Category: Uncategorized

Just to make it clear, I’m not a Paris basher.  She is a world famous actress / model / spokeswoman / entrepreneur and I am simply a marketing guy in Seattle.   Her ability to charm the world is unparalleled and I can’t help but respect her for it. If I was a PhD student, I might even devote my research to the Paris Hilton Brand and how companies could emulate her formula for success.

Nonetheless,you had to question the defense strategy last week of, "My publicist said it was ok to drive with a suspended license if I was going to a work event."  (Which is ridiculous in itself and doesn’t address why she would be drunk going to work….)

And therefore, you can’t help but chuckle at the latest petition circling the internet.  In it, Paris fans appeal to Governor Schwarzenegger to pardon her.  The notable reasons include these gems:

• We, the American public who support Paris, are shocked, dismayed and appalled by how Paris has been the person to be used as an example that Drunk Driving is wrong.
• Paris should have been sober. But she shouldn’t go to jail, either. 
• Please allow her to her return to her career and life. Everyone makes mistakes. She didn’t hurt or kill anyone, and she has learned her lesson.
• She is sincere, apologetic, and full of regret for her actions as she explained tearfully to the Judge handling her case in court yesterday.She is distraught and understandably afraid.
• Think about the welfare of this young woman who has made a mortal error and deserves a second chance like so many others in our great nation have been served with after a mistake they have made.
• If the late Former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late Former President Richard Nixon after his mistake(s), we undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake as well.

So yes, ‘We the American Public" have apparently compared Paris Hilton’s DUI and probation violation, with a National political scandal that forced the removal of a President. Do you want to talk about leaps and chasms?

And the irony is, the media will probably turn this into an issue that defines the Governator’s term of office. 

When picking up some shirts for a business trip, I inadvertently ran across a new form of advertising – the protective bags covering my freshly laundered shirts.

In a rare case of the creative matching with the medium, the tag line read:  "Don’t let your investment advisor take you to the cleaners. Try Charles Schwab."

Now whether people have a direct response reaction to this promotion remains to be seen.  But it must be an effective CPM, and it definitely targets higher income individuals, or at least people who have to where button-down shirts and suits to work.   

But is this too intrusive?  Do you have a negative reaction to being marketed services when you are having another service provided for you at the same time?   Would it bug you if your maids came in wearing American Expres hats?  Or if your auto repair guy had a HR Block patch?  Nonetheless, a trend to keep watching.

If you have Rhapsody – and really for unlimited music for $10 a month there’s no reason you shouldn’t – please do nothing further on your computer before checking out The Fratellis.

I’m hooked.  Great stuff. 

<rant>

So I’m at Zoka sitting outside doing some work.  And over the sounds of my iPod, I hear 3 dogs growling about 10 feet away.   The 2 owners, a man and woman, sit chatting with each other, while these 3 dogs, all on leashes held by the 2 owners, continue to snarl. 

Some minor scrapping ensues.  More snarling.  Then major scrapping with teeth and fur flying.  And the owners look on in surprise. 

After a brief separation, they put them all back together again, and more scrapping.  Another separation, and now the owners are talking the dogs through a peace accord, like either canine understands or cares.  I honestly think this could go for hours – and these dogs are still not going to get along how much the owners want them to.

Given that this is Zoka, the offical furthest left spot in the city, this might be a metaphor for something. 

</rant> 

Ok, so Dom Imus said some dumb things by calling the Rutgers Woman’s Basketball Players "nappy-headed ho’s."  But am I being not sensitive enough when I say, "Why is this such a big deal?"

Yes, it warrants a suspension perhaps and public admonsihment.  But firing?  Civil unrest?  Live press conferences with players?  Or are we scared that people might actually think Rutgers palyers ARE nappy-headed ho’s?  Is that what all the fuss about?  Are we really afraid that two kids in the playgorund will look at a Sports Illustrated and say to each other, "Look, those Rutgers girls really are  nappy – and ho’s." Of course not.

We’re in a world of 24 hour media coverage.  If Ken Griffey makes a comment at a charity event about why black kids are better athletes than Chinese kids, then some blogger will post it on a web site in 3 hours.  Do we really expect that radio hosts should be able to not say anything dumb EVER?  In Imus’ case we’re talking roughly 900 minutes of content a week.  45,000 minutes of content a year.  What is that, maybe 500,000 sentences a year? 

He said something extremely stupid wth 2 of those sentences.  But he entertains people with a majority of those other 499,998.  He’s admitted he made a mistake.  No one really things Rutgers girls are nappy.  So look, it’s time to move on. 

Seriously, we should all care a lot more that the insurance fraud guy drove up my rates.

For as regulated as some industries are, I am continually amazed by the brazen obscenity with which auto insurance companies treat its customers.

My insurance rates went up this month.  Yet I have not personally been involved in an accident, received a ticket, moved or purchased a new hummer.

Instead, someone filed a fraudulant claim on a minor fender bumping that occured when someone else was driving my car.  The driver of my car reported the claim as fraduluant, since there’s not a physical way for an Acura to demolish a trucks’ back bumber while only denting it’s own license plate.  This is an obvious case of a guy with a crappy beat up car taking advantage of a tap on is back. 

But the insurance company’s response is, "Too bad.  I know we shouln’t have paid it out, but we did, so the owner of the car is responsible." 

Any advice? 

ESPN the Magazine came out recently with the "Ultimate Standings."  In it, they rank every pro team in the 4 major sports (yes, they included hockey) on a number of characteristics,including ownership, players, stadium, value, beer prices and more.

Unsurprisingly, the Seattle Sonics ranked 111 out of 121 teams.  Until now, I really hadn’t thought about the Marketing efforts the Sonics have undertaken lately, but would you repeat these if you were running a company:

1) Alienate your evangelists by moving your games off of the sports station and onto a conservative talk radio station. 

2) Allow an executive (in this case the head coach) with 20+ years in the organization to leave for an arch-rival.

3) Have 50 of the most influential sports fans in town cut ties with the team, and make a killing on their investment.

4) Ask fans who enjoy some of the closest seats to the court, to give those up in order to pay higher taxes, sit further away and drive to Renton.

5) Take arguably the greatest play by play caller in the NBA today, a guy who can paint a picture of a basketball court in 4 words, and move him to TV to be replaced on radio by a guy that drives some fans crazy (honestly, I actually like Locke as a reporter but I see why he drives some guys nuts).

6) Now, couple all this with a sub-standard product

You either need a great product or great salesmanship to get people to buy something, and unfortunately the Sonics have failed to show much of either.  Now the strategy seems to be to threaten to leave. 

So, given that the Sonics owners are smarter than I am, I see a different view.  We’re simply not the target audience.  They don’t really care about what we think.  The target customer is the representatives in Olympia that can get a deal done without our vote and the corporate sponsors who will spend money to fill up the luxury boxes and acreage of advertising. 

That’s not a bad strategy I suppose.  But when your target market is legislators and business people, it’s not hard to imagine how you become 111th on the list of sports franchises.

This article about Internet Advertising from the TimesOnline.co.uk is definitely worth reading.  Here’s an excerpt:

Advertising on internet soars as world follows British lead

The internet will overtake radio by next year and become the world’s fourth-largest advertising medium, a year earlier than forecast.

Global spending on internet advertising increased from $18.7 billion in 2005 to $24.9 billion (£12.6 billion) last year, according to ZenithOptimedia, the media-buying agency.

The Middle East and Asia are driving a boom in global advertising spending. Zenith predicted a spike of 7.7 per cent in spending in Asia in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Only in Vegas.

I’m not sure why I’m so late to the game on Prosper.com, a web site designed so that people who need loans can receive funds from ordinary people who are looking to make a return on their reserve cash.

The concept is pretty simple, people with money become parts of "mutual fund-like" loans to individuals who can’t or don’t want to go through a bank.  There is research that people are more likely to repay loans when they know there is a human behind it, and they know who those humans are. The lenders get good returns – 10-25% and their money is spread among a bunch of different loans so the risks are mitigated.   

My initial thought was that there is an issue where people who need the loans may not have the broadband or even Internet connection to take part, but that’s probably a subtle qualifying factor.  If you can’t find a broadband internet connection these days, I probably don’t want to loan money to you.