02/27/07: There is no place like home.
With all of my traveling, I sometimes feel like I am on vacation when I return home. There is nothing quite like sitting your bags down and hanging up your coat in your own house. Recently, I was asked about my home when I got to participate in a mini-focus group of sorts. Audrey Matlock, my dear friend and architect of the stunning Chelsea Modern building invited me out for drinks and dinner at the wonderful Mas Farmhouse in the Village.
Audrey wanted to hear about my living quarters to look for tips and make sure her team didn’t miss anything. From the look of the place, I’m certain she hadn’t but obliged her anyway while we enjoyed our six-course chef’s tasting.
I relayed to Audrey how my living room is laid out to maximize my creature comforts as well as my connectivity. For me, relaxing is as much a comfortable chair and nice glass of Zinfandel as it is being connected to the ‘net.
It all starts with the leather chair and matching ottoman. I’ve been known to find myself awake at 3 am after falling asleep in the chair with ESPN highlights from the game I started watching before falling asleep. A perfect complement is a side table large enough to hold the endless line of remotes, a lamp and a wine glass or two.
I almost always find myself with my laptop on my lap when I’m watching TV. I’m either catching up on email while catching up on my Tivo or looking up an actor on IMDB.com to see if I really did just see him in an early role. My laptop is as much a part of my viewing experience as the TV itself. In fact, the heat thrown off by the laptop replaces any need for a blanket. I relayed to Audrey how a good wireless connection and nearby power outlet are key for the perfect den.
We continued on into the night, talking about movie rooms, wine cellars and avoiding calls from MTV Cribs. I can’t wait to see if Audrey took any of my suggestions to heart in the model unit she promised me a tour of when it is finished.
I relayed to Audrey how my living room is laid out to maximize my creature comforts as well as my connectivity. For me, relaxing is as much a comfortable chair and nice glass of Zinfandel as it is being connected to the ‘net.
It all starts with the leather chair and matching ottoman. I’ve been known to find myself awake at 3 am after falling asleep in the chair with ESPN highlights from the game I started watching before falling asleep. A perfect complement is a side table large enough to hold the endless line of remotes, a lamp and a wine glass or two.
I almost always find myself with my laptop on my lap when I’m watching TV. I’m either catching up on email while catching up on my Tivo or looking up an actor on IMDB.com to see if I really did just see him in an early role. My laptop is as much a part of my viewing experience as the TV itself. In fact, the heat thrown off by the laptop replaces any need for a blanket. I relayed to Audrey how a good wireless connection and nearby power outlet are key for the perfect den.
We continued on into the night, talking about movie rooms, wine cellars and avoiding calls from MTV Cribs. I can’t wait to see if Audrey took any of my suggestions to heart in the model unit she promised me a tour of when it is finished.
02/26/07: Apple makes me wish I stayed home
I always love the Oscars. It is so good to see all the old friends, and the after-parties are the best. This year though, I was wishing I stayed home after I looked at my phone.
Halfway through the night, I slipped to the downstairs bar to catch up with my dear old buddy Peter O’Toole. (A friend IM’d me saying that she caught a glimpse of me shuffling along just before a commercial) He owed me a Scotch after our last outing in Ireland together. We were watching the event on closed circuit, and all got excited when our buddy Arkin won Best Supporting Actor.
The bartender told us to quiet down as they were coming back from commercial. While we were sitting there, my phone vibrated with a message from a friend and Apple zealot back east. Apparently Apple ran a TV ad for their new iPhone.
While collapsing back in my hotel room as the sun came up, I fired up my laptop and found the ad for the phone. Pretty slick.
Those of you who remember the other Apple ad that ran at the Super Bowl. I cut my teeth in advertising on that one. It was so much fun to work on, but pretty frustrating after the fact. See it only ran once, and without YouTube or other social networking sites to share the video, you could have missed it if you were busy reloading the Fondue.
Halfway through the night, I slipped to the downstairs bar to catch up with my dear old buddy Peter O’Toole. (A friend IM’d me saying that she caught a glimpse of me shuffling along just before a commercial) He owed me a Scotch after our last outing in Ireland together. We were watching the event on closed circuit, and all got excited when our buddy Arkin won Best Supporting Actor.
While collapsing back in my hotel room as the sun came up, I fired up my laptop and found the ad for the phone. Pretty slick.
Those of you who remember the other Apple ad that ran at the Super Bowl. I cut my teeth in advertising on that one. It was so much fun to work on, but pretty frustrating after the fact. See it only ran once, and without YouTube or other social networking sites to share the video, you could have missed it if you were busy reloading the Fondue.
After sitting on the runway during the ice storm for what seemed like an eternity (my friend and I emptied the first class cabin of their Scotch before we even left the runway) I landed safely in sunny Florida. I am here in Tampa to play in a Pro-Am golf tournament with Curtis Strange. I won this at a charity event of Curtis’ last year. Well I should say that Curtis won it for me. At the benefit, Curtis was sitting next to me and kept pushing my hand up in the air when someone else outbid me. He was having quite a laugh with it, and it was for a good cause, so I played along and enjoyed the evening.
The pro-am was at the TPC Tampa in, you guessed it, Tampa. Curtis and I played with a couple of other guys who also won spots through other charity events. The one guy pulled out some Nike Juice Golf Balls and handed me one to try on the final hole. He said “Be careful with this, I’ve seen what they can do to a ice sculpture, and it aint pretty.”
I was expecting a story about an errant golf ball and a ruined wedding, but that wasn’t the case. It turns out he learned about this golf ball from an email sent to him by a friend. The email was asking him to vote between having a golf ball crush a jar of mayonnaise or a jello mold. The email sent him to the Nike site: http://www.nike.com/nikegolf/juiceball.
We fired up the site on his PDA back in the clubhouse. This site has authentic looking footage from a testing lab where two guys fire the Nike Juice golf ball into various household items. A crowd formed around us as we watched the ball fly through these items in slow motion. It was very captivating!
At the bottom of the web page, it offered two items to choose between for what would be next on the firing line. I thought this was a brilliant idea. Not only was I engaged by the video and wanted to see if my preferred item was annihilated, I immediately fired off an email to my golfing buddy list, enlisting their support in my campaign for what would be next. Now each of them went to the Nike site and cast their own vote, possibly enlisting others. I called Phil Knight that night to commend him on it.
Well, back to the round of golf with Strange here in Tampa. I teed up the Juice ball on the final tee and swung away with a swing that would make Happy Gilmore proud. While an ice sculpture may be no match for the ball, we soon discovered that a beer cart is a worthy opponent as my shot caromed off the roof and went into the lake. Curtis laughed so hard that he fell out of our cart.
The pro-am was at the TPC Tampa in, you guessed it, Tampa. Curtis and I played with a couple of other guys who also won spots through other charity events. The one guy pulled out some Nike Juice Golf Balls and handed me one to try on the final hole. He said “Be careful with this, I’ve seen what they can do to a ice sculpture, and it aint pretty.”
We fired up the site on his PDA back in the clubhouse. This site has authentic looking footage from a testing lab where two guys fire the Nike Juice golf ball into various household items. A crowd formed around us as we watched the ball fly through these items in slow motion. It was very captivating!
At the bottom of the web page, it offered two items to choose between for what would be next on the firing line. I thought this was a brilliant idea. Not only was I engaged by the video and wanted to see if my preferred item was annihilated, I immediately fired off an email to my golfing buddy list, enlisting their support in my campaign for what would be next. Now each of them went to the Nike site and cast their own vote, possibly enlisting others. I called Phil Knight that night to commend him on it.
Well, back to the round of golf with Strange here in Tampa. I teed up the Juice ball on the final tee and swung away with a swing that would make Happy Gilmore proud. While an ice sculpture may be no match for the ball, we soon discovered that a beer cart is a worthy opponent as my shot caromed off the roof and went into the lake. Curtis laughed so hard that he fell out of our cart.
02/12/07: Marketing Tough Love
I was showing a dear friend around Baltimore this past weekend and stumbled across a startling and effective piece of marketing while we were out. It made such an impression that I wanted to share it with everyone.
My friend, Peter D’Amelio, was moving to town to open a restaurant in Inner Harbor, Baltimore’s beautifully redeveloped district and a model for most city planners. Peter is not just any restaurateur, rather he was formerly the president of Cheesecake Factory, a very successful chain of restaurants found in just about any suburban shopping mall. I’d bet on any restaurant concept that Peter tries next.
Peter and I were enjoying a great dinner at Hamptons in the Intercontinental and then decided to walk off the lobster and find a local bar to take in the Inner Harbor scene. We sat at the bar to discuss his plans for the Harbor.
After the bartender gave us our beers, she handed us silver credit cards. These cards were unique bottle openers that could be stored in a wallet for emergency tailgates or happy hours.
The message on the bottle opener struck me. The bottle opener was from the railroad company CSX. The bottle opener read ‘this is what a train can do to your body.’ The bartender explained that CSX put these out to combat the rampant problem with people having a few too many drinks and walking along train tracks, meeting an untimely death.
Marketing is about getting people to remember a message and take action. I certainly hope this is successful!
My friend, Peter D’Amelio, was moving to town to open a restaurant in Inner Harbor, Baltimore’s beautifully redeveloped district and a model for most city planners. Peter is not just any restaurateur, rather he was formerly the president of Cheesecake Factory, a very successful chain of restaurants found in just about any suburban shopping mall. I’d bet on any restaurant concept that Peter tries next.
Peter and I were enjoying a great dinner at Hamptons in the Intercontinental and then decided to walk off the lobster and find a local bar to take in the Inner Harbor scene. We sat at the bar to discuss his plans for the Harbor.
After the bartender gave us our beers, she handed us silver credit cards. These cards were unique bottle openers that could be stored in a wallet for emergency tailgates or happy hours.
Marketing is about getting people to remember a message and take action. I certainly hope this is successful!
Well I am finally dried off from the SuperBowl! James Gandolfini invited me along for the pregame festivities in Miami. J.G. was a guest of honor at Bank of America’s International Sky Terrace downtown. J.G. and I met years ago when we were both DJs at the Melody Bar in New Jersey and stayed close ever since. He was the second best spinner there, next to Matty Pinfield, who packed the house and ended up landing a job at VH1.
After the SuperBowl, J.G. and I went to dry off and change into our party camp shirts for more fun in South Beach. Despite the rain, the weather was wonderfully warm for February! I packed my camp shirts/shorts and boarded the jet with Gandolfini to come back north to home…and bitter cold.
I loaded up the fireplace, grabbed my laptop and caught up on my email and tried to stay warm during this recent wintry blast. Now for most of us, this Winter has been particularly mild. This mild winter has been a killer to retailers who are loaded up with parkas, hats and gloves.
As I continued through the email, this one from Lands End caught my eye. The message had an Artic Blast related subject line and strong ‘Winter Weather Alert’ message in the body. It was perfectly timed for the winter blast and caught my attention as a result.
Now those of us who remember the days when the only marketing mail was direct mail and campaigns were mapped out, printed and pre-sorted months in advance of their intended drop date. I sometimes still run into companies who treat their email campaigns the same way. They agonize over what day of the week to send a generic message developed months ago.
The power of email is being able to time the send when the message means the most to the recipient. Messages that have open rates off the charts are those that are extremely relevant to recipients. Lands End reinforced this with their brilliant Winter Weather Alert email, and as a result, I should have a new parka by the weekend!
After the SuperBowl, J.G. and I went to dry off and change into our party camp shirts for more fun in South Beach. Despite the rain, the weather was wonderfully warm for February! I packed my camp shirts/shorts and boarded the jet with Gandolfini to come back north to home…and bitter cold.
I loaded up the fireplace, grabbed my laptop and caught up on my email and tried to stay warm during this recent wintry blast. Now for most of us, this Winter has been particularly mild. This mild winter has been a killer to retailers who are loaded up with parkas, hats and gloves.
As I continued through the email, this one from Lands End caught my eye. The message had an Artic Blast related subject line and strong ‘Winter Weather Alert’ message in the body. It was perfectly timed for the winter blast and caught my attention as a result.
Now those of us who remember the days when the only marketing mail was direct mail and campaigns were mapped out, printed and pre-sorted months in advance of their intended drop date. I sometimes still run into companies who treat their email campaigns the same way. They agonize over what day of the week to send a generic message developed months ago.
The power of email is being able to time the send when the message means the most to the recipient. Messages that have open rates off the charts are those that are extremely relevant to recipients. Lands End reinforced this with their brilliant Winter Weather Alert email, and as a result, I should have a new parka by the weekend!
Sidebar
