It lacks inlay

NAZARETH, Pa. -- At a bustling factory on the outskirts of this eastern Pennsylvania town, one of the world's oldest guitar makers is using a Depression-era strategy to keep production flowing and avert layoffs.

Workers at C.F Martin & Co. are putting finishing touches on the solid-wood 1 Series model, so named for its simplicity. It lacks inlay, as did the company's stripped-down 1930s model, and is expected to sell for less than $1,000, breaking a key price point and far less than its $100,000 limited-edition guitars made of Brazilian rosewood. More popular Martins generally sell for $2,000 to $3,000.

Guitar Maker Revives No-Frills Act from '30s (Wall St Journal, 6 July 2009)

The UN model comes with simultaneous translation

The comments on this post have me thinking (not particularly original thoughts) about advertising.

As my age cohort has now entered what are alleged to be our peak earning years, I've gotten used to advertisements that have a strange resonance with me. :-) Advertisers have been taking dead aim at us fortysomethings for a while now.

The best example I've seen recently: Pontiac's commercial for the new G8; it's an extended homage to the 80s arcade game "Spy Hunter," which I fed plenty of quarters into back in the day.

Left unexplained, of course: why anyone would want to drive a sports car named after an international political and economic forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Next up, the Pontiac IMF and Pontiac UN.

Meet the Geek Marketers

In my Advertising Age column this week I wrote about a new career path I see emerging. It exists both in PR/advertising agencies and on the client side as well - The Geek Marketer.

My thesis is this: it's very difficult for anyone in marketing to keep up with all the twists the digital space because technology changes so darn fast. It's like chasing a cheetah. Most marketers - be they clients or agency side - are heads-down running their business. Therefore, companies are creating a new role. They're hiring people who act as translators between the ultra geeks and the marketers, if you will, and shepherd the development of pilot programs...

...These cross-trained specialists are fluent in both worlds and bridge them. They are marketers by trade, yet they also have a hard-core interest in technology and social anthropology. As curious individuals, they are constantly studying how digital advances are changing our culture and media. Armed with these insights, they regularly apply them in a marketing context by working closely with brand teams to codify new best practices.

(Micro Persuasion: The Geek Marketer, September 4, 2007)

I think blogger Steve Rubel is on to something here, and not solely because he's just neatly summarized important aspects of my job description. :-)

There has always been money in being the resident geek-to-suit translator, especially in the IT business. I concur that it's the *pace* of change that is now driving this to the fore.

Adventures in branding

Hulu.com, NBC and News Corp's new joint-venture video sharing site, might have been named a little better.

Hulu means “butt” in both Indonesian and Malay. But that’s nothing compared to Swahili, which 80 million or so people speak in sub-Saharan Africa. In Swahili, Hulu means, among other things, both “cease” and “desist.” See here as well. Given the litigious nature of online video, that is some serious irony.

TechCrunch: Hulu Translates To “Cease” and “Desist” in Swahili. Oops.

Duct-Tape Marketing

Duct tape (the tape) is simple, effective, and affordable—it’s not always the prettiest solution, but it does always work. The central theme of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide by John Jantsch is that effective small business marketing is a system—not an event—composed of simple, effective, and affordable techniques.

When you combine that with the cult-like obsession many people have for all things duct tape you also get a pretty good example of how something simple like the right name can do a great deal for a company, product, service, or book.

How to Change the World: The Essence of Duct Tape Marketing (Guy Kawasaki)

Give away the razor, sell the blades

"Give away the razor, sell the blades" is shorthand for a marketing strategy that means taking an upfront loss in order to guarantee a recurring revenue stream. It's useful to remember that the expression comes from an actual marketing strategy executed successfully by people who made razor blades... and that the strategy is still in literal use today.

Last week, I received (in the mail, free of charge, and unasked for) a brand new Gillette Fusion razor.

The latest escalation in the multiblade razor wars, the Fusion has *five* cutting blades on the front side of the cartridge and a "trimming blade" in the back (for, e.g., sideburns), as well as a little rubber squeegee-looking thing to pull your face taut before the blades hit the skin.

OK, I tried it.

And you know what, it really was a superb shaving experience, resulting in a great shave... it's not a straight-razor shave with hot lather in a barber chair, with a skilled hand wielding the straight-razor, but it's close.

(I almost can't believe that I'm writing about this, having formerly been a member of the Bearded Techie Class, but now that I'm a Suit, I think and care about things like shaving, God help me.)

That's MISTER Hairy Freak to you, buddy.
(BC, circa 1997)

Since Gillette was giving away the razor, and since Procter and Gamble is a very fine American company but not in the personal care products business out of altruism or for their health, I knew there had to be a catch.

Was at the drugstore last night picking up a prescription, and I decided to buy myself some Fusion cartridges.

OK. Exercise for the reader. How much was Duane Reade charging for a four-pack of Fusion cartridges?

$13.29. To save you the trouble of whipping out a calculator, that's $3.32 per cartridge, leading me to believe that their planned price point all along was "ten bucks for three" and then someone wimped out about selling three cartridges in a pack but wouldn't back down on price.

Discount pharmacies on the Web have the four-pack as low as $11, but any price difference is quickly eroded by shipping charges.

You magnificent bastards.

Remind me to buy some Procter & Gamble stock.