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Men Put on the Dad Lens When Buying for the Family

posted on September 8, 2010

Everyone knows how important it is to market to moms, but what about dads? A survey by the newly formed Dad Central Consulting (an off-shoot of Mom Central Consulting) says that  92% of dads put on their special “Dad Lens” when shopping for the family.

What this means is that they use a different set of criteria when choosing items such as groceries, cars and home entertainment, than they used before they had kids. For marketers, this is a significant piece of information. Now, instead of marketing a car to men for its good looks and speed, this survey would suggest you go with safety and room to grow.

The survey also found that 77% of dad said being a parent significantly influenced their decisions and 82% said being a dad influenced who they trusted when seeking advice.

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YouTube Says Don’t Block Them, Join Them

posted on September 7, 2010

In the early days of fandom, studios routinely sent out cease and desist letters to fanzine publishers who were producing original works based on the characters from their favorite shows. It had a finger in the dyke effect, stopping one writer as twenty more popped up. In other words, it was useless.

When video software became common and YouTube hit the web, the studios began battling another, bigger problem, that of the unauthorized use of clips from shows. In order to plug the holes, YouTube created their Content ID system which scans videos and compares them to a list of items provided by the owner of the copyright. Then, like a virtual cease and desist letter, the software would block the offending videos, but who really wins? The studio gets their way, but the fans get mad and that’s never a good thing.

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Win Copies of Scott Stratten’s “UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging”

posted on September 7, 2010

Scott Stratten is not your normal marketer.

Actually, he may even take offense at being called a “marketer.” Instead, he’s known as the “UnMarketer” and his book UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging, just hit bookstores today.

I had the pleasure of seeing Scott keynote PubCon South and I’ve been in constant awe of this enticing, engaging, and …Canadian unmarketer ever since. His book will be a bestseller, there’s no doubt about it, and the book’s description should give you an idea why:

For generations, marketing has been hypocritical. We’ve been taught to market to others in ways we hate being marketed to (cold-calling, flyers, ads, etc.). So why do we still keep trying the same stale marketing moves?

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Google Legal Update: Who Painted That Target On Our Back?

posted on September 7, 2010

What better way to get back from your Labor Day weekend break than to hear about more Google legal concerns. This time there is a mix of the old and the new as an old nemesis shows up in Texas while the online travel industry has some questions about Google proposed purchase of ITA Software. By the way, Google is hiring law related talent so this is a “growth” area for the search giant ;-) .

First we are revisited by the group headed by the vertical search engine, Foundem. You remember these guys, right? They were given editorial space in the New York Times to rant about the unfairness of Google’s algorithm. Well, if you can’t succeed in Europe and your pleas go unheard in the NY Times the next obvious stop is Texas. Yup, Texas.

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BP Turns to Google’s Adwords for ORM Help

posted on September 7, 2010

AdAge’s Mobiliby site has been doing a little investigative reporting by obtaining a document from Google that apparently shows the Adwords spend level of some of the biggest players in the Adwords ecosystem (HT to @Ed). The numbers are not shocking as a whole but seeing BP in those numbers is. It’s like one of those kids game where you are asked “Which one of these doesn’t belong?” In this case, BP looks a bit like a fish out of water considering the ad spend company they kept in June. Of course, when you triple your average overall ad spend after a major crisis involving the company like BP did around the Deepwater oil spill, you want to find the best bang for all of those bucks, right?

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iTunes Ping Has No Zing

posted on September 5, 2010

Apple says that more than one million users joined their new music-focused social network Ping in the 48 hours following its launch. I find that hard to believe. I do believe that people will flock like seagulls on a chip bag to a hot new social media site even though they can’t keep up with the ones they’re already on. I do believe that people will jump at the idea of a music-based network (take that Myspace!) especially one brought to you buy the maker of the iPod.

What I have trouble with is the fact that when I sign on to Ping, I can’t find more than twenty people using the site. Those that I did find were all in the music biz. What gives?

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Cup of Joe: Babies Rule Internet Marketing

posted on September 4, 2010

Baby I have some great news! On Wednesday, my sister gave birth to my third niece! Now with three nieces and one nephew I have the job of spoiling them cut out for me! But don’t worry I am up to the challenge.

While visiting my new niece in the hospital on Wednesday, I couldn’t help but think of the amazing amount of potential that lay before her. She has a whole world of experiences to explore for the first time. Her first song to sing. Her first taste of ice cream. Her first book. Her first blog post and even her first tweet. Because of her inexperience she will approach each one of these activities with an open mind and develop a truly unique perspective as a result. Because of this, she has an inherent advantage that others older than her don’t. She has a Beginner’s Mind.