Archive for the “design” Category

We’re on a lot of lists. And we get some of the strangest things you’d ever expect – or not expect – to see in your mailbox. As a marketer, I’m always interested to see how others are using direct mail to market their products and/or services. As a pragmatic conservative, I like to look past the marketing, and look at what they’re trying to say with their promotion. Sometimes, there’s a logical disconnect between the product and the marketing. Think of it as a “cognitive dissonance,” where the message and the media contradict each other. This makes for some rich, visual irony in many situation. Case in point, The United States Postal Service, and their efforts to promote direct mail with their Deliver magazine. Read the rest of this entry »

…courtesy of my liberal arts (i.e.: lack of science) education…

IDEA #1. Back in the days before central air conditioning and refrigeration made it possible to live comfortably through summers in the South, one enterprising entrepreneur floated a huge iceberg from the northern Atlantic down to the Gulf of Mexico. The purpose? Provide inexpensive ice for evaporative coolers, which at the time were the only way to cool a room. He made a fortune.

I understand from the sound-byte journalism on TV that the reason that tropical storms that cross into the Gulf become hurricanes is due to the warm waters in the Gulf. (It’s why the eco-Nazis try to convince us all that hurricanes are a lot worse due to ‘global warming.’) Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, I’ve gotten restless, and I’ve decided to begin playing music professionally again. Trouble is, I don’t have a lot of contacts here in Amarillo. So I’ve decided to apply the same techniques I recommend to my marketing clients to my own situation. That means I’ve got to find ways to get myself noticed around town. What you see at the left here is a poster I whipped up in an hour or so this evening. I’ve secured a one-night gig – kind of a “let’s see if this works” kind of thing. Obviously, I’d like this to turn into a regular gig. So I’m doing everything I know how to do to make that happen. First, we’ll start with promotions. I’m going to print several of these posters and give them to Pizza Hut. I figure that the combination of a nice-looking poster along with taking the initiative to promote my appearance there will go a long way towards helping them see the possibilities. It won’t cost me much to do it, and it will help serve my larger goal of getting my name out there as a musician in Amarillo. With only two days before the gig, I don’t have much time to self-promote, but I figure that anything I can do is better than sitting around and waiting for something good to happen. Read the rest of this entry »

I love TV. I love GOOD TV. And I love great TV advertising. But to be good, an ad has to be engaging, resonant, and memorable. I can’t think of any advertiser in the past, say, dozen years or so that has been as consistently engaging, resonant and memorable as Jack In the Box. Their ads are funny without being too “out there,” resonant without being too earnest, memorable without the need to be repeated ad nauseum, and strike just the right chord about 99% of the time. Let me show you what I mean… Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the brand spankin’ new blog of grokmedia, dedicated to marketing, advertising, and design. We’ll cover analysis of current media and advertising campaigns, media spin, and ideas for making your marketing better. We invite your participation, your comments, and your ideas.