This morning I had the honor of being a panelist along with two other folks I respect: David Peters from Net Point Marketing and Brian Hoyt, Gahanna’s Public Information Officer.  The discussion initially had the subject line “Secrets to ensure success with social media.”

I suggested that was a dumb theme since there really are no “secrets,” and nothing we’d suggest could actually ensure success of their website or social media program. There’s just too many variations to ensure success… and we know people measure success differently. Plus, all search engine optimization and social media efforts take time to kick in and show results.

But it was fun nevertheless. Thanks for moderator Lamar Love and the fine folks at The Gahanna Chamber of Commerce, Columbus Ohio.

The more you learn about what happens to bottled water before it reaches you, and even more so, what happens to so many bottles after we’re done with them, it makes you want to swear off bottled water.

To see what the “cost” of bottled water is before it reaches you, check out this infographic.

To see what happens to the plastic bottles (actually, it’s not just bottles) that get discarded, check out this article in CNN Technology.

Way back in 2007, San Francisco’s Mayor had banned City departments from buying bottled water, and a citywide ban is being considered as well. And around the world, colleges and universities are taking notice of Washington University’s decision to ban the sale of bottled water on their campus.

I know it’s hard NOT to grab a bottle of water once in a while, but even if we manage to cut back (which, unfortunately, involves planning ahead) a little, and enough of us do it, that little effort can go a long way.

A Facebook group, currently with over 1 million members is “praying” for the death of President Obama.

It includes anti-Obama imagery (uploaded by the group’s members) that show the president against a communist flag, juxtaposed with insulting and derisive captions, or even a cartoon associating Obama to Hitler.

Lots of normal people have called for Facebook to remove the group’s page as “offensive speech.” I’d always though Freedom of Speech was a critical right, until it promoted hatred or violence against other groups or individuals, like these losers do.

Unfortunately, the group lists its location as “Marysville, OH, 43040.”  I can’t imagine how embarrassing it is for those folks in Marysville who ARE grounded in reality, who don’t promote death as a means to an end.  To be associated with that city just by the nature of sharing a ZIP code has got to be humiliating.

I recently saw this ad from Discover Card, one of the major advertisers in, let’s say, the country.

Now, one would think they hired a marketing firm or ad agency to design this ad. And the best they can come up with was a FORTUNE COOKIE? Maybe I’m mistaken… perhaps they hired the receptionist’s nephew.

Fortune cookies ads are, shall we say, overdone. Upon seeing any of these ads (below) presented by their agency, can you imagine the Marketing Director at any of these companies saying “Damn! A fortune cookie ad! That’s creative. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything like it before!” ?  (And these folks still have jobs?!?!)

Now that the fortune cookie thing has been done in all it’s incarnations,  can we all agree it’s time to move on? Following are samples of other companies who decided not to use any brain cells, and do fortune cookie ads.

I’m hoping this is the last we’ll see of these ads.

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.

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.

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.