SocialCASTER:

Jeremy Pepper and Feldman Discuss Widget Monetization and "Valley vs Alley"

SitePal- wtf??

Is it just me or does Sitepal seem to have a rediculous top heavy ratio of media to marketshare. I have been seeing ads for this service for years all over the place but I have yet to see it in action even once. Granted, they do have an affiliate program, so that could be the reason I see so many ads. But I still haven't seen (or "spoken" to) a Sitepal ever. Anyone else find this strange?

UPDATE: I spoke to some friends and I think I am going crazy. Seems like not that many people have heard of Sitepals' talking custom avatar heads. Is this one of those cases where you or a friend buys a new car and then you suddenly see them everywhere? But I haven't bought a new car!! And my friends don't use Sitepal!! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME!?!

UPDATE: I just got an IM from someone who never heard of Sitepal and actually thinks it's pretty cool. Something is afoot.

UPDATE: Just got a frienly email from Vanessa at Sitepal informing over 7,000 businesses use the Sitepal talking avatar guide. Here is a list. Looks like I am going crazy.

SHIFT releases Social Media Newsroom Template

SHIFT Communications certainly has a major interest in pushing social media in public relations. Not only did they release a Social Media News Release Template (first to do so?) but now they have released their template for a Social Media Newsroom too. Both links are PDF

So which one of you 2.0 hackers is gonna streamline this for everyone and make a handy web app that builds and hosts these newsrooms? I think it seems pretty easy. Some simple cut and paste of feed urls and maybe a simple CMS for releases, execs, boilerplates, etc.

BOTTOM LINE: We need a white label, simple, hosted web based newsroom solution based on the SHIFT template. Who's gonna do it?

Favorite Links of The Week

Conversionrater- Great list of 10 ways to use an ad server to boost your contextual ad performance.

Jason Calacanis- Intersting conversation about black/white hat SEO. Who's full of shit, why SEO seems shady, and how killer content makes SEO firms obsolete.

InstigatorBlog- 10 reasons why proposals fail. (too technical, not pitching benefits, too long, etc)

Pipes.Yahoo- Yahoo has launched Pipes, a new way to mash up content from the web easily.

More Jason from iMedia- Good vs Evil 2.0, how brands can get in the conversation with consumers.

AwakenedVoice/Rob Safuto- Why Google Video is better for businesses than YouTube.

Shmula.com- Cool timeline of Google, Yahoo, and MS aquisitions.

Rotorooter- Quirky "Pimped Out John" contest hits the web

Grandfiles- Great list of useful freeware

Master Plan- Cutting edge short web film about  Google's Master Plan and why you should be scared!

Church of The Customer- Pork Board attacks blogger over "The Other White Milk" parody.

If you have any cool links I missed, or other links related to the list above please leave some in the comments.

Add These To Your Reading List

Marketing.OriginalSignal- A great collection of marketing blog feeds. The best thing is you can see the most popular posts. You can also widgetize the feed collection (or "signal" as they call it) and even grab a link to the mobile version. Or just subscribe to the feed of the signal.

CoBrandit- I love this vlog. Why these guys arent part of Podtech I dont know. Lots of great coverage of marketing and advertising events. As well as some great interviews. Below is a list of fav links from coBrandit...

• Interview with Alex Bogusky of CP+B discussing why "different" is the new "better".
• Interview with Geno Church on a social media campaign for a scissor company!
• Interview with Steve Rubel (when he was still with CooperKatz)
• Interview with Charles Rosen of Amalgamted discussing client engagement

SimulScribe Spams TechCrunch Commenters

The unethical and archaic marketing tactics of companies really never cease to amaze me. You can go read the whole story at TechCrunch, but the quick and dirty is below...

• TC writes about SpinVox, a voicemail to text service
• TC gets 100 free invites from SpinVox to give to readers
• TC asked for reader to leave email addy in comments in order to send invites
• SpinVox competitor SimulScribe harvests the email addys left in comments
• The CEO of SimulScribe spams all the commenters offering them a comperable trial

RANDOM GREAT IDEA: I think it's time I start a t-shirt company. My first shirt will be black with red letters across the front that say "PLEASE SPAM ME...so I have a good reason to stab you in the throat."

BOTTOM LINE: I don't even think I need to sum this up with one of my "bottom line analyzations". If you don't get it by now it's hopeless.

Dr.Fad's Guide To Fad Marketing

via Dr.Fad

When I was a kid there was a show called Dr.Fad that I loved to death. Kids would show off their wacky inventions on the show and I can say with pride that it's shows like this that made me the geek I am today. I happened to have stumbledupon the Dr.Fad site and found something very interesting...Dr.Fad's Guide To Fad Marketing

Highlights...

• A Fad is not a Vegematic. If it slices and dices and broils and boils, it’s not a fad. A fad only slices.
• Keep it short. For radio and TV you need a fifteen-second explanation.
• Every sample is worth a thousand words. Everyone loves a freebie, especially if it’s fun.
• Don’t take the pros’ advice as gospel. They’ve had some successes, true. But their mistakes are hidden.

10 Steps To a Terrible Brand

via Seth

1. The author of HeeHawMarketing recieved a Kohl's gift card
2. He proceeded to visit Kohl's
3. He found the place to be a disaster (I ain't talkin' just messy, I mean like a bomb went off)
4. He took photos with his mobile phone
5. He posted them on his blog
6. Many people commented about a similar experience at their local Kohl's
7. Blogger recieves PR bullshit voicemail
8. Blogger posts again, this time with a slideshow
9. More comments
10. Kohl's does nothing

BOTTOM LINE: Kohl's could actually benefit from this coverage and use this as a way to really get things in order starting with an average consumer's perspective. Instead, they do what every other clueless company does...nothing. Watch the amazing slideshow below.

Is Your Idea Really "Sticky"?

Guy K. posted his review and interview of the new book "Make It Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath. The book discusses what makes ideas stick in the publics mind. Read reviews here. Along with the interview, Guy has posted a Stickiness Aptitude Test that will help you take measure of how sticky YOUR new idea might really be.

BOTTOM LINE: I plan on reading this book. One theme I see from the posts, Amazon, and the SAT is that simplicity is a big part of stickiness, especially in the pitch. For instance...

• (about the birth of Southwest Airlines in a bar) "... the original core idea fit on a cocktail napkin."
• (about how ALIEN was pitched, one sentence analogy) "JAWS on a spaceship."

LINKS:

• YouBlog- Cocktail napkin presentations, how to
• MUST READ! WhoHasTimeForThis?- Practicing The Art of Pitchcraft, elevator pitching

RANDOM GREAT IDEA: I think I should start a site (pitch-on-a-napkin.com?) where people can submit their great ideas. Your idea can be big, crazy, and even require tons of dough...but it still has to be simple to communicate. So the catch is that you have to be able to pitch the idea in only 3 sentences (or some small character limit) and a picture on the back of a napkin that you upload. People can post comments on other ideas with their own napkins, seeing who can make the most simple napkin pitch from the same idea.

Microsoft Vista Laptop Scandal (not really)

Microsoft and their PR firm Edelman recently provided 90 bloggers with free Acer Ferrari laptops loaded with Windows Vista 64bit edition, no strings attached. There is a lot of buzz about how unethical this tactic is, especially since Edelman is building a track record of blog PR goof ups. Along the way I think a few key points have been missed, much like they were in the Walmart/Edelman fiasco.

Did anyone (besides this guy) notice that the laptops alone would cost around $150,000?? That's a lot of money to be spent on a campaign focused on bloggers. That is actually a GOOD sign!

Why didn't Microsoft just send Vista? Why did they need to send it pre-installed on high end laptops? Why is this guy the only one asking this question? If i had to guess, it's because they knew it would take a long time for anyone in their right mind to motivate themselves into going through what I imagine to be a nightmare of an install (that in the end probably won't work).

I think most of us pee-pee standing up like big boys now. Basically, everyone knows their shit. You can smell a bogus review. You have your list of bloggers you trust, you know when someone is goldbricking. I don't like the idea of "gifts" or "bribes" and I doubt I'm alone on that. But as long as you are getting the product with the explicit agreement you will review it, and disclose where you got it, I don't care of you keep it or give it away! Print journalists can't accept that kind of stuff, but I'm not sure that same rule should apply to everyone online too.

Microsoft didn't pay anyone to blog about Vista. They sent the laptops "no strings attached" and suggested it would be nice if the recipient blogged about it. Major goof there. Why didn't Edelman ask their target bloggers if they were interested in doing a review first? Why waste time and money sending out laptops for nothing? Doesn't seem like much thought was put into this. (Listen to the FIR Podcast for more on this)

Am I the only one who would actually value a few blogger reviews of Vista? I recently bought a new laptop with a free Vista upgrade, but I am very hesitant to do it. I would love to see some reviews from people like me (not CNET and other ubertech experts).

RANDOM GREAT IDEA: How about instead of keeping the laptops, or selling them, or giving them away we try something NEW and EXCITING?!? I think it would be cool if a game of tag was started with these laptops. Here's how it works- original blogger who receives laptop plays with it and reviews it, then they pass it on to another blogger they trust and have them play with it and review it. Then that blogger passes it on again to someone in their network, so on and so forth. A wiki could be started just for this. Every time the laptop gets passed along, so does the password to edit the wiki.

BOTTOM LINE: Much like the Walmart/Edelman goof this story is getting the wrong attention. I am more interested in knowing what's the internal view at Microsoft on Vista (must not be great) that they opted to send it already on a laptop. I am also more interested to know from a PR firm standpoint why this campaign was so sloppy. Why didn't they communicate more with these bloggers to see who would give Vista a timely review? Why didn't MS launch a landing page outlining who got the laptops, why they were chosen, and links to the reviews?

LINKS:

List of 24 bloggers with said laptops and what they plan to do with them.

Review (with lots of updates) from Laughing Squid.

Excellent post from notgartner.