Musings in Marketing

Friends,

Photo sharing is a key part of the vacation experience. The rite helps bring you closure and proves to friends and acquaintances you were actually somewhere (hopefully somewhere nice). As I try to dust off some neurons and get re-acquainted with my job, I thought I’d spare you the curated greatest snaps parade. Instead, I’ve curated a different kind of album. For your enjoyment and edification, here are some road trip lessons in marketing.

Know your sweet spot. Sure, “whale hunting” is alluring but, if like these mosquitos you try to go after a target you are not ideally suited to succeed, you may be crushed.

You may win outside your target. Notice anything odd about this picture? Other than the fact it’s a storm drain grill? If you look closely, this Mt. Rushmore auditorium fixture reads “Urban Accessories”. Incongruence is fun. And that’s OK.

Messaging can be powerful. This mountain is not tall enough to make the list for the top 100 peaks in the U.S. However, if you read the sign, you get a an altogether different picture.

The enduring power of sponsorship. Remember US West? Well, eighteen years and two name changes later, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial theater does.

Demand generation works! Wall, SD is an unremarkable small town of less than one thousand people. Yet you see ads for Wall Drug several states away. This sustains a sprawling complex selling all kinds of clothing, guns, jewelry and useless trinkets. They even make donuts! Of course, you don’t have to drive over 400 miles to get donuts. There are plenty of local choices -even some holes in the wall.

Obvious is best. Subtlety is for artists. If you’re trying to get a message across, direct and to the point is the way to go. Take this sign. The national park service could have just decided there are not a lot of places you can go from here (after all, this spot is surrounded by foreboding cliffs). Still, I bet this sign has saved lives. Like this trail, this post has reached the end of the road.

Happy Friday!

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Happy New Year!

Friends, Happy new year (and, technically, still Friday). As many of you know, my household has a peculiar way of ringing-in the new year. We build effigies representing the old year and burn them at midnight. This year, although we made the tough call of canceling the accompanying annual party, I felt it was important to go ahead with the burning. The theme, of course, was CoVid. My kids and I developed a dozen mutations of the virus and staged them in our backyard. Then, at a quarter ‘till midnight, we proceeded to read the old year’s last will and testament (or, as might be expected for a year like this, an un-will and un-testament). Shortly thereafter they were summarily burned. We then proceeded to stay up way past my bedtime (which in part helps explain the unusual tardiness of my weekly note). In any event a couple of donuts and a day of rest have got me back to my old self. By the way, I’ve posted a public video of the Facebook live stream event on Facebook. Key markers on

THE Oasis

Friends, The book Ready Player One sent me down memory lane this week. The journey was not triggered by the author’s excessive references to the 1980s, which border on obsessive. Rather, it was the name of the massive virtual reality simulation used by characters in this dystopian future to escape their grim surroundings: The OASIS. You see, that was also the name of my grandfather’s country estate, the setting where a disproportionate share of my treasured childhood memories were created. La Quinta Oasis was a bucolic old whitewashed house with a massive stone staircase, three foot thick adobe walls and wooden window shutters that, when closed at night, would submerge the residence in pitch darkness. With no running water, electricity, phone or indoor plumbing, the only modern convenience was the battery transistor radio on which my uncles would listen to “Chucho el Roto”, a radio soap opera. The Spanish fighting roosters crowed long before sunrise, making it difficult to fall back

Accidental Culinary Innovations

Friends, Have you ever inadvertently fermented spaghetti sauce? Yeah, me neither… until yesterday, that is! Imagine my surprise when the half-full bottle, sitting in the fridge from time immemorial, made a sound akin to opening a beer bottle, instantly filling the glass container with a hazy smoke. As the carbonation dissipated, I grabbed a spoon to conduct the obligatory taste test. How was it? I’m glad you asked! Let’s just say chunky carbonated tomato beer is not my thing (although I must admit that if I had been expecting it, my reaction might have been a little more… composed). Now, if you forgo the fermentation and switch the tomato paste with spicy salsa… that might be the next million dollar idea! Sparkling sriracha anyone? How about Carbonated Cholula? Bubbly Habanero? Fizzy Jalapeño?? I could go on, but I have a feeling Gassy Guac might not fly off the shelves. Now, if only I could stumble on a way to improve donuts. Carbonated Jelly filling… yeah, maybe not. I think I’ll

Friday Donuts

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