The Big Fat Marketing Blog

The destruction wrought by hurricane Irene has caused postal facilities from the Carolinas up to Massachusetts to temporarily suspend operations while officials assess the degree of damage.

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Steve Jobs has been vacuuming up accolades since he announced he was stepping down as Apple’s CEO, with commentators lauding everything from his engineering savvy to his marketing acumen to his fierce protection of Apple’s exclusivity.

The New York Times’ David Carr adds his own sendoff to Jobs, one which incorporates both huzzahs and raspberries. But nestled within Carr’s piece are a few throwaway lines most of the world could easily blip over…but which may make the hair stand up on the back of data marketers’ necks. more

As we reported in Multichannel Merchant earlier this year, coated paper supplier NewPage was waist-deep in financial turmoil and now the largest manufacturer of coated paper in North America is on the brink of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, NewPage officials stated: “We have retained advisors to assist us in exploring various restructuring alternatives and are engaged in discussions with various stakeholders to address our ongoing capital needs. We cannot assure you that we will be able to refinance any of our indebtedness, or that we will be able to do so on commercially reasonable terms. If we are unable to refinance our debt or generate sufficient cash flow to service our obligations, we will be required to seek to restructure our existing debt or to voluntarily seek, or be forced to seek, protection under the Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and applicable Canadian laws.” more

I was reading some interesting reader comments posted on our recent story, Are QR Codes on Catalogs Cutting It?, when I received an email with the subject line “Get the QR Code Marketing Advantage!”

It really wasn’t the most compelling subject line, but since I already had QR codes on my mind I clicked though. The email opened with “Dear Chocolate Lover.” (That’s slightly more compelling, though not readily apparent what it has to do with QR codes.) more

Catalogs are going to have to get more personalized, according to Fatemeh Khatibloo, senior analyst for customer intelligence at Forrester Research.

As print-on-demand becomes more cost effective, Khatibloo says “we’ll likely see an integration some of those technologies in the catalog production world.” more

If you look way, way down in its blog post about its new sharing features, you’ll see Facebook has announced the end of its location-based Places feature.

But have no fear, people who complain they’re being stalked by their Facebook friends but still check in at every single place they go. Places will be replaced by the ability to tag your location in a post. So in addition to real-time geolocation, a user at home can pinpoint a place they have been to, or are planning to hit. more