7-11 Slurpees

Aside from gas or other emergencies I only frequent "the sev" for slurpees.

I will use the Incredible Hulk promotion as an example although this has been happening with every major slurpee promotion as long as I can remember.

I imagine in 7 Eleven corporate, their marketing team is creating these well thought out strategic marketing plans to promote the slurpee, collector cups, and other related merchandise for whatever is hot at the time. From what I can tell, from a consumer point of view, this is all great except for one major detail - the slurpee for the Hulk has never worked!!!

Although I am not sure what level of detail these marketing folks are getting back, the Hulk slurpee consumption from the Orem, Utah store may be conflicting with other data or leading to the wrong assumptions. Along with losing out on revenue, the opinion I have of this store, their management, and their responsiveness is poor (it has actually turned into a joke with my other co-workers).

How can we make sure we don't pull a 7-11 in our marketing? I suggest we personally follow the customer experience from start to finish. Never assume any department or process is working like you want and never promote or spend money on anything that you can't fully track and measure.

Yo Joe!

The good and bad news is that there is going to be a live action G.I. Joe movie (The Rise of Cobra) coming AUG 7 2009. Good, because this is freakin awesome and bad because the wait is going to kill me.

I love the 80's more than most and don't feel old enough to be seeing the toys, music, and everything else of my childhood being re-invented or positioned as new.

Are marketing and advertising folks lazy? Are we at the end of good ideas? Is creativity old school?

I am not one that cares that much in some regards because today's music and cartoons (just to name two) are pathetic. Also, if it was awesome and is still awesome, keep it around.

One of my artistic friends at work created this image of me / Hawk (to be played by Dennis Quaid).

A number of websites are doing a great job keeping us current on next summer's blockbuster including:

Hasbro
HissTank
The Internet Movie Database
Wikipedia
Yo Joe
You Tube

We all know that "knowing is half the battle". So, what is the other half - doing!

Here is our G.I. Joe countdown (hurry, hurry, hurry).

All Blacks

Most of marketing is getting your identified customer segment(s) interested in your product or service. What about when we, as consumers, are interested in an existing product or service, but can't easily get it?

For example, I love watching rugby and specifically the New Zealand All Blacks.

The closest I have been able to get to watching any of the games is to download what I can from the Internet torrents. I would love to watch these games in more real-time with less effort and better quality. I realize there are extremely expensive DirecTV and other types of subscriptions out there, but let's be realistic, I just want to watch the All Blacks, not pay for every suck channel under the sun.

I am sure those who are marketing the All Blacks in Auckland (New Zealand) have little knowledge or perhaps interest that me in Utah (United States) is part of their target market.

So, instead of just complaining about this, what is a cost effective solution? What if the approved rugby entity(ies) recorded these games not only for their local audiences but also for their international market? I wouldn't mind paying for these downloads, especially if the quality was good. The All Blacks could be getting additional revenue from not only downloads but from merchandise related promotions.

Although college football, the NBA, and NFL provide some of the best sporting entertainment out there, rugby is second to none in entertainment and the games last only an hour and a half (a great selling point to your significant other).

If anybody out there knows how I can better enjoy the All Blacks, I thank you in advance.

Pepsi Stuff

Although it has been more than a decade, I still frequently reflect on the Pepsi Stuff campaign. The Pepsi Stuff campaign was launched in 1996 during the Atlanta Olympics - the hometown for Coke. Since Pepsi would be marketing on Coke's turf, they needed a brilliant marketing strategy and ended up with something even better.

Although the “Drink Pepsi, Get Stuff.” phrase is what I remember most about this campaign, it is interesting that a frequent buyer program wasn't introduced before and one hasn't happened since with near the success and fanfare as Pepsi Stuff.

I have always wondered if this campaign exposed us consumers for what we really are - just wanting stuff. We don't care if it is something we need, could use, or even would have paid for otherwise. We simply want more stuff than the next guy. Do we really believe that he/she who dies with the most toys wins?

Is our culture completely tied to commerce?

Fantasy Basketball

One of the latest entertainment trends seems to be centered around social media. I have managed to avoid getting caught up in the television shows like Survivor or American Idol, the MySpace type websites, and even online gaming like World of Warcraft.

However, this past year, I fell prey to Fantasy NBA Basketball. My brother-in-law and brother convinced me that it only requires a few minutes each week and the idea of being able to add and drop players whenever you wanted caught my attention. Finally an escape from the corporate world where there are no politics or reasoning behind firing someone.

Instead of spending a few minutes a week, I ended up spending dozens of hours a week. I had my laptop next to me while I was watching TV or doing other activities so I could watch my players game by game. I went from knowing only a handful of players from the Utah Jazz ( a part of me still thinks they can win a championship one day) to knowing nearly all of the players in the league, their weaknesses and strengths, and what types of players I should be looking for.

As a free tip to other Fantasy Basketball fans, make sure you don't get guards unless they shoot the 3-ball well and don't get big guys unless they do well in blocks. Here is my final roster:

1. Allen Iverson (original pick)
2. Amir Johnson
3. Andris Biedrins
4. Brandon Roy
5. Elton Brand
6. Francisco Garcia
7. J.R. Smith
8. Kobe Bryant
9. Mehmet Okur
10. Ronnie Brewer
11. Rudy Gay
12. Tim Duncan (original pick)
13. Tyrus Thomas

I ended up leading the league in moves (60), only held on to two guys that I originally drafted, and actually ended up winning the entire championship - Go Saratoga ShortShorts!!!

Whether it is for fame, money, belonging, or providing some type of outlet, Fantasy Basketball is one of many new opportunities changing the landscape of consumer behavior. Those in marketing, especially those doing business to consumer, should take notice that consumers want to be more vocal and involved in their interests.