The Big Fat Marketing Blog

Now, more than ever, media coverage matters. Even though we supposedly control the flow of information we absorb, we still care most about what’s being discussed on the air/blogs/podcasts/streams. I thought about that this morning when I read in the papers (yes, actual newsprint, three of them, in fact) that Sirus/XM is on the verge of bankruptcy, and their $500 million dollar man, Howard Stern, is contemplating retirement.

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The most dismal retail season in the past 40 years (according to the incessant slow-news-day reports I keep hearing) reminds me of what an old account guy told me many years ago: You can’t save your way to prosperity. That sage advice is becoming more apparent, as consumers have shunned the dramatic, metaphoric pants-dropping by America’s retailers. 30, 40, 50, 60 percent off . . . it hasn’t mattered much, and in some cases has instead served notice that the stuff was way overpriced in the first place.

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This isn’t a new story for grocer Stop & Shop, but it’s new for Norwalk, CT (and hopefully you won’t have to pay to read this story): Scan-as-you-go technology. You pick up a gun when you enter the store, you scan and bag your items, then you pay at a kiosk. Alleged convenience!

But it does remind me… what ever happened to The Epicenter Collection? more

Amazon.com always puts out interesting press releases that makes them smell like roses no matter how bad the economy gets. Today they claim this is its best Christmas ever.

But really, does a record number of orders processed mean it was its best Christmas ever? Or is Amazon spinning its numbers to look like its the e-commerce guru? We don’t know. But we do know that the weight of all GPS devices sold by Amazon from Black Friday through December equals the combined weight of 151 Mini Coopers… And that’s relevant to investors and analysts why? more

David Beckham, who was supposed to bring marketing buzz to Major League Soccer in the U.S., made a distinctly ungracious exit last week on his way to play for A.C. Milan for three months on loan, saying he was looking forward to getting back to playing “real football” again.

When Beckham gleefully accepted a five-year, $250 million deal last year to play for the L.A. Galaxy, he was heralded as brightest international star of a league that’s desperately looking for respect. No one’s going to confuse the level of play in the MSL to Italy’s top-flight Serie A, but Beckham - who’s also collecting $1 million in endorsements here in the colonies - didn’t really need to reiterate the point.

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Pizza Hut is getting YouTube views with a video that shows a guy ordering takeout from the chain—while sitting inside a small independent pizza shop. The video, made by a production company called Mediocre Films in a deal brokered by a third party firm according to www.ViralBlog.com, shows a guy getting “Kicked Out of a Pizza Place” for sitting in various local pizza joints and enjoying a hot slice of a Pizza Hut pie before getting thrown out. Once, told to leave by the owner, he even has the crust to ask if he can take some of the condiments.

The video has been garnering views since it first showed up on YouTube on Dec. 10. To date, it’s been seen close to 300,000 times, favorited about 4,300 and rated almost as often.

But is this an instance of going viral simply for the sake of being viral? It doesn’t seem likely that the video will have a big effect on either Pizza Hut’s sales or brand identity. more