June 14, 2005

On Buying American

You're right, Nikki, Buying American is pretty much of a bogus idea these days...and has been for some time.

After all, the world IS flat.

For example, if you buy a BMW, are you NOT buying American? Three BMW models are made exclusively here in South Carolina. That's lots of American jobs. And so is the import and export of BMW's. Ten years ago 25,000 BMW's were annually imported and exported through the Port of Charleston. This year, that number will probably top 160,000.

An Important Anniversary in the History of Computers

Now they are part of our lives. We take them for granted. They have changed our world. And, BOY have they changed marketing and communications!!

But it wasn't so long ago - just 54 years ago today - that the first computer was dedicated: the UNIVAC 1. It used 5,200 vacuum tubes and weighed 29,000 pounds. I think it cost about $250,000. CBS bought the fifth one (the Census Bureau bought the first one), and they used it to accurately predict the 1952 presidential election, using a sample of just 1% of the votes. This was revolutionary.

Twenty years later, microchips changed everything. And look what's happened since then!

Another Case for Integrated Marketing Services

We're proud of the seamlessness of our services. Sitting in a client meeting yesterday, I was struck by how inter-related each of our disciplines is. There were media people talking about promotions, public relations people talking about interactive ideas, account people talking about media targeting, etc.

Today's 4-A's briefing notes that MediaPost says PR firms tend to be on the cutting edge of understanding the impact of blogs and other 'personalized media.' The inference is that ad agencies lag behind.

Well, that's all the more reason to be neither one nor the other. That is, you will inevitably find that different people from different disciplines will have different levels of expertise on different issues. All the more reason to blend them together so that clients get the best thinking.

The Fun Never Stops

You gotta hand it to Mike Veeck. He has put the fun and excitement into minor league baseball. We went to one of his games tonight, and it's nonstop fun. There's always something going on...no dead air, ever...and everyone - everyone! - in the park has a smile on their face. I've never seen so many happy faces.

Pick a lane, focus on it, make it come alive, make everything reinforce it, take chances, and have great fun along the way. Veeck and his book "Fun is Good" are full of marketing wisdom.