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A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
Mannequin American views and guidelines on marketing/PR trends, news from the world of puppets and ventriloquism, bits of humor and other interesting but useless information. I post every Tuesday and Friday. For information on this puppet's background, go to http://www.dale-brown.com/.

Your Questions Answered

When I'm out in public the three questions I'm asked most often are:

1. Where do I get all of those puppet-related cartoons for my blog?
2. Where do I get material for my blog?
3. How much time does it take to write my blog?
4. Why do I stay with a no-talent like Dale?

I guess that fourth question doesn't count because it's one I ask myself.

Anyway, because I hear these questions so often, I figure that many readers who don't get a chance to talk with me in person probably have the same questions. So here are the answers. Write them down so that I don't have to keep repeating them.

1. The cartoons are from Dale's stash which he has been collecting for 20 years. (Don't tell him that I've been using them.) Plus now readers are sending some to me. (Thanks to Jeff who provided our first blog-worthy cartoon and gave us the idea for including a puppet/ventriloquist-related cartoon with each post.

2. & 3. Blog material comes from many, many internet, marketing, public relations, advertising and general media sources.  Each post represents about 4 hours of research, writing, photo work, layout, proofing and editing. So beware of creating a blog. It needs constant feeding.

4. I feel sorry for him and in truth; he has a hand in everything I do.

Get More Marketing From Your Company Van

Kentucky-based Pet Butler shovels and sanitizes doggy doo so dog owners don't have to. To better leverage the company van's marketing potential Pet Butler built a pair of eye-catching rear-end displays -- one with a dog reading on the toilet (tagline: "Until then, call us")

Seems like an unusual service, but I guess it's in demand ... the company serves over 1500 cities. Check out the Web site for more amusing imagery, cheesy puns and even some Pet Butler radio.

GreedyPeople.com is Just What You'd Expect

http://www.greedypeople.com/ launched an on-demand service site that allows users to buy and sell traditional and non-traditional services ... and respond to member-issued challenges of, "What would you do for money?"

Users can earn cash for just about anything, and I mean anything. There's a dude there apparently willing to pay $250 for somebody to talk to his dead relatives. Another wants his brother beat up for $100. Another will pay $5 to a guy who is willing to dress up like a girl in a French maid outfit and go shopping at the mall. If you want to kill a couple of minutes you'll find some pretty entertaining dares on this site.

Little Debbie Makes Good Marketing Use of NASCAR/Koala

For client Little Debbie, Australian NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose joins forces with a talking koala. It's sort of cute the way they draw housewives' attention at the supermarket or co-pilot a race while koala eats Zebra Cakes. And Ambrose isn't doing too terribly in the NASCAR standings this year.

See more of their routine on Little Debbie's Miles of Smiles Web site where both Marcos and the Koala talk to you.

Minimalistic Packaging ... of Sorts
Usually I'm on the lookout for interesting advertising. But this is more an example of assvertising ... which is a very popular form of marketing in Europe. (I have folders full of the stuff to prove it.) European cosmetics brand Lush is well known for their very minimalistic packaging. Lush has differentiated itself from the market trend towards liquid soaps, formulating many products into bars, cakes or balls which can be sold without packaging.

So to get that message out to the streets, shop employees were recently dispatched in minimalistic packaging ... like this.

Some employees stayed in the shops while others took to the streets. Apparently this kind of promotion is legal in Europe. Now, since the vast majority of Lush customers are women, my question was ...why no pantless men in aprons? That would seem to make more sense to me. Then I ran across the photo below. I'm sorry I asked.

But my search did prove that the company's stunt got them a lot of worldwide publicity. Trust me; there are a lot more photos on the internet. So I guess there's something to this European assvertising.