Dublin, Istanbul, New York

Dick Stroud keynotes in Dublin on March 3rd:

 

 

 

 

 

Yours Truly will be in Istanbul on March 19th:

 

 

 

 

Kevin Lavery, Todd Harff, and organizer Les Harris will be in New York in May:

 

 

 

For all of us, busy is good. 

And good for advertisers.

PMP Spring 2010 Marketing/Advertising Catalog

Paramount Market Publishing has just released their Spring Catalog – and it’s a huge one, packed with fresh titles, author interviews, and stacks of real and virtual marketing parchment. Click to download. (PDF):

One title just released, one not quite released:

Custom Surveys Within Your Budget
Maximizing Profits Through Effective Online Research Design
by Brian Cooper and Maria Philips
Custom Surveys acts as a comprehensive guide to cost effectively managing a survey and covers everything from the evaluation of a research program to the actual output and analytics of the research.

Women, Wealth & Giving
The Virtuous Legacy of the Boom Generation
by Margaret May Damen and Niki Nicastro McCuistion
This uplifting book shares the stories of some of these wise women and how they have found fulfillment through giving. With over 43 million boom-generation women at or nearing the age of retirement.

My book is in there somewhere.

And here they are - Jim (The Publisher), Anne (The Art Director), and Doris (The President).  They’re all laughing and smiling, reading the eBook edition of Advertising to Baby Boomers.

It’s Easier Than Learning The Twist!

A good piece by Emily Brandon of U.S. News & World Report (and not only because Yours Truly and Brent Green are quoted):

Social Security Administration Sees Stars
February 1, 2010
(Chubby) Checker is the latest star in a series of celebrity-studded Social Security public service announcements that have come out over the past year, most of which feature actress Patty Duke.

I warn against nostalgia because it’s almost always a disaster when used in most advertising campaigns. And I don’t believe employing a celebrity spokesperson is usually a good idea. From Harris Interactive:

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS THAT ARE MOST PERSUASIVE

But Chubby Checker is fine.  He represents innocent times.  And it’s a public service announcement. Very few people are going to say to themselves, “Gee, I wonder if Chubby is getting the big bucks to push this product/service on me.  He probably doesn’t even use it. I’m no sucker! Just because he’s a celebrity I’m supposed to believe him?”

The spot is simple, with a simple message.  It works.

Disruptive Demographics: Global Aging, Technology & Innovation

Complementing Laurie Orlov’s Aging In Place Technology Watch and Dick Stroud’s Mobile apps for Baby Boomers, Joseph Coughlin has a new blog:

Disruptive Demographics: Global Aging, Technology & Innovation
Insights on the impact of aging and technological change on innovations in society, business and government.

Dr. Coughlin heads up MIT AgeLab.  He also puts on a great show when presenting at conferences and seminars.  Here’s one I had something to do with:

While on a private day-long consult for a major pharma company and their marketing agency, I met Dr. Joseph Coughlin, founding Director of the MIT AgeLab … The numbers-cruncher wore a very conservative, gray suit, the academic a dark pinstripe and loud bow tie, and the ad guy a mock turtleneck and over-the-top orangey sport coat. We were straight from central casting.

Dr. Coughlin’s premiere post dissects the delicate balance between new technology in automobiles and the necessary ‘multitasking’:

How do vehicle designers and engineers manage the marriage between consumer electronics and the dashboard to give drivers the mobile lifestyles they may desire but not the distractions they may introduce?

This will also be an issue when marketing and advertising automobiles with all the fancy gizmos and widgets. The ‘auto’ in  automobile is taking on new meanings.  

So bookmark Disruptive Demographics.

Virtual Professor Chuck

It all started around 1999 when I was writing on the web about Baby Boomers.  My articles were getting hits from a University of Southern California intranet site.  I thought for sure that some professor of English or Literature or an artsy subject like that had made my online scribblings mandatory reading. 

Then I found out the truth: the course was about Gerontology.

Skip ahead a few years, and yours truly pens a book about advertising to baby boomers.  I was floored when it was selected as a Classroom Resource by The Advertising Educational Foundation.  I still get emails from students and professors around the world.  The book is in the libraries of many colleges and universities.

Professor Chuck.  Funny.  At least to me.

Now I’m getting oodles of whacks from another college intranet site – and it seems as if one of my PowerPoint presentations is required watching. 

The hits are coming from Southern Oregon University’s Blackboard System.

Those poor kids … having to listen to some old guy ramble on and on …