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I'm man enough, my friend, to admit my wife KO'd me twice last night in Wii Boxing (perhaps, though, not man enough to let you know how our Wii Tennis match turned out).

Maybe it's just that we're all under siege from both political parties and various Vote No and Vote Yes groups, but I have no idea why Apple and Microsoft have gotten into an ad war that looks like a McCain v. Obama shootout.

Microsoft launches Windows campaign with Jerry Seinfeld

Then pulls them

Microsoft launches their "I'm a PC" ads, complete with appearances from Eva Longoria and Deepak Chopra (Really? Deepak Chopra? They chose Deepak Chopra?) in obvious answer to Apple's "I'm a Mac ads".




Well, now Apple counters with their own take on the $300M ad campaign by Microsoft




Media Bistro says "Clearly, the above Apple spot completely undoes the $300 million project, in one swift kick to the nards."

I can't say I agree. I use both PC and Mac and, well, they both have their issues (I'm not currently a fan of Vista, which I use at home), but are these ads really going to make me lean one way or another?

I don't know about you, but when I bought my last computer there was much more to consider than what my OS "said" about me.

How about:
 
Cost of system
 
Whether or not useful applications are included in the software bundle (Word & Excel, anyone?)

Ease of use

Look and size of system

Ease of switching platforms

There are some programs which just aren't Mac compatible (which is why I have to use Parallels at work, which is painful) and many things about a Mac are just easier to use.

I see none of these points outlined in these ads.

But maybe they're just marketing the Brand Experience.

I guess if it sells their OS, then I guess they've done their job?

Why is the fact that people are arguing about peanut butter important?

Is it important?

I guess time will tell what kind of effect a site like Mouse Print, which "exposes the strings and catches buried in the fine print" has on consumer awareness.

Topic of the day? Unilever reduced the size of their Skippy brand peanut butter, but the packaging looks exactly the same, a feat executed by hollowing out the bottom of the container (see picture here). Their competitor, Jif (made by Smuckers) has already made darn sure to promote the fact that their jar is still 18 ounces.

Mouse Print asked Unilever why the change, and the company responded that, essentially, rising prices have led them to lower the amount of product to keep a competitive price.

I don't know about you, but my grocery store gives a Price Per Unit ratio below the product which is danged helpful to those of us who are woefully math challenged.

A friend of mine had complained last year on her blog about how confusing it is that companies (which she referred to as "Marketers") are forever changing the playing field, so it was hard to be an informed consumer.

I think that's always been the case (there's an old expression which captures that sentiment, "Have you ever heard a huckster yell, 'Rotten tomatoes?'") People who make their living selling things aren't usually going to give you the product/service's downside. That's left up to us, the consumer.

Thus the other ancient expression, "Caveat emptor".

The good thing about sites like Mouse Print is that they let the consumers rant and rave and check facts with each other (and the companies), so consumers at least have some facts on their side. Which is better than hearing from a coworker, as I did years ago, "Did you know Snapple has KKK connections?" who then pointed at the label of his Snapple Iced Tea.

My reply?

"Um, that's the Kosher symbol."

If you're interested, NPR had a talk with Ben Popken from Consumerist about this whole topic, which you can listen to here.

The future keeps getting brighter, doesn't it?

Hear me out... what about a Website that changes according to whatever you like to see in sites. Say one that senses whether or not you are detail oriented (and let's face is, is anyone who browses the Web?) and then changes according to those findings.

Science fiction?

SCIENCE FACT!

Okay, that was a little much, but researchers at MIT's Sloan School of Management are looking to help make sites adapt automatically to each visitor, depending on that person's style of thinking.

It'd be like walking into Whole Foods and everything turned into organic 70% dark chocolate.

Well, for some.

The researchers have already built a prototype for British Telecom that, within 10 clicks, the system makes a guess at the user's cognitive style and morphs to fit.

Yes, 10 clicks is a lot, but then again you have to consider that the calculator my father was using in college took up the wing of a building.

So it's a bit more advanced than that.

The full article is here at Technology Review.

I was just reading our HQ blog by Matt Grant and learned our recent Webcast, Web Design for ROI: How Design Impacts the Bottom Line, had a massive draw of 2,000 people sign up.

And the slides, featured last week on slideshare.net last week, have already been viewed over 8,000 times.

Which begs the question (as Matt queried), why is it "fourteen or so years into a business world increasingly dominated by the web, people are still trying to figure out how to make the web work for them?"

I'm personally of the belief that Marketers are always looking at ROI, whether it's for Direct Mail or HTML e-mails. But then again, that may not answer the question why so many people registered.

Regardless, if you're interested in listening to the recorded call, you can still hear Lance Loveday, founder, CEO of Closed Loop Marketing and Sandra Niehaus, VP user experience, creative director of Closed Loop Marketing present the entire Webcast by clicking here and registering.

As always, free.

(Regarding the picture, "Roi" means "King" in French.)

The rumors of October's Adobe CS4 release apparently have been greatly exaggerated.

Photoshop Senior Product Manager, John Nack is saying the information of the release date, passed around by Gizmodo and TG Daily, is bogus.

"I didn't say anything about schedule...Someone pulled a date apparently out of thin air, and now everyone who can copy & paste is dutifully repeating it."

"The fish story grows with the telling, too. In addition to repeating the date, Electronista is inventing new details (e.g. 'CS3 has already had limited support for graphics processing units (GPUs) for certain filters'; sorry, no; 'An upcoming wave of video cards with special physics processing will also help, Adobe explains'; nope, didn't say that; and more). Where do people get this stuff?"

Electronista and Gizmodo both now have updates with Jack's info, though Gizmodo says to "take it for what you will."

(Either Gizmodo knows more than Adobe does, or....?) >Regardless, Beta versions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Soundbooth are all at the AdobeLabs site.
If you have a CS3 license you can download and use these, otherwise, if you're just browsing, you can run the apps for In the meantime, Gizmodo will be predicting the Obama vs. Clinton outcome.
Stay tuned.

If Customer Segmentation gives you goose bumps and Email Opt Out Preferences keeps you from paying close attention to Flavor of Love 3, then the DMA has just the thing for you.

Yes, a full 8 virtual seminars on everything you wanted to know about Direct Mail and Marketing in general.

No, they're not free.

But they're virtual, so you don't have to pay for parking.

Isn't that neat?

Get all the details, and a discount code, here.

And I'll look for your stuff in my inbox!

By now you've heard the expression Greenwashing, right? A marketing team decides they want to join the Eco Bandwagon (which, by the way, is getting pretty full) so they play up some "green" part of their company.

Say run two-page spreads during Earth Day featuring their regular products with eco tips interspersed throughout, as Macy's did.

Or build minimal impact LEED gas stations, as BP has done.

Many times marketers, it seems, confuse the playing field for their own company's profits. Not that I mind playing up the green part of a company and telling the world about it (I did it myself when we ran an FSC certified direct mail piece), but to pretend your entire company is out to save the planet to make a buck is about as honest as selling snake oil.

Look, snake oil salesmen weren't curing tuberculosis with their bogus medicine and BP sure isn't making a dent with their gas stations considering they make most of billions in gas and oil revenues.

So what's a company to do?

Patagonia may just have the answer.

Fast Company has a terrific article on Patagonia's challenge to 10 employees to "track five products from the design studio to the raw-materials stage to Patagonia's Nevada distribution center".

The company decided to post the employees findings, good and bad, on a microsite called The Footprint Chronicles. The site covers 10 products' journey to the factory and its energy consumption, CO2 emissions, waste generated, and distance traveled.

They then ask for the consumer's feedback and post the feedback on their Cleanest Line blog.

This is no bogus marketing ploy, this is honest-to-goodness "put your ethics where your wallet is" marketing.

Congrats to Patagonia for, again, raising the bar when it comes to corporate, and marketing, honesty.

You know, IKEA almost had me. Really.

That is, until I found the final piece of my daughter's pink MALM 3-drawer chest I was assembling was nicked. And I rang customer service to find out how they wanted to go about replacing the piece. And I rang. And rang. I rang for 10 minutes. And no one answered. I rang for two days. And still...

Nor did anyone answer at the HQ IKEA number (they redirected me, after much pushing of buttons, back to my local store where it rang some more.)

There's a lot to like about IKEA, but what's not to love is their customer service. (Please see Danielle Crittenden's blog "Why I Hate IKEA" at the The Huffington Post.)

Maybe one of the execs from the Scandinavian giant will take a moment to attend the latest AMA/Aquent Webcast:

Optimizing the Profitable Link Between Employees and Customer Loyalty Behavior

Michael Lowenstein, Vice President and Senior Consultant at Harris Interactive, points out that research indicates "at least 70% of your customers’ behavior is driven by their interactions with your employees."
Which would explain why there's no rush for me to hustle on back to that big blue and yellow store to get more furniture.

But enough about my allen-wrench assembly skills, here's the delio on the Webcast.



In this free and informative Aquent/AMA webcast, Michael Lowenstein, Vice President and Senior Consultant at Harris Interactive, will present critical insights about the relationship among profitability, employee behavior, and customer loyalty, which will prove that true customer commitment is attainable only when the entire organization understands and performs its roles in providing superior customer experiences.

You will learn how to:

• Effectively measure and understand customers’ perceptions
• Pinpoint which employee attitudes and actions affect customer behavior
• Leverage employee positivism and customer focus
• Identify and eliminate employee sabotage
• Develop a customer-centric culture

The AMA recommends attendees of this Webcast should include Senior Executives and Managers of:

• Customer Service/Customer Experience
• Customer Relationship Management
• Retail Operations
• Training and Development
• Sales
• Marketing

As with all our Webcasts, it's free.

Here's the date and time:

Thursday, April 24, 2008 10:00 am (PST)

Details here.

You know there's a lot to be said for friendly competition, which is why I'm going to let you know why our resident Minister of Enlightenment and HQ Blogger, Mr. Matt Grant, has a blog well worth visiting.

For one, he gets access to incredibly interesting people in both the Marketing and Creative fields.

Two, he podcasts a lot, so you can listen on the way home or in the comfort of your own Elliptical Machine.

Three, he's incredibly smart and insightful.

Yes, it sounds as if I might marry him.

Not to worry, he's taken.

And is really, really not my type.

Really.

To prove my point this week Matt has a two-part conversation with James Intriligator, a man who received his doctorate in psychology from Harvard and now has a post in the Center for Neuroscience and Consumer Psychology at the University of Wales, Bangor.

James is currently doing quite a bit of work on how the brain perceives brands and how brands build up in brains over time.

Though it's no man rapping about sectional furniture, it's pretty compelling stuff.

You can check out the whole interview at The Talent Blog.

Or all the episodes over at iTunes.

Tomorrow back to me.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on here, but this guy is giving Sit n Sleep's annoying "You're Killing Me, Larry" ads a run for their money.

Now I must run out and buy furniture.

It's like a mini mall!