Let’s Make a (Daily) Deal

Two-for-one steaks at a high-end restaurant? Sounds like a great deal. I pay $50 for $100 of lawn services so I’m not mowing when it’s 100 degrees? Nice! A 50-percent discount on spa services my wife can use when I’m watching the NCAA tournament? Why, that’s brilliant!

James Franco. Trending …

Social-media doubters — take notice. If you still think we’re wrapped up in another dot.com-era fad, understand that for one night something so big was happening that Twitterdom was able to peel itself away from Charlie Sheen and focus on something else — the Academy Awards. This year’s Oscars were so poorly received that its social-media chatter registered not unlike a seismograph. The criticism came from the influencers. Relative to the Oscars, who could be more influential than Roger Ebert? His take? “King wins, Oscar loses: My coverage of a baaaad Oscarcast.” Criticism came from the masses. “#jamesfranco” was a free-for-all ridicule. A good example — “Wish we were smoking right now what #JamesFranco must’ve been smoking right before the ...

Be Yourself …

Every day, I wake up and go to work. And when I get there, before I put together my to-do list, I like to catch up on news and throw out a few interesting articles on Twitter. Recently, I’ve seen what appears to be an uptick in articles focused on how to “dial up” your marketing. The ideas may differ, but the premises are predictably similar — tactical approaches to help cut through the clutter and grab the consumer’s attention. These articles remind me of the stories I used to hear about marketing and advertising professors pushing the “bells and whistles” approach back in the day. You have to get the customer’s attention, even if it annoys ...

Predictable Insights

A couple of years ago, I penned a brief piece on what makes up a trend and hadn’t thought of it for a while until last week when someone I work with asked, “so how do you predict a trend?” I thought that was a question worth addressing. In short, you can’t. And, per my earlier piece, it’s important to clearly define a trend as an evolution in behavior. That’s why the McRib is not a trend, despite the fact that Twitter Trends had it pegged to the top for two weeks after it was re-introduced. It’s important to understand that science and gambling have a lot in common. Both focus on theories or hunches and then test them for potential ...

Predictions for 2011

I’m not one for a lot of introspection. I’ve seen quite a few newsletters and blog posts doing postmortems on 2010. I’m just glad it’s over. And in that spirit, I wanted to offer up a few predictions for the year ahead of us. They are as follows:

Virtual Value

American Express made a bold move by announcing it would now allow cardholders to use rewards points to buy virtual goods on Zynga properties. There are two fundamental implications here. 1. This again shows that stereotypical assumptions about gamers, whether they are casual online gamers or hard-core console owners, are likely mistaken. They are not overweight, unemployed and alone. They span the gamut and are passionate about what they do in their spare time. 2. We’re entering a new phase of currency. Gone are the divisions between money and points, in the real world and the virtual world. “Second Life” tried this some time ago. Unfortunately, it seems they paved the way at their own expense. If creativity is the hallmark of an active ...

Looking Ahead

I have two younger brothers who are both smarter than I am, which is doubly painful given the fact I am the oldest. Anyone who knows anyone with three boys knows that sibling dynamic generally entails a lot of conflict — sometimes in the form of a random punch and sometimes in the form of deep disagreement. We’ve argued about topics ranging from where we should eat to whom we should vote for. One argument I’ve been losing for years (from a vote standpoint anyhow) is the correct approach to economic analysis. Despite my impassioned facts, I am still outnumbered 2-to-1. They insist the rational-market approach still reigns supreme. The market is a finely tuned numeric machine devoid of passion ...

Social Gifting

Man I wish I’d thought of this … Today’s entry is less of a blog and more of a head shaker. (For me, anyhow.) I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time trying to think up and recommend consumer social-media-content usage. But I’d have to admit, I never would have come up with social gifting. And it’s such a great idea. It’s simple in that it merely leverages a social-media profile to create targeted gift ideas. And it’s powerful, as it offers the buyer confidence and allows them to look smart and in touch with the people they’re buying for. I really, really, really wish I’d thought of this. But does it work? I’ve only tried a couple of test runs, but it ...