my songs.

Objects (art, crafts, jewelry) I've acquired in my travels to other countries. They say I am worldly and well traveled and that I value other cultures and their artifacts.

My books. The vast majority of mine are non-fiction and they symbolize my value of knowledge and my ceaseless desire to learn. The non-fiction books I own are by writers who are particularly gifted with words, somewhat cynical, and tend to delight in poking fun at the the vested institutions and conventions of society. (That tells you something about me, too.)

This should be enough to give you the idea. I could point out many other, less important things on the list that communicate "who I am" just as well. The good, the bad and the ugly. But you get the picture, right?

(By the way, you're always free to comment or ask questions here, if so inclined.)

More Consolidation in the Music Industry

From Music Marketing student Sally Stevens come the following articles:

Best Buy to acquire music-sharer Napster

and

Sources: EMI close to deal with MySpace Music

For some reason, that second item gives me a queasy feeling...

And Even More About Millenials

Read the Article:

Generations at Work: Managing Millenials

The 'millennials' come of age - USATODAY.com

"Demographers differ on just what ages they include in this next generation. Some include those born since 1980; others start with 1982 and go to about 2000. Most researchers have focused on the 'first-wave' millennials — those roughly ages 16 to 25. Although there's no one set of traits that everyone shares, research has suggested some commonalities in areas ranging from home life and education to workplace behavior and leisure-time interests. "

Read the article:
"The 'millennials' come of age" - USATODAY.com

Check out the sidebar on the left for more interesting tidbits.
Here's another one:
"A Stereotype of Generation Y" - AmericanSportsData.com

If you're a Millennial, do you agree with the assessments in these articles? The comments section of this post is a great place to air your thoughts. (And you know I like that.)

The RIAA: Foul Play

Graphic credit: Gizmodo

For Students in MKT 3590- Music Marketing (and anyone else who is interested.)

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is the trade group representing record labels in the U.S. They been particularly aggressive in going after college students for copyright infringement related to peer-to-peer file sharing. Now the organization continues to make enemies by committing wrongs such as this one: (link:) RIAA Pockets Filesharing Settlement Money, Doesn't Pay Artists Whose Copyrights Were Infringed.

Jello Biafra, former vocalist for the Dead Kennedys, thinks the RIAA is like the Mafia.

SouthPark pokes fun at the subject, too. You can watch the full episode at this link (select Season 7 and the Episode #709 "Christian Rock Hard"), but be warned, it's SouthPark so some things might offend you. (I hope not, but if so, lighten up! It's comedy!)


Yeah, there's a lot of big-label hatin' going on out there and lots of contempt for the RIAA as well. But are there as many voices out there singing the praises of these organizations? You tell me. A great way to do that is to leave a comment for this post. Bringing it up in class is a good idea, too.

The Music Industry: From Major to Minor

For Music Marketing Students (MKT 3590)

Few industries have experienced the kind of turbulence the music industry has in the past decade. Read this article from Economist.com to get some insight.

Trends in Music Purchases

For Students in Music Marketing (MKT 3590)

Take a look at the numbers from 2007 and think about what it tells you about the Big Picture:

MusicDish Industry e-Journal:2007 Music Purchases

Make note of your general impressions, as this will be a topic for class discussion.

Why the Physical Environment Should Always Be Included in Your Situation Analysis

Click on the map for more info.

Better keep you eye on this one. If it stays on this track we can all enjoy some firsthand lessons in consumer behavior. (Our own.)

The map of computer models comes from WeatherUnderground. These are updated frequently, so don't panic... yet. More info on the models can be found at this link.

Stay tuned, as I suspect that this will impact our class schedule one way or another.

LP

The death of the coupon - MSN Money

"The hope is that these electronic discounts will revive the dying coupon business. Only 0.5% of the 285 billion coupons issued last year were redeemed, according to coupon processor NCH, down from an average of 1% a decade ago."

Read the whole article here: The death of the coupon - MSN Money

Thanks to my friend Bonnie, the legendary Coupon Queen of the West Coast.

So... What is Guerrilla Marketing?

Check out WebUrbanist's 8-part series on GuerillaMarketing for a thorough look at this approach to marketing communication.

Second Life

Here are links to the articles about Second Life I mentioned in class:


Eric Kintz: Marketers Flopping in Second Life

My So-Called Second Life

McKinsey: Ignore Second Life at Your Peril

Is Second Life about to have a second life?

Want to check it out? Try Wired.com's Travel Guide before you jump in.

Eye on the Macro Environment: A Falling Tide Lowers All Boats

(I'm going to mix metaphors here. Sorry. I can't pick one over the other, so you get them both.)

There are a lot of dominos lined up behind consumer confidence. When it falls, they all fall. If you're at the helm of the ship, you'd better have a plan.

"“From a consumer perspective, this is the most troubling economy since the 1980s,” said Mark Vitner, an economist at Wachovia Corp." Read the article:
U.S. consumer confidence drops in June - Stocks & economy- msnbc.com

Thanks to Nicky V. in MKT 3501 for submitting this one.

(This article was sent in by Nicky V. and the preceding article was sent in by Christopher V. Students whose last names begin with other letters should feel free to challenge me to make new Venn diagrams.)

Class Topics in the News

Pay attention to that regulatory environment, follow the rules, or pay up:

Retailers break vows on analog TV sales, get FCC wrist slap

Thanks go to Christopher V. in MKT 3501 for sending the link.

A Few Important Tips for Written Assignments

The following is by no means an exhaustive list of tips, but following them when you work on any written assignment will help steer you away from trouble.
--------------
Follow instructions. Implicit in this is that you actually read and pay attention to the instructions given for an assignment. I don't normally recommend making assumptions, but here's one that's safe: short of assignments completed in class, all work should be typewritten, not handwritten.

Specific formatting instructions are given for the same reasons that class policies are developed. I ask you to format your questions and answers a certain way because if I don't, invariably there will be students who present their work in a form that's difficult to read, (some impossibly small or flowery font), or difficult for me to effectively comment on, (single spaced). Case in point: I recently had a student turn in a homework assignment written in ALL CAPS, single-spaced. That's right. You haven't seen what we, your professors, have seen and you don't know what grading dozens of assignments and papers entails. Please follow instructions.

Answer the question. I'm amazed by how often students respond to a specific assignment or test question with something that completely fails to address what was asked. In some cases, it's an obvious attempt to lay some BS on your professor. If you're inclined to this approach, do you really think we can't tell? You'll hear me say again and again that substance trumps quantity, so resist the temptation to use a lot of superfluous verbage. If staying focused on the question is difficult for you, it might be helpful to include the question in the answer to facilitate staying on track. (Ex. Why did the chicken cross the road? Answer: "The chicken crossed the road because...") It truly saddens me that I've had to put this in such elementary terms.

Know the difference between a fact and your opinion because your professors do. Examine the following statement: "The store should close at 11:00 PM because nobody ever shops after midnight." Absolutes, words like always and never, reek of personal opinion, (yours), and seldom hold up to scrutiny. Just because you think something is true doesn't mean it is. (How many things exist in reality without exception?) If you state your opinion as fact, you'll see "prove it" written on your paper, but it unless it's a draft submitted for feedback, it will be too late for proof. So get the facts, and...

Don’t make statements of fact in any written work without citing your sources of information. Failure to do this is a form of plagiarism and you should know all the nuances of this word's definition.* Whether you're writing a paper, completing an assignment or taking the opportunity to earn extra credit, if you present information that's not considered common knowledge, (Ex: "New Orleans was inundated by flood waters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."), then you must cite your source(s). More on this here and at the bottom of the page, including an example from a former UNO student.

If you're not sure, cite. And don't make up fake sources because I do check them.

The only exception to this rule is in the case of homework where you might refer to the definition of a term or or some concept and the obvious source(s) of your information would be me or your text.

Spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, cogent organization of your thoughts into paragraphs-- all these things matter. And things like subject-verb and noun-pronoun agreement are things I just take for granted. Don't blow it.

Some of those words you like to use aren't really words. Don't use them. Unless you want to hear me rant, avoid words like conversate, irregardless, administrate and my personal favorite, orientate. I don't care if they're in your spell-checker database and dictionary. Because uneducated people who don't know any better have embraced these words, foolish lexicographers have caved in and duped you into believing the words are okay. But no person of reasonable intellect would use them. This means you.

Proofread your work. When we read something we've just written, our minds will often substitute what we meant to write for what's actually on the page. This is how we miss those little (and sometimes big) mistakes. (You'll probably find the occasional mistake on this blog, but this is something I write on the fly and not a business proposal or a paper I'm turning in for a grade.) Once you've completed something, take a break from it, then read it fresh. Or have someone else read it. Or read it aloud. Or best of all, have someone else read it aloud.

Read this document for more important tips. An excellent list of common mistakes begins somewhere around page 8.
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* Here's an example of a plagiarism from a UNO student last semester. I e-mailed the student indicating the problem, (no sources cited), along with the definition of plagiarism and a link to its source in UNO's policy manual. (See below.)

The student's unedited response: "What I wrote on RFID was more as commentary and summary on what I read on an article and what I learned in class and in a video cassette that I have. RFID has always attracted me and I think it is very interesting on how technology is getting so advanced. I came up with the title as well; I did not plagiarise..."

If you looked at the paper, you can easily see that the student was dead wrong. And if you can't see that, please read the definition below and review it again. If you still don't see it, well, we'd better talk.

From UNO's Policy Manual- Academic Dishonesty:
Plagiarism: The unacknowledged inclusion of someone else’s actual words, ideas or data as one’s own, or the paraphrasing of someone else’s words, ideas or data. This means that sources of information must be appropriately cited with footnotes or quotation marks and identified, whether published or unpublished, copyrighted or uncopyrighted.

Important Consumer Trends for 2008

Lots and lots and LOTS of information on status consumption trends here, falling right in line with this week's discussions in Consumer Behavior. Article and graphic compliments of Trendwatching.com:

Link: 8 important consumer trends for 2008

Check it out!

You might wish you had found this before you turned in your assignments.

Intelligent and insightful comments that lead to discussion here will be considered for a point or so of extra credit. (You'd have had to have read this to know that, though, and it's my observation that the students who do peruse this blog don't need the extra points.)

In the News: Be Careful When Using Expert Sources in Advertising

More timely marketing lessons from the real world:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc said Monday it was voluntarily withdrawing advertising for its Lipitor cholesterol drug featuring Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart, because its ads led to "misimpressions."

The ads involving Jarvik had come under scrutiny, including from a House Committee as part of an investigation into celebrity endorsements of prescription medicines.

Democratic lawmakers had voiced concern that Jarvik's qualifications were misrepresented in widely seen television commercials touting the blockbuster drug. They said he seemed to be dispensing medical advice even though he is not a practicing physician.

Read the story:ABC News: Out of Circulation: Pfizer Pulls Jarvik Ads.

I love it when blogworthy events like this synchronize themselves with my syllabus.

Subliminally Subliminal?

"Is the campaign responsible for sending out a subliminal message to stimulate racist thoughts in the unsuspecting viewer? It is either deliberate or terribly incompetent. There is no other writing on screen until the very end of the commercial, and if letters appear in any place in a commercial, they should be carefully selected letters. Certainly, each image is artfully composed and shot and intended to deliver an emotional impact. Could this be a mere lapse?"

Althouse: "Why are the letters 'NIG' on the child's pajamas?"

Read Anne Althouse's post and comments and check out the links. Then tell me what you think.

Dude!

"The play here isn't 'Drink Bud Light because we can make you laugh,' or 'because it's what the guy who gets the girl drinks.' It's 'Drink Bud Light because we understand the world you live in.'"

Read the article! Bud Light's brilliant dude ads. - By John Swansburg - Slate Magazine

Oh, by the way, I like it when you comment.
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Special thanks to my brother for this one.

In Case Anyone Thought I Was Making This Up...

I can't even remember the context of the discussion now, but this came up in my Consumer Behavior class. On the slim chance that anyone thought I made it all up, here's a quote and a link to more information on the event that will transform the Superdome into a giant vagina." I thought it might have already taken place, but I was wrong about that. (After all, how could this have already happened without any of you taking notice?)

Excerpted from the event's site:

April 11 and 12 will find the Louisiana Superdome interior turned into a pink and red vagina -- 'with a big vagina entrance,' Ensler said -- as a setting for performance events, parties, parades, workshops, wellness and education programs, speakers, even spa treatments, which will be free to residents of New Orleans and the Gulf South. (Men are excluded only from the spa.)

For those two days, New Orleans will be 'the Vagina Capital of America,' Ensler said. 'We're coming here to say that we should celebrate New Orleans, cherish it, protect it, just as we do our vaginas, and make sure it goes on and on.'

Read about V TO THE TENTH in “The Big V-easy”

There's a lot more to this event than what you might glean from the above clip, so check it out!

The Story of Stuff

I can only really argue with the sweeping generality made about advertising in this critical assessment of the long-term consequences of our consumption-driven economy. It supports the need for another way of doing things and should be regarded as a macro-environmental trend worth paying attention to. Give Annie Leonard 20 minutes of your time and consider her assertions carefully and if you disagree with any of them, please make your case in the comments.

The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard

(The relationship between the subject of this post and the post featuring the newly revised definition of marketing should be apparent.)

The American Marketing Association Revises Its Official Definition of Marketing

I didn't get the memo in December, but today I discovered (with great joy) the AMA's newly revised definition of marketing. The memo is excerpted below. I have "bolded" some of the text for emphasis, and if you've been in any of my classes and have heard my "rap," you'll understand why. You can read the full memo at the link that follows this excerpt.

...on behalf of the Board of Directors, the American Marketing Association is pleased to announce a new definition of marketing.

New Definition of Marketing (est. in December, 2007)

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Previous Definition (est. in 2004)

Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

The new definition takes into account input from a broad cross-section of the Association membership. Marketing is regarded as an 'activity' instead of a 'function' and positions marketing as a broader activity in a company/organization, and not just a department. The new definition also positions marketing as providing long term value rather than narrowly as an exchange of money (short-term) for the benefit of the shareholder/organization.

AMA Academic Community Memo- New Definition of Marketing.

Needless to say, I am very pleased with this change and hope that all businesses will embrace and adopt this approach. And now that it's official and we've included a long-term value proposition for society as a whole, I guess I don't have to call myself the "Marketing Antichrist" any more.

Is Perception Reality? OR Can You Hear It Now?

Are you still part of the market for an ultrasonic ring tone? To what frequency level can you hear?

Ultrasonic Ringtones - The new ringtones that only kids can hear!

It may be to believe that there are tones being generated when you don't hear anything, but they're there. Today I can't seem to hear anything above 8 kHz. (Hmmm. I'm pretty sure I was able to hear beyond this frequency last week.) My 19 year-old son tops out at 15.8 kHz and my 11 year-old daughter tops out at 17.7 kHz.

And you? Please comment. To make it more interesting for us all, please including your age and gender.

UPDATE: A commenter asks, How are we to know how many khz one can here [sic]. I am interesed [sic] to know. I am a 26 year old male.

First, clearly I am not any kind of expert on this subject but I do know that what is considered "normal" hearing varies depending on your age. I looked around but couldn't find any single set of reference values, but apparently no one hears anything beyond 20,ooo kHz.

According to the information presented by the University of New South Wales that accompanies this hearing test, "Children usually hear 16 kHz moderately well. The high frequency hearing of adults depends on age and exposure to loud sounds. It is not uncommon for adults to have very low sensitivity for the highest frequencies." By the way, don't forget that volume (decibel level) makes a difference. I suspect you'd be considered an adult by now, so don't be too upset if you can't hear the higher frequency tones. (I don't do so well below 60 Hz, either, but I've had more than the average exposure to loud, live music over the last 30 years. )

If you decide to play around with the hearing test at the link above, please read the instructions carefully. There are many factors that can affect the outcome of the test.

Oh, to those of you who like to keep the ear buds in and the music loud, you may want to read this article: Play it Loud and You May Pay For It.

How Much You're Willing To Pay Depends On What You Were Just Doing

"Your shopping buddy turns to you and asks, 'Which one of these would you get?' Or, you're talking with your spouse about which candidate you'd like to vote for before switching on the nightly news. Turns out simply being asked to make a choice-- especially if you're in a hurry or have something on your mind -- will make you like the next thing you see more, says a new study from the Journal of Consumer Research. The researchers found that asking people to choose among things primed them to think about positive attributes -- and caused them to be in a positive frame of mind when evaluating the next item they saw."

Read the whole article here: How Much You're Willing To Pay Depends On What You Were Just Doing.

More Creative Advertising

Beer advertisers seem to have the most fun when it comes to creating an entertaining message execution:

VB Stubby Symphony

Clever, Clever, Clever.

Check out these 9 Clever Musical Ads From Around the World
compliments of Inventor Spot.

Eye on the Economic Environment

NewsDaily: Business -- Consumer confidence slipping, poll says.

Confidence in the U.S. economy is sagging among consumers, 30 percent of whom now rate the economy as "poor," a Gallop Poll released Tuesday indicates.