The Spin Within

I remember going to see Minority Report when it came out in 2002. It took place in 2054, and starred Tom Cruise as a law enforcement agent who used three gifted “pre-cogs” — people with powers to see in the future and predict crimes.

In addition to the shoot-‘em-up future crime fighting, the film gave a glimpse of what advertising might look like in the future. For example, when a character walked down the street, billboards performed a retina scan and immediately directed their message to … Continue Reading

Hey, it's been years!

Cosmetics companies have given a new meaning to the term “beauty before age,” and it’s gotten them the old heave-ho in Britain.

Two spots for Lancome and Maybelline were banned in Britain because the models featured in the spots, Christy Turlington and Julia Roberts, were digitally enhanced to the point that they “breached the advertising standards code for exaggeration and being misleading,” according to Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority. Both brands are owned by L’Oreal.

Bravo! I wish American ad regulators had done this years ago. Too many … Continue Reading

If you follow the news, chances are you’ve read something “flattering” about the Cincinnati Bengals. You don’t have to be a sports fan. You can read about our beloved team in any section of basically any publication.  Here are a few of the headlines that have put us on the map, making the Bengals a team everyone’s talking about:

Clueless Boss Runs Bengals Like Mom-and-Pop Store While Players Keep Rushing for the Exits

More Bengals Arrested Since 2000 Than Any Other Team in History

ESPN Ranks the Bengals the Worst Sports Franchise

A Stadium’s Costly … Continue Reading

Aww, come on. It's kind of funny.

We’ve written at length about the sullied reputations of Tiger Woods, Arnold Schwartzenegger and Charlie Sheen and the path to redemption through proactive public relations.  In a USA Today editorial titled “How Good Could Come From Murdoch’s Low Journalism,” columnist DeWayne Wickham suggests that  Murdoch’s closing his newspaper and apologizing won’t be enough to salvage his reputation.

Rather, Wickham suggests that  Murdoch finance a follow-up to the commission that University of Chicago President Robert Hutchins headed in 1942 … Continue Reading

Yeah, who needs you anyway, Netflix? With many people contemplating what to do with their plans after Netflix dropped the bomb that they were going to raise their unlimited streaming and 1 DVD out at a time plan (the one that I have) by 60 percent (!), consumers may not have to look far for other options. Starting today, Walmart has started streaming movies.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. bought video-streaming service Vudu.com 18 months ago and now offers 20,000 titles that can be viewed on almost any device … Continue Reading

Loyalty marketers beware, there’s a new customer rewards sheriff in town. It’s the U.S. federal government.

The launch of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) just a few days ago on July 21 included a press release that said the new agency’s Consumer Response Center already has begun to accept credit card complaints.  The release featured a link to a complaint application. The first question asks the consumer to describe what happened. The second question is a drop down box with the heading, “Which category best describes your complaint?” There in the … Continue Reading

Theater Wit, a regional theater in Chicago, is trying out a Netflix-type monthly rate for unlimited shows in their three-theater complex as a way to bring more people through the doors.

For $36 per month, members will be able to reserve a seat to any performance by Theater Wit, resident companies Stage Left and Bohemian Theatre Ensemble, or any other company who rents space during the course of a season.  The complex presents 35 different productions each year.

In an economy where “extras” like theater tickets are the first things cut in a … Continue Reading

Just how many bags of Tootsie Pops does Walmart sell every year? Soon, the world may know.

For years, Walmart never shared its store sales data with the outside world. If it sold $800 million in Wheat Thins, that was its own proprietary info and no one else was allowed to see it.

The problem with this policy, for market research firms, is that it made it incredibly difficult to estimate or project the total sales of products or brands in the market. Many firms estimated that Walmart generated one-third to one-half a … Continue Reading

“I haven’t got the slightest idea how to change people.  But I keep a long list of candidates in case I figure it out.”  ~ David Sedaris.

We do a lot of work in the area of loyalty-marketing programs which use recognition and rewards to change customer behavior.  But according to bestselling author Joseph Grenny, the real key to changing behavior is harnessing the power of influence.  And, when it comes to influence, Grenny says that “we stink.” Consider these examples:

• Companies spend more than $300 billion annually for … Continue Reading
  

I remember having a discussion with my husband last year about the economy and the recession. We were tossing around those kinds of “If I were in control, I would…” ideas. Ideas for cutting budgets of non-essential federal departments.  One of the first that came to mind was NASA.  Not that NASA’s work is unimportant, by any means.  It’s just that we must have military. We must have courts. We must have postal service.

Yet space shuttles aren’t vital to our overall existence.  I looked at it as a very expensive “nice-to-have”.  With … Continue Reading