We’re Moving on Up!

It’s just a grand idea. I need to purchase a hi-rise for 21st Century Paladin.

Sony Milo Site Entertains But Baffles

After playing with Sony Mylo’s mini-site a bit, a couple axioms come to mind. I’m sure you’ve heard:

“The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.” (The quote is attributed to Steven Covey but I think someone less famous said it first.)

So, what is the main purpose of this little website? I would wager it would be to sell as many of this little Sony bugger as possible, right?

So here I am wanting to learn more, so I click on the ad and I’m greeted with a wonderfully entertaining site, but I can’t find anything that shows me what this device can do. No function list? No specs? Where are the pictures of the product? C’mon guys. Mylodoku is great fun but it’s not going to help sell this product.

With that said, the site is wonderfully done and quite funny. (Cheers to the designers!) But that reminds me of another proverb:

“The best is the enemy of the good.” -Voltaire [">link]

A little less “slick” and a little more “sell” would be the order of the day.

Marketing Is About Good Ideas

Coudal is not a company you can easily classify. And why should they be? Good ideas don’t have to be limited to one genre or field. Here they working on a local promotion that’s sure to reach farther than the shores of Lake Michigan. I’m not even a Bears fan (though I love my Bear) and I want one of these.

Marbury Sponsors ‘Everymans’ Shoe

$14.98, for a pair of sneakers?!? Where do they have cheaper labor than Indonesia? Or, it could be that the next time Marbury tries to break someone’s ankles off the dribble, it’ll be his own.

Small Market Strikes a Chord with Trunk Monkey

YouTube is great for this kind of stuff. Have you seen all the Trunk Monkey commercials? (1 2 3 4 5)Everybody could use a trunk monkey.

Ford Promotes Gay Polygamy

It’s rather amazing to see. A company, who’s primary goal is to earn money for it’s shareholders, take such a radical tact. As you can see below, Ford chose to be a major advertiser in the homosexual publication called The Advocate. The June issue promotes polygamy.

Ford doing so despite receiving a large number of letters asking them not to promote the homosexual lifestyle and even being faced with a boycott from millions of Americans. Letters back from Ford touted their support of homosexual marriage as a “strong commitment we intend to carry forward with no exception.” Since the boycott began, Ford’s stock price is down 13% but they continue their marketing advances towards the gay community. (Obviously, there are far more factors than one at work on their stock price.)

I would never buy a Ford because I believe them to be inferior machines. This kind of PR certainly doesn’t warm up the average American family to Ford’s products. I wonder how low the stock price would need to fall before Ford would back-off this strategy?

Interesting related note: If Ford truly believes in homosexual marriage, isn’t gay polygamy counter-productive?

New Mac Mini

Apple does a wonderful job of maintaining brand power. Consistently good design is the main ingredient but technology does play a vital role. And by technology I mean, well-crafted design otherwise known as ease-of-use or good usability. How people use your product is just as important as what the product actually does.

I keep wondering why I haven’t purchased an Apple product in a while, maybe it’s now time. You can view the introduction of the new Mac Mini here.

Corporations Mapped

Someone should build on this idea. Build it with Flex and include more companies and let me filter them like NameVoyager. That’d be keen!

Honda Joins War on ‘Christmas’

Truly sad to see so many companies bow to the Politically Correct Gestapo. Now we can add Honda to the list of companies changing Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays.

The Money Is in the Franchise Rights

Can you even imagine how much money George Lucas has? I mean seriously, Sears, Toys R Us, Burger King and half the gas stations in America have been selling painted plastic shaped like Star Wars characters since I was a wee tyke. (And now I’m an old guy?!?)

Saw this post over on Mazurland complete with a scan of a 1979 Sears catalog. See that Millennium Falcon at the bottom? Here’s what it looks like today:

Notice the missing roof piece? The spattered reddish matter on the ships floor panels? We’re talking 20+ years of serious kid abuse here. And today there’s still selling more.

Someday people will finally turn on Microsoft for pushing shoddy product, but Lucas should still be going strong.

Keyword Experiment

These Google ads have got me thinking. Maybe I can bring in the good ones?

Great Deals on Samurai Dolls
Great Deals on Samurai Dolls
Great Deals on Samurai Dolls
Great Deals on Samurai Dolls

Ok, maybe not.

Keyword Ads Just Don’t Get It

Anyone else notice that these keyword ads are really missing the boat?

What the…?

Find the Perfect Holiday Gift at Amazon.com Gift Central

Apparently I do everything Amazon tells me. Who knew?

Some Viral Ads Forget the Brand

Some ads are so memorable you have to tell your friends. These are the kings of viral marketing. But the commercial still needs to communicate a benefit to the consumer or at least promote a brand. Being memorable alone is not enough.

This Rexona ad is certainly memorable and now that I’ve alerted you to watch for the product, you won’t have a problem remembering the brand. Yet, I doubt the product is available in the U.S.

.Net Explains Itself

Did you hear Microsoft’s lastest marketing campaign?

.net
It might not work, but it sure is friendly.