Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz's Marketing Blog

Coming Soon: The $100 Hot Dog

Okay, the $100 dog's not here yet, but the salmon dog is, and the $25 dog, according to a USA Today article (thanks for the link, Dr. Adelglass). Give it time - someone will make a $100 hot dog as a great PR stunt, like the $1,000 omelette. A few will eat it, but many more will flock to whoever serves it just to say to their friends, "You know this places sells hot dogs for $100?" (At least Norma's, which sells the $1,000 omelette, backs up the rest of the menu by serving the best breakfast anywhere in Manhattan - you get what you pay for there).

An aside: the article also mentions Mandler's, which was featured in a Search Insider article in March. 360i moved a bit further from Mandler's, but I still try to make it back every so often. Ronnie & Gil, keep the grill hot for me.

A Sip of Ben & Jerry's

Ben & Jerry's took over a historic bank (and now theater) in Union Square for two weeks to promote its new milkshake flavors, with tasting stations and some nooks to sit and enjoy them. (Click the photos for a closer look.)

At first I thought the bank-theater was now a Ben & Jerry's - no such luck. It would have been an odd venue for retail, but it was perfect for a grand debut.

As for the milkshakes, which come in 8oz bottles and which I gather will be in grocery stores soon, they're 330 calories, and generally hit the spot. The Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Chunky Monkey (now in smooth form) were a treat, though the Cherry Garcia was medicinal. As the song lyrics go, two out of three ain't bad.

Design and Web 2.0

Here's the original link from Jeremiah regarding Web 2.0 color schemes. If you're interested in this Web 2.0 stuff, you need to read him every day. Subscribe via e-mail if you prefer it that way.

Link: Design, Font, Color, and Logo 2.0 - Web Strategy by Jeremiah.

PS: Anyone have better ideas for renaming Web 2.0? Seems like 2.0 just means anything you can tag or build in Ajax. Woohoo. It's still the web, the one that's been around awhile now, with many versions and upgrades improving its maturity (hardly just 2 versions - though some may say it's still in beta, or alpha).

Big Pharma Needs a Long Tail

I was reading Clayton Christensen's latest piece, "Big Pharma's Prognosis" on Forbes.com, where he talks about some remedies for pharmaceutical companies. He's close to the most important point but doesn't get there or quite spell it out: Big Pharma's in need of tapping into the long tail.

We're seeing signs of life on the long tail in some ways, with futuristic predictions pf people receiving drugs specifically targeted to their own DNA. When you can tailor content (drugs) to everyone's individual needs (DNA), that's precisely what the long tail's all about. Additionally, the long tail means all those diseases and ailments suffered from a relatively small number of people or by a large number of people who are being underserviced.

With pharmaceuticals, life and death are on the line, so I haven't fully sketched out how Big Pharma can feasibly tap into the long tail, but I have no doubt that's where the future of the industry is going, and that's where real opportunity lies.

Add to the List: Outletvertising

I didn't quite get what MediaPost meant when it referred to "plug-ins." It turns out  to be a reference to advertising on airport electrical outlets. Thomas Edison + New Media = Outletvertising. Oy. Link: MediaPost Publications - Plug-In Promos - 06/27/2006.

Rocky Road to Video Ad Models

"Rocky and Bullwinkle," once $1.99 an episode, is now free on Google Video. The ad sponsorship model offers a text ad permanently atop the video, rather than the standard pre-roll deal. I still don't get why consumers would pay that much for a lot of these videos. Granted, a lot of this content would otherwise be gathering dust, so there's little harm in offering it for a fee. I'm still convinced that publishers will make more on most of these videos by running ads than selling the content. Check out all the once-premium content that's now free (at least for the trial).

Hooray for Widgets

Thanks to the new widgets from TypePad (maybe they're not so new; maybe I just never figured out how to use them before), I now have a few new bells and whistles on the blog.

My personal favorite: FeedBlitz, at the top right. You can subscribe to this blog, and any other blog using it, so you get daily e-mail updates when there's a new post. For me, this is a lot easier than feed readers or bookmarks or anything. It's your call - if you like getting information this way, you at least have the option.

I'm also now in Technorati and Feedster (there's a Technorati link at the bottom right; I don't think I got the Feedster link to work). I also tried setting up a Eurekster Swicki, but it wouldn't automatically update on my site.

The ultimate bonus for me is that with these widgets, many of which even work, I don't have to consider switching to a different blog publishing tool. Still, if anyone can figure out why my columns sometimes get a little messed up, please let me know.

Thanks for your readership.

Moses x2

In the past couple days, I've seen Moses surface in two unexpected ways:

1) AskMoses.com, the live-chat Q&A site to get instant answers to all things Jewish, just launched an SMS service.

2) On YouTube, a video mashup of The Ten Commandments with a high school movie theme. Good, wacky fun, and it also explains why Samuel L. Jackson made a cameo in my dream last night.

Nuggets on the Rocks

This is too weird not to blog.

Have you ever wondered how you could get all the benefits of juice, but not have to deal with messy spills?

Do you have a drinking problem?

Do you ever wish that you could bring a glass of juice with you but then realize it won't fit in your pocket?

Now your prayers are answered. Florida's Natural has released Fruit Juice Nuggets, a juice-carton shaped box not even three inches high filled with tiny fruit chews. The whole container has 100% of your RDA of vitamin C, along with other vitamins and minerals. The nutrition facts really do match up pretty well to a glass of juice.

I guess it beats smoking crack, and there are more health benefits than chewy life savers. But really, do we need this?

And, since we are talking about marketing here, what does this do for Florida's Natural's wholesome brand when you associate it with candy? To me, that's a brand killer. Fittingly, you can't find a mention of the candy on FN's website.

By the way, I did buy these (strawberry). I'm unimpressed. This won't be a staple in the office candy drawer.

Urinalvertising

At Search Engine Strategies this week, there was one advertiser that stood out from the pack. It was the only one in sight and commanded my attention. It was from a company that bills itself as "Website Content Editing," and the proprietor left business cards atop every urinal in the second floor men's room.

I can't say this is how I'd want to do my branding, and the website itself isn't all that impressive. I also can't imagine who else besides a blogger would pick up one of these cards; I'm hoping the person who left it there washed his hands first. In any case, if you have any website content editing needs that can be served by someone who leaves business cards on urinals, we leaked it here first.