Happy Halloween (or The Holiday Season Starts NOW!!!)

Well here it is...Halloween evening and the ghosts, goblins, some Spidermen, about 23 dancing princesses and several not so scurvy pirates are out and about tonight. And how was your evening?

Now, we kick it into high gear. Over the next couple of days or so you will be bombarded with holiday commercial after holiday commercial. Sales, Must Have Toys, Jewelry, and of course the perfect holiday feast. Now is the time to see what we are made of.

Do we succumb to the marketing assault over the next two months or do we repel the assault on our senses and pocketbooks? While many of us will start strong. However, some of us will declare defeat a little after the first commercial for the Sounds of Christmas CD has plastered its 1-800 number across the screen and we have our credit card in hand. So a word of encouragement as you venture into this holiday season; be strong, be brave, and above all be afraid...be very afraid, because it will take everything you got to survive the holiday season without going into a debt greater than the Gross Domestic Debt of any small Caribbean Nation.

Other than that, let me be the first to wish you the best this holiday season.

Is it Dialogue or just Monologue vs. Monologue

Is it Dialogue or just Monologue vs. Monologue? Have you ever been in a conversation where you feel that it isn't a dialogue between people (chiefly two people) but eventually turns into Monologue vs. Monologue? What does one do when this happens?

Is it right to get frustrated and end the conversation or is it time to take a new tactic and work at getting back to a dialogue?

I would say that the answer to this is split 50/50. The answer isn't right or wrong. The answer isn't good or bad.

The answer to returning to 100% DIALOGUE is for both parties to recognize that they are monologuing. Just like in those 12 steps programs, recognizing that there is a problem is the first step. The only drawback is that there will always be a few people that will fail to recognize they have a problem of engaging in monologue instead of creating and maintaining dialogue.

How do you create and maintain dialogue?

Rhythm is the Power

Over the past weekend I participated in an event that rocketed an author up the Books Bestseller chart over at Amazon.com. It was interesting to see that through a little grassroots undertaking one man can make his move up the charts from a 1034 ranking to a 26th place rank in one day. Talk about a world of free advertising and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Joseph Jaffe is the author and his new book "Join the Conversation" was the book that was bum rushed up the charts. In the New Marketing community Jaffe has become a brand and he has crossed his brand over to other sectors of business. As an Information Technologist, I came across Jaffe sort of by accident, still there was something about him that had me hooked from the start.

This weekend I saw the CNBC show "The Billionaire Inside" with Donald Trump. In the show he was asked as how he became "The Donald" and he stated that he had the vision to look beyond what was in front of him. He told the story of how he purchased a high rise for $1 million and sold it for $60 million. He also added that people recognize the quality he has given his name because of transactions like that $60 million dollar deal. He said that because it was Trump people just associated a higher standard with it.

This afternoon I saw the new Duran Duran music video for their new song "Falling Down". While it is no RIO or HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF, it is solidly Duran Duran. It is a song that fans have come to expect from DD. These guys have been around since 1978 and continue to reinvent themselves with every album they put out. Their name alone continues to evoke the spirit of 80's music but it also now stands as a brand name that was built with the quality music and videos that they were the first to deliver. Though there are others that continue today from their beginnings in the 80's, none however have delivered with such ferocity and audacity to persevere through their lineup changes and still deliver a product that is worthy of besting the previous product.

So what do Joseph Jaffe, The Donald, and Duran Duran have in common? Rhythm. They got a rhythm that is "uniform and a well-coordinated action", they keep things moving, they don't let anything get stale (they wouldn't allow it). After all, it is their name that has been recognized, it is their name that gets people to buy their books, gets people to pay outrageous prices for their buildings, gets people to keep wanting to hear their music for almost 30 years. Do you have the rhythm? Because in the end, RHYTHM IS THE POWER.

Tags: Joseph Jaffe, Duran Duran, Donald Trump, Red Carpet Massacre, Join the Conversation, Trump Towers, The Donald, bumrush the charts, Falling Down, Billionaire Inside, Rhythm is the Power, brand, branding

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Bad, Bad Marketing Ploy: CLERK HAS RECEIPT

    Before I get started, when I wrote "bad, bad" in the title I mean as in VERY BAD and not the good bad as in that was "bad @zz" but more like "man that was the worst thing I have ever experienced." OK, on with the show.
    Picture the scene, its FRIDAY afternoon, just before 6pm, 92 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, not a cloud in the sky, 92% humidity, and it's the start of the weekend. Before you can start it you gotta fill up on gas. This was me a little more than 12 hours ago. So the little yellow fill'er up light goes on, and 10 miles later I find a gas station/ convenience store and proceeded to fill it.
    I "pay at the pump" as I really don't need anything from inside, I am a few miles from home, so I can wait. I proceed to fill up and when I finish, the LCD display asks if I want a receipt. You bet I do. About 30 seconds after pressing the YES button, the display reads CLERK HAS RECEIPT.
    I guess business must be so bad inside that they have to force people into the store for some impulse shopping while enroute to pick up the receipt. This has got to be the most lame attempt at making people buy something. Not being amused I made the trek into the store for my receipt. Sure enough there they were, all the impulse items, cold drinks, candies, snack food, ALL wanting my attention. Also, as usual in situations like this there was only ONE cashier ringing people and two other employees standing around as a line of customers formed. It was my lucky day, the guy behind the counter wore a name tag that announced that he was the Assistant Manager.
    Now, not being privy to the command structure of the modern retail industry, this guy could have been Assistant Manager in charge of restocking Chips and Condiments for all I know. Still, I took the Assistant Manager title as one that held a position of perceived authority within the STRIPES (formerly Valero) organization. Taking my turn in line I told the young man that I needed my receipt from the gas pump I was at, he gave it to me, and asked if that was all. I told him "No". In a nice but steady tone I told him that I will not be buying gasoline or anything else from any STRIPES until they stop forcing people inside the store." The guy looked at me like I had just stepped on the bible and burned the US flag (both of which I would never do). I was not going to explain anything more to him, so I took my receipt and promptly left the store.
    Is this a marketing scheme that is played out all over the country or just in parts of the country where people are willing to accept this kind of behavior from any organization?

Tags: bad marketing, scheme, retail, pay at the pump, STRIPES, Valero, gasoline, fill up

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What to write about?

    There have been many changes since the last time I wrote that I am not too sure what to write about? So why not a recap? uh NO!!! I'll leave that for others. Surely there has to be something that I can write about. While I can say that the book is coming along nice, but for some strange reason I have writer's block. Block has been around since last Tuesday.
    So what's a guy to do? Maybe I can ramble about and say something witty and something inspiring? uh NO!!! I'll leave that for those that truly believe that the sun rises and sets around them.
    Should I write about some new marketing gimmick that's even better than sliced bread? uh NO!!! I'll leave that for those marketing pundits that believe their own press releases.
    Maybe a quip or two about some new technology in the business place? uh NO!!! That I leave for a later time.
    So now that I single handedly offended those that needed offending, and not a single word of inspiration has been born. Therefore, I think Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (M*A*S*H) said it best when he said, "If I can't get the girl, at least give me more money."

Tags: writer's block, marketing, press release, inspiration, witty, Hawkeye, MASH

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