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Brand managers are wringing their hands right now, saying, "Get me a Facebook strategy, pronto!" Hopefully, their agency partners have one at the ready. The New York Times doesn't know the likelihood of that, but the newspaper does know CNN--a media company that likely didn't need an agency's help--is all over it. This week, CNN will begin connecting “The Forum,” a site for political expression, to Facebook, the …

Continue Reading about Yet Another Facebook Story: Inviting Old Media to the Social →

Excited by a new Obama app for the iPhone, Rick Turoczy, a.k.a. "The Silcon Florist," points out that Portland is rich with mobile application developers. While the (Obama for the iPhone) application is an impressive feat for a volunteer effort (or any effort for that matter) what I think may be even more interesting—and (Raven) Zachary, arguably the premiere consultant for all things iPhone, agrees—is the underlying …

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The Atlantic is spending $1.5 million to advertise its highbrow offering. Apparently, one of the media buys is the local bakery. The ads for The Atlantic in unexpected locales like bodegas are meant to reach media buyers where they eat, buy takeout food and shop. Those are “places where people’s brains are most at rest,” said Michael Fanuele, managing director for strategy at the magazine’s creative agency, Euro …

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Kent Lewis, President of Anvil Media, is Portland's search engine marketing expert. More than one source has shared this insight with me since arriving on these mossy shores. It's not a topic I know a great deal about, but its one that a bunch of clients with tightening budgets want to understand. Kent shares his take on the Portland Ad Fed blog: For agencies out there that are struggling through the economic …

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How many of you get excited when a brief comes across your desk asking for a loyalty program? Don't all raise your hand, at once. Okay, we all want to foster brand loyalty. That's a given. But how? TrendWatching.com, which has dedicated its October trend report to "Perkonomics" has some answers. It's must reading for anyone in relationship marketing. And aren't we all in relationship marketing? …

Continue Reading about Have You Hugged Your Customers Today? →

Sarah Palin is a hunter. But she's far from the only one. That's the message in a feature story from The Wall Street Journal today. As the number of male hunters has declined, the sport has targeted women with everything from pink guns to gender-specific hunting courses. Now, they're seeking out spokesmodels and pushing weapons tailored for women, such as lighter crossbows. About five years ago, the outdoor-equipment …

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Virginia Heffernan of the The New York Times Magazine had fun last week poking around some prominent banking and investment sites. In my fantasies, banks are never financial-services firms, and Bill Clinton did not sign the 1999 law that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, allowing commercial and investment banks to merge. It seems that the once-glorious Wall Street investment banks — Goldman Sachs, Morgan …

Continue Reading about The Internet Never Sleeps →

Agency execs are a conservative lot when it comes to pitching ideas. That's the latest news from a study by Menlo Park, Calif.-based executive staffing firm Creative Group. According to Marketing Daily, marketing executives--whose products and services are at stake--said they needed to push for more risky marketing strategies. Sixty-five percent of survey respondents who are marketing executives and 45% of those who …

Continue Reading about Milquetoast for Breakfast, Milquetoast for Lunch… →