“Saturday morning and the tile is going in,” emails our neighbor whose inlaws arrive a week from today. “Should I get my hopes up?”
Restroom Reno: The Clock Is Ticking [Brownstoner]
Water closet Reno: Neighbor’s Post-Gut [Brownstoner]
Let’s Try This Loo Thing Again [Brownstoner]
Archive for December 15th, 2007
Filed under: Products and services, Marketing and advertising, Target Corp. (TGT)
The Archer Farms packages are well made, look great and generally offer more interesting options than most other store brands like Wal-Mart’s (NYSE: WMT) “Great Value” store brand. In this case, Target’s Archer Farms organic milk is under the microscope since Aurora Organic is the supplier of that product to Target. The USDA has even said it will cancel the ‘organic’ status of Aurora unless the company stops representing non-organic product as organic — something it has apparently been doing since 2003. This, in turn, would cause the Archer Farms milk product to be affected. But, Target is not sitting still — along with Aurora, the retailer is insisting that its Archer Farms organic milk is definitely organic, and that it should keep that certification. Aurora has already concurred to place its operations under ‘organic probation’ for one year among other changes. Without giving any details, a spokeswoman from Target did state that Target “is confident that our Archer Farms Organic Milk is organic.” Well, let’s see here: if Aurora agreed to changes in its operations without admitting guilt, just how should its milk be marketed? Which grocery companies does Aurora supply that could be mislabeling products? Target — your customers are generally well-informed. Don’t screw this one up.
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12
2007
 
Money Winners of 2007: Facebook’s Marc Zuckerberg calls the shotsPosted by: in Marketing and AdvertisingFiled under: Products and services, Management, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Marketing and advertising, Viacom (VIA), Rich in America
People — including me — thought he was nuts when he turned down a $1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and a $750 million one from Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA). It turns out that Zuckerberg got the last laugh. In October, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) concurred to invest $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook in a deal that values the company at $12 billion. Zuckerberg also reportedly drove the suits who wanted to buy his company bananas for, among other things, delaying meetings in order to spend time with his girlfriend. But he knows his user base. When Facebook users revolted over the company’s Beacon advertising program, he admitted the company screwed up, saying on his blog “we simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it.” Now, users who don’t want to participate in Beacon can opt out of it. But like all great entrepreneurs, Zuckerberg has a gigantic ego and is attracting his share of nasty lawsuits. The New York Times recently reported that Facebook tried to get the magazine 02138 to remove documents from its website related to a lawsuit against that claims Zuckerberg “stole the idea and some of the personal source code for Facebook from some fellow students.” Let me make a not so bold prediction and say that this case will be settled sometime next year. The settlement amount will be considerable and kept confidential, allowing Zuckerberg to continue tinkering with his company, enabling him to wreak havoc in the media world for years to come. He’s got plenty of time to make and lose several billion before he turns 30. Be sure to check out more Money Winners of 2007. Filed under: Products and services, Marketing and advertising, Target Corp. (TGT)
The Archer Farms packages are well made, look great and generally offer more interesting options than most other store brands like Wal-Mart’s (NYSE: WMT) “Great Value” store brand. In this case, Target’s Archer Farms organic milk is under the microscope since Aurora Organic is the supplier of that product to Target. The USDA has even stated it will cancel the ‘organic’ status of Aurora unless the company stops representing non-organic product as organic — something it has apparently been doing since 2003. This, in turn, would cause the Archer Farms milk product to be affected. But, Target isn’t sitting still — along with Aurora, the retailer is insisting that its Archer Farms organic milk is definitely organic, and that it should keep that certification. Aurora has already agreed to place its operations under ‘organic probation’ for one year among other changes. Without giving any details, a spokeswoman from Target did say that Target “is confident that our Archer Farms Organic Milk is organic.” Well, let’s see here: if Aurora agreed to changes in its operations without admitting guilt, just how should its milk be marketed? Which grocery companies does Aurora supply that could be mislabeling products? Target — your customers are generally well-informed. Don’t screw this one up. Filed under: Products and services, Google (GOOG), Marketing and advertising
The top search candidates this year have included presidential candidates, lawsuits, Hollywood starlets, sports teams and song lyrics. In an interesting twist, gaining underdog Congressman Ron Paul of Texas was the most-searched for Presidential candidate at Google beating out Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Does this fare well for Paul’s chances a tiny under a year from now? From looking at his grassroots world wide web campaign, you just might be able to state that. Paul appears to be pulling no punches while Clinton and Obama are in a celebrity deathmatch of sorts in the media. For a tiny comic relief outside the Presidential campaigners, Hannah Montana (played by actress Miley Cyrus, daughter of Billy Ray) was ahead of the Rolling Stones in Google web search popularity. But, Barbie outranked Hannah Montana decades after the first svelte doll appeared on retail shelves. In an interesting trend released by Google, the term “iPhone” has been searched more often than the term “iPod” since its June debut. With Google having a commanding lead in the global web search arena, a snapshot of what global netizens cares about can be gleaned from analyzing its top hitters list. Ron Paul probably hopes its a harbinger to next year’s runoff.
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12
2007
Money Winners of 2007: Facebook’s Marc Zuckerberg calls the shotsPosted by: in Marketing and AdvertisingFiled under: Products and services, Management, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Marketing and advertising, Viacom (VIA), Rich in America
People — including me — thought he was nuts when he turned down a $1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and a $750 million one from Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA). It turns out that Zuckerberg got the last laugh. In October, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) agreed to invest $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook in a deal that values the company at $12 billion. Zuckerberg also reportedly drove the suits who wanted to buy his company bananas for, among other things, delaying meetings in order to spend time with his girlfriend. But he knows his user base. When Facebook users revolted over the company’s Beacon advertising program, he admitted the company screwed up, saying on his blog “we simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it.” Now, users who don’t want to participate in Beacon can opt out of it. But like all great entrepreneurs, Zuckerberg has a gigantic ego and is attracting his share of nasty lawsuits. The New York Times recently reported that Facebook tried to get the magazine 02138 to remove documents from its website related to a lawsuit against that claims Zuckerberg “stole the idea and some of the personal source code for Facebook from some fellow students.” Let me make a not so bold prediction and say that this case will be settled sometime next year. The settlement amount will be considerable and kept confidential, allowing Zuckerberg to continue tinkering with his company, enabling him to wreak havoc in the media world for years to come. He’s got plenty of time to make and lose several billion before he turns 30. Be sure to check out more Money Winners of 2007.
15
12
2007
Microsoft might suffer from European Opera performancePosted by: in Marketing and AdvertisingFiled under: Products and services, Law, Microsoft (MSFT), Marketing and advertising, Technology
Now, no doubt emboldened by the recent judgment of a European Union court that found Microsoft guilty of antitrust violations for bundling its software, the Opera people have filed their own complaint with the European Commission. Opera claims that by bundling World wide web Explorer with Windows, Microsoft has stifled competition. This advantage comes from both the ease with which Windows users can access IE, as well as due to its prevalence, the degree to which other software is written specifically to work with IE. The company asks the court to require Microsoft to either exclude IE from Windows packages or include other browsers with equal access. It also asks the court to force MS to “follow fundamental and open Web standards” with other developers, rather than its own, which in Opera’s words, “create a de facto standard” that results in less secure internet browsing. Look for more companies to jump on this bandwagon while Microsoft is still vulnerable in the EU. Filed under: Products and services, Google (GOOG), Marketing and advertising
The top search candidates this year have included presidential candidates, lawsuits, Hollywood starlets, sports teams and song lyrics. In an interesting twist, gaining underdog Congressman Ron Paul of Texas was the most-searched for Presidential candidate at Google beating out Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Does this fare well for Paul’s chances a tiny under a year from now? From looking at his grassroots internet campaign, you just might be able to state that. Paul appears to be pulling no punches while Clinton and Obama are in a celebrity deathmatch of sorts in the media. For a tiny comic relief outside the Presidential campaigners, Hannah Montana (played by actress Miley Cyrus, daughter of Billy Ray) was ahead of the Rolling Stones in Google web search popularity. But, Barbie outranked Hannah Montana decades after the first svelte doll appeared on retail shelves. In an interesting trend released by Google, the term “iPhone” has been searched more often than the term “iPod” since its June debut. With Google having a commanding lead in the global web search arena, a snapshot of what global netizens loves can be gleaned from examining its top hitters list. Ron Paul probably hopes its a harbinger to next year’s runoff.
15
12
2007
Dial 1-800-REVShare for the future in TV advertisingPosted by: in Marketing and AdvertisingFiled under: Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Marketing and advertising, Next big thing, ValueClick Inc (VCLK), Technology I was doing some research work and surfing on the great tech blog, TechCrunch, when an article caught my eye. (Actually, I use techmeme to search for important tech stories and encountered the aforementioned article — but, that’s not important right now.) The article was about a $20 million infusion by the Carlyle Group and H.I.G. Ventures in a Southern California-based company named REVShare. Your friend and mine, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), has made a push into Cost-Per-Action (CPA) advertising. CPA advertising is the holy grail for advertisers, because the advertiser only pays when an action he defines (like purchasing a product) occurs. This has long been a mainstay of internet advertising, as it’s relatively simple to gauge such metrics. Commission Junction, part of ValueClick, (NASDAQ: VCLK) has been making a living at this for a long time (in relative web years). Television, on the other hand, has always been a slippery bugger. Until REVShare. According to Tech Crunch, REVShare “…manages those ads that urge viewers to call a 1-800 number or go to a website. The company has relationships with 1,500 Television stations (most of these tend to be local, infomercial-style ads).” The rest is metrics — providing the advertisers with enough info to match what they’re willing to spend on a new sale with the cost of advertising. Very interesting stuff. As Google has made its mark into newspaper, radio, and even in-game advertising, maybe REVShare and TV advertising is next on the horizon. Zack Miller is the managing editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund. The author holds a long-term position in GOOG. |
If half the stuff published about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is true, the 23-year-old Harvard dropout is a major league kook. But he’s also one of the most important entrepreneurs of the past 20 years.
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