I sniffed the latest Coppertone on the shelves at the drugstore, but came up without the signature jasmine scent. I would have bought it if it had smelled like Coppertone.
Instead I bought another SPF 70 brand.
Down Lloyd and I drove to Sandy Hook, right past the International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) plant in Hazlet. He refused to put on sunscreen before we launched (too early.) HOURS later when the sun was strong he refused to put on sunscreen because its scent would get on his line and lures and scare away the fish.
So, Schering-Plough, here are my suggestions:
1) let Coppertone smell like Coppertone
2) make a special scent for fisherfolk. I'm sure IFF can help you. Something that smells tasty to fluke. You can call it something manly like "Bait" or "Lure" or just "Men-haden," ha ha. He has to shower and throw his clothes in the washer after a day of fishing anyway. What does it matter what he smells like as long as he wears the sunscreen?
Monday, May 31, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Just for fun
I took on an advertising project just for fun this morning. The challenge was to come up with catchy slogans for safe sex.
There's some good competition already.
After I hit "send" I realized what I had done: I had written Burma Shave ads for the 21st century. Boy, did I enjoy it.
If the advertiser doesn't want them, you'll be seeing them here.
Want to suggest more? Please leave a comment.
There's some good competition already.
After I hit "send" I realized what I had done: I had written Burma Shave ads for the 21st century. Boy, did I enjoy it.
If the advertiser doesn't want them, you'll be seeing them here.
Want to suggest more? Please leave a comment.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Get 'em now before the price goes up
I'm embarrassed to mention this idea because it's so basic, but I'm surprised how many website owners don't do it: put the keywords your potential visitors will be using into domain names. Buy those domain names and link them back to your website.
For example, if you sell material handling systems in New Jersey, buy "NewJerseyConveyor.com"
One of the things the search engines look at is the names of websites. Sites with those names usually have useful information for people looking for those topics. Plus, it helps to have other websites linking back to your website. So people looking for material handling systems are likelier to find your website, just when they're researching, and, I hope, buying.
Compared to keyword ads, buying domain names is remarkably inexpensive, about $10 a year. But prices are poised to rise 7% on July 1, so if you plan to do this, you might want to do it now, especially if you want to buy a lot of domain names.
And if yours is a personal business, buy your name as well, for example, katharinehadow.com. Someone may not remember what you call your business, but they may recall your name. Make it easier for them to find you.
For example, if you sell material handling systems in New Jersey, buy "NewJerseyConveyor.com"
One of the things the search engines look at is the names of websites. Sites with those names usually have useful information for people looking for those topics. Plus, it helps to have other websites linking back to your website. So people looking for material handling systems are likelier to find your website, just when they're researching, and, I hope, buying.
Compared to keyword ads, buying domain names is remarkably inexpensive, about $10 a year. But prices are poised to rise 7% on July 1, so if you plan to do this, you might want to do it now, especially if you want to buy a lot of domain names.
And if yours is a personal business, buy your name as well, for example, katharinehadow.com. Someone may not remember what you call your business, but they may recall your name. Make it easier for them to find you.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Boomers, Brace Yourselves for the Brash
When I was interviewing at a law firm, I called an attorney friend of mine.
"How would you market a law firm?" I asked. I heard him stiffen over the phone.
"I wouldn't," he said through clenched teeth. He went on to tell me that when he worked at The Great White Shoe Law Firm, his business card didn't even include his telephone number.
Silent Generation, meet the Class of 2010. Maybe the law firm's understated campaign was a reaction to the breadlines of the Depression. It was probably a relief not to have to scrounge for the next client or customer, and a source of pride to stay aloof from sordid promotion.
Check out the picture of the woman with a sandwich board in Something's not working The Economist's story about the current US labor market. Her sign reads "Jennifernyc@earthlink.net/LAID-OFF/TODAY/9:45 A.M./HIRE ME."
Can "Will Work for Food" be far behind?
As The Economist points out, "about as many Americans are working as in the autumn of 1999-in a population that is larger by 28m." Competition is stiff, especially among those with no job experience. I predict that we will see self-promotion in this cohort that will horrify older generations.
500 LinkedIn contacts. Business cards at church. Realtor-style name badges. Email blasts. Skywriting, if they can afford it. Effrontery and chutzpah, because the ones who fail to market themselves will be left behind, even with their expensive college educations.
"How...tacky," I can already hear people sniff. "I didn't push myself on people like that. They look so desperate."
Actually, they are desperate. Wall Street Journal humorist Joe Queenan writes in A Lament for the Class of 2010, "Baby Boomers conveniently forget that it didn't set anyone back a year's salary to go to college in the 1960s and 1970s, and that college graduates back then were not entering a work force filled with other college grads."
These youngsters are competing for a limited number of jobs. They're competing against people with a lot more experience. Get ready now for a lot of young people who want your job, or any job. The smart ones are going to figure out how to promote themselves just the way Oscar-Mayer pushes processed meat.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go look for a name badge.
Edit: you may also be interested in this comment on job prospects in the UK.
"How would you market a law firm?" I asked. I heard him stiffen over the phone.
"I wouldn't," he said through clenched teeth. He went on to tell me that when he worked at The Great White Shoe Law Firm, his business card didn't even include his telephone number.
Silent Generation, meet the Class of 2010. Maybe the law firm's understated campaign was a reaction to the breadlines of the Depression. It was probably a relief not to have to scrounge for the next client or customer, and a source of pride to stay aloof from sordid promotion.
Check out the picture of the woman with a sandwich board in Something's not working The Economist's story about the current US labor market. Her sign reads "Jennifernyc@earthlink.net/LAID-OFF/TODAY/9:45 A.M./HIRE ME."
Can "Will Work for Food" be far behind?
As The Economist points out, "about as many Americans are working as in the autumn of 1999-in a population that is larger by 28m." Competition is stiff, especially among those with no job experience. I predict that we will see self-promotion in this cohort that will horrify older generations.
500 LinkedIn contacts. Business cards at church. Realtor-style name badges. Email blasts. Skywriting, if they can afford it. Effrontery and chutzpah, because the ones who fail to market themselves will be left behind, even with their expensive college educations.
"How...tacky," I can already hear people sniff. "I didn't push myself on people like that. They look so desperate."
Actually, they are desperate. Wall Street Journal humorist Joe Queenan writes in A Lament for the Class of 2010, "Baby Boomers conveniently forget that it didn't set anyone back a year's salary to go to college in the 1960s and 1970s, and that college graduates back then were not entering a work force filled with other college grads."
These youngsters are competing for a limited number of jobs. They're competing against people with a lot more experience. Get ready now for a lot of young people who want your job, or any job. The smart ones are going to figure out how to promote themselves just the way Oscar-Mayer pushes processed meat.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go look for a name badge.
Edit: you may also be interested in this comment on job prospects in the UK.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Is 3M Ashamed of the Post-it Weekly Planner?
You can’t get there from here.
I wish I had the kind of life where I made lists of tasks and delegated them to someone else. I do make the lists. And then I end up delegating the tasks back to myself.
Sometimes when there are too many, the tasks grow hard to prioritize. That’s why this week I went out and bought myself a new Post-It® Weekly Planner.
Instead of either
a) feeling sure that this task was so important that I would remember it—no need to write it down (oops!) or
b) writing it down in my daily planner--and then reproaching myself at the end of the day when it was not done (oops!)
the Post-It Weekly Planner lets me jot down every task on a “Super Sticky” Post-it. Once they’re written out, I can shuffle them around.
The Planner comes with a weekly grid for me to lay out the chores; I put the most urgent or the most important ones first. But if those jobs don’t get done, well, I just move them to the next day on the grid and try again.
The Planner does wonders for my peace of mind. But even after my description, you may be wondering what it looks like. So I thought I would provide you with a link to a description and a picture on 3-M’s website.
I can’t find it, and I’m a good Googler. You try it. Type Post-It Weekly Planner in your search engine. By the end of the second “e,” your auto-complete will fill in the entire name for you. “What’s so hard about this?” you’ll say.
At the top of the search you’ll find 3M’s Specialty Notes page. “It must be here,” you’ll say, “probably near the easel notes or the bulletin boards.”
But it’s not. You can’t get there from here.
3M just does not want you to find their Weekly Planner on their website. You can’t even search for it by part number (46-0001-4108-8).
I’m sure glad I know where to find them offline. Otherwise I might still be saying to myself, "Oh, yeah...I needed one of those Post-it Calendar thingies..."
I wish I had the kind of life where I made lists of tasks and delegated them to someone else. I do make the lists. And then I end up delegating the tasks back to myself.
Sometimes when there are too many, the tasks grow hard to prioritize. That’s why this week I went out and bought myself a new Post-It® Weekly Planner.
Instead of either
a) feeling sure that this task was so important that I would remember it—no need to write it down (oops!) or
b) writing it down in my daily planner--and then reproaching myself at the end of the day when it was not done (oops!)
the Post-It Weekly Planner lets me jot down every task on a “Super Sticky” Post-it. Once they’re written out, I can shuffle them around.
The Planner comes with a weekly grid for me to lay out the chores; I put the most urgent or the most important ones first. But if those jobs don’t get done, well, I just move them to the next day on the grid and try again.
The Planner does wonders for my peace of mind. But even after my description, you may be wondering what it looks like. So I thought I would provide you with a link to a description and a picture on 3-M’s website.
I can’t find it, and I’m a good Googler. You try it. Type Post-It Weekly Planner in your search engine. By the end of the second “e,” your auto-complete will fill in the entire name for you. “What’s so hard about this?” you’ll say.
At the top of the search you’ll find 3M’s Specialty Notes page. “It must be here,” you’ll say, “probably near the easel notes or the bulletin boards.”
But it’s not. You can’t get there from here.
3M just does not want you to find their Weekly Planner on their website. You can’t even search for it by part number (46-0001-4108-8).
I’m sure glad I know where to find them offline. Otherwise I might still be saying to myself, "Oh, yeah...I needed one of those Post-it Calendar thingies..."
Sunday, May 2, 2010
"You'll get a laugh out of the hairstyles," my husband said, handing me the March, 1966 edition of the National Geographic. He wanted me to read an article about the Soviet Union.
Here's what really struck me: the unsophisticated advertising. One 4" 1-column ad bore a cartoon of a man in a beret with a palette and easel.
The ads in the 1966 National Geographic reminded me of the ones I see in trade journals now, earnest and informative. In an expanding economy, I guess you didn't need to be witty. All you had to do was lay out the product benefits. Mom and Pop would write away for your travel brochure and load up the station wagon. Apparently, it worked. Branson, MO's website now announces.
"And in 2010, Branson is celebrating 50 years of family entertainment!"
By contrast, the ads in the January, 2009, National Geographic are arch (a stomach-turning shot of a man in too-short gym shorts, knee-high tube socks, Converse high-tops, headband and wooden tennis racket: SURVIVE THE '70s? YOU DESERVE SPECIAL TREATMENT) or suggestive (Buck Naked Blue Beauties: Feast your eyes on a colossal 350 carats of raw sapphire). Advertisers are fighting much harder now to pry those dollars away from consumers.
I may not want to turn back the clock to simpler advertising, but I'd like to turn back to the thriving economy that allowed it to succeed.
Here's what really struck me: the unsophisticated advertising. One 4" 1-column ad bore a cartoon of a man in a beret with a palette and easel.
Design your different vacation in GALA MISSOURIOnce Burma-Shave ended its iconic rhyming signs campaign in 1963, apparently there wasn't much advertising clutter to compete with back then. Madison Avenue types could whip out ads like this even after 3-martini lunches--no unique selling propositions necessary.
Free booklet shows you the variety and value that has made Missouri the "Vacation Capital of the Midwest."
The ads in the 1966 National Geographic reminded me of the ones I see in trade journals now, earnest and informative. In an expanding economy, I guess you didn't need to be witty. All you had to do was lay out the product benefits. Mom and Pop would write away for your travel brochure and load up the station wagon. Apparently, it worked. Branson, MO's website now announces.
"And in 2010, Branson is celebrating 50 years of family entertainment!"
By contrast, the ads in the January, 2009, National Geographic are arch (a stomach-turning shot of a man in too-short gym shorts, knee-high tube socks, Converse high-tops, headband and wooden tennis racket: SURVIVE THE '70s? YOU DESERVE SPECIAL TREATMENT) or suggestive (Buck Naked Blue Beauties: Feast your eyes on a colossal 350 carats of raw sapphire). Advertisers are fighting much harder now to pry those dollars away from consumers.
I may not want to turn back the clock to simpler advertising, but I'd like to turn back to the thriving economy that allowed it to succeed.
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