For most of us, the first time we eat cheese, it’s usually bright orange in color and wrapped in plastic, and not really cheese. After that, most of us encounter it coming out of a green cylinder that we shake over pasta. Many of us call it Parmesan cheese, but representatives from the Parmesan region…
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Every now and then, I love a good conspiracy theory. And the ones I love are usually marketing-related. I’ve long been fascinated with the story of New Coke. Was it all a marketing ploy? Will likely never know. With all the discussion of Cracker Barrel the last few weeks, some are saying this was all…
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I’m not exaggerating, but it seems the whole world is obsessed with pickles right now. Walking through the grocery store, I see more pickle-flavored products than ever before. Fast food restaurants like Sonic currently have limited-time-only burgers, tots, and drinks that are pickle-flavored. For me, pickles are something I throw on a burger or eat…
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If you’re like me, you check your email multiple times per day. In a perfect world, we’d only get messages that we want. But a lot of our mailbox is now filled with junk mail and marketing messages. I’m pretty selective about who I share my email address with. So I’m usually interested when one…
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Domino’s is currently running a commercial for their new stuffed crust pizza. The premise of this ad is that people claim that Domino’s Parmesan Stuffed Crust pizza is better than their old version. There’s only one problem: they’ve never offered this style of pizza before. But people think they have. When you’re the top brand,…
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The title of today’s podcast is not a mistake. We’re talking about Mark Madness, not the NCAA basketball tournament. Two nights ago, I was up late watching an old Law & Order episode on Sundance TV. I don’t usually pay attention to the commercials, but one of their promotional announcements caught my eye. It promoted…
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It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and this year feels different in many ways. Sure, the contest between the Chiefs and the 49ers is the big story. Many people will tune in just for the commercials or Usher’s performance at halftime. All of that amounts to a regular year. But we have to add the Taylor Swift…
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Hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg was in the news the other day and had the word buzzing. He wasn’t announcing new music or even a new TV venture. Snoop announced that he was going smokeless. Since he’s known for his marijuana consumption, the internet wondered what it could mean. Something smelled fishy to me. And, of…
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I recently realized that I’ve been obsessed with patterns for years. Now, I’m not talking about geometric shapes; I’m talking about numbers, statistics, marketing. When I worked in radio, I tried to understand the patterns of how people listened to the radio. While working in the music business, I looked at social media growth patterns…
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I’m not a big fan of hospitals. And while I know that they serve an essential purpose, I don’t know many people who would disagree. I don’t think about hospitals much, but that’s been different the last few days. While on the road over the weekend, I saw a billboard outside of Indianapolis that struck…
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