The Big Fat Marketing Blog

A few months ago, apropos of nothing, my 86-year-old mother turned to me and said “You know, I don’t think that much of that Lady Gaga.”

“Well Mom,” I replied, “that’s fine, since you’re not really her target demographic anyway.”

She looked at me a little shocked. “Do you like her?”

I replied that, yes, I did like some of her songs, and she had an interesting sense of style, but it didn’t really matter, because I’m not exactly her target audience either.

And I’m okay with that. Not everyone is the sweet spot for everything—I try to remember that when I start saying how dumb something my kids love on Cartoon Network is….maybe, I stop and think, I’m not really supposed to get this. It’s not for me.

That’s how I feel about the whole “Twilight” phenomenon. I get why teenage girls are all crazy for the moody, broody, angsty vampires, but as a (gulp) middle-aged mom, it just isn’t my thing.

That’s why I was a little taken aback by a recent email from Volvo with the subject line “Your invitation to the wedding of the century has arrived.” Wedding, what wedding? Another royal couple getting hitched? Nope. This was Volvo’s way of inviting me to get excited for their promotional tie-in to “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1.”

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So what do you think is the main concern facing call center executives in 2012? Here’s what more than 100 respondents said in the 2012 Call Center Summit survey.

Empowering and engaging employees to drive business results was the top response (more than 30%) to that question. more

There it was, dangling over the roadway from a tree along the side of the road in a small community in upstate New York. A large three-sided purple box tethered high up in the tree by a long yellow rope. It had suddenly appeared there. There was no sign explaining what it was and no wording that the naked eye could see from our human perch on the asphalt down below.

Everyone in town began talking about the purple box. All had the same question: What is that? more

Right now, when the economy is continuing to suffer with no end in sight and everybody, including direct mailers are struggling to survive, has respect for the environment taken a back seat?

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This is my last blog post for the BFMB. After much longer than I’d care to admit (okay, 22 years, cause you can probably look it up someplace), I am leaving Multichannel Merchant.

It’s been quite ride, to say the least. Does anyone even remember the catalog industry back in 1989? more

My uncle is always forwarding us emails about sick children, urban myths and other weird stuff. He sent this one a few months ago, and it’s probably the only one that ever made me laugh.

Since we’re about to get into the holiday season and the U.S. Postal Service is under so much scrutiny, it’s a good one to share right about now. more