What's Goin' On.
TweetRandom thoughts, observations and recent happenings that take more than 140 characters …
- The Lost Symbol felt more like “National Treasure 3” than “The Da Vinci Code 2.” (And didn’t one of the “National Treasure” movies also tackle the subject of the Masons?) Despite all the buzz on Twitter and elsewhere, Dan Brown’s latest is not worth the hype and attention that it’s receiving … although I’m sure the publishing industry is hoping it will stimulate sales heading into the holidays.
- Angels and Demons is still the Dan Brown book I liked best, with The Da Vinci Code second.
- Youth soccer is in full swing in our house, with my 8- and 4-year-olds engaged every Saturday for the next 10 weeks. I’ve often considered including youth soccer organizations into marketing programs for clients, but based on our family’s experiences the past couple of years, I question the overall value of an integrated sponsorship: There aren’t enough touch points with the players and their families.
- But here’s how brands could make a youth soccer partnership work: Develop self-contained programs that reach coaches and team parents directly … and that means real-world, grass-roots efforts, and not just a Web link and ad in the family magazine.
- Great to see a campaign I worked on earlier this summer getting lots of attention: Butterfinger’s commitment to comedy featured in The New York Times (including their partnership with Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter), and their just-announced signing of Seth Green as brand “mouthpiece.”
- Undervalued Web real estate: The fantasy football waiver wire pages. Butterfinger and Subway are running ads on Yahoo! Fantasy Football currently, and Toyota has created a “make your team’s logo” site to promote their brand … smart.
- For 2010, would a below the title sponsorship, Yahoo! Fantasy Football Presented by Brand X, be an effective online billboard as part of an integrated in-store and mobile program? It would benefit both brands, Yahoo! and Brand X.
- A friend of mine pointed out that by not regularly breaking 100, I am worse than the average American golfer, as the average score is reported to be 100. I find that hard to believe … I argue that nobody will ever tell you that they “shoot in the low 100’s,” so any survey of golf scores is going to be abnormally skewed!
- My mom has more Facebook friends than your mom.
