Recently, we were in Albuquerque, New Mexico visiting friends. Ater a night of Margaritas at Sadie’s, we passed by these billboards. Now we don’t know if they were funnier then than they are now, but somehow they captivated us.

Turns out the yoga board is for a burger joint that was down the road from this board. We could only imagine the instructions to the billboard company from the owner of the burger place: “Just flip our mascot upside down to show the yoga crowd we relate to their healthy choices. That should get ‘em coming in the door!”

And for those wishing to refill their Internet, this Computer Services store has just what you’re looking for. What that is, we’re not sure, because we always thought the Internet just refilled itself.

You’re welcome.

Captivating captive audiences around the luggage carousels at airports

At airports around the world, dozens of companies are putting their messages in front of captive audiences as they wait for their luggage to arrive. Some are on the conveyor belt like the image above, and some are marketing messages that actually tumble onto the carousel with the luggage as you can see here.

There’s no doubt, we have to look at SOMETHING for 15 minutes as we wait for our luggage to show up.

As time goes on, we’re gonna see more ways to be exposed to advertising messages. Maybe not at the level that Tom Cruise was in Minority Report, but ya never know! Mini Cooper is marketing to individuals by name in public! (Even KFC is getting into the act by putting ads on fire extinguishers in Indiana for the “fiery chicken meal.”

Our opinion is: if they’re done well, we don’t mind!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (which, by the way, is a very environmentally-friendly thing to do!), you may have noticed your target markets have been changing: from people concentrating on material stuff, to humans concerned about the world around them.

True, every prospect still wants to know “what’s in it for me?” but there’s another element at work now. Your audience(s) now have a raised environmental consciousness. A new sensitivity about how they live and how that affects the world around them. And as part of the awareness, they’re also looking for companies they work with to share that same focus.

Companies now have two bottom lines.

If you haven’t started already, you’ll find your company will be responsible for two bottom lines: one for profit, and one for its contribution to making their customer’s corner of the world a little bit better. But keep in mind you can’t change the world yourself, so teaming up with other organizations who have the same goals, often makes a world of sense. And ultimately, one bottom line will enhance the other.

Good luck with your green efforts in 2010. You can read an interesting blog on Marketing: Green here. And to see what we’re doing with marketing to environmentally-conscious companies, check out Lime Marketing.

In our very first blog post (way back in October of 2008) we wrote about the problems with the proposed electric street cars in Columbus (Ohio). We ranted, and listed half a dozen reasons why it was a bad idea.

Our suggestion was: since increasing ridership was critical, why not do it with a über-cool futuristic bus? Well, turns out when we were in Las Vegas over the holidays, we saw one. This is what it looked like:

So turns out that one city has taken the step to step up the image of their mass transit. Congratulations LVRTA!

If anyone knows of another cool form of transportation being used in the US (or ANYWHERE for that matter), please send us a link!

We never cease to be amazed at the wierd/bad advertising being done, even by major companies.

Take, for example, this ad by Micheloeb. Not sure if you’ve ever known anyone who has ever said “Y’know, this gravity thing just isn’t working for me. I really wish someone made a bottle that poured my beer more smoothly/faster/better.” (By the way, if you DO know someone who said that, please pass their name along to us: we’d love to talk with them!)

Anyway, there are companies (for example: this little brewery called Cary Hills) that do create ads that hit their target audience spot on. Because some guys do drink to get buzzed, their ad hits that hot button.

Granted, Micheloeb tried to throw in a benefit (Pours easy for a smooth taste) but that’s so lame. So as a reminder for the new year: don’t be afraid to take chances with your marketing, because that’s what will make you stand out! Happy New Year!

Nineteen million trees are cut down each year to publish both the White and Yellow Pages phone books. As if that isn’t bad enough, there’s also a lot of energy used: 7.2 million barrels of oil and 3 billion kilowatt hours of consumption, as well as 268,000 cubic yards of landfill. And that’s BEFORE we all toss the phone books!

So why not just stop creating them altogether? By now most of us are looking up everything online anyway. (OK, let them make 10,000 books for the over 75- crowd!)

When was the last time you looked through a White or Yellow Pages book? If enough of us opt-out of receiving them they may stop creating these huge tree- and energy-wasting books. You can opt out of getting these books sent to you by signing up at Yellow Pages Goes Green. Please do it now.

For 2010, we’re gonna resolve to do things we KNOW we can easily do. No more diets, improving ourselves, or making the world a better place! No sir! This year, we resolve to:

1.  Not commit any major felonies (ie: robbing banks, arson or kidnapping)

2.  Not create a Ponzi scheme to bilk unwitting investors out of billions of dollars, and

3.  No trafficking narcotics or human body parts.

There. That was easy.

Aurthur Clarke  (2001: A space Odyssey), said that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

And this time of year, what’s more magic than the ability of one fat guy to circumnavigate the globe delivering presents. Well, turns out there’s a gentleman who can give us insights into just how that happens. He explains it’s because Santa has advanced technology not available to man, hence making it seem like magic.

To listen Gregory Mone explain it, with quantum physics, worm holes and those special glasses Santa wears (that makes Xray specs seem old-fashioned) it all makes sense. Mr. Mone figured the domestic tally for an operation on Santa’s scale would cost in the range of $30 billion per year, which is why he says “There is good reason why Santa employs cost-free and happy elves…”

You can hear a brief interview here on NPR with Gregory Mone. It’s quite fascinating.

The other day we were talking about silly ads, and we gave ourselves the challenge of what we would do if were asked to market adult diapers. How would one overcome the trauma of having to wear them? (Not that we’re there yet ourselves, mind you.. of course not… no way!!!) But we wondered: was it possible to make the indignation of needing adult diapers go away? And was there a way to make them even appear, if not “cool,” then at least not make one feel like the old fart you are?

So this was our shot at that challenge. Let us know what you think. (Of course, because it’s the holidays we thought of Santa, but we could easily come up with another option to replace him.)

Saw a video this weekend about the “dangers” of groin-to-groin front hugs among teens. We’ll go out on a limb here, and guess most mature people think there are better topics to rally against than the front hug. Of course, this group offers an alternative called the “Christian Side Hug.” (Believe me, I am NOT  making this up!)

As marketers, we’re not the target audience of many of the products and services we help clients with, but we can put ourselves in the shoes of those audiences. And I just can’t believe this particular effort hits the target audience in any way that’s just short of hilarious. (Which means it will probably go viral, but for reasons OTHER than intended.)

There are kick@ss outreach campaigns out there. Two of our favorites are the “Scratch & Sniff dirty diaper“  done for the Milwaukee United Way, and the “Safe Sexting” campaign warning about texting photos to your boy/girlfriend you’re bound to regret. (Click on images to read more.)