In a recent Fox News poll, when asked which president is “more responsible for the current state of the economy,” only 18 percent said President Obama while 58 percent said former President George W. Bush; 9 percent blame both of them. Republicans are the only subgroup of voters who blame Obama, and only by a six-point margin of 35 percent to 29 percent.
To truly enjoy the vampire remix of the Glenn Beck freakout on July 15, you have to sit through the original broadcast. It’s painful but it makes the remix so much funnier.
First, the real deal:
This guy needs health care, all right. He needs MENTAL health care.
And now, the remix:
His spokesman claims it was just a weird coincidence, but it’s hard to ignore the not-so-subliminal message.
“Consider the source of the most recent attention-getting lies – those who would sell their body for money reflect a desperate need for attention and are likely to say and do anything for even more attention.” – Miss Wasilla, Alaska 1984, Sarah Palin.
Palin was reacting to ex-future-son-in-law Levi Johnston’s assertion that, “There are some things that I have that are huge,” by which the recently contracted Playgirl centerfold meant not what you’re thinking, but rather that he knows facts about Sarah Palin that would hurt her politically.
My mother always used to tell me, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” What I’d like to say to some self-anointed marketing mavens is, If you can’t say anything smart, don’t say anything. Please!
The InterWeb is full of lists these days. Seems that making lists has become the substitute for critical thinking. Plus, it appeals to readers’ sense of What’s in it for me? Today I found a list that struck me as completely idiotic in a way that only marketing lists can be — it’s both obtuse and obnoxious.
I receive a newsletter called “Marketing Charts,” and it usually provides a rich source of short news items that I can share on Twitter. Today, however, it featured an interview with Judy Franks, founder and president of The Marketing Democracy, whose Web site won’t even be live until Nov. 4. Now I ask you, how much credence should you give a so-called marketing company that doesn’t even have a working Web site? Right, my point exactly.
Franks shares her top 10 integrated marketing trends to watch for next year. I’ve stripped them of their explanations, which tend to make them seem sensible. You can read the whole thing here. But taken as assertive statements, they’re just smelly piles of marketingspeak:
1. Less will get done until we learn to do more with less.
2. Marketers will mistakenly “whack” a medium of the marketing mix.
3. Marketers rush to employ “social networking” strategies.
4. More data but even less “understanding.”
5. Lines between media will continue to blur.
6. Push vs. pull will become less relevant.
7. Great content will travel at the “speed of share” while “average” experiences will evaporate.
8. The adult 18-49 demo will become even less relevant as a target cohort.
9. Symbiosis will create interesting and — at times strange — partnerships.
10. 2010 will become the year of the good idea.
Lord help us if any of these predictions comes true. Seems to me you could have made up these predictions by tossing a bunch of pieces of paper with words written on them in a hat and pulling them out randomly. What exactly does “more data but even less ‘understanding'” mean?
It doesn’t mean anything, and it’s not designed to. The whole purpose of that exercise was to position Judy Franks as a thought leader, though apparently she can’t be bothered to back that up with a thought.
Don’t get me wrong, I like marketing. I find it a most interesting topic. I just don’t think you have to dress it in some wizard’s cloak of nonsensical language to make it seem magical and mysterious.
I do hope Franks is right about one thing: “2010 will become the year of the good idea.” We could use one of those right about now.
Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario has created a litmus test —
Yield, and rename it Lake America, at Donald Trump’s behest,
Like Google and Apple, which already capitulated,
Changing the name just like Dear Leader stipulated,
But there’s one defiant holdout — the original mapping site, Mapquest.
