"Naked" Hand Puppets Make the World a Better Place
A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin
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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Top 10 Subject Line Words that get Opened
Email list manager provider MailerMailer released its bi-annual Email Marketing Metrics Report recently. The report revealed what the company claims to be the most popular words used in subject lines, with regards to attracting readers to open the message.
According to MailerMailer's report, the top ten words are:
1. news
2. party
3. newsletter
4. free
5. night
6. sale
7. com
8. update
9. holiday
10. week
It's an interesting list with a few words that I would never have thought would entice someone to open an email. But the report is very informative and we've incorporated some of the suggestions in email marketing tools that B&M creates for clients. After all, email marketing is the most cost-effective use of CRM data. To learn more just email me at chip.martin@bmpr.com
Recession Lessons Your Family Can Incorporate
Most everyone has been touched (or hammered) by the recession. On the "up" side you may be able to use the firsthand experiences gained from your workplace, at home. Here's the way I see the conversation going.
"I've called this family meeting with some unfortunate news. As you know, we've just lost our main source of revenue ... my job. So we had to make some tough decisions.
"Jeff, as the eldest child you can stay, but with 33% fewer meals. Karen, I'm sorry to say, your position as a daughter in this household has been deemed redundant. Since you were the last in, we thought it fair to let Leslie keep her position as first daughter. However, because you have been here for 8 years, you qualify for a severance package, which includes placement assistance into a foster family. Feel free to use me as a reference. Really, I mean that. And thank you for all your cuteness and unconditional love. Best of luck.
"Jeff and Leslie, your allowances will obviously have to be eliminated. And in addition to carrying out your own chores we'll expect you to pick up all of the chores that were previously Karen's responsibility. And you'll have to spend more time at home helping your mom and me. I know asking you to do more for less seems a bit callous, but you should feel fortunate not to be Karen.
"We don't have any money to spend on marketing my skills to prospective employers so I don't expect things to improve for quite some time.
"We're all in this together and I don't want any of you to worry about the future. Just focus on being as productive as possible and I'm sure when the economy improves, things will slowly get back to normal."
Yup. Let's put that corporate culture to work at home!
Progress is Overrated
I've sent you to Post Shredded Wheat's Webisode series at The Palace of Light before. The cereal's commercial, "We Put the ‘No' in Innovation" has received a lot of accolades for its humor and effectiveness.
The latest 2 minute Webisodes are hilarious ... especially episodes 4 and 5. Here's a bit of dialog from Shredded Wheat's President about why he doesn't believe in advertising.
"Advertising confuses affluence. Do you know what affluence is in some countries? It's two cows and a really big wife. Not here. Here it's two sports cars and wife so thin that she blows over in a 20 mph gust. How the hell did our society get to the point where being malnourished was a goal?! I'll tell you how. Advertising!"
Believe me, it's funny stuff. Click here to go to the Web site and then click on the appropriate episodes. You'll laugh out loud more than once. And then you may go out and buy some Shredded Wheat!
YouTube Loses Half a Billion Dollars
From The Independent: Despite having close to 350 million users worldwide per month, YouTube is set to lose almost half a billion dollars this year. And it's your fault.
YouTube is expected to take in around $240 million in revenue from advertising this year. The problem is that this sum doesn't come close to covering the site's operating costs. Every minute of the day there are over 20 hours of video uploaded to YouTube ... mostly of guys filling balloons with farts. The costs involved with maintaining servers, bandwidth, software, etc, is astronomical. If it weren't for YouTube's parent, Google, being willing to bleed money to hold onto it as a property, YouTube would already be dead.
So whose fault is this? According to The Independent, it's yours! And mine. Apparently we've become spoiled brats who refuse to pay for any content online. (Except for porn, of course.) Nor are we interested in the advertisements that pop up while we're Web surfing.
After reading that passage. let's all take a second to look at ourselves in the mirror. You feeling slightly guilty? No? Me neither.
But it's rather disturbing that YouTube and social media venues like Facebook and Twitter have yet to figure out how to turn a profit. And to some, it's disturbing that agencies push clients to spend considerable amounts of their marketing budgets in those areas, without proof of a good ROI.
I have no answers. If I did I wouldn't be putting them on this blog. I'd be calling YouTube.
"Naked" Hand Puppets Help Make the World a Better Place
If you like "naked" hand puppets or are into "green" initiatives you may find this interesting.
If There's One Thing I've Learnt asks key people in sustainability, design and innovation industries what they've learned about how they can make the world a better place. Then they share the collected wisdom via very odd, but sometimes humorous-looking "naked" hand puppets. I have no idea why. But the puppets alone are worth a look.
