The Big Fat Marketing Blog

Blockbuster has not made an announcement about this, but they may as well since they filed this 8-K yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Blockbuster will close more stores than expected, and shift its business to accommodate 21st Century video watchers.

Larger stores are going bye-bye (really, how much floor space do you need to showcase videos?) and smaller urban concepts are coming in.

Blockbuster will take on NetFlix by growing its order-online-receive-in-the-mail model. It will replace real estate leases by placing vending kiosks in stores and other locations (like RedBox does). And it will offer videos on demand through cable providers and on the Internet.

Could this mean the ultimate end of bricks and mortar for Blockbuster? It sure sounds like it, as it discusses the expense involved in its operations.

Does it mean you’ll eventually get your cup of Starbucks from a vending machine instead of a human being? That’s another story for another day. But if a Blockbuster can disappear from your local shopping center, a Starbucks could leave, too.

Congratulations to Derek Jeter. He’s now 52nd all-time on Major League Baseball’s hit list. He hit number 2,722 on a rainy Friday night against Baltimore.

But this is why the New York Yankees are marketing geniuses, and its fans are, well, suckers.

The Yankees reminded the world that Derek Jeter - definitely one of the good-guys in baseball history - was about to break Lou Gehrig’s team record for most hits ever. And Yankee fans (many of which, let’s face it, didn’t even know what a baseball was until Derek Jeter was called up from Columbus, or New York again became a baseball dynasty) ate it up as the World’s Greatest Accomplishment. more

Love of hate Brett Favre, you have to admit this is a funny commercial. It’s like they say: Timing is everything. And it’s safe to say Sears beat the clock with this gem.

Tons of comments on this article I wrote and posted Monday on the Multichannel Merchant site: Twitter Better for Nonsense than Business Sense.

The premise: More than 40% of all tweets are considered “pointless babble.” Twitter may not be all about self-promotion, as the surveyor had thought. Heck, MCM editor Melissa Dowling pointed that out in this post last month.

With the exception of one comment (which may be by someone who has a personal vendetta against Pear Analytics, the company that did the study on Twitter content), everyone brings a valid argument to the table. more

It’s not because they signed Brett Favre, the on-again, off-again NFL journeyman quarterback who has brought his three-ring circus of self importance to Minneapolis. It’s because the Minnesota Vikings are letting the world know via its Website, in many different ways, that the future Hall-of-Famer will be under center this fall.

But as annoying as it is, it may be a very good marketing move for the Vikings… even if it seems the only people other than the team who are thrilled about Favre’s latest un-retirement are the team’s ownership, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and Reebok. more

Is there any difference between spamming someone and really just trying to get the most from your customer? Here’s why I ask. more