Amazon Kindle Redux

Browsing books to buy on Amazon, I suddenly wished for a Kindle — if just for a moment tonight. The ability to download books on a wireless device is brilliant if you want something now.
Remember the hype and Newsweek cover story two months ago? The product was out of stock less than six hours after [...]

No. 1 Question Agencies Ask: The “B” Word

Without fail, the question comes up: “What kind of budget are you working with?”
In my corporate marketing position, more often than not I am asked the “B” question when interviewing agencies. And it’s always very casual, as if I won’t notice.
Wouldn’t it be better if the agency listened to clients’ needs to understand dynamics and work [...]

How Linkedin Beats Elance

Since the book 4-Hour Work Week has won raves on many influential blogger sites, outsourcing is again hot.
But is it for everyone? 
Author Tim Ferriss gives a video testimonial on the home page of Elance, the freelance portal with vendors by the name of HireRussians (how’s that for branding?). Anyone in web development knows that offshore coders in Russia, Latvia and India cost a lot less. Low cost equals higher profit margins. 
If you are [...]

One Laptop Per Child: Great Name, What Happened?

This was a grand idea. Now it’s a name and not a movement. Sorry to see it fizzle. An example of a branded cause that can’t to deliver without corporate support. 
Would Intel still had gained something if it would have stayed with the One Laptop Per Child program, despite a change in the costing model and use of a competing chip? Aren’t consumers with a [...]

Penny for Your Clicks: 5 Ways to Compensate Blog Writers

An interesting memo was published in Valleywag.  The subject of writer pay at a tech blog provoked additional questions on Publishing 2.0. It will fuel a few more blogger keystrokes until the Consumer Electronics Show and MacWorld.
Here’s the rub: Measuring the value of content.
Old media was simple. Great reporting and writing usually won the front page or magazine cover. Pulitzer Prize journalists went on to write books. Audited sources [...]

Geek Squad + 60 Minutes Broadcast = Gold

You’ve got to hand it to the Geek Squad. By all appearances, the brand (part of BestBuy) is growing. A year ago, employees (”agents”) totaled 12,000. In December, the number swelled to 17,000 . Dogged by a handful of bloggers, the brand managed to reach its core audience through television ad rotations and aggressive national public relations with regional tactics.
Viral marketing [...]

Blog Hot Button

Brad Stone of the New York Times posted a fairly benign post on Christmas Eve. It drew more than 130 comments in a day. That’s a big number. Here’s the post with my best attempt at providing answers. What are your answers?
–If the local cable company’s customer service phone help line always has “longer than [...]

Shopaholics Anonymous

Just when you thought all the major shopping days before Christmas were identified, up sprouts another: Green Monday. This tag, coined by the folks at eBay (Shop Victoriously!), coincides with the second Monday of December. New data from comScore shows that Dec. 10 (I mean, Green Monday) recorded the highest online sales of any day this shopping season over [...]

Customer Intensive Care

Product launches are tricky – especially when you’re also a new company. The initial build-up. The reviews. The consumer anticipation. What to do when you miss the promised delivery date? Confess and keep moving. 
Walt Mossberg’s review of the Slacker Portable Player went up last week on the Wall Street Journal website. Not glowing. Not damning. 
But it lets readers know the anticipated digital music players won’t [...]

The Meter is Running

Here is another example of a running meter to illustrate a company’s contribution to the environment. LiveOps, headed up by a former eBay executive, is 16,000+ at-home customer service reps who never drive into the office to take a call. Think big freelance call center without the building. The company’s web meter clicked off 16 gallons of gasoline saved while I wrote [...]