NBC is on the verge of canceling Jay Leno’s weeknight variety show. Ratings have been dismal and local stations are screaming for something that will bring viewers to their evening news programs. (Local stations rely heavily on revenue from local commercials in their news).
Whether you do or don’t like Leno, the lesson here is SO [...]
This advertising/promotion event caught my eye because it was different, and also because it played off a unique central theme in the movie. When you’re promoting something, look for the unique strength that will make your product or service attractive to others and then intentionally tell them about it.
Counter Intelligence – November 2009
Balance is a good thing for bicycles, tightrope walkers and ballerinas. Toddlers need balance, as do the wheels on your car and those amazing young women who jump and spin on a four-inch wide balance beam in the Olympics.
The adage “all work and no play . . .” speaks to the [...]
Microsoft has applied for trademark registration for a new logo that will be used to identify the company’s new retail outlets.
One of the first two stores will be in Mission Viejo, CA in the same shopping center as an established Apple store. (The other planned opening before Christmas is a store in Scottsdale, AZ).
I am [...]
Review: I am taking measured and intentional approach to developing my personal strategy for Twitter and Facebook.
I want to take advantage of each platform’s unique strengths, just as I do with my own. My first 1o Observations led to the strategy of Twitter being the place where I network and establish connections that are primarily [...]
Sounds like Microsoft is going whole hog into the retail store concept. They’ve hired some top talent including the person responsible for choosing real estate locations for Apple stores.
Reports are that the Microsoft outlets will be more about brand building than actual product sales, although a photo of a beta store shows plenty of product [...]
Perhaps the toughest challenge facing General Motors is the need to remake its image. How do you convince people to buy from you now, when they weren’t buying from you yesterday?
What do you think?
If you were designing THE most critical ad campaign in the company’s history, what would you say? What would the spot look [...]
A reader wrote with that question this week and it’s been haunting me since. Like one of those annoyingly sticky songs you hear and keep repeating over-and-over-and-over.
Please Mrs. Avery, I just want to talk to her,
I’ll only keep her a while.
Please Mrs. Avery, I just want to tell her,
Good-bye.
What makes something a sacred cow?
We can [...]
[This is the blog version of my monthly column for June 2009]
Most organizations these days are doing too much stuff.
Activities undertaken in a robust economy have lost their shine. Tossing off marginal products that chew up limited resources has become a common theme.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, winners actually do quit. Seth Godin points out in [...]
Short-term gratification is Counter Productive.
This short video from TED U will make you smile because it features small children captured on hidden camera when they are told to NOT eat a marshmallow that’s been placed in front of them. As you watch it, think about the pressure and long-term damage that’s done to organizations whose [...]
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