The Big Fat Marketing Blog

Okay, maybe that headline is misleading. But in the past two weeks my desk has been flooded with advance copies of books soon to be released by marketing gurus. And you know what? I could care less about books!

I don’t have time to read them, I don’t do book reviews, and I honestly think someone looking for a case study on some sort of marketing tidbit is going to Google “relevant brand marketing” before they run out to the local Borders to surf the shelves. more

I had to laugh at a status update I saw on Facebook a few weeks back: “Who cares about the economy, gas is under $3 a gallon!” Right? I mean that’s great if you’re a commuter like me, but if I didn’t have a job, I wouldn’t be driving, so the price at the pump would be moot.

But when I saw the price of gas had fallen to sub-$2 in some parts of the country, it had me thinking this: Will lower gas prices actually get people shopping this holiday season? more

I had to laugh at a status update I saw on Facebook a few weeks back: “Who cares about the economy, gas is under $3 a gallon!” Right? I mean that’s great if you’re a commuter like me, but if I didn’t have a job, I wouldn’t be driving, so the price at the pump would be moot.

But when I saw the price of gas had fallen to sub-$2 in some parts of the country, it had me thinking this: Will lower gas prices actually get people shopping this holiday season? more

Around my house, the appearance of “Goosebumps” on Cartoon Network leads to a three-year-old and a five-year-old child screaming “Mom! Change the channel! I don’t wanna watch this!”

But for older kids, I suspect the scary stories generate more screams of delight. This is probably why Scholastic is launching a major “Shriek Week” marketing campaign, just in time for Halloween. more

Remember the glorious tension as Charlie Bucket tentatively opened his chocolate bar, searching for one of the Golden Tickets in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory?” Last summer Nike used the same tactic to sell golf balls, placing 2,000 platinum balls in random retail packages. more

I’m critical of a lot of green initiatives because so many of them are misleading. A lot of these initiatives are more about making green than being green.

But today I read about a green initiative that sounds pretty neat. Educational Warehouse, a multichannel merchant of school supplies, has launched a “crayon recycling program.” Visitors to the company’s retail stores in Danbury and Norwalk, CT; Carle Place, Spring Valley and White Plains, NY; and Randolph and Wayne, NJ; can bring in their old, broken, worn-out crayons and put them in a designated container, after which they will be sent away and recycled into new crayons.

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