Corante Network contributor Elizabeth Abrycht posted on a theme she noticed from the recent Les Blogs conference: "how cheap producing content, be it text, audio, or video, has become":

"...professional marketers and PR people have a need to produce perfect stuff. Perfect websites, brochures, corporate video etc." due to the former high cost and low accessibility of production of such collateral as Super Bowl ads. Now, with the advent of cheaper and more accessible production methods "maybe, therefore, our collateral doesn't have to be perfect any more. Maybe we can take more risks. Maybe throw out more ideas, enable others to comment and contribute. Revisit, revise -- maybe all this becomes a constant process of improvement vs. the production of one-time monolithic things."

This post has gotten a number of comments both pro and con. Personally, I've seen this coming a long time in a lot of ways. Corante used to have a blog called Amateur Hour that was about how new technologies were enabling consumer-created entertainment and news that were very competitive with professional products. It makes sense that this trend would affect marketing and PR. There are so many pitfalls for marketers though, in all directions! The trust issue here is not simple -- it's complex. People don't trust slick presentations, and yet they also may not trust companies that can do and have done slick presentations who suddenly, consciously, "rough up." It has to be authentic and natural.

Corante Network contributor John Moore is hosting this week's Carnival of Marketing on his BrandAutopsy blog.

Corante Network contributor Mary Schmidt reminds us that not all markets are equal:

"...in looking at target markets, people often fall into the Chinese Math trap, making projections based on a generic, high-level view. 'There are 6 Billion Chinese. The Chinese are people. People wear underwear. Eureka! I can sell billions of my thongs!'

The bottom line? There’s a huge (and business-breaking) difference between total potential market and a qualified target market that will want/need your product or service."

Corante Network contributor Tom Asacker writes about an epiphany he had while visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Tom says that for years he's wondered whether passion or compassion was more important to success in business:

"But I’m finally done flip-flopping. Here is what I discovered from the emotion-filled, twisted faces and colorful outfits of the early blues shouters through the most current teen idols: passion sells! Passion not only sells, it creates! It busts paradigms; it inspires; it attracts; it stirs; it rejuvenates.

[snip]

What I’ve finally realized is that passion and compassion are simply opposite sides of a successful business coin. It works like this: when communicating one-to-many, passion rules! When communicating one-to-one, compassion rules!"

(Image: Little Richard's Black Jacket With Appliques, from The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum)

It's worth pointing to this post from the CMO magazine blog solely on the strength of its headline: I'm Dreaming Of A Pale-Colored Non-Denominational Winter Time Holiday That Will Rescue The Economy.
(Image: © All rights reserved by bella69, via Flickr)

Corante Network contributors David Wolf posts a rave review of Max Lenderman's Experience The Message:

"Lenderman’s book is a clear-eyed view of what marketing in the 21st century needs to be. Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore did a fine job in The Experience Economy telling us that transactional marketing is dead, replaced by experiential marketing. But Lenderman drills deeper into the practical dimensions of experiential marketing.

Moreover, he draws a much-needed distinction between marketing as a velvet-gloved con game and marketing as an empathetically based service without ever sounding preachy. That’s an impressive accomplishment give that most marketing is about seducing and manipulating consumers into taking a particular action."

In contrast, you may be amused by this tongue-in-cheek blog post by Andy Wibbels that illustrates marketing as a "velvet-gloved con game" -- What can the Church of Scientology teach us about viral marketing and the sales cycle?

Two Corante Network contributors wrote posts commenting on a Seth Godin post about needless niche marketing, illustrated by this photo of the toaster/egg poacher combo. Mary Schmidt says "How do we differentiate our products and/or services in a way that the customers will value (and buy more than once)?" while Christopher Carfi says, "Seth, you fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia', but only slightly less well known is this: 'don't assume the customer is just like me, the marketer.' "

Corante Marketing Hub blogger Christopher Carfi unpacks the idea of "attention," explaining it's really just another way of saying "time." So the whole meme of diminished attention among customers simply means "how do you earn the time of your prospective customer?" Christopher's ideas for what marketing needs to do to earn customers' time:

Provide real value (in the form of information or insight); provide content that is creative and/or entertaining; provide a venue and the opportunity for prospective customers to connect with others who have similar views or needs

Corante marketing Hub blogger Bruce Fryer describes the difference between "outbound marketing" and "stealth marketing":

"But think about early stage products. Is this a drum you wish to beat at this stage? Are you really attracting those customers you need now, or just hoping you will?

Here you need an entirely different set of tactics. This is up close and personal. Identify potential early customers by name. Call them. Show them a demo of your product and service. Attend tradeshows and meetings as an attendee. Talk to people. Again one on one. Get their feedback. Improve your product, messaging and gain customers. After a while you will build the momentum you need and then you can 'light it up'."

Corante Marketing Hub blogger Grant McCracken posits a potential Harvard Business School case study on the TV series Arrested Development, which has been cancelled by Fox despite critical acclaim. Grant sketches several scenarios, then discusses the conditions that would make each the "right answer" --

"So the "right answer" turns on whether we think the AD audience is a long tail market, or a long tail market struggling to become a fat middle. So the "right answer" turns on what numbers we supply (or what they can be made to say). Do they show an adoption pattern for AD that is thickly packed or more stretched out? Does this flock cluster or does it attenuate?

Will this post become a case study?

If this post suddenly comes down, it is on its way to becoming a case study."

Corante Marketing Hub blogger Lois Kelly says the "marketing as conversation" concept might be more pragmatically addressed by simply making marketing programs and communications friendlier:

What if we reframed our marketing thinking around one simple idea: to be more friendly? Yes, it sounds Pollyanna-ish, but many companies who get the “marketing as conversations concept” exude friendliness. In their people, actions, business practices, and in their style of oral and written marketing communications.

Think about Southwest Airlines or Virgin Atlantic (vs. the unfriendly United, American et al). Zappos shoes vs. the big department stores. Whole Foods vs. Stop & Shop. And all the small local businesses we’re so loyal to because of friendliness.

It's interesting she mentions Whole Foods, which come to think of it, has for the most part managed to remain friendly despite its phenomenal growth, illustrated in the two pictures below. The first one is a picture of the first Whole Foods store in Austin, Texas, in 1980. The second is a picture of the new flagship Whole Foods that just opened in Austin last March, literally down the street from the original location and across the street from the medium-sized location it directly replaced.

Will Monday, November 28 actually be the biggest online shopping day of the year? Reports are mixed. For those who believe, Corante Marketing Hub blogger Toby Bloomberg (Diva Marketing) cites the "Shop.org/BizRate Research 2005 eHoliday Moody study [that] indicated sales increased 'significantly' for 77% of online retailers the Monday after Thanksgiving" and offers tips for online-shopping-site marketers."

But CMO magazine says online shopping will actually go down because of increased fear of the loss of personal information. CMO's source is this Business Software Alliance survey.

Reports of how far into the black offline retailers got on Black Friday are mixed: Credit and debit card spending jumped 14%, while sales increases of 3% to 4% were reported by major retailers. Meanwhile, one tracking company reported Friday's sales slightly down to flat compared to sales on Black Friday 2004.

UPDATE: More contradictions: The National Retail Federation says the Christmas season at bricks-and-mortar stores is off to a good start with the weekend's sales up 22% over the same weekend in 2004; mall stores losing Christmas business to discount retailers; retail discounts plentiful online; and more on cyber-shopping from workplace computers.

(Image from www.morco.uk.com/)

A fun story in Business Week's Small Biz section profiles author and entrepreneur Lynn Isenberg, whose research for her novel The Funeral Planner inspired her to go into business as -- a funeral planner specializing in "end-of-life celebrations."

From the BW story: "By the time she finished writing the novel this February, Isenberg had received so much positive feedback that she decided to launch her own real-life version of the company. In a rather complicated case of life imitating art imitating life, she not only named the new business Lights Out Enterprises, but also adopted the same business plan, marketing tactics, and strategic alliances that her character Madison Banks uses in the novel."

Show of hands -- how many of you have sent and/or received the American Greetings e-card with the turkey singing "I Will Survive"? (I've received it at least three times and sent it out once myself.)

Apparently the success of this e-card -- it is the most popular eCard in American Greetings' history, says this press release, and downloads of it have soared nearly 1,000 percent in just the past few days -- has convinced American Greetings that consumers want "a new breed of provocative, slice-of-life holiday cards" that depict "honest" experiences "that connect us and provide comic relief."

Examples:

One of the new cards from American Greetings pokes fun at the less than healthy menu found on most Thanksgiving tables. It says, "Another year of avoiding burnt sweet potatoes with gelatinous mounds of marshmallow goo on top. Happy clean-your-plate Thanksgiving." Another reveals the secret fantasy many women share about Thanksgiving Day. It says, quite eloquently: "Make cranberry juice vodka cocktails, order pizza and say to hell with it!!!" Yet another card zooms in on an oven door with the frantic face of a cartoon turkey plastered against the oven window. The message inside? "Have a stress-free Thanksgiving."

Here's a story about a company that gets it right. The folks at Butterball who run the Turkey Talk Line don't gather information from customers who call in with turkey questions.

"Butterball does not keep phone numbers or e-mail addresses. It asks only for ZIP codes. 'This is a stressful time of year for consumers,'" says Torri Johnson, marketing chief. 'They're not looking for me to market to them.' "

And it works for Butterball. "Free turkey-cooking advice makes Butterball look swell. It helps people. And it helps sell scads of Butterballs, which amassed 23% of all whole turkey sales in 2004 vs. 6% in 2000. This while the industry's whole turkey sales fell 4% in 2004 to $389 million, says ACNielsen Homescan."

I have a Butterball Turkey Talk Line story of my own. My first job out of college in 1981 was as assistant food editor at The Dallas Morning News. Essentially this was a copy editor position, with the main responsibility to physically make the Food Section happen every week -- edit stories, write the headlines and photo captions, electronically mark up the stories, send them to the typesetter and oversee paste-up.

That first Thanksgiving I made a huge mistake. In large 48-point type on the section front, I ran the wrong number for the Butterball Turkey Hotline 800 number. No one noticed it in time to fix it. Fortunately the 800 number that appeared was unassigned, so no one was being charged for all the wrong calls. I spent the next several days giving the correct number to callers and feeling pretty much like a turkey myself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grant McCracken notes that the Wall Street Journal has reported that mechanical watches are gaining popularity, and speculates that this could mean that "we are prepared to suffer imprecision from our wrist watch because we are surrounded by quite reliable time keepers....everything that is the least bit electronic comes equipped with an accurate clock." Grant's alternate explanation: "It may also be true that we like mechanical watches because they give off the princely implication that we do not have to be anywhere on time or at least that we are not slaves to precision."