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Headline News

Trueblood: Internet Marketing Story of the Year

Our readers have spoken, and they declared Marketingshift's top story of 2008: HBO's extreme marketing of Trueblood.

Jason Dowdell wrote the first Trueblood plost after he received an unusual package containing a vial full of red liquid along with a small card with Japanese writing on it and a URL. Eventually, Jason realized it was HBO's creative media pack to promote the new series, Trueblood.

Before we knew it, readers were hooked on the HBO hit series about modern vampires. Four months after the post, we still receive comments on a daily basis, which is why it comes as no surprise that Trueblood received 41% of the  total votes out of 10 stories. It was followed by Amazon's holiday sales record, which received 25% of the vote. In third place, there was a tie between the boycottalabamanow.com controversy and our post about slower traffic for eBay and Best Buy during holiday sales. They each received 16.7% of the vote.

We're glad you voted and enjoyed the crazy ride known as 2008 with us. We can't wait to see the amazing developments in 2009.

Newspapers Next In Line for Bailout Funds

One of government's harshest critics might be  latest contestant in the Bailout Sweepstakes - Newspapers.

I was catching up with one of my old friends from journalism school and he predicted newspapers would be the next in line for government help, if the  auto bailout is granted. We chuckled, but today, his prediction is close to becoming a reality. State representative Frank Nicastro is begging the state of Connecticut to save the Bristol Press and New Britain's paper, The Herald.

Nicastro claims print media, particularly local papers, are still a vital component of American media, because it provides news that's "ignored by big papers,television and radio stations."

I worked at a local paper, and I'll be the first to tell you that a government-funded bailout, at the state or federal level, is NOT the solution. A government-funded press isn't a free press, and it won't fulfill its duty to cover the government without any influence. Once D.C. or your state starts throwing cash at your newspaper, they'll be obligated to return the favor.

Paul Janensch, a journalism professor at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, and a former reporter, agrees with my stance. He told Reuters,
"You can't expect a watchdog to bite the hand that feeds it,"

If Nicastro is succesful in his attempt to take  taxpayer money, it's only a matter of time before the major publishers head to capital hill for a  slice of the federal pie.

Author Hugo Black said that criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.

In Rueter's same article, Marc Levy, executive editor of the Herald and the Press, claimed that objectivity won't be sacrificed, and it will be business as usual.

 

It's the brutal reality. You'd say, 'thank you very much for helping me with that, but now we have to ask you about this thing.'

 

Another key fact to consider is that mulitiple surveys revealed  the vast majority of print journalists who donate to politicians favor the Democratic Party. (Including a survey by NBC) Remember that the Democrat party that will have executive power and an expanded presence in congress this year.

Do you honestly think that major publishers, such as Gannett, will use an objective approach toward a government that's putting food on their table?
Print publishers and editors can claim they're victims of circumstance,but so can  everyone else in this economy.

Maybe if those newsroom executives had prioritized online publishing before the major shift occurred, they wouldn't be in the dire situation they now face.

I hate to see ANY newspapers close their doors, but I also don't want to the government play favorites with handouts, and if I wanted state-run media, I would move to Cuba or North Korea.  Newspapers need to search for creative solutions,such as the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post's shared content agreement,which is one step in the right direction.

AFLAC CEO Boosts Company's Image with Humility

In the wake of the Wall Street meltdown, corporate CEO's don't have the best reputation with the American public. I believe it's unfair to lump every CEO into one category, but the court of public opinion is heavily influenced by every news report of a CEO taking the easy way out of a dire situation with a "golden parachute" of compensation.

While many of us live from paycheck to paycheck, it’s infuriating to hear some of the outrageous figures CEOs are earning. That’s why Daniel Amos, the CEO of AFLAC, is being hailed as an exemplary leader. AFLAC's policies, including say on pay, portray Amos as an executive who is in touch with his workers, rather than the stereotypical, money-grabbing character we've become accustomed to visualizing.

 Last night, Amos was a guest on Mike Huckabee's weekly TV show on Fox News, and Amos explained why he didn't receive a $13 million dollar bonus. AFLAC uses a “Say on Pay program”, where AFLAC's investors vote on the figure they think the top five executives should earn. AFLAC's reasoning? If times are tough for their employees and investors, times should be tough for them as well. Amos told the USA Today he would refuse any “golden parachute” offer that bCEOs were receiving during the banking crisis last fall.

If they don't think I'm doing a good job, they don't have to worry about paying me off.

Amos' stance is more than a paradigm shift, it’s also a great strategy to bolster AFLAC's image. For all the personal income Amos lost from his possible bonus, he's virtually raised millions more in positive, free publicity from major news coverage.

Tips & Information

Spreading word-of-mouth advertising through forums

As many webmasters and regular web-surfers would know, an online forum community is a great place to meet large groups of people online. Forums provide a means through which visitors to a website can interact with one another and exchange ideas or reviews of products or just talk about anything under the sun. Acute marketers and webmasters will already know that these communities are often excellent places for free advertising.

Word-of-mouth advertising can be used to refer to advertising by which people pass on the marketing message through communication between people. A forum community provides just the setting for word-of-mouth advertising to spread due to its nature of discussion and community structure. Any one member who joins the community is entitled to post his/her thoughts by creating new forum threads or to reply to others or counter someone else's arguments. Every post that is made is an opportunity to spread some word-of-mouth advertising. This is often done through forum profiles and signatures. A signature is a small description of the member. Most forum communities have no qualms about members posting some self-advertising messages in their signatures, as long as the advert is not too obtrusive. Therefore, forum members can make use of their signatures to post links to their websites or links to products that they are selling. By participating actively in forum communities, one can easily reach a large audience. Because everyone on the forum who participates in the discussion is reading the posts of all members in the discussion as well as signatures, an attractive link will arouse their interests and incite them to click on the link to go to your advertised site. Imagine the impact that this would have in a forum community with thousands of members and your signature appearing in thousands of posts. The boundaries in this form of word-of-mouth advertising is limitless as it largely depends on how much you post and participate in the discussions. The more you participate engagingly, the more times your links appear and the more chances people get to see and interest them to view your site.

Of course, care must be taken to ensure that you are following the proper etiquette as specified by the forum community and that you do not spam the forums. Spamming happens when someone joins in every discussion and posts useless comments that are not constructive. Spammers are often penalized by being banned from the forum for spamming their links in the forum.