The Big Fat Marketing Blog

The video below was played yesterday at Shop.org’s annual summit, between keynotes delivered by Terry Lundgren of Macy’s and Sucharita Mulpuru of Forrester Research. It’s a video I’ve seen before - matter of fact a Facebook friend posted it to her newsfeed recently when she got hired in a sales position with a social media consultancy.

Now of course it built some excitement for social media. Just play it and see. The upbeat music, the positive facts about social media usage, and so forth.

The problem is, we’re all missing the boat with social media. And for merchants, social media may not be 100% worth the hype. more

Macy’s president/CEO Terry Lundgren said today that there are more than 75,000 fans of his company’s Facebook page. But is that a fair number to use to judge its success?

It’s a huge number for a two-month-old group. But how many of the group’s members really are fans of Macy’s (you don’t need to qualify to join a group), and how is Macy’s using its Facebook page to engage its fans? more

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

Computer-seller Systemax is doing a very good job using video to pitch products, as launched a video channel for that sole purpose at com.puter.tv. But when this video came into my Facebook news feed (from Circuit City), I couldn’t help but notice more than just the Compaq 610 Notebook PC: 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.