Marketing Pilgrim

Look I will be the first to admit today is a very slow news day.

That’s why we are sharing this bit of data from Yelp which obviously is trying to let people know that it’s more than just a restaurant review site.

This kind of “re-imagining” of a brand is something that is difficult in the Internet age. Yelp has allowed its users to define it and many have decided that Yelp is their home for reviewing restaurants. In order for the company to grow though it will need to have a broader reach.

How do you use Yelp? Is it a place where you review everything or has it been painted into a corner by being only for a certain segment of your life?

Google ran a TV ad on Thanksgiving during the early NFL game. I missed it live (which means I wasn’t paying close attention to the game, huh?).

My question is whether the regular Thanksgiving Day football viewer will understand an ad with the tagline “Sharing but like real life. That’s a plus.” Will they get what it does? I doubt it.

Here’s the ad. What’s your take?

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We hold Thanksgiving near and dear to our hearts here at Marketing Pilgrim (considering our name and all).

We also have a lot to be thankful for not the least of which is you, our readers.

Thanks for your support. We hope that you have a blessed Thanksgiving Day (for our US readers in particular) and we look forward to the future with you.

Thanks!

Facebook has found a way to put more ads in front of more people. Why is that a bad thing?

The latest uproar involves Facebook’s move to include “sponsored stories” in the home page Ticker. The Ticker, which I still don’t have, is made to quickly deal with all of the boring notifications generated by your friends when they do something:

Susan bought a duck in Farmville. Grant listened to “Don’t Stop Believing.” Natalie commented on “Cute Puppy Plays with Baby” video.

Now, in addition to those updates, you’ll see things like Andrew, Carl and Corky like Triscuts – Sponsored.

In other words, more information that you could live without.

I love a bargain, but frankly, it’s only Wednesday and I’m already tired of hearing about Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. I feel like I’m standing in the middle of a huge room with a 1,000 people around me, all shouting for my attention.

50% off! Free shipping! Gift with purchase! Our lowest prices of the year! Door open at 4 AM! (And worst of all) Doors never close!

As the LA Times says, Black Thursday is replacing Black Friday as more stores open for business on Thanksgiving. Walmart, CVS, Toys R Us, and here’s Old Navy proudly offering $10 off if you shop on turkey day.

It’s enough to make me want to pay full price.

Google continues on its year round spring cleaning as it decides to shutter more products and services.

I guess much of this can be contributed to what some might say is the “20% bloat”. The famous “20% time” that Google allows its people to work on anything they want for 20 percent of their work time has spawned winners and losers. Makes one wonder just how valuable that time is. Wouldn’t it be cool if Google simply concentrated on perfecting the existing REALLY important things they have and do (search, Google+, Apps, Gmail, local, mobile etc etc) so we could see just how good the company could be rather than the disparate pieces it currently is that Larry Page is running around cleaning up after?