Never a Lack of Ideas

So you want to be a marketer? Then you better develop thick skin because critics are everywhere. Recently, a restaurant chain with which I'm quite familiar started a new Birthday Club. The premise is very simple: register online with your birthdate and email address and you will receive a voucher for a free piece of chocolate cake on your birthday. Here were two of my favorite responses on Facebook about the Birthday Club: "Pass. If I wanted to donate to the GOP, I'll do it directly. I'm not interested in funding the GOP via your restaurant's deep campaign pockets. Or at all. You keep your cake and I'll keep my conscience." "Takes such little imagination to please people nowadays! Cake will bring me to your restaurant? Please I have integrity." Add This To Your To-Do List You can't please everyone, so don't even try. Critics are everywhere and let's be honest — some people are just crazy. Develop thick skin and ignore the ha...

Two years ago, when I wrote the book on setting marketing priorities , inherent in the book, but not specifically discussed in detail, was the need to ignore a lot of marketing opportunities. In theory, it's easy to do this. But in practice, it's more complicated — at least, for me. When I was in college, applying for marketing internships in extremely creative ways but never hearing anything back, I vowed that when I was a marketing professional, I would always reply to everyone who contacted me, even if only to say no. "Saying no is better than saying nothing at all," I thought. But then I became a professional marketer and realized that's just not possible. There just isn't enough time in the day to respond to every opportunity. From marketing vendor inquiries, donation requests, and people looking to network or land a job, I could easily spend my entire day just saying no. This is Hard for Me I struggle with this. I'm a nice guy and I want ...

I think the most entertaining product names in any one industry belong to the portable toilet industry. Porta potty names are hilarious! Here are eleven real portable toilet companies I found: The Honey Bucket Johnny on the Spot A Royal Flush Honey Do's Gotta Go Don John's Super Loo Pit Stop Pot-O-Gold Oui Oui (my favorite name) Floaters (slogan: "You Float 'm, We Tote 'm") See how much I love my readers? I researched porta potties for a long time to find these companies. You're welcome! Add This To Your To-Do List Am I right? Are porta potty names the most entertaining? Or is there another industry with even better names? It just goes to show you — sometimes the stinkier the industry, the better you'll stand out with a clever name. There's never a lack of ideas. PS If you're in the mood to see some hilarious slogans from septic tank businesses, check out this Reddit .

Another year is in the books and I've still been able to blog once in a while. My blog has never been viewed more than in the past year, so thank you for your increasing interest in what I have to say. And now, according to tradition, I'd like to highlight my favorite posts from the last year: The Perfect Souvenir for a Harry Potter Fan — I blogged several times about Harry Potter over the last year. This is my favorite because of the video. Hops for Flops: An Ad Campaign Idea for a Beer Brewer  — Beer makers, there's still time to implement this idea for the next World Cup. Poop in the Pool: The Psychology of Illusions (Part 1) Stop Calling Them Millennials When Selling Lawn Ornaments, Fill Your Lawn with Ornaments Add This To Your To-Do List Enjoy my favorite posts! There's Never a Lack of Ideas

The Pew Research Center defines Millennials as Americans born between 1981 and 1997. Two years ago, Time magazine said people born between 1980 or 1981 and 2000 are Millennials. Most other definitions cite similar date ranges. But I don't think Millennials are defined solely by their age. Sure, date of birth provides some guideposts, but Millennials are better defined by psychographic traits — like confidence, entitlement, tolerance, and narcissism. And one platform has done more to foster these traits than any other: Facebook. Facebook has shaped the way this generation behaves as consumers and employees. It has influenced this generation's attitudes about privacy and has redefined "friendship." In my opinion, a "Millennial" is someone who started using Facebook while they were in college, high school, or junior high school. But let's stop calling them Millennials. We should rename "Millennials" the Facebook Generation. College st...

Hashtags were once again very prevalent in Super Bowl XLIX advertisements. Many, like "#Doritos," were straightforward and easy to remember. But most were not. Can you match 10 hashtags to their advertiser? Take the quiz and leave your score in the comments. (This link will take you to an external site. That's normal. Don't worry.) In case you missed it: Take the quiz.   Add This To Your To-Do List Go back to last year's quiz and test your memory . Does that bring back memories? There's never a lack of ideas.

In the not too distant past, there were basically only a few milk choices: skim, 1%, 2%, and whole. All of it came from cows. Of course, the numbers refer to the fat content of the milk. But whole milk only contains about 3.5% fat. That's not terrible. So why not call it 3.5% milk? Calling it "whole" milk conjures up jugs of fat. But for as long as anyone can remember, whole milk has either been just "milk" or "whole milk." Since 1975, whole milk sales in the US have decreased by 61%. See this chart ( source ): Somewhere along the way, milk producers decided that calling milk "whole" wasn't a good idea. They switched to calling it "Vitamin D" milk. That has a much healthier connotation. But it hasn't turned around sales. The product essentially hasn't changed in years, and re-branding it didn't do anything. Because sometimes changing the name just isn't enough. Of course, that's due to many factors...