Making Something Different

I’m watching a repeat of the season premiere of Project Runway (yes, I am a fan). The challenge for the first week was to take grocery items and repurpose them into something fashionable. Many succeeded, while a few fell flat on their faces.

The most common error was taking an existing fabric—like a tablecloth [...]

Walk the Talk

We’ve been interviewing a number of local PR agencies lately, and I have to say, for the most part, it has been a disappointing exercise. They talk and talk without truly understanding that this is the equivalent of a job interview, and we expect them to be at the top of their game. [...]

Leave Me Alone

Since purchasing our new house, we have received an obscene number of mailings, all looking alike but from different vendors (I think) telling us that we have to enroll in bi-weekly mortgage payments. Others inform us that we must take out mortgage insurance.

None of these notices are from our mortgage company, mind you.

The notifications [...]

Ads 2.0

I set up some Google Alerts for certain keywords I want to track. One of the neat things about the alerts is that they can include blog posts and new web pages. Some of what I am finding is a bit perverse. Fortunately, the limited execution should mean a short life.

It happens [...]

Passion and Lessons Learned

On Monday, I wrote a piece focusing on what Apple is doing from a business perspective to out maneuver PCs. My intention was to stay out of the PC versus Mac debate. In fact, I wanted to take a neutral position. Instead, my statement that “neither one is truly better than the [...]

Baggage Options

Well, we knew the time was coming when airlines would start charging us for darn near everything. Now they’re going to charge us for the first bag we check. Forget the fact that most travelers will attempt to cram everything into a carry-on bag too big to fit in any overhead compartment. [...]

High Switching Costs

I’ve never really gotten into, nor understood for that matter, the ongoing fight between PC and Mac users. Each has its own features, benefits and drawbacks and caters to two distinct audiences. Neither one is truly better than the other. As things progress, each one is nudging closer to the other, blurring [...]

Or Current Resident Too Generic

The real beauty of database marketing is that you can tailor your content to your customer. The effectiveness comes in having good data about those customers. Which is why addressing a promotional piece to “Joe Smith or Current Resident” doesn’t cut it.

For the company, finding that customer should be an act of desperation, [...]

Getting Personal

The Macy’s at Biltmore Fashion Park is huge. The selection is immense. So much so, that it can be overwhelming at times. But they have an answer for that.

This past weekend I shopped by appointment. Marilyn was my guide. She walked me around the men’s department, showing me what was [...]

Categorically Speaking

Marketers love to speak in terms of categories related to their particular brand—premium, super-premium, ultra-premium, giga-premium, you get the picture. From the consumer’s viewpoint, however, brands get considered a bit differently.

Think about the various things you buy (where there is some choice involved). What you actually purchase is based on how it fits [...]