The Marketer's Bookshelf

MediaPost Publications, September 2, 2009 — MediaPost reviews several new marketing-oriented books

Facebook and MySpace: Beware Of The Mommy Bloggers

MediaPost Publications, July 29, 2009 — was reading the write-ups of last week's BlogHer conference in Chicago secretly jealous that even though I'm a mommy and a blogger, this junket was simply not in the cards for me.

But it wasn't just jealousy that drove my interest, it was how the mommy bloggers inadvertently, perhaps, uncovered a central truth about social media marketing: it isn't at all about carefully targeted display ads, or search ads, but about relationship-building. Unfortunately, that isn't something the Facebooks and MySpaces of the world have learned to monetize very well yet. So, while the discovery of the mommy bloggers is great for advertisers, it's not so great for those who are trying to be the broker that connects the bloggers with the marketers. That connection is already... continue reading

At BlogHer Confab, Marketers Show Moms Some Love†

Pepsi, P&G, Walmart, Kodak, Others Look to Learn Lessons of Social Media While Feting Moms With Luncheons, Gift Bags

Advertising Age, July 27, 2009 — If you were wondering where the media budgets have gone, you might have tried looking around Chicago late last Thursday through Saturday, or maybe even check out one of the city's pawn shops this week.

At the BlogHer '09 conference in Chicago marketers were lining up to woo around 1,500 mommy bloggers with swag, celebrity appearances, shopping sprees and lavish entertainment of the sort that seems part of a bygone era to most of the marketing world.

Target Offers Taste of DailyCandy†

Retailer's Site Will Feature Product Picks, Articles From Newsletter's Editors

Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2009 — Target has its bull's-eye on a new venture: online media.

On Tuesday, the retailer plans to formally announce a partnership with DailyCandy.com, the email newsletter and Web site owned by cable operator Comcast that covers fashion and culture for a mostly female audience.

The venture, called Red Hot Shop, will be a special section of Target.com that will feature products from up-and-coming designers selected by DailyCandy editors, along with articles and artwork by the DailyCandy team. It is part of a broader ad deal in which Target is paying to advertise with DailyCandy; neither side would disclose the value of the deal.

Forrester: Social Media Reaches 'Empowered Women'

MediaPost Publications, April 7, 2009 — In order to effectively engage "empowered women" online, consumer packaged goods brands must design campaigns that enhance communication and aid in consumers' decision-making and influence. And that, according to a new report by Forrester Media, means social media.

In particular, 42% of this prized demographic reported visiting social networks like Facebook and MySpace, compared to just 33% of all U.S. adults online engaging in such activity.

Middle Age, Before It Came Out of a Bottle

New York Times, March 8, 2009 — IS being leader of the Free World while the global economy is melting and the country is at war stressful enough to turn President Obama’s hair gray after just 44 days?

Perhaps, but there may be a much simpler, if more quotidian, explanation. Middle age.

OfficeMax Overhauls to Target Women†

Research Prompts Retailer to Make Over Its Marketing Materials

Advertising Age, January 15, 2009 — Women rule the office. At least that's what OfficeMax has come to believe, leading the retailer to revamp everything from circulars to catalogs to its website.

NBC Taps Leading Women to Offer Advice to Marketers†

Lazarus, Vieira, Bartiromo to Help Clients Market to Women

Advertising Age, January 12, 2009 — The principals of the latest marketing agency: Maria Bartiromo, Meredith Vieira, Tori Spelling and Susan Lyne.

They, along with 22 other estimable names, including Ogilvy & Mather Chairman-CEO Shelly Lazarus, aren't forming an agency in the traditional sense, but will be part of a "panel" offering marketing and general business advice to NBC Universal and its clients on how to reach women. The group will also blog, write and appear on air for the media company's women-oriented properties and contribute to a quarterly newsletter, "Power of the Purse," covering marketing to the demographic and the latest female trends. The panel will convene for the first time Feb. 10. In effect, it could become the most powerful female-focused agency in the country.

How to Market to Women During the Economic Upheaval†

Quick Changes to Strategies Are Needed as Moms Shift Priorities for Themselves and Families

Advertising Age, December 2, 2008 — While President-elect Barack Obama is assembling his cabinet in Washington, moms across America are changing the ways they stock their own cabinets. As they function simultaneously as secretaries of transportation, interior, homeland security and, most important these days, commerce, women faced with new economic realities are rapidly shifting their priorities and shopping behaviors. Here are six changes in where they stand on consumption.

Smartphones Now Ringing for Women

New York Times, June 11, 2008 — If recent history is any guide, roughly a third of the people snapping up Apple’s new iPhone are likely to tote it in a purse.

In a big shift for the phone industry, women have emerged as eager buyers of not just iPhones but of all so-called smartphones — BlackBerrys, Treos and other models