Pop Art Blog

The other day I check my mail (snail mail that is), and find a postcard from Expedia.com. The postcard shows the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fran and reveals the statement "They say "economic stimulus", we say "free vacation."" Genius! Take something we're all talking about and leverage it for your product or service. Okay, obviously, this is not the first time this has ever happened (Sustainability, anyone?). Nonetheless, I found this instance pretty smart. So, we... Read More...

Last month, I heard something that made me gasp: “ Scion isn't cool anymore ”. Granted, some of you may wonder whether it was ever cool. If you don't appreciate the design personality and in-your-face attitude of the 2005, boxy xB, you are likely to say that Scion's lack of cool factor is not news. To me, it is. Let me backtrack a bit: for Generation Y, “marketing” is often a word that comes charged with negative connotations. There is a lot of confusion on whether a product really is... Read More...

Green. Environmentally Friendly. EcoFriendly. What picture do these words paint for you? "Hippie" perhaps? Depending upon your location and background, these topics may seem idealistic, impractical, or for the purposes of this conversation, irrelevant to your company. That would be short-sighted. The popularity of green initiatives in Portland may not surprise you. After all, Oregon was the first state to pass the Bottle Bill . Portland is one of the most bicycle friendly communities in... Read More...

The discussion surrounding the value of integrated marketing is not a new one. With internet-connected computers in nearly two-thirds of American households it is becoming increasingly important for brands to tie the internet to their traditional marketing and advertising. And, with the internet migrating from a research tool to a retail tool to a conversation tool, it is becoming increasingly important for brands to tie their internet communications together. Niche agencies that focus solely on... Read More...

Guy Kawasaki had a great post the other day on his blog. If you want customers to be happy, give them less product Information. Here's a counter-intuitive thought: Shoppers with less information about a product are happier than those with more information." He cites a study conducted by the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business. The researchers used three experiments to arrive at their conclusion. Two of them were consumer test-style experiments in which subjects were asked... Read More...

On May 12, 2007, Warner Brothers released the first web teaser for the upcoming Batman Begins movie sequel, The Dark Knight. The teaser was an image of the Batman bat symbol exploding into many pieces. It was mysterious but it was only the first clue into an almost year long interactive marketing campaign that bridged the offline world and the web, and fiction with reality. The following is the chronology of “The Dark Knight” interactive marketing campaign. May 13th-ish: Fictitious campaign posters... Read More...

We're all big fans of Malcolm Gladwell over here. And so when I saw this article in Fast Company titled "Is the Tipping Point Toast?" I dug right in. If nothing else, I love a good academic smackdown. The article interviews a former prof who now works for Yahoo, and who refutes the "viral" theory behind a shadowy class we marketing folks call "Influentials." Along the way, he also coins my nominee for the marketing buzzword of the year: Wildfire marketing. But let's... Read More...

Something that hasn’t sat well with me for years, the fundamentals of focus group testing. For those that haven’t sat behind the mirrored glass, here’s how focus groups often go down: Secure x groups of 8-10 people in x number of markets with people receiving an incentive (often cash) for participating Develop a questionnaire for moderator to Q/A groups Research, brand, agency teams sit behind mirrored glass and analyze group response/behaviors If someone(s) is a serious disruption to the focus group... Read More...

I need to start with a disclaimer. I own an iPhone. I do not plan on switching phones anytime soon. I don't care for AT&T and the slow Edge network, but the functionality and pure wonder of the iPhone is too much for me to even consider a new phone anytime soon. That being said, I love the new Sprint "Waitless" campaign. Waitless is a digital campaign. An interactive campaign. I haven't seen any tv ads or print ads for it, but I have seen banner ads here and there. I can't... Read More...

Having been in the search game now for over 10 years it astonishes me to think back and reflect on how much has changed. It seems like only yesterday Alta Vista was grabbing the headlines, search engines still included Meta keywords as part of their algorithm, Overture was THE paid search engine and Google powered Yahoo’s search results. Ah, the good old days! But time doesn’t stop and neither does change. Today search marketing is no longer a perceived notion it is big business reaching $9.4 billion... Read More...