Great meetup of the WordPress faithful this year in San Francisco.
More comments later, cause man am I tired.
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Month: July 2007
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Harry Potter mania grips San Francisco
So, I hadn’t really intended to go to a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows launch party. I’m actually one book behind and my wife was getting the book (pre-ordered months ago) from the company that should not be named today.
But, after a great late dinner at Siam Lotus, I remembered that Booksmith was open for the event and I couldn’t quite go to bed yet. We wandered over at 11pm and the party had already started.
You gotta give it to Booksmith. This is why stores like theirs are still around despite deep discounts and giant booksellers like Barnes and Noble. To quote Samuel Jackson, personality goes a long way.
I suspect they might be around once Amazon has put Borders and Barnes and Noble out of business.
Check out more pix in my Flickr album.
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Moo Stickers are shipping
Those crazy Brits have done it again.
This morning, Moo’s latest product, Moo Stickers went live. They are promoting the stickers with free shipping for the rest of the month.
If you’re not familiar with Moo, they’re the guys that take your Flickr pix (or Fotolog, Bebo, Vox, etc) and make them into half size business cards. They’re fun, small and a great conversation piece when giving out business cards.
Yay! Stickers
I’ve got a special place in my heart for stickers these days. If you’ve got kids, you know what I’m talking about. I’m not sure what the fascination my little girl has with stickers, but I seem to recall getting sticker books when I was a kid.
Anyhow, I need to find some fairy princess mermaid ballerinas to take pictures of for Olivia. Moo has made it easy to make them into stickers for hours of entertainment.
(Oh, I’m sure they have other uses too, but 3 year olds have priority)
Special thanks to my pal Denise Wilton over at Moo for getting me a preview of the fun.
Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting through a meeting that Boxbe was being pitched for “buzz marketing” marketing services from a third party. This company proceeded to show us pretty graphs and charts that illustrated how social media marketing can help small companies grow more quickly. Hmmmm…
Social media, it turns out can also help spread word of mouth more quickly. Having popped into this meeting a little late, I didn’t get to introduce myself, but largely, I kept my mouth shut to see where this company was going with their presentation.
Then they started talking about how they have many “agents” that post on their own blogs as well as comment on message boards, other blogs and in social networks without disclosure of their interests. They then proceed to detail out how they use dial up accounts, coffee shops and IP masking to obfuscate their IP addresses so their “marketers” can have conversations with themselves.
Now, staying silent in this meeting proved to be more and more difficult. Finally, I asked if they used Pay Per Post and the guy pitching us said, “No, they disclose who they are marketing for.”
Not exactly the answer I was looking for.
After this meeting, which didn’t last too long, I felt like I needed a shower.
It’s pretty easy to see companies today using tactics like this, but somehow it still surprises me. Maybe Scoble’s book had a lot of influence on me. Maybe, just maybe, I have morals, but somehow even beyond that, maybe I’m just not that stupid.
I’m sure that in the short run, they could have helped us get more users for Boxbe, but in the long run, I have to think that this kind of sleazy marketing just comes back to haunt you.
Just ask John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods.