FedEx announced yesterday that they would be renaming Kinko’s “FedEx Office”
marketing
Attention Hungry Insomniacs: Burger King Will Now Stay Open Until 2 AM
By 6.2.08
You know how Burger King is always closed and you have to go to Taco Bell? And you don’t even like Taco Bell? No more. Burger King has announced that it will be staying open until 2 am.
What's The First Thing That Pops Into Your Head When You Think Of Dell? Or Sprint?
By 5.15.08
Companies spend a lot of money on marketing, but ultimately, a brand is what people think it is. Meet Brandtags.net — a site where you can tag brands with one word or phrase that best represents how you feel when you see their logo. It seems that Dell has its work cut out for it–some of the top tags people are using for that brand include:
Charter To Begin Tracking Users' Searches And Inserting Targeted Ads
By 5.13.08
Charter Communications is sending letters to its customers informing them of an “enhanced online experience” that involves Charter monitoring its users’ searches and the websites they visit, and inserting targeted third-party ads based on their web activity. Charter, which serves nearly six million customers, is requiring users who want to keep their activity private to submit their personal information to Charter via an unencrypted form and download a privacy cookie that must be downloaded again each time a user clears his web cache or uses a different browser.
Waste Your Saturday With 50 Funny Commercial Parodies
By 5.10.08
Nerve.com has assembled a list of 50 fake commercials for everything from Tylenol BM (you’ll sleep right through your bodily functions!) to the Woomba (it cleans your noony!). There’s even some that don’t involve body parts, like Lily Tomlin’s increasingly agitated housewife hawking “G-r-r-r Detergent” in 1975. Our favorite recent commercial parody that didn’t make the list is probably the Jamie Lee Curtis commercial for Activia, because you can never get enough of women eating yogurt.
Can Dell Stop Itself From Sending Me Catalogs?
By 5.9.08
Dell, for the love of God, stop sending me catalogs! They are annoying and unwanted, not to mention, useless. If I want to buy something from you, I’ll go online. I’ve filled out your online forms asking you to stop. I’ve asked over the phone. Three different Dell executives have been in email contact with me pledging that they would investigate the mystery of why Dell is addicted to sending me catalogs. I’ve burnt them. I’ve recycled them. They continue to arrive. In my previous post on this, someone mentioned they got Dell to stop after filing a BBB complaint. Here’s where you go to make one online. I just filed one, my first ever BBB complaint (Dell, see what you made me do?). It took less than 5 minutes.
Top 5 Guerilla Marketing Mishaps
By 5.8.08
In the never-ending quest for free publicity, guerilla marketers have gone through great lengths to try to make a big splash. Many guerilla marketers will often concoct stunts that are risky or illegal to grab the publics’ attention. Some stunts go over better than others while a few completely backfire. As a tribute to these foolhardy souls, WebUrbanist has put together their top 5 mishaps in guerilla marketing. The list, inside…
Chrysler: Want $2.99 Gas For 3 Years? Guaranteed?
By 5.7.08
Chrysler is betting that you’re worried about volatile gas prices. So worried, in fact, that you’ll leap at the opportunity to “lock in” a price of less than $2.99 a gallon for 3 years by buying a new Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep.
If You Love Junk Mail, Visit The Direct Marketing Association's Advocacy Website "MailMovesAmerica.org"
By 5.6.08
Did you know that “advertising mail is under threat?” It’s true! But what can you, the consumer who loves junk mail, do to stop the 15 states that, in 2007, “proposed the creation of state Do Not Mail registries, similar to the national do not call registry”? The Direct Marketing Association has set up a website just for you!
Beer T-shirts For Teenage Girls Bad For America?
By 5.5.08
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has its knickers in a twist over Forever 21 selling “beer shirts,” because the clothing retailer is “popular with teenage girls.”
What Makes Vodka360 An "Eco-Luxury" Vodka?
By 5.1.08
My first thought when I saw spotted this ad for…
Free "You Don't Need It" Stickers
By 4.23.08
Receive these beautiful stickers by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Dell Celebrates Earth Day By Sending Me Junk Mail After I Said Stop
By 4.22.08
Despite my repeated requests via online form and phone, and even a few posts about it, including one where I made a photo spread of burning the offending items, Dell keeps sending me catalogs. So here is another post for the online pillory, but, in celebration of Earth Day, instead of burning these catalogs, I have recycled them (see above). Their inability/indifference is all the more stupid because two different Dell execs contacted me to say they would look into the issue. They even had me email them the cryptograms on my address label to help remove me from their mailing system. Dell, please, help me save the planet and take me off your stupid catalog lists. Otherwise I guess I’ll just have to deem your material “pornographic” (hey, I know it when I see it, right?) and use USPS form 1500 to get you stop. When you decided to get people to lust after your XPS line, that probably isn’t what you had in mind.
Internal Documents Show Why Verizon Isn't Fulfilling Advertised Discounts For Tens Of Thousands
By 4.18.08
These internal Verizon emails, sent by the same insider and as a a followup to “LEAKS: Insider Says Verizon Isn’t Fulfilling Advertised Discounts For Tens Of Thousands,” shows why some of our readers have complained about Verizon offering them one price and billing them another, and then being inflexible in offering service credits. It appears to show that Verizon mailed out a half a million “Blitz” promotional rate cards, then decided it was an error and pulled the offer from the computers. Then Verizon let people get the advertised offers, but only if the customer specifically asked for it. Around the same time, on March 3rd, management cuts the discounts reps can give to $150. Two weeks later, it’s $50. Two weeks after that, it’s zero. Even if a customer was overbilled and legitimately deserved a credit, tough titties, Texas, you weren’t going to get it. Verizon insider’s explanation, rebuttal to the response by Verizon PR pointman John Bonomo, and the internal emails, inside…
By 4.18.08
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Is “plum” poised to supplant pink as the new black? This NYT article, full of quotes from people who shovel bullshit for a living, seems to think so. [NYT]
Should The Government Set Up A "Do-Not-Track" List?
By 4.18.08
One of the most popular sentiments expressed by readers on our blog is “be a smart consumer.” Now two privacy advocacy organizations are calling for the creation of a “do-not-track” list that would protect registered users from online data collection. They argue that a list is needed because too many consumers won’t or can’t understand the methods behind online tracking. To illustrate, one of the organizations “pointed to a 2005 University of Pennsylvania survey in which only 25 percent of respondents knew that a Web site having a privacy policy doesn’t guarantee that the site refrains from sharing customers’ information with companies.” But a do-not-track list is overkill, and a fearful reaction against emerging technologies.
Location-Based Cell Phone Ads Launching Soon
By 4.15.08
PC World has an overview of Loopt, which will begin testing location-based advertising via CBS Mobile in the near future. What’s notable about the service—aside from the fun concept of triangulating location via cell towers—is that Loopt and CBS Mobile “seem to have made most of the right choices for privacy.” That includes the service being opt-in instead of opt-out, and no personal data (such as account info or phone number) being sent back upstream. The targeted ads replace existing ads as well, so there’s not a location-based spammy increase in advertising with the service. This is the kind of advertising we “like”—localized, relevant, and anonymous on our side of things.
