Odds are you’ve never heard of QR codes, but they may revolutionize how you interact with businesses, brands, even your own communities and social networks. Alan Schulman’s piece in iMedia Connection today does a great job of explaining what it is and how it works, and I can’t recommend the read highly enough.
Here’s a couple examples. Continue reading
You may have noticed something a little different about the Black Dog page. It’s the landing spot for my business, but it’s also a blog. The blog isn’t hanging off a link – it’s the center of attention.
I’m not the first person to do this, but it’s extremely rare. I heard some reservations from people I asked to advise me, too. Landing pages are supposed to tell the visitor right away what you do. Landing pages can’t be cluttered. Never put your opinions up front. All sound advice from a traditional perspective. And it may turn out that this is a bad idea.
However, if the Black Dog brand is about innovation and unconventional, and if it’s going to have things like online PR and social media marketing as a centerpiece, it makes sense that I should show, not tell. Continue reading
For years I’ve been talking to anybody who would listen about the basic principles that make online communication efforts work – and the ways in which the Internet has completely altered the rules for successful PR in all arenas. When I talk about openness and transparency, though, the train often jumps the tracks because corp comm pros who have been around since the pre-Net days are obsessed with message control.
What they don’t always grasp is that everybody who encounters a corporate message today – be it advertising, marketing collateral, PR, whatever – instinctively smells the topspin. Continue reading
Check this wonderful bit about the new West Virginia Tourism campaign:
Readers flipping through the newest edition of O, The Oprah Magazine might stumble upon an ad headline that reads, “Whatever you do, don’t come to West Virginia!” Continue reading
I attended a great show last night: Jeffrey Dean Foster & the Birds of Prey, with the legendary Mitch Easter opening for them. Free show, three blocks shut down, end of summer celebration, the whole nine yards. (More on the show, which was really wonderful, especially once the rain hit.)
Anyway, events like this always have plenty of sponsors. The local civic development sponsoring body has banners out, and three or four key corporate backers have their logos and messaging displayed prominently, according to the size of their financial investment. Pretty standard stuff. Continue reading
A buddy of mine who works in the agency world made an interesting point when we were catching up the other week. He said that when you go to pitch something to Wal*Mart, the first thing they say is “you have to lower the price.” When you go to pitch Target, the first thing they say is “let’s see the packaging.”
If you’ve seen a Target ad (and if you haven’t, welcome to Earth) or walked through one of their stores, this tidbit makes perfect sense. Continue reading
When I was younger I worked in restaurants. Waited tables, bartended, and supervised a staff of 50+ waiters. Waiting, in particular, taught me a lot of lessons. For instance:
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