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Celebrity Apprentice and Getting Back to Basics

posted on April 25, 2011

Last night on Celebrity Apprentice, the teams were tasked with creating a four-page ad for the Trump Collection of Hotels. Now, before you scoff, let me tell you that you can learn a lot about marketing from this show, so read on and hold your laughter.

The judges felt that both teams failed miserably at the job, but what’s interesting is that they failed because they over-thought the task and forgot about the basics.

For example:

Stale Images

The executives on the task told the teams that they didn’t want those same old, typical hotel images, gleaming buildings and a waiter with a towel over his arm. And yet, that’s exactly what the teams gave them. The women even went so far as to put the Playmate on their team in a tub full of rose petals while she sipped champagne. Ah, luxury . . . that we’ve seen a thousand times before. The execs even went so far as to say the ad looked like the ones you see for a low-rent strip club. Yikes.

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More Jobs from the Marketing Pilgrim Job Board

posted on April 25, 2011

We say it every time we post about available jobs on our Job Board but it sure is good to be in an industry where there is opportunity.

We wanted to give you a look at some of the most recent jobs posted which could very well be your next great gig. Be sure to check out all of our Marketing Pilgrim job listings for those looking for work.

Oh and for those looking for that next start employee? The combination of our talented readers and a price of just $27 / month / per listing is the best in the industry. List your job with us today!

Here are some of the newest jobs

SEO Analyst – HomeAway Austin, TX

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Groupon Offers Google Exec a Good Deal

posted on April 25, 2011

Things are heating up in the offers/daily deal/whatever it is you call it space as the competition now includes employees as well. Google has experienced enough trouble in the recent past around losing important employees that this is nothing new but it may say something about who they are willing to keep.

The latest to leave the Googleplex for greener pastures is Margo Georgiadis, vice president of global sales operations at Google. Maybe she didn’t get the same treatment as some recent near defectors did (millions in incentives to stick around) so maybe we are seeing just who Google values and who they are willing to let go in the talent race.

Reuters reports

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New Study: Half Life of a Facebook Post

posted on April 22, 2011

When you make a post on your company’s Facebook page, you’ve got about an hour and 20 minutes before the post is out of sight and out of mind.

This factoid and a few other interesting gems, comes from a study done by social media toolbar provider, Visibli.

Their study indicated that Facebook posts get 50% of their likes in that first hour and twenty. A day later, the post is off the grid and forgotten but it still beats engagement on Twitter which has an even shorter window.

AdAge quoted Visibli CEO Saif Ajani as saying,

“If you want to maximize your exposure, you should post every hour and 20 minutes.”

On the other hand,

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Get Bing Rewards Without a Bing Bar

posted on April 22, 2011

Did you know that Bing has a rewards program? I didn’t and I belong to dozens of these things. Before now, though, I wouldn’t have bothered with Bing’s because you had to download a toolbar, but not anymore.

The Bing Rewards Preview is a program that let’s you earn credits when you visit the Bing homepage and there’s nothing to download. It uses your Windows Live ID to keep track, then it offers you point deals in a drop down box at the top of the page.

I was very surprised by the actions required in the first two credit offers that I received. The first asked me to read a page about polio and the second to check out a visual search page of Pulitzer Prize winning books.

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Google Offers Groupon Competition With Offers

posted on April 22, 2011

Google is playing the classic “if you can’t buy’em, join’em” game with its new Offers service.

The service is being rolled out Portland, OR (no surprise there), Oakland / East Bay, San Francisco as well as offering NYC Uptown, Midtown and Downtown editions. It’s not a whole lot different than any other offer/coupon/deal site in that there will be daily e-mails with discounts for 24 hour periods etc, etc. You can subscribe here if you happen to be in one of those areas.

So we can keep things light let’s just watch Google’s video about the service (which is more advertising than information but who’s counting?).

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Concerned About Mobile Privacy? It’s Likely That You Have None

posted on April 22, 2011

Marketers love data. You hear it all the time. The more data the better. The more you know the more you sell. The less the consumer knows the better (seems to be a theme unfortunately). If we could just get this one piece of information we could make gazillions.

You know the drill. It’s played over time and time again. What is happening more and more, however, is the slow process of learning just how much information is gathered by some pretty powerful folks (in this case Apple and Google) that may or may not be given voluntarily by users. In fact, it looks more and more like the data gathering and storing methods of these two behemoths have little to do with opt-in or an end user’s permission or even awareness in collection of data. Instead it’s more like “Thanks for the data but don’t expect a phone call!”