The Big Fat Marketing Blog

So I was sitting at my desk today, gulping cold coffee and working on an item for an end-of-year/ looking-ahead feature in our upcoming issue of Chief Marketer magazine about Google’s plans to become King of All Monetizable Media. I had just written that Google’s interest in mobile marketing extends beyond search to delivering display ads of all kinds, when the news came over the wire that the company will purchase mobile ad network AdMob for $750 million in stock, regulators willing.

Hey, I should be grateful. Companies usually wait to announce acquisitions like that until print magazines have been in the mail for 24 hours. Those of us who still have print deadlines can sometimes get paranoid about brands’ uneering ability to blow our news angles once too late to do anything about it.) more

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote in this blog that I didn’t think Starbucks’ then-new Gold loyalty program offerred enough in the way of benefits beyond the basic rewards card. As I pointed out at the time, while a $25 annual fee got you the Gold card and a 10% discount on everything, I didn’t think the great mass of users would find those price savings worth the pretty hefty up-front fee. Even those who know they’ll spend that much on Starbucks coffee in a month or two, I thought, would balk at laying down $25 bills and then amortizing it at 10% a double-shot.

Well, paint me blue and call me Karnak, because 12 months later, Starbucks have come around to my way of thinking. Now if I can just persuade other holdouts to heed my advice, from the new management of the Cubs to the folks who invent flavors for Ben & Jerry’s, this would be a much better world. more

We all like having our birthdays associated with a famous or successful name. Even those of us who think astrology is the bunk suspect that maybe, just maybe, proximity on the calendar means that we’ll inherit some of those admirable qualities.

I’ve never felt particularly fortunate in the people who share my birthday, which came recently. I’ve got friends and relations whose natal days coincide with Abraham Lincoln, Golda Meir and Sandy Koufax. I’m co-birthed with Johnny Carson, Weird Al Yankovic and Gummo Marx—you know, the painfully unfunny brother. Not the kind of greatness you might hope for. (At that, I definitely fared better than one of my sisters, who shares a birthday with a Mr. A. Hitler.)

So I was very pleased to see that if I don’t have a famous person sharing my little square of the calendar, I’m at least darn close to some really major tech milestones that were celebrated recently and that have come to play an important role in my—and everyone else’s–life. more

The San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino is doing something worth mentioning. It has expanded the role of one of its staff members to include filming resort guests for marketing purposes.

The staff member has a new title: “You Tube Concierge.” This person adds to his daily duties of recommending seafood restaurants and directing people to Condado Beach spending some time wandering the resort in search of guests having plenty of fun. Once located, which doesn’t appear to be much further than the pool, the concierge asks the guests if they would like to record a short 30-second video—free of charge—that they can send around to friends, family and co-workers back home.

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To tell you the truth, I didn’t realize that Starbucks had been just testing its instant-coffee product—excuse me, its “ready-brewed” product—until this past weekend. But apparently the coffee giant had only made its Starbucks Via product available in Seattle and Chicago markets, although I’ve been carrying a few packets around in the bottom of my briefcase for months, the result of a mass sampling campaign last June or July here in the city too good for the Olympic committee.

Sorry. That just slipped out. I’m back in control.

Anyway, I only realized that Via was coming out of test when I saw the ads on Saturday night live along with everyone else. And my first reaction might have been like everyone else’s too: If I’m already in a Starbucks anyway, why would I want a cup of instant/ “ready-brewed” coffee? more

It’s easy for marketers to fall in line; One duck after the other swimming to keep up with the one breaking ground with a new marketing idea.

Purchases that trigger a charitable donation are just such an example. Some smart marketer long ago thought up the idea. Now consumers can’t walk into a store without tripping over a pitch to buy one thing and donate to another. And while it’s all for good causes, it’s stale, moldy, boring marketing. Consumers do want companies to look out for others and will support them, but innovation will make these promotions work harder. Isn’t that the point?

Enter Disney.

Disney’s offer to give 1 million free tickets to its parks to people who complete a day of volunteer work is ingenious.

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