Etc.

A few years back, maybe even during the 2004 Presidential Election season, I opted in to receive e-mail messages from the Democratic Party. Now that I’m trying to opt out, the Democratic Party doesn’t want me to.

The latest e-mail I received from the party seemed like it was going to make it easy to unsubscribe if I just clicked a link. more

It’s been five days since the 7.7 earthquake left Port-au-Prince in ruins, and governments, individuals and corporations have pledged what they can to help with the relief efforts in Haiti.

Based on press releases, here’s a quick rundown of which corporations have pledged cash, services and people. Also, here’s who’s letting the public know they are giving without coming off like it’s a marketing campaign:

• Crocs: They are donating thousands of pairs of Crocs to Haiti, and they’re using its headquarters as a drop-off point for those who want to donate supplies. But the headline of its press release makes it look like corporate giving is a competition, and that Crocs is in first place. Boasting to the world about being “a leading” anything in a press release is probably also not a good idea.



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I’m the lonely MCM Awards guy, and I’m waiting for your entries. I kind of feel like Charlie Brown, camped out at the mail box, hoping the Little Red-Haired Girl will send him a Valentine.

Maybe I’m just being wishy-washy. I know there were a lot of great catalogs and e-commerce sites that are worthy of getting Gold or Silver in the 2010 MCM Awards. And I’m sure those merchants are just waiting until the last minute to get their entries done.

Some merchants be afraid to enter, thinking they will have to compete against titans like Orvis, L.L. Bean and Harry & David. But we made some changes in categories that we hope help the Daveys of multichannel retail compete with the Goliaths. more

Give Sears an “A” for targeting me with this e-mail based on my zip code, but the offer is a bust… unless they think I’ve wasted precious time at the gym.

Sears says my bra may not fit right. I can register to go to a custom fitting at the Danbury, CT store (about 20 miles from by house, as the bird flies). The problem is, it’s a “girls-only gathering.”

I don’t even wear a “manziere” (or a “bro”). more

If I look back at articles I wrote in 2009, “Twitter Better for Nonsense than Business Sense” may have to be my favorite. It wasn’t just because it was a hot topic - one that may define the year in marketing - but because of the comments it received.

Simply put, everyone seemed to be an expert on social media (and you could sense that in some of the comments), and at the same time have no clue how to use social media. Twitter, like many other social media channels that because household names in 2009, was treated like the great unknown. And as a result many so-called gurus threw the fundamental elements of marketing out the window and overtweeted to death. more

Long before Catalog Choice, long before the DMA’s initiative to cut mailbox clutter, comedian Andrew Kennedy’s father had this whole whole junk mail removal thing all figured out.

Here’s a clip from Kennedy’s Comedy Central special (scroll down, the coding is a little funky!). Not sure if this worked, but the idea was brilliant, and I’m sure the postman in New Canaan, CT was a little confused.

By the way, Kennedy in in Comedy Central’s Stand-up Showdown. You can vote for his video here and see his entire special on Jan. 31.