APS Direct Marketing Crap

Something really annoyed me yesterday. Imagine that. When I opened a "newsletter" from the Atlanta Public School system (APS) branded APS Family Matters, out fell a shower of direct marketing pieces of paper trash!

I HATE being direct marketed to with crap I don't want or need. It's a waste of everyone's time and effort, except for the company getting a check from someone to WASTE our time with commercial promotional crap stuffed into envelopes supposedly containing information about our public school system and our children's education.

Here's a list of what fell out of the "newletter" yesterday. Flyers for:
1.) Vonage
2.) Snapfish
3.) Pepboys (do they even teach shop anymore in public schools? Always wanted to take shop.)
4.) http://www.ordermydish.com/ (dish tv broker thingee)
5.) ADT Security Systems
6.) Proactiv Solutions (acne treatments, but they can't even spell!)
7.) Tutor.com (APS kids might actually need this service.)

Also hiding in this entire envelope of commerical crap flyers was the itty bitty APS 4-page newsletter, with the alleged main meat of the newletter being a flimsy, seven graph "Letter from Dr. Hall" (APS Superintendent). Heck, I crank out 7-graphs of total yaya every morning here before 8am! I sure don't waste money mailing it, either.

The entire dubious content of the envelope was "brought to you by 1st Hour Communications, LLC."

I think I'm going to pay an e-visit to the 1st Hour Communications site, and have a talk with their President and COO, Scott Keller... and also call-up the APS communications office this morning. Jeez.

FOLLOW-UP: I had a very nice chat with Teretta Scope, head of Communications for APS about this issue. I asked why they felt the need to send flyers for junk around to APS households when anyone can send out an (Internet) newletter nowadays for virtually nothing.

Ms. Scope patiently explained to me that a lot of APS households don't have or use computers, meaning they are too low income to have computers I must assume.

So APS does business with these direct marketing companies, gives them our APS household mailing lists and data, in exchange for flimsy "newletters?" Allowing a company out of Colorado to pump promotional literature for a bunch of commercial crap we don't need into low income families' homes? Flyers for stuff we don't need to spend supposed non-existent disposable income on in the first place if those without computers are so darn needy and poor that they don't have computers in the home!?

Go figure the logic of that...

I say... no matter what the income level of an APS household, virtually ALL of 'em have at least one cell phone. APS: send your communications through the darn phones!

Of course someone will just clean up pumping dubious "newsletters" through cell phones at some point, when APS might could just figure out how to "communicate" with all their households without using these outside direct mail companies to do so.

As if any low income family here in the APS will ever benefit from the profits made by these marketing companies' public school system scamming techniques anyway. At least an Atlanta-based direct marketing company might have some incentive to give back to our always-desperate school system at some point in the game.


But a company out of Colorado? What's in it for them, other than APS just handing over our household data in exchange for a silly, glossy four page "newletter?"

It's a simple piece of paper you can just put in every child's backpack!!!

Or just start a blog. Jeez...

Cherry Coke Zero

What's one almost sure-fire way to get me to try new (inexpensive) products? If I read an unsolicited thumbs-up for one on someone's blog. Then again, Cherry Coke has always been a Southern beverage staple.

Yeah PS, I too remember soda fountains, particularly the soda fountain at the Variety Store in Highlands, N.C. where you could get a real cherry coke, real being that they'd squirt the syrup in first and mix it with your Coke. And Coke floats too. I still love 'em all. Particularly with a shot of fine rum.

A real good, authentic soda fountain, kinda yupped-up though for today's rich people who are overrunning western North Carolina as we speak, exists on the main drag in Brevard, N.C.

BumRush The Charts On March 22

The animals are now running the circus, folks.

While I hardly believe for a moment that "college students are among the most misunderstood and underestimated groups of people by big media" (that would really be bloggers), this IS just the coolest viral marketing, social media concept going. I got a perfect thrill thinking about participating:

"On March 22nd, the podcasting community is going to take an indie podsafe music artist to number one on the iTunes singles charts as a demonstration of our reach to Main Street and our purchasing power to Wall Street.

The track we've chosen is "Mine Again" by the band Black Lab. A band, mind you, that was just dropped from not one, but two major record labels (Geffen and Sony/Epic), and in the process forced them to fight to get their own music back.

We picked them because making them number one, even for just one day, will remind the RIAA record labels of what they turned their backs on - and who they ignore at their peril."

So mark your calendars to download, donate to a good cause, own a very good pop song, and help change world economic order -- all in about 2 minutes on March 22. This CAN be done!


HT: AR via del.icio.us. This post put together to (Big Media) Madonna's Ray of Light (Twilo Mix), "Zephyr in the sky at night, do tears at morning sink beneath the sun? With a little ray of light, I'm flying."

Viral Marketing That Actually Works

I think this is a promo video for Smirnoff vodka. My hat's off to 'em , and I will surely consider buying their vodka now since this video is so funny and clever. Smirnoff has managed to do what pitifully few other companies have been able to do: leverage YouTube as a product marketing tool.

This "ad" just gets better and better as it moves along. I started to ROFL at "We might be vanilla, but our labs are chocolate."

Clap Your Hands Say Do It Yourself

While I'm not a massive Clap Your Hands Say Yeah music fan, I am a HUGE fan of their business model -- which is based entirely on the (savvy) use of social media. Recently, Ugly Bobby said something dumb about their sales (see #47) because the CYHSY manager, Nick Stern, sent Bobby Lestat this email message below, which kinda sums up just who's going to define success from here on out. Hint: we are!

Hi Bob,
As usual, I'm shocked by your attitude towards Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I'm convinced you haven't listened to their new record, and I'm saddened that the model created with this band isn't given more recognition by the one person who has called for all the changes we've actually put into practice. To call what we're doing "IRRELEVANT" undermines every single email you send out.

"There's no buzz here, nobody cares."
I don't know what world you're living in, but I think selling 19,000 records in a week means lots of people care. Maybe you're talking about that traditional buzz you're used to, the barrage of radio and video, snipes and singles, playing the game. This is a band that's never made a video, never played with Nickelback at a radio show, never done all those things every other band is forced to do.

The marketing/publicity/radio/video budget for this record is under $15,000. They made a record, they put it out. And they live much better than 95% of all bands I've worked with, including the vast majority of acts I worked with during my time at a major - all this while owning their masters and publishing, touring in a bus, and not being forced to do anything they don't want to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUIsP23LTk0

You're so fond of using Pollstar numbers to prove people don't care about bands - go check out ours, from around the world. You'll see the band has been headlining shows for a year now, and maybe 5 or so haven't sold out. Check the numbers from last time they were in LA, two sold out nights at the Fonda. Check out the numbers in Tokyo, London, Paris, Hamburg, Minneapolis, Boston, Chicago, Seattle....go look Bob, you'll see that people do actually care ALOT about this band.

Last year you made some list of 25 things that band's should or shouldn't do. CYHSY had followed 24 of them, the one exception being that they played Letterman. I can never fault a band for wanting to play that show. It's fun playing on the same stage the Beatles played on. But seeing as how we're pretty much your poster children, I'm amazed you don't show us more respect. And go listen to their music. You might actually like it.

Nick Stern
Manager, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Throw Enough Dove On The Fan...

Don't hold your breath 'cause it might not stick.

As President of the Biggy Shmuel Fan Club, let me bring your attention to the Big T's latest press-for-his-fine-video-effort. This time he turns his mesmerizingly gorgeous peepers on Dove body wash's failed YouTube campaign. Despite 3-M views, the Dove viral video campaign went swirling right down the drain.

In other words, marketeers with viral video dreams in your head, careful what you ask for before you GET it. Social media hates commercial crap almost as much as it hates MSM. Talk to the Biggy; he's watching you, Corporate Land.



NOTE: Careful dear, the Loch Nech monster is lurking in your pool.

They Ain't Lookin' For Tara

Wow. Talk about the power of "social media." It's all about the network, not a calculated marketing campaign. Here's even more interesting info about the influx of bright, young things to the ATLanta, brain draining other major cities in the process. From today's NYT:

“What we’re seeing is the jury of the most skeptical age group in America has looked at Atlanta’s character and likes it,” Sam A. Williams, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, said.

But Mr. Williams acknowledged the difficulty of replicating that phenomenon on purpose. Had the chamber tried to advertise Atlanta, he said, “we might have screwed it up —because they’re much more trusting of their own network than they are of any marketing campaign.” “You can’t fake it here,” he said. “You either do it or you don’t.”

Full story here. Believe me, I'm sure some idiot marketeers somewhere will of course try to do just that -- copy Atlanta's nice-young-people phenom. And waste tons of taxpayer money in the process of failing miserably because of their social media cluelessness. Let's cheer-on a Chamber leader like Sam Williams who does get it, though.

This is all good for our fine city, but all I wanna know is -- when's RuPaul moving back?

Be Thankful For Girl Geeks

Family starting to annoy you by now? Tired of bland turkey and heavy foods and lard-minded relatives who wear Wal-Mart clothes and talk with their mouths full? Sneaking-off to a computer to get to your world?

From Mary Shelley to Paris Hilton, here's a fun list of Top Ten Girl Geeks to browse. Lemme add my dear friend Catherine Smith, Director of Marketing for Second Life, to the Gals of Geekdom list. Talk about making virtual worlds viable alternatives to this particular reality.

I'm thankful for a friend like her, who reaches out at a time when we can feel the sharpness of loneliness, particularly when we're surrounded by people in the midst of an all-American holiday.

Here's an interview with Cath. Plenty of others out there to be Googled too. Now get real wherever you're likely to be the most thankful!

We Never Needed No Stinkin' Marketeers

Some of us never like 'em anyway. We just always hung out on the long tail 'cause it was, uh, less crowded. Of course the marketeers and the VCs will try to get all mixed-up in there now. Already are. If they can find it. And if they do, well, don't say no one warned 'em that no one out on the long tail is really terribly interested in shuck and jive, especially crap they've already heard before. It's moreorless, the "Where were you while we were getting high?" scenario. I'm gonna shut-up now 'cause I'm starting to sound like a Dylan interview.

Roll your own product. If it's the best, they'll smoke the shit out of it! From Ugly Bobby today:

If you want success today, create something good. Seed the early adopters. And then cease, or at least slow down, your marketing. Because the more you beat people over the head, the less attention they're going to pay. THEY want to feel in control, THEY don't want to feel tools of the system. THEY want to embrace the project, just like you wanted to embrace and tell everybody about "Harold and Maude".

This frightens the purveyors. Because they can nail marketing, but QUALITY? Look at the flicks, they truly suck. Ask the man on the street, he thinks music sucks TOO! To the point where most people have tuned out, and the only people who can bring them back are their buds, who have a RELATIONSHIP with them. Believe me, the marketers at Fox don't have a relationship with their audience. They THINK they do, but they don't. (SGR: Apply same to Mark Halperin.)

Everybody's living in his own little world. Since I was bombarded with "Borat" hype, I thought everybody was aware of the movie. Because I don't talk to every one of the 300 million Americans, I didn't know I was wrong until the research came in.

Hearing the movie's good, I'm gonna give it a chance. Then again, if Fox keeps trumpeting the story, they're gonna kill MY word of mouth, I don't want to work for the man. And neither does the Net generation. WE make the stars, not you. Give us reasonable choices, WE'LL do the work. It won't happen instantly. First week grosses, first week SoundScan numbers, are no longer important. It's about longevity. It won't take forever, because word of mouth happens so quickly on the Net, and we're all in touch with SO many more people on a regular basis. But it's now our game, not yours, don't ever forget it.

Raspberry's all around. Full rant here.