The Big Fat Marketing Blog

There has been considerable discussion about the Flats Sequencing System (FSS) that was set to revolutionize the efficiency of the U.S. Postal Service. Massive mail volume declines have contributed to the quite unspectacular performance so far in the brief FSS history.

During last month’s National Catalog Forum presented by the American Catalog Mailers Association, some ACMA members toured the Dulles (Va.) Processing and Distribution Center for an up close view of the FSS network. They reported back to membership their uninspiring findings. more

As the quote from “When Harry Met Sally” has it, “Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor, but they couldn’t all possibly have it.”

Marketers love funny, especially naughty funny and especially today, when naughty funny can go viral over social networks. But the last few years have taught us that marketing via risqué or cutting-edge humor can backfire. It’s very easy to misjudge the audience, at which point that cutting edge could be applied to your neck, so to speak. Remember the 2008 Motrin Web and print ad that jokingly compared babies carried in slings to “fashion accessories”? No, you don’t – because the ad was pulled two days later in response to a hue and cry on Twitter from parents who didn’t find it funny. more

Target has the HP DeskJet 1055 on sale this week, and my mother, who was looking for a new printer, asked if she should get it to replace her existing one. Sure, I told her. It scans and copies and it’s only $30.

So when I was in Target last night, I decided to but it for my mom. Another customer was also eying the printer and asked me if the scanner was a flatbed. I said I wasn’t sure because the product wasn’t on display. So I scanned the QR code on the box… and came up with a bad gateway. more

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe cranked up the rhetoric about the survivability of the U.S. Postal Service when he said mail delivery may eventually have to cut down to three days a week.

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I was down in Florida at a family function when I got the news via my mom’s caregiver, who announced in tones reserved for approaching tornadoes: “Did you hear? Netflix is raising its prices by 60%!”

That set off my 87-year-old dad, who uses Netflix to keep my mom in MGM musicals and himself stocked with the “Smokey and the Bandit” oeuvre. “Forget it,” he growled. “If it’s true, I’ll cancel.” more

No one’s safe from The Onion. Not even Google and its Google+ social network. Or Tim Duncan (though The Onion could have used any pro athlete for this bit of fake news). Read on: Tim Duncan Sends Teammates Google+ Invitations For Fifth Consecutive Day.