SocialMarketingExpert browsing and came upon a panel discussion in the article by Pete Blackshaw entitled “Ad-Tech “Master Class” Panel: If You Had $5 to Spend Online? ” In it a panel made up of the NY Times, Kraft, Intuit, Zappos.com, and 1800Flowers.com were asked, “If your goal is to sell management on the value of investing online, and you only had $5 to spend, where would you start?”

To summarize:
1) Invest the money in nailing key consumer insights around online behavior.
2) Invest it in customer service, call support, or even employee training.
3) invested it in product (his definition of “product” encompassed their user online communities.) Thought being it would act as a de-facto customer support labor force.
4) Efficiently spend it on online advertising on “participatory platforms” such as the New York Times. Why?  Because if you invest in areas rich with influencers, it can increase your odds of success since consumers look to their peers on how and what to buy.
5) Test and measure user-interaction, feedback, and even spending patterns.

Take some time and digest the information found in the article. Pay particular attention to the bottom of the article where they discuss “Lessons from Obama’s Digital Effort.”

Also check out the link for Paul’s post “10 Interactive Marketing Tips from Barack and Hillary” at
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3628604

You’ll recognize the classic painting American Gothic as the backdrop. American Gothic is a painting by Grant Wood from 1930. Portraying a pitchfork-holding farmer and a younger woman (imagined to be his wife or daughter) in front of a house of Carpenter Gothic style, it is one of the most familiar images in 20th century American art.

Here’s our version of American Politics.

As we get closer and closer to Election day, it just seems to get more wild.

Somedays it’s too easy. Who in their right mind in todays world (and being under the scrutiny he is under) makes a comment like this?  

“You can put lipstick on a pig,” Obama said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to a previous Sarah Palin joke. “It’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still going to stink after eight years.”

If I called my competitor a pig or fish, would my customer/prospect think that it was witty or would they take it as the insult it so obviously was meant to mean?

We must remember you never get looked down upon for taking the high road. Some comments are hard to live down years later…remember Jesse Jackson and his “Htmietown” slur?

An article in the Washington Post on Feb. 13, 1984, had Rick Atkinson reporting Jesse Jackson as saying, “the most attempts to disrupt this campaign have come from Jewish people.” At the end of the article Atkinson stated that “In private conversations with reporters, Jackson referred to Jews as ‘Hymie’ and to New York as ‘Hymietown.’ ‘I’m not familiar with that,’ Jackson said. ‘That’s not accurate.’ ”

That was twenty four years ago! Have we not learned anything?

See the pic on Flickr

  Wow he looks… almost Republican.

 Another pic designed to get you thinking and talking. We’ve moved these pics to our new Ole’ Watercooler section.

Here is the link at Flickr…

I had the chance to see the ”doctored” Sarah Palin pics (of her in a bikini holding a hunting rifle.) As far as graphic design goes it was a pretty good job…and I mentioned that in my Twitter post .

There has been talk about how attractive Palin is as a candidate. They also mention how strong of a candidate Obama is and he’s most assured to win the election.

My mind begins to wander just HOW strong is Obama? What if instead he was like Arnold Schwarzenegger strong? So I started digging. It did not take me long but I uncovered the photo the Obama camp does NOT want you to see.

This photo was apparently one of the lost election campaigns & slogans that got nixed due to being too “out there.” Behold The Obamanator.

While I’m sure the image won’t wind up on CNN or it’s sister publication the National Enquirer, it’s bound to make the rounds on the Internet.

Enjoy.