Marketing Pilgrim

Did you know that real men drink Zima? Well, Martin Bowling drinks Zima–at least, he does thanks to a crazy meme that somehow got started. Fortunately, not only has Martin Bowling embraced the Zima meme, he’s announced a contest with some great prizes!

For those of you who’d rather sip on an IPA than the malternative beverage, here are today’s Picks:

• Google’s Eric Schmidt plans to push forward with the Yahoo deal–waiting for the DoJ was just a courtesy, not a requirement, he says.
• Brian Solis knows social media. He argues that there really is no such thing as “viral marketing.” I tend to agree, you can sow the seed, but you can’t force the rain!
• CNN revisits mobile search answering service ChaCha. It’s powered by 25,000 experts–which is like 250 experts for every ChaCha user.
• BuzzLogic’s ad network for bloggers, leaves beta and opens-up to all.
• BrandClik has launched its in-text ad network.
• It’s that time of year when Matt McGee shares 21 signs you need a break from SEO. For me, it came yesterday when I tweeted “dipping source” instead of “sauce.”