Marketing the Hamburglar?

Did you all hear that the new voice of the McDonald’s marketing front might have actually robbed the place?

McDonald’s teamed up with Myspace to create a little buzz- by allowing anyone to submit a remake of the two all beef patties, special sauce, etc. song that would be used in this year’s ad campaign.

Of the five finalists, one actually robbed a McDonald’s at gunpoint back when he was 14- and has spent 12 years in jail as a result!

At least they can say they are an all-opportunities employer!

Check out the video here!

Who do you first turn to?

Here is another (frightening) account from my vacation.

Around 4 am in the morning, we had just passed through Atlanta, Georgia. We were on 75 east, exhausted, movie-ed out and ready for the sun to be up and to have arrived in South Carolina. My boyfriend was driving in the lane next to the fast lane, as he wasn’t actively passing other cars. All of a sudden, we heard police sirens and saw police lights coming westbound (on the other side of the highway). In that moment, my boyfriend noticed a car, with headlights off, driving the wrong way on our side of the highway, in the fast lane. The car also flew by and was definitely speeding (as people usually do when they flee from the cops.) The car had actually passed us on eastbound 75 going westbound and was at one point, 12 feet from our car, full of precious cargo…

I am thankful I did not actually see the car as I was turned around retrieving something from the backseat- however my seatbelt was off for that temporary moment. Another friend of ours was laying down sleeping in the back, sans seatbelt. My boyfriend looked like a ghost for about the next two hours, hair standing up on both arms, and on the back of his neck. It is so terrifying that the little decisions we make can change our lives. Had we stopped at a different gas station to fill up, had we had decided to pass a driver in the fast lane…

All you can think in that moment is, “What if…”

Terrifying.

Okay so what’s the tie to New Media? Well it is a stretch, however- I will pull tautly anyway.

After the initial shock , and recounting of the story to each other…and even before the goose bumps relented, we wanted to know what happened. We wanted to know who would do that. We wanted to know why. We wanted to know if anyone was hurt behind us. We wanted to know it all.

And where was the first place we thought to look?

The Internet.

The fact there is basically no lagtime makes the internet such a great and primary resource. The radio was no help as we struggled to find clear stations that would even discuss news. Not to mention, we all knew that the radio would not be reporting the story so quickly.

Thank God for the power of the internet. But more, thank God we were not in the fast lane.

Your vacation choice- Explorer? or Safari?

Vacation: va·ca·tion n
1. a scheduled period during which the activities of courts, schools, or other regular businesses are suspended
2. a period of time devoted to rest, travel, or recreation
3. an act or an instance or vacating something


I ask myself if vacation is really vacation anymore due to our, uh-hem, exciting and busy new media…

I am currently in the process of driving back to St. Louis from Hilton Head, South Carolina, where I took 5 days of vacation with a few friends.

Round Trip Stat- 1800 miles and about 26 hours of driving

Unfortunately, I have a hard time believing that work and school are ever really suspended anymore, and even if we did in fact rest, and vacate St. Louis—this new virtual, and mobile world still follows us.

It is our omnipresent shadow now. And almost our crutch. We cannot stand in darkness or on our own.

I was pleased to find that cell reception was poor in the house, somewhat saving ourselves from ourselves. However, there were still some hotspots if you wandered around to find them. To add, the house was equipped with wi-fi, ensuring that at any moment we were in the home- one computer was alive and processing- whether it was facilitating online poker, the following of a baseball game in Philly, or the checking of work email, etc.

We all love our wireless world, right?

And we can’t imagine what we did before it.

What would I have done if I had not worked on homework? Or corresponded with work folk? Or caught the game, play-by-play?

Maybe, I would have actually vacated.

I think as IMC practitioners, we must not completely and excitedly exploit the VACATION. And I fear in many ways, we are working hard to do so.

Second Greatest Day in the History of the World

It's here! It's here! It's freakin' finally here!

So was everyone excited about the new iPhone? Was Friday, July 11, 2008 the second most triumphant day in history (following of course only the launch of the original iPhone)?

Personally, I was baffled to learn that people were lined up days before in cities like New York. Really? Were vacation days taken, tents bought, and babysitters hired for a phone? I was watching the Soup on VH1 and they had a very entertaining “mockmercial” for the new iPhone, and by entertaining I mean beautifully sarcastic. The commercial discussed how due to how overpriced the phone was, compounded with the rip off that was the first iPhone, for many…the new iPhone would enable people to get their eviction notices and collection agency phone calls easier than ever.

In a very tongue in cheek voice, the commercial also brought up how Apple pulled the fast one last year of dramatically lowering the price of the original phone a short time later.

I have not caught the iPhone bug and thought this jab at Apple was hilarious. I know Apple’s marketing and the anticipation they produce for a product launch are powerful, but my, are we lemmings. Lining up. And then lining up again.

Evidently thousands of people could not even activate their new gem of a phone due to infrastructure issues. My Apple, you sure do have the bark, but what about the bite July 11th? Maybe these technical matters should have been better considered, considering there were lines of people receiving docked pay to receive a phone that wouldn’t “phone.”

“iPhone with my other phone.”

eCommerce: Taking the numbers into your own hands

One special day in 1991, someone put up something for sale on the Internet.

Since that day, eCommerce has erupted, becoming a way to shop that is easier, more customer-friendly, interactive, and more a way of life than ever.

Online shoppers want to feel:

1. SERVED
2. CONSIDERED
&
3. SAFE

If you provide your eShoppers with those three feelings, congratulations you are safely at ground zero.

But we want to talk about the next level.

When talking eCommerce there are a few questions to consider:

1. Are you currently running the numbers on your shoppers? Allow us to help you track their buying trends.

2. Do you have a storefront widget? Wait, do you know what a widget is? Call us.

3. Have you considered using video to enhance sales? THIS (not) JUST IN- Video is everywhere!

4. Are you working the social networking trend to your eMerchant advantage? Your competitors are.

5. Are you set up to receive online donations? Help your supporters support you.

“Electronic commerce or eCommerce is a term for any type of business, or commercial transaction, that involves the transfer of information across the Internet.”

eCommerce allows consumers to electronically exchange goods and services with no barriers of time or distance. It is pretty fantastic that we are now, more than ever, free to shop our world.

Let’s wrap up with a couple numbers, shall we?

Here is one number- 229,000,000,000.

“While offline retail sales continue to struggle, online retail will grow at a steady 19 percent year-over-year growth rate, from $95.7 billion in 2003 to $229.9 billion in 2008, according to a new report from Forrester Research, Inc. Most significantly, online retail sales will account for 10 percent of total US retail sales by 2008.”3

And yet another- 1.

You just might be one business that can benefit from staying on top of your eCommerce marketing strategy.

Call me at Paradigm, 314-621-7600.


References:
1 http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html
2 http://ecommerce.networksolutions.com/ecommerce_what_is_ecommerce.asp
3http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2003/08/05/forrester_sees_strong_ecommerce_growth_continuing/

Real Sex in the City

Driving to work this morning on Highway 40, I saw something- well disturbing.

I must start off by saying, in the broad sense of the term, I am a free-thinking liberal mind.
I am also not easily offended. But I am proud of my city therefore the following billboard bothered me.

"CASINOS. STRIPCLUBS.
THEN US."
24 hour Hardee's Drive Thru

And there was a large image of a hamburger.

Sick, St. Louis.

Our city is already surrounded by a slue of casino billboards, and liquor ads. This whole "drink liquor and be a big winner"- is, in my opinion, quite an oxymoron.

We are known as an alcohol city, and a quarter of our city does smell like yeast and hops.

We were also given the honor of "The Most Dangerous City In the U.S" this last year, so we are looking good.

So while we already have two termed "vices" beaming down upon our fair city- leave it to Hardees to add another two to that list.

GLUTTONY!

and drumroll.....

THE SELLING OF SEX!!!

Why Hardee's, why? Yes we have casinos. And yes, there are some dark shadows across the river where you can see women in thongs dance. But do we need it advertised on our skyline?

I would hope St. Louis could be applauded for something better than gambling, sex, and consuming over 60 grams of fat after 3:00 AM.

For a good time of gambling, strippers, liquor, crime and fastfood- look no further than the good 'ole Gateway to the West.

Dinosaur in the City

I was disappointed to learn last night that Carrie Bradshaw does not text! She may be wearing this season's handbag and the newest edition of Manolos... but being with the times does not extend to all areas.

You would think this Manhattanite with her busy professional writing career, love life, shopping trips, nights out with the girls, and time for personal upkeep- that this would be the profile of a texter. But no.

She admits in the movie that she is neither privy to they ways of texting, nor managing her own website, (not to mention blocking emails from a certain "someone." )

Carrie Bradshaw= NY's last single dinosaur?

Perhaps her "over 40" status is the culprit? Did she miss the SMS window?

Now Samantha on the otherhand, is, as SITC fans know, wise in the ways of the bedroom, and now seemingly in the new media world. Equipped with her iPhone, she works wirelessly, jetsetting from LA to the Big Apple, managing her tanned model boyfriend. She is a walking, talking business- and an endorser the new technology.

"Meanwhile in lower Manhattan," Carrie admits she does not know how to use the iPhone...

and therefor I have concluded that she most likely has dial-up.