The Big Fat Marketing Blog

I just saw State Farm’s “Hot Dog Without a Bun” commercial for the first time. A hot dog without a bun? It’s more like a commercial without a point. It is entertaining. Then again, I found that Pets.com puppet entertaining, too. What does buying a hot dog without a bun really have to do with insurance? For humor to be effective in advertising, it must be relevant, as in Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” commercials. I guess State Farm was trying to reach people who liked Punk’d because the only thing I got from the commercial was a desire to go eat a couple of hot dogs. Without buns.

Dan Blair, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, offers his mid-fiscal year assessment.

Click here to read Blair’s commentary.

So, I am not speaking that much this year for several reasons. Two of the biggest are that (1) I am sick of hearing myself talk (no comments from the peanut gallery, please) and (2) I am boycotting the Marketing Association Who Must Not Be Named.

One of the few speeches I am doing will be at the Marketing Profs B2B Forum on June 8 and 9 in Boston.

Click here now for more information.

When Susanne Sicilian (one of my dearest friends in this industry) asked me to do a game show at her conference, I immediately said “yes.” If I only knew what I was getting into… more

So, I am not speaking that much this year for several reasons. Two of the biggest are that (1) I am sick of hearing myself talk (no comments from the peanut gallery, please) and (2) I am boycotting the Marketing Association Who Must Not Be Named.

One of the few speeches I am doing will be at the Marketing Profs B2B Forum on June 8 and 9 in Boston.

Click here now for more information.

When Susanne Sicilian (one of my dearest friends in this industry) asked me to do a game show at her conference, I immediately said “yes.” If I only knew what I was getting into… more

Nothing can be worse for the New York Yankees than a bunch of empty seats in the House that Greed Jeter Built. Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News sums it up right here.

When the best seats in the Yankees’ new house are going for $2,625 each (which is about as high as Chien-Ming Wang’s ERA), and the economy is in the tank, they are going to remain empty. And when that’s the most prevalent thing the viewer at home sees, it gives the perception that no one is watching the New York Yankees. more

The U.S. Postal Service has not received an operational subsidy from Congress since 1982, and current estimates forecast the federal agency will lose a record $6.4 billion in fiscal 2009. And that estimate is on the conservative side. more