From reading the trade press, you'd think every marketer was falling over themselves to get on Second Life, thinking the site's popularity is exploding. But over at Valleywag, Clay Shirky parses the claimed numbers of "residents" and "logins" and finds huge discrepancies. He also suggests that reporters have simply parroted Linden Labs' inflated numbers without question in their gushing profiles of Second Life. This …
I’m Still Voting For Chris Christmas Rodriguez This Year
Done a while back and it still cracks me up. See all of them here. …
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Red Red Wine
I've often thought that the tipping point for Kmart's descent into retail irrelevance came because of "Rain Man." When Dustin Hoffman's character said, "Kmart Sucks!" at the end, the audience in the theater I was in clapped wildly. Merlot, it appears, has suffered the same image breakdown, thanks to "Sideways" when Paul Giamatti exclaims, "I'm not drinking any fuckin' Merlot!" But wine is big business, and makers of …
Audi Defines Its Space
Ad Age reports on Audi's latest experiential offering. Aiming to elevate its brand in the U.S., Audi of America held the official grand opening today in New York for its first U.S. Audi Forum, a "brand experience" center that can be rented out for events. Audi Forum in New York, the largest of nine such forums in the world at 6,400 square feet, will feature displays of the automaker's vehicles designs past, present …
Brand Impressions Formed At Retail (Few Things Are As Powerful In Business)
The Pacific Northwest is a fertile place. A place where good ideas take root. Today's New York Times Magazine looks at Umpqua Bank, a regional financial player that has made the wise decison to bank heavily on experiential and lifestyle marketing. With free wi-fi access, Umpqua brand coffee, a spacious seating area and flat-screen television monitors, the place has been designed to suggest a stylish hotel lobby where …
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Art Is Part Of The Starbucks Experience
More Than A Feeling
Erin at Out of Character is living proof that the millions of dollars being spent by marketers on scent and sound is worth every penny. I went to Costco today to pick up laundry detergent and...approximately $90 worth of other crap I totally don't need, and much to my orgasmic delight and/or horror I stumbled upon an advertised demo stereo that was blasting "Boston". I quickly discovered that I was only physically …
“Involve Me And I Will Understand”
If you read the advertising trade press everyday as I do, you grow tired of all the latest and greatest developments. Reading the same story over and over again with only the names changed becomes tedious. The endless buzz (and the terminology invented to support it) falls on deaf ears. Ergo, it was sweet to stumble across this utterly lucid commentary from a founding father today: "Tell me and I will forget, Show me …
