Category: Marketing
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Don’t overwork your customers
Yesterday, I vented about the rise in forced account creation with online checkout. Beyond the data privacy concerns lies a key frustration: Brands were asking me to work way too hard. Put it this way. When, if you didn’t read yesterday’s post, Wal-Mart and Sweetgreen required me to create an account to check out, they…
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The first-worldiest of first world problems
I got really excited about the release of Selena Gomez’s collab with Oreo: a horchata inspired cookie. I couldn’t find it anywhere in my area, so I went to order it from WalMart.com. After adding some actual essentials to cart, I went to check out. The next screen prompted me to sign into my account,…
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The commercial that gave you a headache
Over and over and over again, the refrain was repeated. In those days of regular cable and unskippable ads, those commercials were unavoidable. “Head On. Apply directly to the forehead.” Whether you wanted to or not, you remembered it. The Head On commercial is something I remember interrupting so many of my favorite shows, and…
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What they don’t want you to know about Tesla AI
I got an ad that talked about how Tesla’s Manifested AI is going to change the financial markets. While many analysts forecast that Tesla won’t come back from the sales slump, the two speakers spoke about this new thing. And then I did a web search. It all seemed suspicious to me. My alarm bells…
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Will it ever be too much?
The email came through, full of all the new brands launching. Instead of excitement I felt overwhelm. Still? More? How many more players do we need in the beauty market? Is there really space for every celebrity, former model, and influencer to start a line? At what point will the metaphorical e-comm shelves start caving…
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Can’t get knefah copycats
I had a little taste of the famous “Dubai” Chocolate bar from FIX Chocolatiers while I was in Austin for SXSW. Or rather, it was the “Can’t get knefah of it.” I enjoyed the crunch of the knafeh, but I didn’t have my life changed to the point of wanting to pay $20 plus shipping…
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Not your ordinary fly swatter
In the middle of my movie, an ad appeared. An interesting ad, for the Bug-A-Salt. Lowes refers to it as a “device,” but it is undeniably a gun. This “device” is loaded with salt for you to shoot at flies, presumably the ones annoying you at the backyard barbecue. I imagine this product is for…
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Philadelphia Cream Cheese is ready to change your cocktail hour
It’s cocktail hour. You go up to order your favorite, a dirty martini. As you carry it away, you take a sip, enjoying the salty brine, except… Why does there have to be that pungent blue cheese in there? Or at least this is the experience Philadelphia Cream Cheese is banking on. And if so,…
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The worst story
I’ve been listening to an episode of the Beyond Luxury podcast, with Dr. Daniel Langer as a guest. One of the many takeaways that made me look up more of his work it this: The worst story you can tell is the one that everyone else is telling. Langer recounts an example of luxury brands…
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Pizza and books
What does reading and pizza have in common? Not much, unless you are a major pizza executive looking for new ideas. The origins of the Book It! Programs were simple: What if you could encourage kids to read by rewarding them with pizza? Art Gunther and Bud Gates, the originators of the program, were sitting…
A Wren Says 