The Pro Shop

When thinking about rappers, Jay Z and Lil Wayne come to mind, not two guys from Bounty paper towels rapping about an experiment to see if 11 billiard balls can hang on a wet paper towel before the towel goes the way of the corner pocket.

But there they are in a YouTube video, looking a bit like they’re headed to perform surgery on Bart Simpson. But they’ve got the moves, the car, the rap, the chains and … the girls.

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I don’t know if you recall it—a lot of water has gone over the dam since late 2006—but throw your mind back and remember those TV commercials for Quiznos Subs that showed in various ways how superior they were to those of rival sandwich maker Subway. Some of them were professionally produced, man-on-the-street comparison ads from Quiznos itself, showing apparently average folks dissing wimpy subs from Subway for the sponsor’s meatier wares, and specifically its just-launched cheesesteak subs.

Nothing new there, really. But Quiznos upped the ante by tapping into the then-novel user-generated content wave. Specifically, they asked fans to create their own Q. vs. S. spots and upload them to a Web site, www.MeatNoMeat.com. The public were invited to “grab a camera and show us why you think Quiznos is better.” The grand prize: to see your ad air on VH1 and on a jumbo screen in Times Square on New Year’s Eve 2006, along with a year’s supply of Quiznos. more

I’ve written a fair amount about the ways that individual retail brands are using social and mobile marketing to get closer to their customers, enticing their biggest fans to step up and advocate for the brands, and monitoring social media as an early warning system for CRM problems.

But I had a chance on Monday to view digital media takeup from another retail perspective: that of the shopping-center landlord or property manager. I sat in on a panel discussion at the Fusion conference going on in Chicago that week, mounted by the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade association for the shopping center industry. more

By now we all know that the Apple iPad will go down in history as the most revolutionary device since the opposable thumb, and the most tin-eared product name since Dr. Crapper’s brainchild.

The naming problem can be overcome if the tablet gets enough lift among the public. (Who would have given odds that everyone would want a Wii?) But the revolutionary promise could come true. Consumers are buying portability in their electronics. Recent forecasts from the Consumer Electronics Association predict that this year’s hot categories will be wireless handsets and especially smart phones (52 million to be sold globally in 2010) and, in the PC category, lightweight, stripped down netbooks (30 million units to be sold this year.) more

We’re a nation that enjoys controversy: public option healthcare or not, Team Edward vs. Team Jacob, Jay or Coco, dogs or cats. We enjoy choosing up sides, whether or not we have anything to gain.

Now a promotion has tapped into one of the great unresolved issues: tissues. The bathroom variety, to be exact. In a phrase, Cottonelle wants to know, America: Should the toilet paper go over the roll or under? more

Getting featured in the Bloomingdale’s holiday catalog as a “Chic Treat Under $100” is just the kind of present every up-and-coming clothing designer hopes to find under the tree.

But the fashion line Boy Meets Girl, whose $78 “Coco” decorated hoodie has been so favored this year, hopes to leverage that good fortune even further by offering a virtual version of its real-life shirt in an online world.

It’s an interesting experiment in whether digital exposure can drive real-world sales. If it works as planned, girls will be able to dress their avatars in Fashion Fantasy Game in a digitized version of the same clothing they’ll ask their friends and relatives for at the holidays. more