Marketing and all things related

Buick, Pontiac, Plymouth, and more have been on the chopping block but are Mercury, Volvo or GMC next to go?  BusinessWeek asked readers to cast their votes for the next auto brand that should get the axe and the results are quite interesting.

Here is the breakdown as of the time I'm writing this post with 1,336 votes cast:

• GMC = 7%
• Hummer = 20%
• Jaguar = 1%
• Land Rover = 2%
• Lincoln = 2%
• Maybach = 14%
• Mercury = 33%
• Pontiac = 10%
• Saab = 8%
• Volvo = 3%

According to the BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation's (NRF's) "2008 Mother's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey", which surveyed internet users, consumers still favor traditional brick-and-mortar stores for Mother's Day gift buying than online stores.  That's not to say no one shops for Mother's Day gifts online (18.3% do), but specialty stores, department stores and discount stores still see the most traffic and sales thanks to Mother's Day (85% of respondents). 

Holy smokes, the price of a stamp is going up again on May 12th.  Get ready to dish out 42-cents to mail a 1-ounce first-class letter, 59-cents for a 2-oz first-class letter and 27-cents for a postcard (you can see all the rate increases on the U.S. Postal Service website).  The Post Office is blaming their 1-cent increase (after a 2-cent increase in May 2007) on a decreased volume of mail and an increase in fuel costs.

Well, what do you know?  People are mailing fewer things.  I wonder why?  Hmmm....  What could it be?  I just can't put my finger on it.  Of course, there's email, faxing and scanning which certainly takes away some need for mailing things, but that just can't be it.  There must be something else.  What is the missing piece of the puzzle?

All joking aside, what the heck is going on here?  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that it simply costs too much to mail anything these days.  Even my mother who is completely internet un-savvy now pays all of her bills online.  You can only push people so far with price increases until they'll find other ways to meet their needs.  It's just common sense.

Christopher Null from The Working Guy blog made an interesting point this week.  The Nintendo Wii is incredibly popular, but how long will that popularity last if the games that are released for the Wii stink?  On game ranking sites, games for the Nintendo Wii consistently get lower scores overall than games made for other systems, and the vast majority of Wii games get poor reviews.

What's going on with the Wii?  A quick perusal of the games available for the Nintendo Wii shows that there is a clear marketing strategy at work.  Leverage hot brands and turn them into Wii games as quickly as possible.  This isn't a new strategy by any means in the video game market, but apparently, quality is suffering for the Wii as a result of this strategy.

I can't blame Nintendo and the game developing companies.  Slap the name Wii on just about anything these days and it will sell, but for how long?  Eventually, consumers are going to demand more in terms of quality games.  The demand will slow and there will be a need for quality over quantity.

What do you think?  Will the Wii make it in the long term?

This one falls into the "What were they thinking?" category.  Yellow Book, the online and printed telephone directory go-to company, has updated their logo.  The new logo has a more modern and more X-Files-ish style to it.  Andrew Kidd at Brand New called it "Alien Fingers".  I call it awful.

Here is the old and new logo from the Brand New blog:

My first thought - what happened to the yellow?  The name says "Yellow" shouldn't part of the logo be yellow?  Or is that too obvious?  Perhaps they're trying to be coy with this new logo.

My second thought - those fingers stink.  They don't look like fingers.  In fact, if you use your imagination, the graphic looks a bit X-rated in a modern art sort of way.

Bottom line - I call do over!

What do you think?

Did they really split or are they "on a break"?  Who knows but today's news certainly tells us the love-hate relationship between Microsoft and Yahoo! has moved beyond the hatin' stage.  Microsoft abandoned it's bid to takeover Yahoo! after Yahoo! played hard to get for too long.

While analysts predicted a hostile takeover, Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer said the deal had gone too far south to repair despite his threats.  Looks like he's got bigger fish to fry in his bid to rule the world (only if he can get past Google).  Makes you wonder what Ballmer has up his sleeve.

This break-up (or "break") makes one ask three questions:

1. Is this a good or bad thing for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)?
2. Is this a good or bad thing for Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO)?
3. Is Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) celebrating the death of the Microsoft-Yahoo! deal or could they care less what the second-class citizens of the online world are doing?

No one knows what's going to happen next, but one thing is for certain.  The internet is the place to be, and the powers that be are positioning themselves as we speak.  It's almost as fun to watch as reality TV.  Let's just hope that in the end, the consumer wins.

I'm often asked for tips about search engine optimization, and I'm definitely not an expert in SEO.  Today, I stumbled upon a Beginner's Checklist for Small Business SEO that is a fantastic tool for marketers and business owners who are trying to establish a website or online brand presence.

The SEO checklist comes from Danny Dover of SEOmoz.org, one of the best SEO sites online.  In is post, Danny breaks beginner SEO for small business into four sections:

1. Research
2. Onsite
3. Offsite
4. Track and improve

It's the perfect checklist to follow as you develop a web presence for your company, product or brand.

Today is the day - the running of the 134th Kentucky Derby.  Believe it or not, the Kentucky Derby is not just about tradition - think women in big hats.  In fact, it could be said that the Kentucky Derby has gone viral.  It's true.  The Kentucky Derby is embracing social media marketing and the world of Web 2.0.

I have to admit, I didn't think I'd ever put the words Kentucky Derby and Web 2.0 in the same sentence.  I'm not a horse-racing fan, so I was surprised when I visited the Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby website and found a related Kentucky Derby blog.  Very cool and very modern!

I was even more surprised to find a Kentucky Derby YouTube Channel.  Even cooler!  There are some great videos there that racing gurus and novices alike will enjoy.

Just goes to show, any brand can leverage the power of the social web!

You've heard of green marketing but how about anti-green marketing?  In a new online ad campaign, the New York Times Online is going for shock value with its anti-green message that questions the healthiness of organic foods.  I saw the ad on the New York Times website in the Television section where it was placed to promote the health section of the New York Times website. 

When I clicked on the ad, I was actually taken to a related article about organic foods on the New York Times Health blog.  I have to admit that I was impressed to see the ad bring me not just to the home page of the New York Times Health site but rather to a specific article that actually added value and made it worth my while to click on the ad.

No one knows for sure (except the powers that be at Baskin-Robbins, but the home of 31-Flavors appears to have retaliated against Ben and Jerry's Free Cone promotion (you can read more about that in my post yesterday, Peace, Love and Free Ice Cream at Ben and Jerry's) with 31-Cent Scoop Night.

Here's a run-down of the differences between the two ice cream heavyweight's marketing promotions:

• Ben and Jerry's Free Cone Day was on April 29, 2008.  Baskin-Robbins' 31-Cent Scoop Night was on April 30, 2008.  This is not the first year for either promotion, but one has to wonder - coincidence or not?  What do you think?  Regardless, 1 point for Ben and Jerry's for being first in 2008.
• While Ben and Jerry's gives out over 1 million free ice cream cones on its Free Cone Day, Baskin-Robbins is offering a reduced price on its small ice cream scoops on its 31-Cent Scoop Night.  1 point for Ben and Jerry's.
• While Ben and Jerry's gives out free cones all day on Free Cone Day, Baskin-Robbins sells 31-cent scoops only between 5pm-10pm. Another point for Ben and Jerry's.
• While Ben and Jerry's makes nothing on its free cones, Baskin-Robbins makes a reduced profit on its 31-cent scoops, $100,000 of which is donated to local firefighter charities. 1 point for Baskin-Robbins.

Total points: Ben and Jerry's 3, Baskin-Robbins 1

Your thoughts?