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Google gets greedy???

2008-08-01T02:08:28Z

With billions in cash sitting around, and with passbook savings rates what they are, Google is always looking for ways to put its money to work, and now it's reportedly considering a formal structure to make sure its bucks are performing productively in the service of the company's greater goals. According to the Wall Street Journal, the search sovereign, following in the steps of a growing number of tech companies, is mulling creation of a venture capital arm. The Journal's sources said David Drummond, Google's senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer, would head the investment unit, assisted by a new hire, William Maris, a 33-year-old investor and former entrepreneur. Google has generally preferred straight-up acquisition to investing, though it already does an impressive amount of the latter, some through its philanthropic arm, Google.org. This shit couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of billionaires.

So, how much is enough?

This shit is good for you... So, shut up and eat!

2008-07-30T21:49:30Z

If you ever wondered why so many young Americans are spotty, overweight, and just generally a pain in the butt... Listen up... We are to blame. And no, I'm not talking about us as parents (well, maybe to a certain extent) I'm talking about the "Us" in the ad biz. Did you know that here in the US, food companies spent $1.6 billion to market products to children and teens in 2006. Of which $870 million was targeted to children under 12, and about $1 billion was aimed at teens, according to a report released yesterday by the Federal Trade Commission. Here's the best bit... The food advertisers' favorite medium was TV, where, it would seem that few of the primetime shows met the food advertisers' criteria for targeting to children. (And, this is really funny... Coca-Cola has decided it should only think of itself as "advertising to children" when over 50 percent of a show's audience is under 12.) In response, the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a coalition of 14 food companies — including Coca-Cola and Kellogg — promised they would either stop targeting children in advertising, or promote only "better-for-you products." Meaning products they claim are invested with some kind of nutritional value. Just as companies were permitted to define what "advertising to children" meant, each was permitted to define for itself what "better-for-you" represented. Nonetheless, the pledge seemed to appease the FTC. Director Lydia Parnes of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection concluded that joining the coalition would serve as "a useful first step" for other food marketers. Oh, please give me a break... Isn't this the old "Putting the fox in charge of the henhouse routine?"

Hey... Can I get an extra "tub-o-lard" dressing with that?

Big Mac does Big Time!

2008-07-29T22:34:02Z

Just to prove that weird things happen when clients decide "Social Networking" is the next big thing they should jump into.. McDonald’s “Big Mac Chant Off,” went looking for the best performance of its “Two all-beef patties” jingle, they soon found a winner. But one of the runners-up is grabbing the headlines... Why? 'Cos he held up a McDonald’s back in 1994! Launched on June 16 to coincide with the 40^th anniversary of the Big Mac, the contest asked users to perform their own version of the famous Big Mac ingredient list and to post the results to a contest page on MySpace, the 1,000 entries were winnowed down to 5 finalists, one of which was Tamien Bain and his hip hop-flavored entry. Bain, revealed that he served 12 years in prison for holding up a Miami-area McDonald’s restaurant at gunpoint on Memorial Day 1994. Bain was 14 at the time of the crime, but was charged as an adult! He served his full term. Kent Voetberg, marketing director for McDonald’s Corp., says that Bain’s “interesting” background never posed any problem regarding his contest eligibility.

I've got the ball... So, where the hell is the chain?

Spam kills!

2008-07-28T16:57:10Z

Remember Eddie Davidson, the guy who was known as the "Spam King?" Davidson, aided by several subcontractors, sent hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mail messages to potential purchasers of worthless stocks throughout the United States and the world touting the so-called excellent investment opportunities the stock offered. Well, according to a story in the Denver Post, Davidson, 35, was found dead in the driveway of a home near Bennett, Colorado, an apparent gunshot suicide victim. In a Toyota Sequoia located in the driveway, authorities found the bodies of Davison's wife and baby, also gunshot victims. Davidson had escaped from a minimum security prison on July 20. He was just two months into a 21-month federal sentence. The Rocky Mountain News reported that Davidson forced his wife to help him escape from the minimum security facility. What is really weird, is not just the awfulness of him killing his wife and kid, but he wasn't even doing "hard-time" and the sentence was so light, he probably would have been out in a year.

That's for sure!

Welcome to Gods country!

2008-07-27T20:51:22Z

Everyone I've ever known and worked with over the many, many years I've been in this totally screwed up business, who now asked me where I live... Get's the answer, Boise, Idaho. To which I usually get the answer... Fuck!... Boise, Idaho! What the hell are you doing living in the Mid-West? Further proof that most people don't know their own bloody country, let alone Outer Mongolia. Anyway, to set all you wankers out there straight, Kiplinger magazine just voted it one of the ten best places to live in the US. And if you don't agree, come on over for a visit and a barbeque, but be warned... We're really big on 2nd amendment gun rights here. So, you'd better be "packin' heat!"

I'm "packin' heat" in the bar in the lower right hand corner!

AOL... Getting prepped for sale?

2008-07-26T21:57:05Z

According to a mid-July memo AOL is doing a bunch of housekeeping that will see a number of services shot behind the woodshed -- among them media-sharing site Bluestring, Xdrive online storage, the AOL Pictures photo-sharing site, and MyMobile. In the memo to employees, EVP Kevin Conroy said, "There was a time at AOL when the strengths of our aggregate portfolio of products more than compensated for the weakness of an under-performing product. The realities of the industry and market shifts in online advertising no longer make that possible. Simply put, every product makes a direct impact on our bottom line." The belt-tightening drive is also hitting some of AOL's blogging properties, and some authors who are paid by the post were asked to put their efforts on hold until the end of the month. All of this may just be part of AOL's usual periodic pruning, but it's getting more attention because the Yahoo-Microsoft soap opera showed that AOL is in play, and for sale. The question is whether there are any interested buyers The usual big names are being batted about -- Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, IAC/InterActiveCorp, or maybe a media outfit like the New York Times Co. or News Corp. -- but in most of cases, it's easier to list the cons than the pros. Like other property owners these days, Time Warner is facing a lousy market.

AOL memo pad!

Can Steve Jobs fix Apple's "MobileMess?"

2008-07-24T20:49:39Z

Even though Apple has a well deserved reputation for "cool" and great looking products, if somewhat "pricey, they are certainly keeping up their reputation for bad customer service. David Pogue, in today's New York Times, Circuits section, has a well written piece about how two full weeks after the launch of "MobileMe" (which costs $100 a year) Apple still hasn't sorted out multiple complaints from the thousands of Apple Freaks who've signed up for the service and are having horrendous problems with their email. But, as David puts it... "The real problem is how Apple is responding. For a company that's so brilliant at marketing, it seems to have absolutely no clue about crisis management." All users get as a response to complaints is the standard... "We understand this is a serious issue and apologize for this service interruption. We are working hard to restore your service." Nothing new there... Remember the iPod battery replacement fiasco of a couple of years ago?

Wake me up when Apple calls!

Google unveils "knol" encyclopedia.

2008-07-24T03:29:27Z

It was announced today that Google is taking the wraps off an Internet encyclopedia designed to give people a chance to show off - and profit from - their expertise on any topic. The service, dubbed "knol" in reference to a unit of knowledge, had been limited to an invitation-only audience of contributors and readers for the past seven months. Now anyone with a Google login will be able to submit an article and, if they choose, have ads displayed through Google's marketing system. The contributing author and Google will share any revenue generated from the ads, which are supposed to be related to the topic covered in the knol. Obviously, we can expect that the advertising option could encourage people to write more entries about commercial subjects than the more academic topics covered in traditional encyclopedias.

Encyclopedia?

Steve Jobs... Smarter than the average Wall St investor!

2008-07-23T00:56:05Z

Interesting to watch Apple stock in the last couple of days. In typical Wall Street fashion the market hammered the stock, even though they reported record profit. The problem for the lame brains who inhabit the market was that Apple said it would be going for reduced margins and bigger market share in the future. As is pointed out in this "Tech/Ticker" video on Yahoo, this is a really smart move on a long term basis... But poison to the idiots on Wall Street, who in spite of considering themselves as "Investors." The idea of planning beyond the next three months is anathema to them. Check out the video, it makes a great deal of sense.

Here's lookin' at you, Wall Street!

Amazon thinks long term.

2008-07-20T16:31:47Z

Interesting to read in The New York Times that Amazon has begun a limited testing of its new Video on Demand service, which will replace its Unbox store. The big difference between the two is that the new service will stream movies through your browser rather than requiring you to download them and use Amazon's video player. Users will also retain access to movies and shows they're previously purchased. The service is not expected to be particularly profitable; Amazon is most likely looking to the future. Which when you consider they didn't make a profit for the first ten years they were in business is proof that Jeff Bezos looks at business quite differently than most of Corporate America's senior management.

I wonder if she knows what I'm doing under the table?

Bigger and dumber!

2008-07-19T01:28:11Z

Interesting to read in today's AdAge that Johnson & Johnson has kicked off a soup-to-nuts review for its $25 billion pharmaceuticals group. Recently Dell Computer put all its business in a WPP creation by the strange name of Enfatico. As I have posted previously, this is little more than an "In-House" agency. Which means that because you only have one client, and they are signing your pay check, how on earth can you offer them objective advice? Is this a trend of the future? If so, it doesn't auger well for the future.

That sums it up!

Google tanking?

2008-07-18T16:44:45Z

Google, the "can-do-no-wrong" company is watching it's stock get h ammered today after it announced pre-tax profits for the second quarter of 2008, which jumped 35% year on year to $1.25bn, but failed to meet analysts' expectations, sending its share price down by as much as 12% last night with further falls today.The internet giant's profits for the quarter ending June 30, decreased 5% from the first quarter of the year when they stood at $1.31bn. Excluding certain expenses, Google shareholders would have earned $4.63 a share, missing the average analyst estimate of $4.74 per share. All this being caused by lowered ad sales. All this does not auger well for the entire digital space!

It might not be that bad!

Barack Obama... Marketeer Extraordinaire!

2008-07-16T16:38:51Z

Interesting article in Salon about Barack Obama's marketing machine. With over 5 million people on Obama's e-mail list this is just the start of what political strategists say is one of the most sophisticated voter databases ever built. Using a combination of the information that supporters are volunteering, data the campaign is digging up on its own and powerful market research tools first developed for corporations, Obama's staff has combined new online organizing with old-school methods of voter outreach to assemble a central database for hitting people with messages tailored as closely as possible to what they're likely to want to hear. It's an ambitious melding of corporate marketing and grassroots organizing that the Obama campaign sees as a key to winning this fall. It's particularly funny when you consider how so called "Marketing Guru" Mark Penn really screwed up Hillary's campaign efforts. And this is the guy who heads up one of the world's largest PR outfits. But unlike most ad agencies, Burston Marsteller (Penn is the CEO) didn't work on spec, and Hillary still owes him several million. There's a lesson there, somewhere. Not that anyone takes notice!

Faster than a speeding train!

When is a fake not a fake? When it's on EBay?

2008-07-15T18:01:28Z

If you've been looking for fake bags, watches and jewelry on EBay, you can carry right on doing it now that the site has won an important battle with luxury jeweller Tiffany, after a US court said that the Internet company would not be held liable for the sale of counterfeit jewelry on its site. Tiffany sued eBay in 2004, claiming that most of the items listed as Tiffany goods on the auction site were fakes. However, a federal court in the Southern District of New York, ruled yesterday that the jeweler was responsible for policing its own trademarks. If Tiffany had won the case it would have forced eBay to make huge changes to its online auction system to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods, such as taking physical possession of goods on sale to check them for authenticity. Personally, I find it much easier and definitely cheaper, to stroll around Canal Street in New York's China Town.

Don't forget to remove the label!

Yahoo... Boohoo!!!

2008-07-15T04:21:27Z

When you continue to read about the never-ending saga of the Yahoo-Microsoft takeover, buyout, collapse... You have to think about that scene in the movie "Lost in America," where, after his wife has lost their six-figure nest egg in a Las Vegas casino, the Albert Brooks' character tries to convince the management of the casino what a public relations coup it would be if the casino could just give them their money back. Unfortunately, it didn't work for him; and it certainly won't work for Yahoo. No matter how much better it looks now than it did a few weeks ago, that rejected $33-a-share offer for the whole shebang just ain't coming back. According to the pundits, "The Microsoft/Icahn proposal would require the immediate replacement of the current Board and removal of the top management team at Yahoo." Well... Yeah!!!

This could all go up in flames!