EZ Cracker: WTF?

Rarely do “As Seen on TV” commercials catch my eye, but this one really made me crack up. (Pardon the pun.) The EZ Cracker is the new way to “crack eggs, separate egg whites and strip shells from hard-boiled eggs in seconds… no mess no fuss!”

Our not-so-official, completely unscientific Domino's Taste Test

Since I critiqued Domino’s new “our old pizza sucks, here’s our new pizza” marketing campaign, it seems only fair that I try the new pizza. Plus, you can’t really beat two medium, two-topping pizzas for $5.99 — AND a money-back guarantee!

Domino's Pizza Turnaround – Oh no they didn't…

In a rare but not unprecedented move, Domino’s launched a new marketing campaign proclaiming that it was time to “face their critics.” A new ad entitled “The Pizza Turnaround” puts Domino’s harshest criticisms front and center: “The crust tastes like cardboard.” “Worst excuse for pizza I’ve ever had.” “Totally void of flavor.”

Potent Quotables: Twerrible Twocabularies

For those of you who are active Twitter users, I encourage you to read the article, if only to satisfy your jeer quota for the day. I’m not even going to get into how barf-tastic this article was (“tweethearts,” “twilebrities”). This article is just an embarrassment to proponents who understand and utilize the power of social media for good.

This blog is brought to you by Sprint

“I have a blog topic for you,” said my friend Tiff. “It’s not the normal topic for you, but it’s so ridiculous that it must be blogged about.” She was referring to the recent proliferation of Sprint into her guilty pleasure, ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.” Sprint recently partnered with the network to produce a series of integrated ads that run alongside the show as a sponsored spin-off series, “Another Desperate Housewife.” The mini-series’ story line consists of a housewife, her cheating husband and her best friend/betrayer — and how each uses Sprint to conspire against the others. The ad peeps are calling it a revolution.

Wanderlusting with Jetsetter.com

One of the most innovative online retail concepts to hit the scene in the last few years is Gilt Groupe, a fashion retailer offering members-only flash sales (only 72 hours) of high-end designer clothing at discounts of up to 70% off. In late 2008 under the helm of Susan Lyne, the wunderkind behind Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Gilt took off, with a number of copycat concepts following not too far behind it.

Potent Quotables: Mad Men Musings

Some wise words on the advertising/PR/marketing industry from one of my favorite TV shows, “Mad Men.”

Gourmet Food Trucks: Innovation or Fad?

As someone who avidly watches food trends — and whose job depends on watching food trends — the recent spate of gourmet food trucks has been a fascinating study in market saturation, whereby market growth can only be achieved by product improvements, market share gains or an increase in consumer demand. Whether gourmet food trucks (defined as a post-Kogi era food truck marketing mainly through Twitter) will be a trend or the new norm remains to be seen.

Win one of 7 Oregon Bounty "Cuisinternships"

In a perfect marriage of all the things that I think are most wonderful in life — food, travel, and incredibly smart marketing campaigns — Travel Oregon has launched a new campaign to promote culinary tourism within the state: the Oregon Bounty Cuisinternship Contest. Ever want to try catching fresh Dungeness crab on the Pacific? How about crushing Pinot grapes during harvest? Or milking cows for Rogue Creamery’s luscious raw milk blue cheese? How about doing all that and more on an all-expense paid weeklong trip to Oregon?

Does marketing drive media, or does media drive marketing?

Marketplace on American Public Media had an interesting report last Friday on the recent influx of 40-year anniversaries in advertising and the media. One explanation for this influx is that 40th anniversaries currently celebrate the end of the ’60s, or the golden age of the Baby Boomer generation. A more plausible explanation, however, comes from Jason Torchinsky of Ad Nauseum, who says that anniversaries are simply the latest step in the “holiday-ification” of everything. It’s the same idea behind National Peanut Butter Day (January 24) and National Peanut Butter Lovers’ Month (October), though perhaps less arbitrary. This poses the question: does marketing drive media, or does media drive marketing?

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