FunnyBusiness: Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line

One-on-one marketing sells books

  On any given day John Shors may attend three or four book clubs -- always talking about the same book, "Beneath a Marble Sky." Shors is the book's author.

When the book-- an historical romance about the building of the Taj Mahal-- came out in hardback, it earned good reviews and mediocre sales. When it came out in paperback,Shors added a pesonal letter at the back of the book encouraging book clubs to book him for a personal engagement.

200 book clubs later, Shors' book sales are going great. It's number 350 on Amazon and getting 5 star reviews.

Book clubs are not the only people intriqued with Shors marketing strategy.He caught the eye of CBS Newsman Harry Smith. You can read his story or watch the video (beware you do have to watch some advertising before the interview  begins).

There is a second interview with just Smith chatting with Shors. You can watch that video as well.

Shors told Smith that his goal is to attend 1000 book clubs. He's booking book club discussions  through 2007.

A couple of years ago author Lorna Landvik ,"Patty Jane's House of Curls" visited my book club. It was great. Landvik lives in Minneapolis and she regularly attends book clubs in the cities. However, from a marketing perspective talking to the hometown crowd is probably not the best way to reach a wide audience.

Shors is taking  the book club personal appearance to a new level by making virtual guest appearances.Whether on a speaker phone or video conference-Shors visits these book club without stepping into their livingrooms--he is a virtual guest.

Watch the back of your paperbacks. I have a feeling that more and more authors will soon be hopping on the virtual book club tour.

Social Marketing via Beef Cake Calendar

  Social Marketing...not to be confused with Social Media... has been around since 1971. The basic concept -- an organization uses commercial marketing methods to affect positive social change.

For consumers it means that you purchase products knowing that the profits or a portion of the profits go to a cause that you support.

That's where this calendar comes in. From the AP by way of Sister Toldjah this calendar features marines and former marines who fought in Iraq. Two of the men featured in the calendar were injured in the war.

“It’s a stopgap effort to help people where government programs leave off,” said Rudy Reyes, who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan and is on the calendar’s cover. “This is a way for citizens to help citizens.”

The “America’s Heroes” calendar is being sold by Freedom is Not Free, a San Diego-based nonprofit group that helps injured service members and their families with such expenses as travel, mortgage and utility bills and special beds for burn victims.

Reyes and the other men who appear in the glossy 2007 lineup served in Iraq in Marine reconnaissance units. Sgt. James Wright, 31, who lost his hands and part of his leg, appears on the back cover in full uniform, saluting with what’s left of his right arm.

Several members of the group, promoting the calendar on a cross-country tour, said Thursday they have medical conditions, ranging from combat stress-related symptoms to injuries to their feet, knees, hips and backs from carrying combat loads of more than 200 pounds.

When service members come back, “many don’t have the financial or emotional support to get back to daily life,” said former Sgt. Michael Saucier, 24, of Prior Lake, Minn., who served two Iraq tours and is now a carpenter’s apprentice in Lake Tahoe, Nev.

The calendar can be purchased at the FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

The Grandma of this particular genre of Charity Calendars was the subject of a film called Calendar Girls --   based on a real event in 1999 when about a group of middle-age British Women posed nude and sold calendars to raise money for an organization that supported the terminally ill. 

The British Women thought they would see a couple hundred copies of their calendar. Instead they sold over 300,000.

McVirus,McLaw Suit,McGadget, McSales

It feels like the vacuum cleaner phenomenon.That's when you need to buy a new vacuum cleaner, open up the paper( if you still get a hard copy of the paper)and voila..there is a vacuum cleaner sale. Now what you learn in an advertising class is that vacuum cleaner sale ad has probably been there for months but until you need the vacuum cleaner you never saw the ad before. That's how I feel about all the bizarre stuff I found about McDonalds this week. Some of it just happened last week, some a month ago..it was all new to me.

First, there's the contaminated MP3 player.

Under the category that you can't win for losing, McDonald's Japan has issued a recall of some 10,000 MP3 Players it gave away as part of a promotion. As reported in the Register

"Punters received the contaminated gift after purchasing a large drink form the fast-food chain in Japan and submitting a serial number contained on the beverage holder as part of a competition, sponsored by McDonalds and Coca-cola. Users who connected the McDonald's-branded MP3 player to their Windows PC were exposed to spyware code programmed to transmit their web passwords and other sensitive information to hackers. The cause of the accidental infection is unclear but past experience suggests a contaminated machine involved in loading content onto the players is the likely culprit."

Then there's the judge who reversed himself and said two teenage girls could sue McDonald's for making them fat because of misleading advertising. ABC's John Stossel is not amused about the case that is now entering its fourth year.

"Whatever happened to self-responsibility? Sure, McDonald's commercials put the best spin on its products. All advertisers do that. Individuals should exercise caution, and parents should teach their kids a little skepticism. It's not as if information about nutrition is hard to come by. Today we're constantly harangued about cutting calories, reducing fat, and exercising more. McDonald's competitors, such as Subway, provide lots of counter-information. You'd have to live in a cave not to know about this stuff.

Fast food doesn't have to make you fat. Soso Whaley of New Hampshire once ate only at McDonald's for a month. The result? Unlike the guy who did the "Super Size Me" documentary, Soso lost 10 pounds, and her cholesterol dropped 40 points. How? She didn't pig out. Low-carb dieters have lost weight at McDonald's by eating the burgers without the buns and skipping the fries."

Speaking of informing  customers  about nutrition, Customers in McDonald's Japan ( yes those same customers who got the infected MP3 players) can scan their food with a gadget that displays nutritional info on their cell phones.

Known as a QR Code, these printed codes look somewhat like a barcode and are scannable by many photo cellphones. All sorts of information can be packed into these little codes, from the website to find the amount of calories and fat in a Big Mac to a company’s contact information on a business card.

Meanwhile, despite all the turmoil, business has never been better.

After months or declining sales and despite a good deal of negative publicity, McDonald's announced that they hit a six year high in sales both in the US and abroad, with the best performances from stores in the UK. The company cites in increase in healthier menu items, including salads and less fattening kids' choices. At UK restaurants, the new options include deli sandwiches, free-range eggs, more fruit and beef that is only "from the forequarter or flank of a cow."

P.S. In case you missed this in May ( I did), McDonald's is also undergoing an extreme McMakeover which will include cozy couches, WiFi, plasma TVs and premium Coffee. Think of it as the Starbuckization of McDonald's.

"After 30 years without a major design overhaul, the 51-year-old fast-food giant is adopting a hip new look. The world's largest hamburger chain is redesigning its 30,000 eateries around the globe in a 21st century makeover of unprecedented scale.

The redesign is risky and has many franchisees up in arms over the high costs of a makeover. But company officials believe the overhaul is needed. McDonald's, whose restaurants are visited by more than 40 million people every day, has moved aggressively over the past three years to revamp its menu and attract a new breed of customer."

While customers may enjoy the change, the franchisees are less than enthused. It will cost them around $300,000 to make the change. This is not an optional change. The only way to stay part of the McDonald's family is to order that cozy couch.

The business story behind Dove's Evolution Video

               
 

It is fast becoming one of the most watched videos on the Internet. For  Dove,all those eyeballs will translate into increased sales. In the two years since Dove decided to brand itself as the beauty company that celebrates real beauty that strategy has rewarded the company with double digit sales increases.

 

A year ago, Strategy Magazine looked at Dove's strategy to transform itself from marketer to social activist.

"[Women] are really connected to the brand, and in a way that it's not just 'I like their message'; they're starting to see now that we're really doing things that are working toward social change." That strategy is key to the brand's success. "The way we see it is that people buy brands first. They access a brand through products," she adds.

And sales prove it: "We've experienced strong double-digit growth in every new category that we're in," says Mark Wakefield, marketing director. Brand recognition is also strong. During its brand tracking, consumers were asked if they recognized the Dove blue bird logo. "Ninety percent of people recognized it," he says. "Just slightly behind the Nike swoosh."

Moving forward, the plan is to continue focusing on the successful formula.

As part of its marketing, Dove is providing financial support to organizations that help "foster a broader definition of beauty."

Help Create The Women's Executive Coloring Book

One of the best parts of having people leave comments on your blog is that you go visit their blog and find stuff you'd never otherwise see. That's the case with "The Executive Coloring book" circa 1961.

When I checked out Todd's blog, The Bullshit Observer: Politics, Advertising, Hollywood and Other Bullshit he had recently discovered this classic which is hosted by Adtothebone.com

 

I''m in a cafe right now near the Castro in San Francisco. Every single person in here stopped what they were doing just now and looked at me as I was cry-laughing uncontrollably about this Executive Coloring book.

Walk through the executive's day and color his things for him. For example, his briefcase. The instruction copy: This is my attache case. It helps people know I am an executive. It makes me look efficient,organized, competent. I wonder if it opens.

Not sure whether the coloring book was the real thing or a spoof, I went to Amazon. Here is what an anonymous reader shared,

"This coloring book for grown-ups is a forgotten spoof of the "Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" generation. Published in 1961, it became a best-seller, and was so popular that it was parodied in Playboy Magazine and talked about on the Tonight Show. If Jack Paar had a copy, you know it was cool! There is a potentially vast audience of martini-drinking lounge devotees out there who would love this book's tongue-in-cheek approach. If you can find a copy of The Executive Coloring Book, buy it!"

Still not sure whether this coloring book was actually created in 1961 and not a 2006 spoof, I did a Google search.That's when I discovered that in  1978 Leo Burnett, the ad agency that brought us the Jolly Green Giant had its own version of the coloring book, called The Adman Coloring Book

"THIS IS MY ATTACHE CASE. It helps people know I am an account executive. It makes me look efficient.Organized. Competent. I wonder if it opens."

Completely inspired by Leo Burnett's, parody,inspiration or semi-plagiarism, I decided it was time to create  The Executive Women's Coloring book.  The thing is I can't do it by myself and think this blog would be a great place to have a collaborative effort.

Here is my contribution.

In place of the attache case....
" This is my Hermes Bag.  It makes me look very successful. Martha Stewart carried one just like it to her trial every day.  Lots of celebrities have this exact bag. .I'm a vice president. I bought it on eBay. I carry my breast pump inside."

Want to add a caption or drawing.?Visit either the original Book or Leo Burnett's version and  write the gal's version.

If I could draw I would adapt the graphics but alas and alack I don't even do stick people all that well. But share your drawings and your captions and help create the "The Executive Woman's Coloring Book .

" I look forward to your contributions.

UPDATE;  I created a Wiki. It's my first so if it needs revisions, please let me know. But if you want to help create the Executive Women's Coloring Book, click here.

It's Not Nice To Fool Mother Nature

This is cross-posted at Blogher

When I started posting this morning my intent was to feature the blog of  Alisha Vincent. Vincent is a newbie to Blogher. If you go to the Business & Career blogroll you'll find her as a new member.  Two hours later I'm feeling a bit conflicted.

My conflict began when I started searching for some photos of Alisha's artwork. See, Alisha's blog is about the business side of being an artist.

I was genuinely excited to share her blog. It has great advice.

You can work in an office or tell yourself that parenting is your true path in life but if creativity is something you've been hit over the head with, there is no greater or lesser priority. It's simply something you have to do. So make time for it.
...Don't avoid what's in front of you. Take what was thrust into your hand and do something with it. Make art with meaning. Make art with intention and purpose. Be creative and don't look back. And, above all, stop asking why or what you're supposed to do with this passion... and just do it, already!

And Practical Tips

So, you want to be a successful, self-supporting artist or craftsperson? And, you know a million and one things you need to work on, learn, or develop to get you to that goal?

What you need now is to SET YOUR GOALS IN STONE by BUILDING IN CONSEQUENCES.

Your graceful walk towards the goal will turn into a gallop (or in my case, a procrastination frenzy) when you take time NOW to...

... mark your calendar with the date you expect to accomplish a task;

... plan a studio open house, release party, unveiling, or opening night;

... print postcards or invitations for your open house or new work unveiling;

... invite your peers, people from your network, and those you admire to attend your event;

... post your event date and some rough details of what you hope to accomplish on your own blog.

Imagine having a party at your home or studio to announce your business name, reveal your logo, unveil your latest work, or have a group critique session.

Would it really be so difficult to just put a simple consequence on the horizon that pushes?

Procrastinate tomorrow.
Mark your calendar today.

But  when I went surfing to find a sample of Alisha's art to include in this post, I discovered something else out about her that made me let go of the fact that I had spent several hours reading her blog.

When you read Alisha's blog you get the distinct impression she is a working artist.

But, artists… we don’t always see it. We wrap our heart into things. We tell ourselves the minutiae IS important and that even if people don’t notice it – it’s the intent that matters. For a maintenance man, going through unrecognized motions is draining and absurd. For an artist, going through the motions with inconsequential details is still draining and absurd… we just tell ourselves it’s not because it helps justify our wasted energy or it demonstrates how dedicated we truly are.

Her About me section on her blog says a lot...

fine art, contemporary craft, creative careers, arts administration, business education, obtainable goals, realistic expectations, art education, networking, success

But its what she doesn't say that has my undies in a bundle.

Alisha is the Public Affairs Director of the The Rosen Group.

The Rosen Group, an arts marketing, publishing and advocacy agency located in Baltimore, Maryland, was founded in 1981 by Wendy Rosen. The Rosen Group was created to function similar to a trade association for American crafts. "What craftspeople needed," Rosen says, "was support from the kind of infrastructure other industries have developed — trade shows, publications, and associations – but adjusted to the needs and values of crafts artists."

Now does that negate the quality of the information in her blog? No. The blog  does answer the  key question she poses

Where do ART, CRAFT, and ENTREPRENEURSHIP merge? Is it possible to make artwork, sell it, and not drive yourself into premature insanity? Is an artful life more fullfilling?

The conflict is that she never tells you she is an employee of  an organization that serves as a trade organization for craft arts. This is her job.

The first time I heard the expression "High Art" was in the 1970s.I was living in the Fan District of Richmond Virginia. My neighbors were art students and art professors. They were all struggling artists.

"High Art"  was part of their never ending conversation because my artist neighbors  were continually struggling  between the desire to create "high art" and their very real desire to earn a living.

Every profession has it's own  "high art'-- To me, High Art in blogging means transparency, disclosure and ethical behavior. It means taking the high road.

I just hope that the Rosen Group will see the benefit of "High Art" and start acknowledging that Alisha's Blog is a business strategy.

When Business gives you lemons....Merchandise it,baby!

Yesterday, I shared the story of Henderson Bas aka TheNiceAgency about a nasty email their CEO sent to staff regarding the need to clean the office.

Instead of hoping the  episode would simply disappear into the night, the agency did what has become a North American tradition--sell merchandising.

Shortly after the scandal broke, the agency changed it's home page to:

It was either very popular or the agency has a great sense of humor.

And not to be out, Cafepress has a complete line of products commemorating the episode.

Tags: FunnyBusiness, advertising, merchandising, business culture, work, employment

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Piler, Tossers, &Filers

Name

The "survey" is a beloved PR tool because the media adores reporting on surveys --it doesn't matter who the source is, surveys are fun. They have numbers. They categorize people. They are easy to report.

Often whey a company wants to promote a new product, service , program or organization they will conduct a survey on a related topic and then hope the media will credit them a the "source" of the survey.

And so Kudos to Pentaflex for coming up with a fun ( who knows if its actually factual) survey about people's organizational styles. What I really like about Pentaflex is they are being very transparent that the survey is part of the launch of  a new product.

According to the survey there are three styles Pilers, Tossers & Filers. More on that in a little bit.

As it turns out the largest group is Pilers --48% strong. So here's the thing. Pentaflex is a company that makes filing products. If 48% of the potential market fesses up that they don't file then to some folks, Pentaflex has a big fat problem--an untapped market share.

But marketing folks don't see problems they see "opportuntiies" and so someone came up with the idea that if you can't take the filing system to the worker, create a faux desktop filing system that doen't require getting out of the chair, swiveling over to the filing cabinet or bending down to insert the files in the cabinet.

Here's the product.

It's called the PileSmart Label Clip. Here's how Pentaflex describes is on their special PileSmart Label Clip Campaign Page.

"Documents are piling up.  Stack upon stack.  Everything looks the same. No Problem.
The new Pendaflex® PileSmart™ Label Clip allows you to quickly clip and label documents in one easy step. "

Did they actually talk to any pilers? Did they observe pilers in action? This is what a pilers desk looks like on a good day .

Name

Their website provides "tips" on how to use these clips.

TIP #1Label the files in your piles clearly. ( I'm not going to include the entire tip but the last sentence says " Remember to write legibly on your labels to avoid confusion.

If a real piler was going to make the effort to organize their papers, write on a clip, they would probably be willing to file them-- I actually looked for a file the other day.  I considered putting a group of papers in that file. I drilled down through the random pieces of free will that occupy my desktop looking for a manilla, puprle or orange file. Couldn't find one. So, I cleaned up my desk and created three key files. That lasted about 10 minutes until I needed a piece of paper and completely merged the separate piles back together.

TIP 2  Color-code your piled files  ( that would require using the PileSmart Label Clip) The benefit they say is you'll save time.

Tip 3  Keep your desktop piles straight and orderly  Are you jokin' me?

Tip 4  Leave room between piles   Please tell me this is supposed to be funny!

Tip 5  Keep same-subject files to their own respective piles.  I've already addressed this issue. That just isn't going to happen.

Now to the survey. You know who you are. Did Pentaflex nail ya?

"POPULAR PILERS (48 percent)

“Pilers” are commonplace in offices, encompassing nearly half of the workforce.  Apparently, the office isn’t the only place they let clutter accumulate, as 59 percent describe their house as ‘somewhat messy.’  They are ‘workaholics’ and ‘sophisticated,’ but loosen up by watching their favorite sport, baseball.  Besides enjoying the company of man’s best friend, “Pilers” relax in natural surroundings, such as parks.  They are intellectuals, holding the most master’s and doctorate degrees. 

FAITHFUL FILERS (38 percent)

Unsurprisingly, enigmatic “Filers” allow their organizational habits to extend past the office, with a majority (63 percent), deeming their home to be ‘neat.’ They manage to be both ‘conservative’ and ‘easy going.’ Using their education from bachelor’s degrees, “Filers” boast office management titles.  In their spare time, they love tropical island vacations, swimming and listening to R&B, as well as jazz. 

TART TOSSERS (14 percent)

Although some might describe throwing away documents as careless, cutting down on clutter clearly has its benefits – “Tossers” have the highest probability of describing their living area as ‘perfect,’ with everything in the right place.  Besides throwing around papers, “Tossers” toss hoops, with 37 percent hailing basketball as their favorite sport.  These social butterflies are drawn to big cities for vacation and enjoy going out on the town with friends.  ‘Young at heart’ “Tossers” work as team leaders and are most likely to have only a high school diploma.  "

To support this campaign, the company has created the "I hate filing club"--it's a place where organizationally challenged people can ask for organizational advice. My favorite was from a freelance writer who wanted advice on how to manage his "mound of paper. He wrote that he had paper everywhere. The response was simplhy this :Any ideas? Welcome to my world. Technical note: the "embarassed" smileys are supposed to sandwich the question any ideas? I can't seem to get that to happen. But hopefully you get the idea.

Tulip O'My Tulip

NOTE: The spellchecker is not working again..jeez.

It was the first post I saw when I clicked onto Blogher this morning --Liza Sabeter's provocative post Is this blog history in the making? I am 1 of 24 bloggers invited by Holland.com to visit Amsterdam

Here's the deal : the bloggers are being invited to a five day all expense-paid trip to Holland. No blogging about the trip will be required.

"In exchange for the trip each blogger will [a] be interviewed about the trip (the Dutch Tourism Board may be using this for online/offline promotions), [b] give Holland.com one month of premium adspace, and [c] put the "Bloggers in Amsterdam" logo in their nav bar for one year, linking it to this blog post to disclose the nature of the trip. The mantra here is transparency. "

Here is my response that posted on Blogher.

Is it transparency, unconscionable, or the changing of the guard?

This junket is both fascinating and a bit horrifying to me because it is forcing me to debate with myself the very core of my blogging ethics.

I think it is absolutely brilliant on the part of the tourism bureau of Holland and their marketing strategists. Money well spent.
Even before people are leaving there is attention on the program...Holland is getting exactly what it wants...media time. Bravo to them. From a marketing perspective , it is fabulous.

On a personal level I would love for someone to invite me to an all expense-paid vacation to Holland. My ego would love it that someone thought my blog was adworthy enough to be included. I would love just going and being on a junket and hanging out with a bunch of bloggers who may or may not be blogging in the spirit of "transparency' about the junket. In many ways, I would finally feel like I was getting paid for my work.

On first read,my inclination was to think I would have to decline the offer. This in no way an indictment against the bloggers invited and who accepted the junket.

It just highlights the spectrum of personal ethics and backgrounds that bloggers have.

For many ,the "transparency" of the entire vacation provides the ethical window to go, imbibe and take in the sites. Maybe you'll blog and maybe you won't. Actually you already have. And that is making some marketing person very happy. They probably have promised that the entire program would deliver X amount of coverage and this post is helping them achieve that goal.

Then there are they recovering journalists like myself --the ones who went to journalism school in an era where we were taught that it was "unethical" to accept anything in exchange for coverage. The goal was to try to be as objective as possible and the ethics said, when you are given a gift you are more likely to write favorable stuff.

But here's where my struggle erupts. Am I so steeped in old-fashioned values that I am not being realistic of the new business model?

Is accepting this junket really so different than a newspaper,TV or radio station that accepts advertising? As bloggers we are both the reporter and the advertising department-- that is if we are trying to make a living at blogging.

Traditional media outlets all exist thanks to advertisers(or grants from foundations which in my mind is advertising)so what's the problem in accepting a junket? A girl has to live and take a vacation once in awhile.

The old mantra was "don't mix advertising and 'the news'." Advertisers supposedly couldn't pressure the newsroom and say cover this story( that of course is debatable)

If, as a blogger, I would accept advertisers to my blog ( and they are very welcome) then what is my ethical problem with the junket? If an adveriser were really paying me, wouldn't I self-censor myself just as I self-censor myself about sharing stories about current business clients?

If I will accept compensation via advertising, isn't the junket just another form of compensation- a lovely one at that.

The journalist blogger in me is fascinated by this story just as I am fascinated by product placement advertising in movies and television, and advertisers trying to figure out how to out TiVo, TiVo.

So while I did not get a dance card on this one, I hope to 'cover' this story on several levels. I want to understand the ethics of it. I want to understand the personal censorship of it ( If you have a horrible hotel room, will you blog about that and face the possibility that when Saint Bart's offers a junket you may be excluded for bad blogging)and,

I want to understand---- if transparency is the new ethical standard, will truth or truthiness prevail?

Truthiness, Zero Coke & Blogs

Diet Coke is a girlie drink. The Coca-Cola Company wants to bring  the "man's man" audience to their drinking community. They've put up $18 million dollars to convince twenty-something testosterone- laden humans that this is the drink that will keep hair on their chest,love handles at bay, and rocket launch their coolness aura.

The bloggers are having a field day-- at least that's the word from New Zealand's news website --Stuff

"Although the goal was to tease the market and create some buzz among the web-savvy "neos" in the twenty something age-bracket, the blogging community has issued its own verdict.

Those searching out blogger commentary on the zero movement are likely to find posts along the lines of: "How many ad agencies does it take to patronise a demographic?"

A spoof zero movement site suggests readers take the money they would usually spend on soft drinks, and give it to charity, while spin-off blog The Zero Movement Sucks has begun selling T-shirts that say: "I joined the zero movement and all I got was this lousy brain tumour"."

Even forgetting that this is the company that survived a self-inflicted near fatal wound to its brand with the ill-fated Classic Coke introduction, you would think that a company that can spend $18 dollars to promote a product would understand what Stephen Colbert, bloggers, and the drinking public get.

Even truthiness has its limits.

For Corporate Bloggers the case of the Zero Movement Blog could become a Coke Classic for doing everything you shouldn't do in blogging to try to reach your target audience.

In the case of the "Zero Movement' the bloggers are doing to Zero Coke what Oprah Just did to James Frey.

Tony Kelly a journalist and blogger for B&T, Australia's highest-circlation advertising, marketing and media magazine says the bloggers are hammering Cokes attempt at blogging as,

"a cynical  marketing ploy abusing the high level communication and trust established between bloggers and the communities that gather around them. There are some wonderful aspects to an age where every consumer has a voice if they have access to blogger.com or typepad but if you are big company like Coke trying desperately to be down with the kids, then a site like The Zero Movement Sucks isn’t one of them."

Back in June, brand expert Laura Ries shared her thoughts on the Zero Movement.

"Zero does zero for the Coke brand. It is just a further watering down of the Coke brand in the mind of the consumer. Pretty soon, Coke will be so watered down you might as well just call it Dasani.

The idea behind Coca-Cola Zero is to attract young male consumers who shun beverages with the word Diet on them. I guess we are assuming young men are really stupid. Any one who has finished the fifth grade can figure out Coca-Cola Zero is the same as Diet Coke!:

Meanwhile, over at the Zero Movement Blogone does get the feeling that it's written by a a bunch of thirty-something females trying a little too hard to relate to twenty-something man types. A quick list of the folks that are commenting on the site, gives the feel that its found its audience -- girlie girls. Bethy, Elana ( no not me), Emma and Michelle.

See, in creating this marketing campaign targeted to males, the company overlooked a key aspect of human nature. Girls really believe the lyrics to the old Connie Francis song, " Where the boys are, someone waits for me A smilin' face, a warm embrace, two arms to hold me tenderly Where the boys are, my true love will be He's walkin' down some street in town and I know he's lookin' there for me"