Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch. The economy’s not that bad.
Nonetheless, we’re seeing a lot of bartering examples popping up in unexpected places. While we’re not suggesting that marketers give up cash payments for beaver pelts, we do think there’s a lesson here for how to better incentivize consumers.
Consider the Dust Jacket Project from [...]

A: Um, everything. Duh.
eMarketer (via Cone) recently considered this question across a number of different categories (including many of our clients’ industries), and the results are unanimously un-unanimous. The data suggests that consumers want information and entertainment, and incentives, and a forum for feedback, and even marketing in these “new media” spaces. (Demanding, aren’t they?)
While [...]

Ohhh, this is going to be awkward.
See, friend-of-The-Source Kiki Bruner had this longstanding tryst that did not end well. He put everything into the relationship, but got nothing back, and now his temptress is going to be getting all kinds of media attention.
We’re referring to QR codes, of course.
Way back in March of 2007, we [...]

Uh oh – back to back posts about Twitter? There’d better be a damn good reason for that.
Fortunately, we’ve got one. Regular users may have noticed that some of their tweets were appearing in red today. It’s not a glitch: In honor of World AIDS Day and the associated (RED) campaign, Twitter offered to display [...]

Let’s face it – even the best marketers have their off days. Bad slogans, photoshop disasters, or terribly named products. But the best marketers also learn from those mistakes, or, in the case of Kodak CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett, turn those mistakes into enormous opportunities.
Kodak recently released the Zi8, a new HD pocket video camera that’s [...]

We admit that the mega-awesomeness of high-def projections may be a bit beyond your reach for now.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t dip your toe in the wonderful word of projection. In fact, a number of gadgets are making this increasingly easy.
For instance, those movie clips in your iPods or iPhones can now be projected [...]

Continuing our discussion of Chris Anderson’s study of free stuff…
If we can geek out for just a moment, the most poignant insight from Anderson’s article can be summed up as follows: as digital distribution drives down the costs of distribution and production,  the rules of supply and demand are no longer applicable to goods and [...]

You may know Josh Freese from his drumming stints in Nine Inch Nails, Devo, A Perfect Circle, and the Vandals, but you probably don’t know him by his super-savvy marketing alter ego.
Yes, Mr. Freese has garnered a lot of attention for the campaign he’s launched surrounding his latest solo album. He’s offering various packages depending [...]

Y’know what?  We’re still not done with practical, simple OOC travel solutions! The hits keep coming:

Protect yourself in the Viagra Triangle (or do you have a different definition of ’sketchy area?’) with the SafetyNet app. After you’ve entered information on what you consider to be a “bad neighborhood,” SafetyNet will become enabled whenever you enter [...]

A guerilla mannequin invasion? Isn’t there a new Isla Fisher movie about that?
Since Sony’s pitching their super-sleek, compact laptop to the high-fashion crowd (’small enough to fit into a clutch!’), it only makes sense to tempt these fashionistas with dolled-up mannequins in various NYC locations.
They’ve tapped famous (to you maybe) designers to outfit the dummies, [...]