Marketing Advice from the Attorney General

I spent four hours on Monday in a seminar about the new Oregon Administrative Rules on advertising and consumer fraud. Not exactly the most riveting topic, but in 20+ years of doing this, none of my clients has ever gone to jail because of advice I gave, and I aim to keep it that way. […]

Tapping into Consumer Anxiety

Perry Marshall likes to say that the object of marketing is to enter the conversation that the prospect is already having in his or her head. A great example of this is featured in the New York Times this weekend. The item in question is called LENA (for “language environment analysis”). If you’re the parent […]

Like Clutter? You’ll Love Heathrow

If your travels take you through London’s Heathrow Airport, prepare for an onslaught of sales messages, each one competing for ever-smaller slivers of your attention. According to this morning’s Wall Street Journal, they’re opening a fifth terminal with “more advertising than almost any airport in the world. The numbers are astounding, especially as they compare […]

The Power of Free Samples

If you’re wondering how effective free samples are in influencing consumer behavior, a new study by the Oregon Department of Human Services provides a powerful answer. According to an article on Salem-News.com, Public health researchers analyzed survey responses from 2,684 new mothers. Almost 67 percent said they were breastfeeding at the time they left the […]

Turning a Negative into a Selling Point

In the past couple of days, I’ve encountered two pharmaceutical companies who are dealing with the same issue — the taste of medicine — in two different ways.  Nicorette is running radio commercials announcing “a revolution in quitting smoking… a stop-smoking gum that actually tastes good!” Apparently a common objection of Nicorette users up until […]