Quick follow up on the big auto makers using gas as an incentive to purchase cars: Brandweek is doing a feature article on it this week, here’s the link.
Some interesting takeaways:
- Chrysler’s showroom traffic is up 10-20%, web site activity is up 25%
- In May 2007, gas mileage was stated the number one influence [...]

I had been meaning to detail the idea of consumer generated media as a means of making a business with primarily your fans providing the content or product ideas.
Threadless is my only great example of this for physical stuff.  Inc. Magazine details them this month.  Check it out.
One other thing worth noting is that on [...]

So I’ve been meaning to purchase Mario Kart Wii for some weeks now. I’ve been lazy about it because I don’t play video games that much; it just seems like I have too much to do most days. But Mario Kart looks like it’s plump full of awesome and despite my lack of [...]

Guarantees are proven to resonate with consumers. Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep are now heavily pushing their guarantee for $2.99 a gallon for the first 12k miles for three years. That’s a pretty good proposition, considering gas prices are likely going to hit $4 per gallon this summer. Assuming they held value, that’s a potential for [...]

From department of unsuspected cool things:
The New York Times quoted me from my post on Zappos…I’m not sure if this is only online but I suspect as much.  Um, wow?
Then the Boston Globe picked up the same article.  Crazy.
The lesson:  it’s better to be lucky than to be good.  There are far better bloggers out [...]

So I’ve gotten 1/3rd through Emotional Intelligence. It’s wonderful. This book is very dense and takes a bit to really derive points of relevance. Just yesterday it got to explaining flow, or the optimal state of neurological stimulation allowing for a person to really maximize their output.
Have you ever experienced that state [...]

Words mean so much more than their definitions. It’s difficult to define the importance of the words a business uses to describe itself. This is the nature of marketing. This is why most everything the President ever says is preconceived by professional writers.
Public relations or PR is actually the origination of marketing [...]

I understand the reason marketers shoot for certain kinds of people, we need to interact with the people most likely to use products and services. Marketing to hunters is something that a beer seller should do. It makes sense. Typically, outdoors people enjoy having a beer or two.
Marketing products like alcohol and [...]

It’s really a shame how spectacularly uneventful these events are. I just participated at a show today and it reminds me of how very mediocre us marketers are today.
The funny thing is that it doesn’t seem to matter that we operate at 60% capacity in terms of marketing well at these shows. [...]

Everyone is talking about Zappos. Honestly, I’m getting to the point of burnout on hearing about Zappos in marketing circles. That’s pretty impressive. When did this happen? Well, I heard about them a few years ago. What I heard about them was how great their customer service was. And [...]