Marketing – Page 35

Lamentable Mainstream Marketing – January 2015

WARNING! This post is a bit of a “rant” but hopefully contains some useful marketing points…

…as well as providing a degree of amusement for you.

It was prompted by a number of things…

…firstly an example from the latest edition of “No B.S. Ruthless Management Of People And Profits” by Dan Kennedy. More about that in a moment.

Then I came across an article in the UK “Daily Telegraph”…

“Is Michael Owen now Britain’s funniest man?”

(link may be behind a paywall)

…which mentions this bizarre ad…

From the article…

“His new Lost in Translation-style Japanese whisky commercial is another parody-defying joy. Advertising single malt Spey, Owen drones lines like ‘The spirit of a warrior courses through me’, while sounding less like a warrior than a suicidal loss adjuster. ‘I always celebrate my wins with Spey whisky’ fibs Owen.”

Quite.

Apparently, Owen has been pretty busy… [Read more…]

Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar February 2015

Let’s take a look at the coming month of February 2015 for the various holidays, events and anniversaries that smart marketers can use as the basis for a promotion or campaign.

And although we’re looking just one month ahead at February, it’s never too early to get started on your preparation for months and major events later in the year.

In 2015 Easter falls on 3-6 April and no doubt hot cross buns and Easter Eggs will soon be on sale!

Back to February and Valentines Day (February 14) is the standout occasion for the month pretty much everywhere.

Chinese New Year falls on February 19 (and 2015 is the “Year Of The Sheep”).

Remember also “Groundhog Day” (February 2) which is, I suggest, now part of the popular consciousness thanks to the classic Bill Murray movie.

Looking at general events… [Read more…]

Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar 2015

One of the highest payoff activities in marketing is to prepare a marketing calendar. And it’s never too early to map out a calendar for the coming year 2015!

As well as this article to give you ideas…

…here’s a great post from copywriter Ray Edwards…

“How To Create A One-Page Marketing Plan”.

It’s taken from one of Ray’s regular podcasts, so you can listen along if you wish.

Now, this was originally published a couple of years ago so it talks about creating a marketing plan for 2013…

…but the principles are pretty much timeless and apply to 2015.

In passing, included in that article is a GREAT resource for event-driven marketers…

…a comprehensive calendar of events!

Even better, there’s a specific calendar for every major country, so you can create your own list of events that are relevant to your local area!

With that said, let’s get down to business with a core calendar that can be used pretty much anywhere for the coming year 2015.

January – New Year

February – Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year (February 19 – “Year Of The Sheep”)

March – St Patrick’s Day

April – April Fools Day (1), Easter (3-6)

June – Mid Year (mid-summer northern hemisphere, mid-winter southern hemisphere)

October – Halloween

December – Christmas

To fill out the schedule… [Read more…]

“Strictly” Marketing Tips

The 2014 series (#12) of “Strictly Come Dancing” has just concluded with celebrity Caroline Flack and pro-dance partner Pasha Kovalev lifting the glitterball trophy. And here’s one of the highlights of the series…

Ballroom and latin dance is one of my great passions in life so no great surprise that I am a huge fan of the show…obsessed even!

And when you take a look closer, the show has a number of lessons for marketers.

You see, by any standards, the show is a HUGE success. It’s now run for 12 seasons starting back on 15 May 2004 (there were two series in that first year), primarily on Saturday evenings with a following Sunday night results show (with certain exceptions). It’s a prime-time ratings success, regularly topping the ratings and easily beating rival show the “X Factor”.

There have been a further ten stand-alone Christmas specials (with another one coming up this Christmas 2014) and nine charity specials have also been produced since 2008. There’s a live tour of the show and the format has been licensed around the world (where it’s generally known as “Dancing With The Stars”) in over 40 countries. It’s arguably the world’s most popular TV program.

Not bad for a show that few people back in 2004 would have expected to be so successful. Ballroom Dancing on Saturday night TV? With a slightly weird lineage, the title of the show referencing a previous BBC show “Come Dancing” (a more conventional ballroom dancing competition that ran on and off from 1949 to 1998) and the quirky 1992 cult movie “Strictly Ballroom”.

So what accounts for it’s popularity and success?

The first thing to note… [Read more…]

It’s Only Marketing Rock ‘N Roll…

…but I like it!

The Rolling Stones (well, Mick Jagger, at least) have long paid close attention to the money-making side of rock ‘n roll. Not surprising I guess, given their financial problems in the early 70s when they had to flee the UK to avoid the tax man.

I’ve made mention of this before…

“Social Media Marketing With The Rolling Stones”

“Marketing, The Rolling Stones, Now!”

“Marketing And How The Mega-Rich Get “Satisfaction”

And I was reminded of the money-making and marketing side of Rock ‘N Roll by this recent post from Malcolm Auld…

“Who’s hogging the quince?”

…and he reports…

“Like thousands of others we queued at one of the merchandise tents to buy some branded memorabilia. The Concert Programme alone was $30 – and of course the kids wanted one each. There was a special merchandise pack we could have bought for a meager $550 – that’s not a typo – $550. So we bought posters and t-shirts instead. I also bought a hand towel for my golf bag – a great conversation starter as I wander the course (put that thought aside for a minute).”

Great post from Malcolm and well worth reading the whole thing.

And as I was trawling through Amazon recently, I came across something from the Stones that provided…

[Read more…]

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