The Big Fat Marketing Blog

Last October Postmaster General John E. Potter called fiscal 2009 “devastating” and said change was coming. more

In covering the multichannel business, we at MCM tend to use the terms “marketer” and “merchant” interchangeably. But are they really the same thing?

Not according to Dick Anderson, former president of Lands’ End. In the Businessweek article Customer Service: Marketer vs. Merchant, customer service guru Jeanne Bliss recalled her experience working at apparel direct merchant in the mid 1980s. more

Many mailers have been leery of the Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) since the U.S. Postal Service began accepting mail bearing the new 65-bar barcode last May. Unanswered questions of cost and return on investment have hindered some from pursuing full-service IMB. more

I’ve seen my fair share of odd swag given away at tradeshows, but a yardstick seemed last night to beat everything. Imagine leaving the Internet Retailer Web Design and Usability Conference and trying to get through security at Orlando International Airport with something that could be considered a weapon?

MyBuys knew what it was doing. Vice president-marketing Chip Overstreet explained it to me today: MyBuys really gave out a walking stick, which means the Transportation Security Administration should have no beef with any show attendee. more

So the biggest surprise I heard today: The majority of the attendees at the Internet Retailer Web Design and Usability show have not heard of the online retailer Threadless.

Speaking during a session called “Designing your web site to create social marketing success,” Fry director of creative strategy Bridget Fahrland asked for a show of hands - who in the room had heard of Threadless. Only a few hands went up.

Those hands must have belonged to subscribers of Chief Marketer, and read Brian Quinton’s profile of Threadless. more

“Please come and see us?” I was asked by a vendor whose booth was tucked away in a black hole of the exhibit hall of the Internet Retailer Web Design Show, here at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando.

The exhibit hall, actually, is hopping, and they do have it set up so you can check out the sessions by going through the exhibit hall. But this one vendor is kind of stuck away from all the action. I feel bad, and I should stop by and visit later instead of smiling and ignoring them. more