Thought Balloon

For those who still don’t think the Internet is a winner takes all ecosystem, David Solomon suggests you look at Amazon, Or Zappos. Or Newegg.

As he noted at last week’s New England Mail Order Association conference in Boston, Internet Retailer reports that the top 500 sites account for a whopping 69.1% of all online sales. And the top 100 dominate 55.3% of retail.

Now, that doesn’t mean everyone else should roll up their virtual sidewalks and weep quietly, said Solomon, head of the specialty retail and direct marketing group at Lazard Asset Management. But you do need to be a smart marketer.

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Nah. Not really.

If you have a TV, you likely know that’s the punch line to a very funny commercial for Old Spice.

Well, I think it’s hilarious. My husband thinks its just kind of dopey. That’s the thing about humor. Not everyone’s funny bone flexes in the same way.

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Oh my goodness. So many nasal/ad lingo puns, I just don’t know where to start.

This is nothing to sneeze at. Forget wanting eyeballs—they want noses. This isn’t a bind-in media, it’s a blow-in media.

Okay, I’m done with that. I think.

Toronto’s Achoo Media launched a new product earlier this week, tissue pack advertising. And why not? As we continue to barrel through the cold and flu season, everybody has a pack on their person, so it seems like a good way to hit consumers where they sniffle.

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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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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

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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