The Big Fat Marketing Blog

A few weeks back I received an unusual mailing from TNT. The box, styled to look like a slightly oversized cassette tape holder, turned out to be a promotion for the new series “Men of a Certain Age.”

I opened it to find a USB drive shaped like a mini cassette, positioned next to a photo of series stars Andre Braugher (where do I know him from?), Scott Bakula (loved “Quantum Leap”) and Ray Romano (everybody loves him, right?).

Was the mailing a success? Let’s see.

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Black Friday is gone and Cyber Monday is a memory. How was it for you?

In Chief Marketer’s informal “Daily Special” poll last week, 36% of respondents said they’d be out fighting the crowds on Black Friday, compared to 7% last year. Twenty-four percent said they’d be shopping online (versus 46% in 2008), while 39% said they’d be in a tryptophan induced coma (also 46% last year).

As for me, I went out early Friday morning….well, early by my standards. more

I’m freakin’ out, man.

I mean it. It’s not even Thanksgiving and I’m stressed out about the holidays. Holiday shopping, to be specific.

Every day I open my e-mail to see yet another round of offers from online and offline retailers. more

“Sesame Street” marks its 40th anniversary this year, and its something for kids, parents, and yes, marketers to celebrate.

The show was revolutionary in more ways than I can count (and being one of the first generation of kids to be taught and entertained by the show, I can’t help but count these down in a slightly fractured Transylvanian accent).

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Almost a year ago to this day, I blogged about my dismay that Kraft was turning its free Food and Family magazine into an online only venture.

I was elated a few months later to see the print magazine pop up in my mailbox again. Sure, the Web is grand, but the magazine was great to browse and I always made at least one recipe from each issue (and bought the Kraft products needed to make it).

A couple of days ago, the Holiday 09 arrived…with an invoice. An invoice for a free magazine? Hmmm…

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When I was a kid, Halloween lasted one day. Now that I have kids, between multiple parties, costume parades, trick-or-treating at my husband’s office and other activities it seems to last a week.

Feeling Halloween’d out when you haven’t even carved your pumpkin yet is a scary feeling. What scares you at this time of year?

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