TED launches a pilot project for corporations to produce their own TED events; Tim gets cranky and disagrees with me on Saddleback’s latest video; we call the best PSA of the 2014 (thus far!); and name your best resource for audio/visual help. (Hint: It might be your local Best Buy, but it’s not mine.) All […]
Social Media
That Funny Saddleback Bag Video: Two Big Things to Love About It and One Thing That Would’ve Made It Even Better
Saddleback Leather Company a few days ago released a snarky “how to” video to reveal shortcuts and tricks to help knock-off manufacturers bypass quality, skimp on materials, and produce a richly inferior product — specifically, the Saddleback briefcase, which starts at $568. There’s so much to love about this funny 12-minute video featuring CEO and […]
Joint Effort: Why Ben & Jerry’s Won Social Media Last Week
Last week, Colorado legalized recreational marijuana. And Ben & Jerry‘s brilliantly tweeted this on Thursday, January 2: BREAKING NEWS: We're hearing reports of stores selling out of Ben & Jerry's in Colorado. What's up with that? pic.twitter.com/zBs8nyxZWn — Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) January 2, 2014 The tweet has been retweeted 9,584 times and favorited 5,750 […]
Justine Sacco: When Bad Gets Ugly
So now the news of Justine Sacco’s moronic tweet heard round the world is well-documented: The top PR person for InterActive Corp. (but otherwise unknown) Sacco stupidly tweets an offensive update (now deleted): “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white! —Justine Sacco (@JustineSacco) December 20, 2013” Her employer, IAC—a New […]
WestJet Christmas Not a Miracle, but a Mindset to Adopt in 2014 #BMTPPT [New Video Series]
What can marketers learn from the WestJet Christmas Miracle video? How can you coax buttoned-up executives to get on board with some playful improv? What’s it mean to give “generous content gifts”? In a special holiday edition of our new show – Better Marriage Through PowerPoint – Tim Washer and I discuss all this and […]
The Funniest Mobile App Update: From Boring to Breakthrough Content
I’m writing this post because TalkTo updated its app yesterday and it made me laugh out loud. Yes, you read that right: I’m calling out a mobile update as inspired content, because it’s just that good. TalkTo has taken the notion of a pedestrian smartphone update to a new level: Creating compelling content in a […]
Marketing Needs a Built-in, Shockproof, Sh*t Detector
The subtitle of this post is: “What QR Codes Kill Kittens really communicates.” Because: “The most essential gift for a good marketer is a built-in, shockproof, shit detector.” Hemingway is the author of that quote, although he said “writer” instead of “marketer.” But I think it applies equally well to marketing, because we have a […]
9 Qualities of Good Writing
👉 👉 👉 New newsletter! Get a letter from me to you in your inbox, every two weeks! Sign up for free right here. There are two kinds of people: Those who think they can write, and those who think they can’t. And, very often, both are wrong. The truth is, most of us fall […]
‘Content’ Isn’t Just ‘Marketing’
“Content” isn’t just things we think of as “marketing.” A great example is Virgin’s new pre-flight safety briefing, which my friend DJ Waldow Skyped from on board a Virgin flight to share with me last week. If you haven’t seen it, check it out here: There’s much to love about this video. I detailed why […]