Happy New Year!

I know… I’m a bit behind. Thought I’d share anyway.

Black Friday: more like Black Weekend

The day that gives everyone an excuse to buy what they’ve been wanting, need, or didn’t know they needed. The day that gives me a rush, fills my heart with joy, and then empties my wallet leaving me bittersweet. I now understand why that Friday is Black.

 Is it just me or did anyone else notice that this year’s Black Friday was a bit different from the last? Not only were the deals and savings not as shocking as they use to be, but Black Friday had turned into Black Saturday, Sunday, Thursday… or hell, Black Week!

I suppose it’s cause many major department stores were counting on those couple days to raise their end of the year sales, hoping it’ll make up for the many months of decreased sales compared to years before. It’s a smart move since many people don’t want to deal with the headache and the crowds of that day. Since deals were now prolonged, other less avid shoppers were also enticed by the lure of Black Friday deals thus leading to more sales. Stores like Target advertised that there deals would go beyond morning and will be there whether you line up at 4am or you stop by before dinner at 6pm. Deals lasted the entire day. Heck some of them even last until January. Since this day was extended, that’s probably why the deals were reduced. What do you think?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow when you gather around the table, ready for a Thanksgiving’s feast take a momment to be thankful for all that you have. Be thankful for the loved ones in your life, be thankful for every day that God has given you, be thankful for the food that is on the table, and be thankful that you are sharing this momment with those around you. Realize that you are truley blessed. Happy Thanksgiving!

San Francisco: Plan Ahead for New Year’s Eve

Don’t know what to do for NYE yet? Here’s a suggestion. I already got my tickets! Make sure wherever you decide to go, get tickets early and plan your rides. You don’t want to buy a overpriced last minute ticket, be stuck in mad traffic, or get pressured to be the DD.

Get set for an amazing end to 2009 as we bring you the most anticipated event of the year- the sophisticated, fun & upscale A.List New Year’s Eve Ball at the luxurious Westin St. Francis!

This glitzy, landmark event truly embodies what this great city of San Francisco has to offer. Come experience for yourself the exciting and diverse mix of music, fashion, art, culture, sophistication & charitable causes as we take you into 2010 in style at the largest and most amazing event in town – “Passport to the World” NYE Spectacular!”

Travel the world in just one night as you venture through 10 different areas while experiencing different entertainment in each! 3000+ balloons in the midnight balloon drops, and the largest dance floor in SF in the main USA themed room!

Ticket Name Ticket Price     General Admission $95.00     VIP Admission $135.00     VIP Table – European Room $250.00     VIP Table – USA Room $300.00     VIP Table – USA Room, Dance Floor $400.00

Featuring all of the following:
* Large theme-based props/decor in each of the main rooms
* Hosted bar where all of your beverages are included
* 15 of San francisco’s best dj’s spinning your favorite music
top40 | hip hop | house | mashup | international | alternative | 70s-90s
* Fashion Show on the runways in the USA room
* Great live band playing both covers and originals
* Live Bands rockin’ it out
* Stiltwalkers & Exhibitionists performing up high
* Live Art being painted right before your very eyes

9 Marketing Lessons from the Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Campaign

October (aka. Breast Cancer Awareness Month) has just ended and I found it appropriate to share this short slide presentation. Here are a few marketing lessons that we can all take away from the success of the Pink Ribbon Campaign. This was created by Rohit Bhargava who blogs at Influential Marketing Blog.

The Fued Between WebEx & DimDim Continues

I was catching up with my Google Reader this morning and caught some drama. Apparently WebEx said some things about DimDim that were inaccurate which got DimDim railed up. I discussed the event with the CEO of a tech company from Silicon Valley. Here’s some advice I was given: “never knock the competition”.

If you are attacked and the competition makes a false claim you don’t load up on ammo, you simply state your side and the facts that support your side and your company.

Unless you love the drama and you are a fiesty brand that will never give up, and has a community to turn to for support… I guess go ahead if you must.

That’s exactly how DimDim started out when CEO DD Ganguly announced at Demofall07 that they will kill Webex. “Webex is history” he said.

Although company drama does make for good publicity and is exciting to read about, it’s probably wise to avoid it and never stand in the middle of it.

Right now Dimdim is playing the “he said, she said” highschool game. To me it looks like they are trying to play innocent. They’re turning to the community for support hoping that they could help gang up on WebEx and attack for them while they sit back and act like this wasn’t expected.

Many are waiting for retaliation or just an explanation from WebEx, but they are remaining quiet right now. What do you think about all this?

Read more about it here on DimDim’s Blog

Kanye West Vs. Taylor Swift

Millions tuned in to the MTV VMAs last night. By now if you haven’t seen the Kanye West/ Taylor Swift event firsthand, you’ve probably heard about it. Not only was Kanye’s behavior rude and obnoxious but it created great publicity. Although it may not have been a positive message, this man truly knows how to create a buzz around himself and his brand.

Almost 4% of all tweets last night were about Kanye West. According to Trendrr within an hour of the incident, 293,024 tweets went out regarding this event.

Kanye left the VMAs early that night and his apologies were posted all over the net. You can’t continue to do idiotic things and then apologize for it and expect America to forgive you. (Like the time when he said “George Bush hates Black people!”)

This is what he posted on his blog 9/14:
“I feel like Ben Stiller in “Meet the Parents” when he messed up everything and Robert De Niro asked him to leave… That was Taylor’s moment and I had no right in any way to take it from her. I am truly sorry.”

There is speculation now that the whole incident could have been staged, but staged or not it’s got young America talking and what’s a better way of spreading brand awareness in the entertainment world than creating controversial publicity.

Kanye has got a lot of people riled up and very angry. Subconsciously or not, his intentions were very smart, yet his actions were very stupid. Way to go Kanye…