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December 27, 2007

CBS and NBC join NFL Network for first-ever triple simulcast

Man, I love my New York Giants. And to think I may not have been able to watch them take on the 15-0 New England Patriots on Saturday as they go for a perfect regular season record.

The National Football League was originally going to air the game on its own branded television channel, the NFL Network. Even with fewer than 40% of Americans subscribing to the network, the NFL was selling TV spots for over $200,000. But history is history. Not since 1972 has a team gone undefeated, when the Miami Dolphins went 14-0 en route to a Super Bowl championship. Still, the league wouldn't budge.

Until now, that is.

Several days ago, the league inked deals with CBS (who primarily covers the AFC games) and NBC (which airs the weekly Sunday Night Football contest) to air the game, which will be the first triple-simulcast. Advertisers who bought airtime on the NFL Network will now enjoy triple the viewers.

A real bargain, eh?

Posted by Daniel at 11:25 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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December 26, 2007

Marketing News Twitter feed

Hey guys. We now have a Twitter feed up and running! There's not much up there yet, but as we love keeping up with social media, we figured it'd be a great way to give you some more insight into our busy brains.

I'll post regularly about stories I read and stories I'm working on, and the other writers will join in as well. We look forward to Tweeting you, and to reading your Tweets as well!

Posted by Daniel at 11:32 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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December 21, 2007

Merry Christmas, indeed.

As I said in my last post, corporate holiday greetings, when done right, sure hit home for consumers:

RedSoxChristmas.JPG
Merry Christmas.

And go Red Sox.

Posted by Elisabeth at 9:28 AM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
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December 20, 2007

Viral campaign of the moment: The Dark Knight

A few months ago, I posted photos of the set from Batman: The Dark Knight on my personal page.

One of our resident Web guys, Andrew Swanson, just sent me links to some pages that show some (very real) aspects of the film's viral campaign.

Among the elements: a cake with an evidence bag inside, a Gotham City Rail map, a page for The Gotham Times, The Joker's interpretation of the Times, and much more, including:

atasteforthetheatrical.com - Trailer for the new movie
Wearetheanswer.org - Harvey Dent's police corruption tip site
Rememberinggina.or - Website dedicated to Gina, killed in gang violence
Gothamcab.com - Website for Gotham's cab service
Gothampolice.com - Gotham Police Department
Gothamcityrail.com - City Rail public transit system
Gothamcityhall.com - City Hall
Gothamnationalbank.com - Gotham National Bank
Acmesecuritysystems.co - ACME Security Systems
GVAFoundation.org - Gotham Victims Advocate Foundation
Gothamusd.net - Gotham Unified School District
SaintSwithunsChurch.org - St. Swithuns Catholic Church
Bettyshouseofpies.com - Betty's House of Pies
Gpdiad.com - Gotham Police Internal Affairs feat. Glenn Barhyte

Kudos to the brains behind this campaign!

Posted by Daniel at 10:55 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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Marketing News blog contest reminder

Just wanted to drop a quick reminder: The deadline for our blog contest is tomorrow.

(For reference, you may want to check out the link to see what the contest actually is.)

We're giving away:

1) The 2007 Berry Book Prize-winning The 86% Solution: How To Succeed In the Biggest Market Opportunity of the 21st Century, by Vijay Mahajan and Kamini Bang.

2) Seth Godin's Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?

3) Some random kitsch from the American Marketing Association. A mug, a shirt -- who knows?

Posted by Daniel at 9:16 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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December 13, 2007

Be merry. And give money.

I love the holiday season. I love the shopping, the crowds, the trees, the lights. I love the egg nog and the bustling airports. Heck, I even love sending Christmas cards. But receiving them can sometimes be a different story.

Companies and institutions that take the time--or seize the marketing opportunity--to send cards and e-cards to their customers are doing the right thing. Tell us how much you appreciate our business. Throw your brand name all over it; we won't mind.

But make it sincere, if even under false pretenses. Customers will know your card is a marketing message, but the jolly ones will appreciate your kind words anyway. And they'll remember you next time they open their wallets.

Companies that get this right score big points. Take United, for example:

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Or Daniel's previous post about CVS.

But companies that get this wrong may leave customers--or alumni--feeling a bit less jolly.

My alma mater, Boston College, is a wonderful institution, in [almost] every way. I'm a proud BC Eagle. I'm happy to donate to the BC Fund. I'm more than happy to field handfuls of calls and letters soliciting donations throughout the year. And I do. My dear BC is merciless.

Why, then, would the university send yet another solicitation at the holidays? Why would it pass up a spectacular opportunity to be gracious and appreciative to its passionate alumni, to simply wish them well and thank them for their support? Why wouldn't it take advantage of the fact that a thoughtful, festive message is often more powerful than yet another request for money?

In the past, the BC Fund team has sent beautiful e-cards with animated snow and warm holiday wishes... and a request for donations as the kicker.This year's e-mail was more straightforward:

During the holiday season, our thoughts often turn to helping those less fortunate than ourselves. For Boston College students, this season lasts all year long. ... In the spirit of giving, please consider a gift to Boston College this year, as you have in the past, in support of our service initiatives or a program that helped make Boston College a special place for you. ... Thank you in advance for your consideration. Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year!

And, yet again, the message falls flat. I get it. You're a great university with great kids and great programs. You want our money. And you could give a rat's behind about our holiday cheer.

This isn't the Salvation Army or the Jimmy Fund, which need to push their messages to the forefront of our collective consciousness every holiday season as we remember that we should be helping out and giving back. This is a university that takes every opportunity to remind its alums that it's time to step up to the fundraising plate. This is a university that neglects to truly thank them for doing so.

We still love you, BC. Please show your alums that you love us, too. In this consumer-driven marketplace, all companies should follow suit.

We'll remember you next time we open our wallets.

Posted by Elisabeth at 9:35 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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Marketing News blog contest extension

Hey, guys! Last week I announced a contest offering up the chance for you to be our first-ever guest blogger. We've decided to extend the deadline. But in addition, we're also giving away a copy of Seth Godin's new book, Meatball Sundae, in addition to the 2007 Berry Book Prize-winning The 86% Solution: How To Succeed In the Biggest Market Opportunity of the 21st Century, by Vijay Mahajan and Kamini Banga. Here's what you have to do: E-mail us a blog post about the book's thesis. It's that simple! The book's about how the future of marketing is in the developing world, or, as Mahajan and Banga say, the remaining 86%. E-mail your posts to dhonigman [at] ama [dot] org. I look forward to hearing from you!

Posted by Daniel at 8:26 AM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
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December 7, 2007

UPDATE: Hanukkah ham culprit found! It's Balducci's

Yup, that's right. Balducci's in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood.

New York writer Nancy Kay Shapiro, a nonobservant Jew, snapped a photo of the unassuming ham for her blog. The story was then featured in the New York Daily News a few days later. See? We love following up on our stories here at Marketing News.

Posted by Daniel at 8:57 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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December 5, 2007

Marketing News blog contest

To celebrate our 3,000 subscriber milestone, we want to give back to you, dear readers, with a cool contest! (At least we think it's cool.)

We're offering you the chance to be our first-ever guest blogger! The winner(s), as chosen by the Marketing News staff, will receive a copy of the 2007 Berry Book Award-winning The 86% Solution: How To Succeed In the Biggest Market Opportunity of the 21st Century, by Vijay Mahajan and Kamini Banga. (Mahajan was recently featured on the AMA radio show, "Marketing Matters Live!".) In addition, you'll get some AMA kitsch from around the office.



If you haven't read the book, Mahajan and Banga explain that the developing world is now the greatest market growth opportunity around.

We want to know what you think: Is this true? Is this a silly idea? Is this just another marketing book? We'll publish the winning post(s) here on the blog--where it(they) will be read by thousands of marketers. It's a great way to promote yourself, your company and your brand.

And if you win, you'll get a copy of a very interesting book. It's a win-win!

Please send all submissions to dhonigman[at]ama[dot]org by Friday, December 14.

Posted by Daniel at 10:34 AM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
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Be relevant with your holiday promotions

I just read a funny post by Robert Gorell on Grokdotcom in which he writes of a supermarket's Hanukkah ham special.

Here's the photo from the blog post:


Oops. Kosher laws actually prohibit Jews from eating pork, something that's extremely basic to the religion.

Robert brings up a good point: Just like with anything else, marketers really need to understand their audience before pitching a product. Any product. It doesn't matter if it's a Web analytics service or a box of staples. If your pitch isn't tailored to your audience, don't bother making it.

(Speaking of which, at some point, I have to write my top 10 list of PR pet peeves. Any ideas?)

Posted by Daniel at 7:42 AM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
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December 3, 2007

It's started: Google spidering of Facebook pages

I was doing a search earlier for my name on Google (did I ever mention I'm quite vain?) when I saw it.

The first link, as always, was my Web site, DanielHonigman.com. The next, a page with some old articles I wrote when I interned at The Forward in New York.

The third result, however, I'd never seen before. It was my old Facebook profile page from when I was a graduate student at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.

I knew that Facebook planned to do this awhile back, but I don't think it really hit me until I actually saw my name and profile in Google's listings.

Now where's that privacy setting...?

Posted by Daniel at 8:00 AM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
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