marketing

Overrated, homophobic (see: "Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider", in which it is apparently acceptable for a straight white male to complain "you're just some faggy girl",) Of Montreal singer Kevin Barnes just wants everyone to know that he loves capitalism beacuse it punishes the "lazy" in a rant that not only displays a shocking misunderstanding of capitalism, anarchism, and global economics. A commenter over at Idolator points out that Barnes' rant is eerily reminiscent of the works of Ayn Rand, which is a pretty astute observation.

That free stuff you got from Nissan in Japan last week may be shiny and pretty and bold, but it may also give you serious lead poisoning.

"NEW YORK -- Last month, Japanese car shoppers who test drove a Nissan vehicle were given a free logoed coffee mug for their time as a thank you. At least one consumer probably wished he had said, "No, thank you."

According to reports, after drinking from the China-made freebie, he felt ill. It was later discovered that the mug contained excessive amounts of lead. More than 140,000 mugs were subsequently recalled. Nissan could not be reached for comment.

The altruistic folks at Taco Bell just want all "local" bands (meaning what precisely?) to know that they're totally down for the scene with their "Feed The Beat" promotion, offering free food to select touring bands.

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?Feed=BW&Date=200708...

Hey kidz,

We've been talking a lot on these boards about teen marketing lately, and I thought I would post this exciting news from our friends at Nielsen Conferences, who make it an important part of their job to track *and sell* what teens say and do. Super hot in 07? Tapping into teens' Online Social Networking. Go National Product!

(You'll also notice that a previous conference, I think by a different group, advised that marketers be very wary of teen backlash this year, since marketing to teens will probably be more heavily legislated this year than ever before!)

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Attend the What Teens Want Conference

It's great that you love a band. At PunkPlanet.com, we love all kinds of bands from all different parts of the underground. However, it's NOT great that you're using our site as a dumping ground for your inane street-team postings.

Please stop. You're doing the exact opposite of what you intend: You are actively turning people away from the band you're trying to support. Your abuse of this free, open, and independent corner of the Internet is not appreciated. Stop. Just stop.

If you can't stop, I will delete your posts and complain to FanCorps (yes, I've done some homework).

Yours,

i've got a beef with your robot marketing strategy of not buying ads and then pretending that you're all whatever and just posting youtube videos and links to freaking myspace pages as if we cared what you thought just because you found this site and came up with a nickname that is approximately as clever as anyone else's that posts here? which, you know, wouldn't probably bother you normally, except that i also have the ability to delete your stupid viral crap, and have begun to use it.

so here is my new rule, and i hope that anyone who posts here that actually isn't paid to do** so will weigh in with their opinions on this matter: if you are a jerk as outlined in the above paragraph, you can post exactly two pieces of ridiculous marketing bullshit (ben kweller's grandma? who gives a rat's ass?) and have the chance to respond like a decent person to all our polite messages urging you to behave like a respectful community member before i delete your dumb threads.

Through a series of ridiculous circumstances, I undertook a reconnaissance mission at the local Wal-Mart the other day in a brand-new silver Mercedes.

The Wal-Mart part I can explain easily enough; the company had somehow managed to quell the furor initiated by activists that was bringing about such things as the local Big Box Ordinance (a law that set wage restrictions on new stores, called by the Nation “the most significant victory for the living wage movement to date,”) by proposing an initiative Wal-Mart was calling the "Opportunity Zone."

The Opportunity Zone is not only the spot inside the store where you can go to apply for jobs with the company, it offered a space to advertise actual local businesses inside Wal-Mart stores. In other words, according to Wal-Mart Vice President of Operations Todd Libbra, the Opportunity Zone "is a commitment to reach beyond our stores to further engage the communities and offer an even greater economic boost to people and neighborhoods that Wal-Mart serves."

Remember that dumb-as-shit book I mentioned a few months back, a HarperCollins property that intended to upend the stodgy old mindset of marketing executives everywhere by using the word "punk" in the title of a book and the word "edgy" in their press release? (http://www.punkplanet.com/anne_elizabeth_moore/blog/get_off_your_ass_and...)

Well, given a little bit of time, they've now—finally!—woven enough rope with which we can help them hang themselves. And you can join the fun!

As a part of the marketing campaign for this ridiculus dumbness, they've created a "boycott" website at www.punkstinks.com. This is not only extremely dumb—who is going to believe this inanity worthy of political engagement—but also cheapens the idea of the boycott. Which, frankly, is one of the very few avenues for political dissent we have anymore in our late-capitalist arsenal. Finally, and most egregiously, this fake-boycott-as-marketing-campaign-project enlists dissent itself as a tool for selling.

From ADAGE.COM: "A November e-mail signed by a Hong Kong-based Coca-Cola sales and marketing manager promised a Mercedes-Benz ML Jeep convertible and a chance at $800,000 cash for entries submitted to a link in the e-mail. . . . These offers didn't signify aggressive interactive-marketing efforts. They were "phishing" expeditions. And the first clue might have been that there is no such car as a Mercedes-Benz ML Jeep convertible." More at: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=113731

OK, so "phishing" turns out to be some kind of ploy to get personal contaact info from people excited by a new crossbreed of expensive luxury/all-terrain vehicles, but i was excited that people were hijacking brand names allover the place.

A month or so back I was asking about the Yaris DIY campaign, so I thought I'd share a part of the essay I happen to be trying to edit RIGHT NOW, AS THIS GETS READ ON THE INTERNETS. (In a few weeks, hopefully, I'll be able to share my crazy-ass findings about who planned the damned thing and what people got out of it. Hint: not as much as they should have.)

This is from my upcoming UNMARKETABLE, due out from The New Press whenever it gets done being written. It's the first sixth, maybe, of chapter five, and mostly concerns the non-DIY portion of the Yaris campaign.

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It is difficult to imagine anything less politically radical than a brand-new midsize foreign vehicle appearing on the market during a seemingly never-ending war over oil that raised gas prices to ridiculous highs. The team behind the Toyota Yaris nonetheless linked their latest model with do-it-yourselfiness anyway during the late summer 2006 promotional campaign Yaris DIY: Drive It Yourself. Borrowing a page from the Starbucks playbook—not to mention several of my compatriots in Chicago-based independent publishing and the national DIY crafting community along with it—the Yaris version of doing it yourself meant having cool kids from the underground show you how to do what they do, albeit in the context of the corporate-sponsored workshops: make hats, comics, and lampshades at home for very little cost. This is supposed to be the primary parallel: the low cost of their brand-new mid-size vehicle. And while the Yaris is surprisingly inexpensive compared to other cars (starting at a little over $11,000 MSRP for the 2007 models), as several Yaris workshop instructors may or may not have been willing to point out, buying one still costs more than a bike you can make from parts found in the garbage. The connection to the do-it-yourself community doesn’t end there, however. Like the hand-made wares you could purchase directly from their creators at the Renegade Craft Fair or DIY Trunk Show, this car is customizable, crafty, and hip. The Yaris Web site enthuses, “At YarisWorks DIY (Drive It Yourself) events there will be test drives (duh), hot music from indie artists cranking from the PA, and the opportunity for you (yes, you!) to decoupage a Yaris . . . quirky but fun!” (1) The links to crafters don’t end there, though. Actual links to DIY merch, made and sold by tried-and-true members of the DIY community, are all available here—just a few clicks away from the Toyota main page.