Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 96

How Great Brands Rethink Their Expiration Dates

There is a very good reason that milk has an expiration date. No one wants to have crusty lumpy milk in their fridge. A lot of food in general is required by law to have these expiration dates. It is the most familiar of all deadlines that all of us experience in some way almost every day. Not surprisingly, this idea of expiration dates is baked into all kinds of other industries as well … especially those that may not need it.

Most software products, for example, offer a limited time free tri...

How Likeability Gets People (And Hollywood Stars) To Show Up

Anyone who has ever run an event knows that getting people to show up to anything is just about the most difficult challenge that any marketer can face. Selling a product, asking for a donation, and even getting someone to share a piece of content are all easier than the relatively higher time investment involved in physically showing up for something.

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel created a “Jimmy Kimmel Sucks” theme show where he invited Matt Damon as a guest host and pretended to be tied up in t...

How Samsung Wins By Channeling Its Inner Seinfeld

Samsung’s first hit ad for the new Galaxy phone was a parody of mindless Apple-istas waiting in line outside an Apple store. It introduced a tag line as well – “the next big thing is already here.” Now the brand is back with another series of ads focused on promoting the Galaxy in a business setting as a secure, useful and fun new mobile device for forward thinking companies. The new ad is featured below:

Like the earlier version, Samsung’s latest effort features real life situations, jabs at...

The Best Birthday Promotional Email Ever …

Today is my birthday, and in between taking some time off – I can’t help noticing which brands happen to send me emails today (of the many who have my birthdate on file). The one from California Tortilla was easily the best of the group, so I thought I’d share it here (see below) – along with five reasons it was so good …

Brand personality was great, quirky, and on brand for “CalTort.”
Tempting product image makes you crave that free burrito right away.
Limited offer that expires, so I need to a...

Why Tackling Obesity NOW Is A Smart Strategy For Coke

Consumers want what they want. How often have we heard this used as a defense for selling just about anything, whether it is good for people or not? The fact is, people like unhealthy products – and they get angry when anyone tries to deny them the chance to buy them. This is particularly true in America, where New York Mayor Bloomberg’s call for a ban on sales of super-sized portions of soda last year was met with all sorts of criticism and negativity before being ultimately approved. This “...

Best of CES 2013: 10 Brilliant Marketing Lessons

Yesterday I walked past a booth at the Consumer Electronics Show where a company was promoting their $59 tablet. The product was good, the price point was better than most other competitors, yet hardly anyone stopped at their booth. Just a few steps down was a beautifully designed booth promising “the world’s first real smart watch.” That booth was packed. Over and over as I walked the halls of the world’s largest technology trade show this week, filled with media, buyers and analysts who are...

5 Things For Marketers To Love About The New Myspace

Myspace is back, and you’re probably already thinking about the best jokes you can share about its return. It’s hard to remember a brand launched with such dramatically low expectations as MySpace – but if my first experience using the new site is any indication, the new Myspace may be more important for brand marketers in 2013 than you think. While it is tempting to just dismiss any new social network as unworthy of attention, the “Borg-like hive-queen” vision of Google Plus and its slow ris...

The 2012 Influential Marketing Book Award Winners

The books on your shelf say something about you. That’s why most of us have books that we put on our shelves over the past year which we haven’t quite had a chance to read yet – but still display as a declaration of what we believe. As an author, I usually make it fully through at least 30 books a year (2-3 a month) and skim another 25-30 that are sent to me for review or that I purchase myself. Some are great – and some aren’t. But time is too short to devote attention to anything but the be...

You’re Fired, But Have A Happy New Year Anyway

It is the day after the final day of the NFL football regular season and all morning the sports news is filled with announcements of coaches and general managers of teams who are getting fired one by one. It’s hard to remember a time when a single day news cycle focuses so much on high profile people losing their job … and today has the added drama of being the last day of 2012.

Tomorrow will be 2013, and every coach (and player) who delivered their final contribution to their teams will start...

An Ingenious New Nonprofit Proves That Maybe You CAN Buy Forgiveness

It’s the holiday season and we’re in that delightfully slow week between Christmas Day and New Years where many of us have a chance to step out of the craziness of daily life, forget about work and just take a lazy little break. For many people in the world, however, this week won’t offer much relief because they have something ugly hanging over their heads. For some, it comes from unexpected medical bills. For others it comes from doing what was necessary to finish their education and pay fo...