Adland – The Business Book That’ll Make You Cry

Adland: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet

Adland Book Review

Picture this…

You stumble into your local bookstore and head over to the business section.

You’re getting ready to hunt down that book you’ve been looking for. You glance to your right and notice a young man, easy on the eyes.

But there’s something strange about this young chap.

He’s seems to be clutching a brightly covered advertising book like he’s afraid it’ll launch right out of his hands.

And he’s crying. Read more

Selling – The Catholics Are Doing It So Why Can’t You

My daughter Eavan is a weird one. She’s been wanting to go to school since she was 2 years old. And last week her wish finally came true.

She started junior kindergarten and she loves it. And according to her teacher Mrs. Lockie, Eavan’s been breaking hearts since the first day of school.

She is quite the charmer.

On Wednesday I opened up her napsack and found a big ziploc bag with a folder in it. The front of the folder was labeled “Communications”.

So I tore it open. I was excited to find out what a beautiful little angel my daughter has been since she started school.

But that’s not exactly what I found inside.

It was a sales magazine for scholastic books. There was a note in there as well, a sales letter.

I sat there for a moment thinking about all the correspondence I’ve had with the school so far. And I realized that most of the letters and info that I’ve received from them has been some variation of a sales pitch.

No really it’s true. Read more

How To Kickstart A Word Of Mouth Marketing Campaign

Pimping The Last Exorcism

Last night I was at the Toronto premier of The Last Exorcism during the Toronto After Dark film festival.

This is really a miracle because I hate scary movies. My wife loves them and she sweet talked me into going with her. Dear ole’ Grandma watched the kids.

And yes it did take me about two hours to fall asleep last night. Every little noise in the house was transformed into a 16 year old possessed girl coming to smash my brains in while I slept.

Gives me goosebumps just thinking of it now.

I do have to say that I actually loved this movie. No really I did. Fantastic script, great actors, and the whole evening was supercharged by hanging out with 800 horror geeks.

And to top it all off there was a Q & A with Eli Roth (producer), Patrick Fabian (lead), and Ashley Bell (possessed girl).

It was the charismatic Eli Roth that taught me a couple of things about kick-starting a word of mouth marketing campaign. Read more

Sharing Is Marketing

Is Sharing Part of Your Marketing Mix?

Share everything.

That’s the number one rule of life that best selling childrens author Robert Fulghum learned in kindergarten.

You make more friends when you share.

But the real question in this marketing 3.0 world is, “Can sharing other people’s stuff really benefit you in the end?”

Valid question.

And the answer is yes. Sharing is marketing.

A marketing method that’s really subtle. So discreet in fact that you may actually miss it at first glance. But it’s there. Read more