The Big Fat Marketing Blog

Seven years ago, billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban unwittingly played an integral role in the launch of DQ Tycoon, which hit shelves nationally at Target Stores Dec. 12. more

By Larry Riggs

Not only is the U.S. Postal Service overburdened with pension expenses from former workers, now we hear that Royal Mail is going broke from them as well and may be forced to sell a substantial stake to TNT in order to stay afloat.

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… you can smell like him, too. No joke, The King’s flame-broiled Whopper taste is now a body spray. For $3.99, Flame could be a pretty cool gag gift. The big question though: Can you hold the pickles and hold the lettuce?

I’m part intrigued, part disgusted. I don’t think many of us are going to be turned on by the scent of a burger… but this could be the spray that curbs childhood obesity.

I’m not one of those holiday shoppers who thrives on the crowd scene. I typically shop early, during off hours or online.

But a leaky Christmas tree stand forced me out into the retail a-go-go Saturday night, giving me an up-close view of the frenzy.

Yes, Virginia (and Virgil), there are shoppers. But are they buying? I’m not so sure.

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That’s sarcasm, BTW. It’s like a second language to me.

My wife is in Staples’ Business Rewards loyalty program, so any purchase we have made through Staples.com has been with her info. Maybe at one time I used my Yahoo address. And maybe I purchased something at one time from Office Depot - I can’t recall, and we have one Office Depot store within 50 miles of us.

But for Staples to use this kind of reactivation message, in these economic times, is crazy. Here’s the HTML version of the e-mail I received this morning. more

That’s sarcasm, BTW. It’s like a second language to me.

My wife is in Staples’ Business Rewards loyalty program, so any purchase we have made through Staples.com has been with her info. Maybe at one time I used my Yahoo address. And maybe I purchased something at one time from Office Depot - I can’t recall, and we have one Office Depot store within 50 miles of us.

But for Staples to use this kind of reactivation message, in these economic times, is crazy. Here’s the HTML version of the e-mail I received this morning. more