Toyota pays for my dead battery
A few months ago, I wrote about the hybrid battery that failed in my 2001 Prius at 71,000 miles, generating a $3700 repair bill because the battery was recently out of warranty. It’s time I explained...
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Taking bad marketers to the woodshed
Did you ever get punished as a child for doing something naughty, because a parent or teacher didn’t believe you even though you were telling the truth? The problem here is a lack of authenticity—or,...
View ArticleChevrolet shoots self in crankcase, creates badvertising instant classic
You can’t make this stuff up. The VP, I mean Vice President of Marketing at GM, I mean General Motors, has asked all employees to stop calling Chevy by that casual name and refer to it by the formal...
View ArticleWall Street Journal won’t deliver on customer service
Residents of Saratoga Springs, NY have been noticeably more clueless over the last two months because of delivery problems with the Wall Street Journal. Apparently there is some kind of turf war among...
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Terra Madre Day celebrated by Saratoga Slow Food
Yesterday was the local observance of Slow Food’s Terra Madre (Mother Earth) Day, sponsored and beautifully organized and presented in the kitchens and dining room of Schenectady County Community...
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On the floor at Fancy Food Show 2011
The Fancy Food Show was jam-packed at San Francisco’s Moscone Center…. good news for business but making it difficult to navigate during a truncated visit this week. Here are some highlights: Trending...
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Regional differences, revisited
$3.729 at Hess... ...$3.859 at Sunoco. In an earlier post I talked about regional differences as demonstrated by the way people talk about food on social media. Here is another example. These two gas...
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Copywriting 101: Saratoga Chips
A local company is marketing a boutique potato chip in Saratoga Springs, NY, where that salty snack was invented in 1853. The chips are made with high quality potatoes and taste delicious. They are...
View ArticleWhat happens when your viral video doesn’t go viral?
You put your heart and soul and best marketing smarts into a YouTube video campaign expecting it will go viral and quickly spread across the globe. And… not all that much happens. That’s disheartening...
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Serotta Bicycles and the “quality of time”
Ben Serotta explains the “quality of time” Last month I got a tour of Serotta Bicycles, a world-renowned high-end facility located in my little town of Saratoga Springs, New York. These bikes cost from...
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Why Words Matter… in bank marketing
How about…”We work hard to make banking easy”? A regional bank has invested in an image campaign, and the results are visible in the window of their local branch. Unfortunately, the copywriter has a...
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Salvation Army shows the perils of localized donor mail
Where’s my town in this localized letter? I gave a fair-sized gift to my local Salvation Army this past holiday season, and was happy to do so. (I wanted a particularly enthusiastic bell ringer to get...
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