And the Winners Are ...
Jeff Dunham
A few of us from B&M recently spent some time with our long time friend, ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. Jeff's Comedy Central Special was rated No. 1 last year and his current DVD, "Spark of Insanity" is the No. 1 selling Comedy DVD on the market. A recent YouTube post of Jeff's Achmed the Terrorist singing "Jingle Bombs" garnered 3/4 of a million hits in just 3 days.
Above, Lauren Brown (yes, Dale's daughter) waits for Jeff to pack away Jose Jalapeño on a Stick. The photo at right catches Jeff examining the head of Dale's newest puppet, Louie the Jockey. Louie is currently in rehab at a "dummy hospital" in Ohio getting an eye repaired. No, really, he is. He claims it was injured in transit ... but I think Jose poked him in the eye with his stick. For more photos go to the "Vents Only" portion of Dale's web site http://www.dale-brown.com/
No More Fun in Advertising
Australian marketers are no longer able to use celebrity spokespeople or characters to sell kids food. Australia is implementing a new marketing code in response to a growing obesity problem among children.
Apparently the dastardly characters pictured here are to blame for the country-wide issue and the new code will restrict anything that could potentially urge a child to beg their parents for a particular product.
It's sad, I remember that mascots like these actually made me want to eat breakfast because of the games on the back of the boxes or the surprises in the boxes. I also remember when parents took accountability for what their kids ate instead of foisting the responsibility on cartoon characters.
And the Winners Are ...
Five names were randomly selected from people who joined my blog or signed up for email alerts within the first two weeks of the blog's inception. Our winners are: Andrea Kneeland, Chuck Loftin, Debbie Aschenbach, Dennis Kois and Jim Smith. Congratulations to our winners. You will be receiving copies of my DVD "Close to a Thrill," within the next few days. I know that describes just how you feel right now.
Improving Email Newsletters and Email Marketing Efforts - Part 3
I've said it before and I'll say it again ... people read for two reasons ... they read to learn something or to be entertained. Think about that. Then look at your email publication. If you produce an employee newsletter that is overflowing with information that your team members don't really care about and it's presented in a dry and boring manner, chances are that few if any of your recipients are reading your messages. Your time, effort and money is being wasted. I'll explain how to fix this problem in my next installment.