A Must Read: Drake Morton

Make Them An Offer They Can’t Refuse

by Irv Brechner , Thursday, May 22, 2008

EVERYONE INVOLVED IN LEAD GENERATION should read “Why $0.00 is the Future of Business” by Chris Anderson, in the March, 2008 issue of Wired. It has invaluable lessons for those of us who make our livings generating leads online.
The author, Chris Anderson of “The Long Tail” fame, starts off with the story of King Gillette, a frustrated inventor who essentially started the disposable razor blade industry. Of course, his model has been dramatically refined over the years to the point where the razors themselves are disposable. But you get the point: give away the razors and sell the blades.
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Great Read, Great Marketing Opportunity: Drake Morton

Leveraging Social Media

To Create Social Commerce

By Cory TreffilettiWednesday, May 21, 2008
If you recall, way back in November of last year, I laid out my predictions for 2008. Among those predictions, of which I have to say I’m not doing too well, there was one for the “killer app” in social media — and I want to revisit that topic because I’m still flabbergasted that no one has come up with it yet!
The beauty of social media lies in the aggregation of the everyday consumer. Most of social media is currently being used as a networking or a (as the name implies) social interaction tool.    I use it for keeping in touch with old friends and my extended business network, but the opportunity lies in going far beyond social interaction. How come no one has cracked the code or determined the application of social interactions for creating commerce?
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Fun Read: Drake Morton

Don’t Need Help, Just Need A Latte!

by David Baker , Monday, April 28, 2008

Did you know that over 167.1 million Americans drink coffee?  In Vegas, they’ll give odds that four in 10 coffee drinkers will take it black.  The average consumer drinks 1.64 cups of coffee a day in America.  In 1962, the average American drank only 3.12 cups of coffee a week.

Coffee is such a mainstay of our society today.  You almost can’t drive in any major city without seeing a Starbucks or Peet’s or some shop selling coffee every block or two.  Now enters Dunkin Donuts and McDonald’s getting into the latte craze. Yes, the Harley Davidson crowd drink lattes as well.
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Good Read: Drake Morton

Consumers Cut Back On Everything But Driving,

Study Finds 

by Aaron Baar
[Trends] “Gas prices are already affecting vehicle sales in every segment, and traditional sport utility vehicles have been especially hard hit,” says Kelley Blue Book’s Jack Nerad. “Other industries will feel the pinch as consumers cut out life’s little luxuries like clothes, eating out and entertainment just so they can pay the fuel bills.”Rising gas prices are already taking a toll on Americans’ discretionary spending –all the way up to influencing purchasing a new house–according to new marketing research from Kelley Blue Book. (more…)

85% Of World’s Online Population Shopped On The Web

According to the latest Nielsen Global Online Survey on internet shopping habits, more than 85% of the world’s online population has used the internet to make a purchase, increasing the market for online shopping by 40% in the past two years.

Bruce Paul, VP, Customized Research, Nielsen US, said “When The Nielsen Company conducted its first global survey into internet shopping trends two years ago, approximately 10% of the world’s population (627 million) had shopped online. Within two years, this number has increased by approximately 40% to 875 million.”

Globally, more than half of internet users have made at least one purchase online in the past month, according to Nielsen. (more…)

By Ross Fadner , January 18, 2008

Video Games Sales Surged 43% in ‘07

Associated Press
Video games had a monster year in 2007, according to annual sales figures from NPD Group, with retail sales $17.94 billion thanks to high-demand for games like “Halo 3″ and next generation consoles like the Nintendo Wii. Video game sales grew 43 percent, up from 12.53 billion in 2006. In December alone, Americans spent $4.82 billion on games, up 28 percent from a year earlier and 83 percent from November.

Breaking down the numbers, hardware sales jumped 54 percent to $7.04 billion in 2007, while software sales grew 34 percent to $8.64 billion. “The industry has become much more generally accepted as a mainstream form of entertainment, and that sets it up well for future expansion,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier told the AP.

As expected, Nintendo dominated hardware sales in 2007. It’s portable DS game system was the best-selling console with 8.5 million units sold, 2.5 million of which came in December. The Wii, in high-demand but short supply all year, sold 6.3 million units, with 1.4 million in December. Nintendo said it expects to sell even more Wiis this year, having raised production to 1.8 million units per month. The Xbox 360 sold 4.6 million units in 2007, with 1.3 million in December, thanks largely to the highly anticipated release of “Halo 3.”

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