All posts for the month July, 2012

A Moment of Marketing Clarity: The Matterhorn

(Today’s moment comes from “Selling the Invisible” by Harry Beckwith) The Value of Publicity There are six peaks in Europe higher than the Matterhorn. Name one.  

Retro Ad of the Week: Albany Life, 1983

Life insurance is boring. It’s a serious topic, but it’s also important. And insurance companies have struggled for years with ways to grab our attention. While some brands have taken a warm, lighthearted approach to advertising to humanize their brand – take MetLife’s famous Peanuts campaign as an example – other brands have taken a [...]

Isn’t There a Boat Builder Out There That Knows How To Sell a Boat?

We all know that the two greatest days in the life of a boat owner are the day they buy it and the day they sell it. This is because owning a boat comes with a constant stream of hassles. That’s just the way it is. For boaters, the good simply outweighs the bad. And [...]

Luxury Travel Goes Even Greener

It’s no surprise that affluent vacation-goers are taking the environment into account when planning their getaways. These influential, early adopters have helped bring environmental consciousness to the forefront of traveling minds around the globe. As a result, an eco-conscious standard of luxury travel has been embraced. Green accommodations and amenities are not only accessible, but are often expected [...]

Retro Ad of the Week: Italian Line, 1963

What makes it Italian? Why, the mustachioed accordion player, of course. I like the illustration style, but I’m guessing the copy was translated from Italian: “Come you aboard a gallant Italian Line ship…” TRIVIA: Part of the Italian Line fleet was the ill-fated Andrea Doria, which collided with a Swedish American Line ship off the [...]

Your Politics Are Bad for Your Bottom Line

We all know the two quintessential hot-button topics outside the home: politics and religion. Some might say sex is a third, but at least everyone can agree that they like sex. You can’t really say the same about politics or religion. CEOs should be especially sensitive to this, because if they go around spreading their [...]

Adobe Goes Social, Without Me…

For those who read my earlier post about Adobe making moves in the Social Analytics Space, here is my quick follow-up. After inquiring with Adobe about their pricing I was hit with a bit of sticker shock. Adobe’s Digital Marketing Suite cost is based upon your (or your client’s) page views, so the more you [...]

Retro Ad of the Week: Cointreau, 1975

For about .5% of the country alcohol is about taste. For the rest of us, it’s about getting hammered with our friends, or as Cointreau put it so eloquently in 1975: The Art of Lingering. FUN FACT: In 1899, only three years after the introduction of motion pictures, Cointreau released the first advertising film, which [...]

Southwest Airlines Goes Live with a Brilliant Revenue Generator

Thought of as the first wave of discount air carriers, Southwest Airlines has been breaking barriers and forging new ground in the highly competitive airline industry since its spike in growth in the mid 90s. Recently, the low-cost airline announced that they will be offering live, in-flight TV to passengers at a cost of $3-$8 [...]

When You Don’t Test Your Website, Bad Things Happen

Like A’s everywhere. That’s what shows up on the W Hotels homepage as it appears on my Firefox browser: Now Firefox (along with IE) usage may be on a decline as Chrome makes its way to the top, but it still ranks third on the browser usage list, high above Safari, which displayed this page [...]