Before I start, in reference to the title: Zing! So, @ashlebo and I got one of these in the mail yesterday. And I’m sure it wasn’t just us. It was probably us and everyone else in our area. Here’s the problem: We live in a condo. And so does everyone else in our neighborhood. No [...]

A lot of times, one of the first things you hear when social media is brought up in a business setting is “How can we leverage this to reach our customers (read: sell more stuff)?” And a lot of times, it makes me want to punch whoever said that right in the face. It’s a [...]

“Tracy, will adding that chicken salad make us THE low-fare airline from Houston to Las Vegas? Because if it doesn’t help us become the unchallenged low-fare airline, we’re not serving any chicken salad.” Herb Kelleher, CEO Southwest Airlines in Made to Stick The above may be one of the top 10 greatest marketing statements of [...]

SaladWorks does not put a fork in the to-go bag. Roll? Check. Napkin? Check. Full brochure on catering services? (unfortunately) Check. Fork? No chance. You can call me old fashioned, but I’m not going to be the first in line to get my next event catered if they can’t even give me a fork with [...]

I was at a nice local family restaurant the other night. I’m sure you know the kind of place. Good atmosphere, pretty good food and pretty good service. As we got seated and I took a look at the menu, I was struck by a short phrase placed next to the upscale pick-two (think surf [...]

It seems to me like every movie I see advertised on TV has been heralded as “The MUST SEE movie of the Summer!” or “The thriller that grabs you and won’t let go!” or something else equally fantastic. But have you ever looked closely to see where those quotes come from? I know a good [...]

Market research is a joke. Not all of it, but a decent amount. I’m not condemning all market research. Of course it’s crazy to pump millions or billions into a product on a whim, but with the new product failure rate estimated from 50-75% (think New Coke), something isn’t working. And that’s not even the [...]

Marketers have the good fortune of being in a discipline where it is completely acceptable to create new phrases or terms. Not only is it acceptable, sometimes it’s encouraged. If you want to be an expert on something, just make something up. Try doing this in most other industries. I doubt you’ll get away with [...]