Message from paradise...

thank you, Utah.

I've been saying for years that the taxpayers of South Carolina should invest in a Chief Reputation Officer.

 

 

 

This individual could work with the Univ. of South Carolina cheerleaders to dissuade from doing and wearing things like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ditto, work with SC native, Bubba Watson, on his personal style.

 

 

 

Maybe they could even work with pageant contestants to avoid flubs like these....

 

Until a CRO is hired, though, we'll just have to hope that there are more folks out there like Miss Utah to steal the spotlight....

 

actually, it's a Shaqtastic Friday

Jean-Claude says, "It's a Van Damme Friday!"

fantastic use of technology

No clue what exactly Rainbow-Active Technology is, but I love that someone figured out a new way to leverage YouTube.

 

clean up on aisle three

A Dollar Shave Club survey of 1,000 men found 51% use wet wipes regularly, and 16% use them in lieu of toilet paper. Yet they don’t talk much about the category, and 24% hide them in the bathroom, while 23% buy them discreetly online.

Yup.

I've occasionally (albeit sheepishly) admitted to buddies that one of the best things about being a dad is having never to explain why I have baby wipes.

And it's not like companies haven't tried before to crack into this market (ba dum bum).

 

I'm wagering that Dollar Shave Club is going to have more success based on one thing - they're marketing their products better. Irreverent humor is nothing new to target guys, but they're being irreverent and clever at the same time. 

 

 

 

Hercules, Capt. America and Jean-Claude

It's been one of those weeks.....

I got sucked into Dan Brown's latest tome, Inferno. Like all Dan Brown books, I can't see anyone other than Tom Hanks playing the lead.

Know what else I can't do?

I can't see any of the freakin' countless architectural or art icons that he references throughout the story (set in Venice and Florence). I have to keep going back to a Web browser and searching.

Yet I'm reading it on an iPod.

Wouldn't it be way more engaging if there were hyperlinks to things like the statue of Hercules and Diomedes (that he spends three pages waxing on about Diomedes copping a feel of Hercules)?!

 

 

Completely unrelated, file this one following under "Oh, absolutely, boss. That's an amazing idea!"

Did you catch the story about Kiehl's getting into branded content?

Sure, it makes total sense that the high-end skincare brand (est. 1881 and owned by L'Oreal) distributed thousands of bespoke comic books in the WSJ today in NY, LA and SF.

As noted in the AdAge article:

Whoever Kiehl's VP of Marketing is, I feel for you.

Happy Friday!

 

alternatives to the 7-minute workout

Apparently I've been wasting a lot of time in the gym.

There was an article in the New York Times Magazine last week extolling the virtues of some newfangled 7-minute workout.

Got me thinking about the easy-fix workout hall of fame.

We've had periods of movie-inspired workouts, various foreign-invasion contraptions, Jimmy Kimmel's Hump Club...

 

 

 

 

Still doesn't mean you won't look like a jackass working out, though.

 

 

giddy up

Can't decide which is more entertaining - the mobile gaming aspect, or the British tools in the video...

 

#fitchthehomeless

 

Is it pure coincidence that Mean Girls has been on Cinemax this week while Abercrombie & Fitch is getting crushed in the media for not making plus sizes?

If you're still questioning if social media can give a boost - or  drop an atomic bomb - on your brand, let this social effort from Greg Karber be a case study. He's initiated a socially driven campaign to get A&F to reconsider their very brand manifesto. With mainstream media crushing A&F and more than 4 million views of Greg's online video, I'd say he may just have an impact.

 

erection

I kinda knew a subject line like that would get your attention...

A few months ago, I wrote about America's most unfortunately named company.

Well, I've just come across a close second.

And in case you were wondering, they're website is not AllErection.com.

But it DOES redirect to AllCrane.com.

That's awesome.