Marketing IPhone App That Works
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.
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Dunham Will Return to WI
Click on the following link to see Jeff Dunham's video interview with Punchline Magazine. In it he explains that one of his keys to success was realizing early on that ventriloquism by itself is a novelty act with limited appeal. He recognized that if he wanted to be successful he had to be more than just a great ventriloquist; he also had to be a great comedian.
There is an excellent lesson in that for other vents; puppets on their own aren't enough. If you want to make it as a performer, you first have to be a great entertainer and second, a great ventriloquist.
Jeff will be back in WI on Thursday, May 14th, at the Resch Center in Green Bay and on Friday, May 29th at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. Click here to get his tour schedule and ticket info.
Jeff is only performing at arena venues now. I talked with him about a week ago (actually he called to tell Dale that he had just purchased a Ford GT ... one-upping Dale's Corvette ... and Dale's life in general). At the time of Jeff's call he was about to go on stage to perform for 8,000 people in SC. At the same time we were preparing to leave for a Chamber of Commerce gig with an audience of about 250. Sort of puts things in perspective. I've got to get a better partner!
Simple But Effective Paper Marketing Vehicles
We've all heard the legend that JK Rowling sketched the birth of Harry Potter out on a dinner napkin. The iconic "I Love New York" campaign was supposedly conceived in similarly humble circumstances -- on somebody's crumpled serviette. And a few of the jokes in my act had their origin on a napkin ... and hundreds that didn't seem funny the next day.
To leverage the power of this unlikely communication vehicle, the School of Visual Arts re-imagines dinner napkins, toilet paper, sugar sachets and other incidental scraps as college-ruled paper. (see photo)
Across the bottom of each sheet is the message, "Think. School of Visual Arts." Nice, simple and instantly-engaging. Now if people could just remember how to use a pen.
How to Pretend to Work
Click here to see a short funny video on how to pretend to work. It was put together entirely on Microsoft Office for Mac.
It's a fun little watch, loaded with sneaky new tips for feigning productivity while rehashing stuff you probably already do -- like keeping that Excel spreadsheet just within easy toggling distance.
New App Simplifies Shopping
Enough people have paid 99 cents for Kraft's iFood Assistant that it is now one of the device's 100 most popular paid apps, and No. 2 in the lifestyle category. With its endeavor, Kraft is pulling off a rare trick; getting consumers to pay a one-time 99-cent fee for the app and also sit through ads on it. And in the process, it's collecting useful data for targeting them more closely.
The app offers a host of recipes, browse-able by ingredients, meal type or prep time. Consumers may register at KraftFoods.com to save recipes and build shopping lists.
Recipes come with instructions simple enough for the uninitiated, and daily featured recipes try to tempt the uninspired. Of course, the dishes incorporate Kraft products. There are a number of instructional videos, with guides to portion sizes and knife skills, as well as step-by-step directions for making dishes.
The lesson: When a marketer creates something that's actually useful, buyers are willing to accept advertising as part of the deal.
