wowOwow

Here's something I've been hearing about for awhile - but only in whispers. And it was strange hearing names like Mary Wells, Lesley Stahl, and Liz Smith as wisps, as vapor. Finally - the real virtual thing:

Boldface in Cyberspace: It's a Woman's Domain

The site's five founders, also women of a certain age, are longtime friends and media live-wires: Ms. Evans, formerly the president of Simon & Schuster and an ex-publisher at Random House; Ms. Smith, the gossip columnist; Mary Wells, the advertising executive behind memorable campaigns like "I Love New York"; Peggy Noonan, the political columnist and former presidential speechwriter; and Lesley Stahl, the television news reporter.

But there was no hint (at least for me) of this:

In addition, the founders have signed up some boldface friends to contribute to the site, including Ms. (Candice) Bergen, Joan Juliet Buck, Whoopi Goldberg, Marlo Thomas, Lily Tomlin, Joan Cooney, Judith Martin, Sheila Nevins, Julia Reed and Jane Wagner.

I have no comments about this. Haven't seen it, I'm not the target market. I'll just say it's great that Mary Wells Lawrence is all over it. She's a heroine of mine. I talk about her in my presentations, and often show a famous spot or two that she produced:



Visit wowowow.com.

BRAND BUSTERS by Chris Wirthwein

Authors send me books to review. I'm on the lists of a few publicity outfits. Here's the last one they sent me. Every so often my publisher mails me their authors' offerings. If I like them, I blog them.

A new peppy palomino in the Paramount stable is Chris Wirthwein:

Brand Busters: 7 Common Mistakes Marketers Make
No matter how good a marketer you are, it is easy to slide into behaviors that ultimately make your marketing less effective. Chris Wirthwein has identified the seven most common mistakes made by marketers of technical and scientific products and he explains how to avoid them. With wit and passion, he helps you learn how to overcome the mistakes of marketers of technical and scientific products and how you can learn from these mistakes no matter what kind of product or service you are offering. You learn how to avoid the mistakes and get on with efficient marketing and advertising.

What's fascinating about Mr. Wirthwein is that he comes from the world of B2B scientific and technical advertising/marketing. We don't hear from too many people with his background and expertise - and there are lessons to be learned. (Seven, he says - but there are actually dozens.)

I'm a sucker for anybody steeped in the history of advertising, and Chris liberally quotes Claude Hopkins, Rosser Reeves, David Ogilvy, Bill Bernbach, and others.

Not to put you off - but this marketing guru also draws inspiration from Shakespeare, Maslow, and a few hoity-toity folks I'd never heard of.

The best part: Chris Wirthwein is a top-notch writer. He knows how to tell stories, keep you engaged - rare for a business book. The last one I read that was as well written is already becoming a classic.

And Chris can be quite entertaining. His take on ROI dogma is just short of hysterical, referring to it as Return On Illusion. I may steal that.

Brand Busters will be around for quite some time. Probably longer than most - since it's been selected as a Classroom Resource by The Advertising Educational Foundation.

Take a peek at the back cover blurbs.

You can purchase Brand Busters directly from the publisher or on Amazon.com.

And if you do - sit back, crack the cover, and click here for the full-blown Wirthwein Multimedia Spectacular.

February: Unused Ether

I spend a chunk of time each weekday with news aggregators, email alerts, search engines, etc. - gathering information for my client work and this blog. A new folder is created once a month just for these virtual meanderings.

I'm a crazed, sloppy, obsessive bookmarker. Most of the links don't end up in posts. When the month is over the folder is pushed aside and a new one is created.

So in the waning hours of each artificial lunation (and if I remember) I'll be tossing up leftover miscellany as a post. The links may have to do with Baby Boomers and advertising/marketing, or only about Baby Boomers, or only about advertising/marketing. Or, who knows. They'll be whatever I've carelessly or determinedly snatched and tucked away - and nearing their expiration date.

I just hate to see perfectly good ether go to waste....

The residue from February, 2008:

Is Facebook the new Hula Hoop?

Craze Creator Dies

Model Age: New Faces for the Baby Boomers

Strokes of genius: Many retirees start Career 2.0 by embracing Web entrepreneurship

Baby boomers attracted to vehicles
that blur the line between cars and SUVs

The British Invasion in Second Life

What Keeps Boomers Tuned In?

January 2008 stats for boomer social networking sites

12 People Who Are Changing Your Retirement

California Court to Hear Google Age Discrimination Case

Ageless activity: 'Senior centers' don't excite newly over 50

French Women Don't Get Fat and Do Get Lucky

The 2010 Meltdown

Eureka! It Really Takes Years of Hard Work

The Tiresome Old Sage

2008 What's Next Boomer Business Summit

The What's Next Boomer Business Summit is coming up in March. I think this'll be number five (but I've lost count). It's no surprise that What's Next is now an annual event at the ASA-NCOA Conference.

I've blogged about it through the years, and attended twice:

What's Next Boomer Business Summit

At My Table at The Summit

Intrepid Reporters Brave Anaheim

This year the speakers include Gail Sheehy, Carol Orsborn, and Paul Kleyman.

I'll miss it this year - but Mary knows I'll miss her even more!

Boomeropia

There’s a new site targeting Baby Boomers and travel: Boomeropia. Here's a little piece in USA Today about it.

In the original edition of my book, published in 2005 (it’s also in the updated paperback) I spend a few pages imagining the perfect travel web site for Boomers. Boomeropia isn’t it – but it does have a few of the ingredients I’d suggested. It’s definitely a smorgasbord of vacation ideas. That’s good.

The name Boomeropia is abominable. In my book I warn against calling Boomers Boomers and naming anything “Boomer-whatever”. But they’ll find out soon enough. When I see “Boomeropia” I think of those neologism contests, mostly blends. Boomeropia sounds to me like a blend of boomer and myopia - a term boomer-bashers (a neoligism! as is 'baby boomers') might come up with:

Boomeropia: A psychological disorder prevalent in Baby Boomers who have convinced themselves that they are the only generation of any importance. In advanced stages of the disease, patients believe that there is only one generation - Baby Boomers. All other generations are merely cohorts and wannabes. Also known as “The Me Generation”.)

Perhaps they were trying to blend “Boomer” and “Utopia” - but that domain (Boomertopia) was taken. Who knows.

For the record: This blog and my book are B2B, not B2C. I use the term “Baby Boomers” because it’s a common sociological and business/marketing term.

At the moment, Boomeropia is simply a vacation aggregator – a collection of descriptions and links to other sites. Clicking around, I found some interesting ones – including a handful of top-notch suggestions in their excellent section for grandparents/grandchildren (a big market). The handicap section (again, not really the appropriate or smart term to use) is sparse - and if they'd done their research it would've included the top blog in the world on this subject: Rolling Rains. Although Dr. Rains is anything but handicapped. I'd have trouble keeping up with him. (Actually, I don't think I could. He'd leave me out of breath in hotel rooms to recover - as he again headed out the door to do things I'd never do.)

There’s also a meager but pretty good for beginners travel tips section (where they use another word you don’t want to use: Seniors) and a simple bulletin board.

Site Design: Nobody paid any attention at all to colors and color contrasts, wishy-washy type over pictures, fonts and size, etc. – and the headache-inducing effects these have on older eyes. Too bad. However, Boomeropia is clean, a breeze to navigate, and the simple hierarchy is refreshing.

All in all, it's not a bad site to zip through if you're planning a vacation. You'll probably pick up a few ideas and tips.