Tag Archives: marketing

An open letter to MGM, Caesars, Sands, and other casino companies regarding social media

By web gangsta | Published: December 30, 2011


Fountains of Bellagio
Fountains of Bellagio

This is an open letter to the marketing staff at MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, Sands, and other casino corporations.  And if you’re part of the marketing staff at a different type of company, you may want to pay attention to this as well – since the core takeaway here applies to you as well.

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Can YOU name the top 50 global brands?

By web gangsta | Published: March 2, 2010



Designing Brand Identity

It’s hard to differentiate your brand in a small market.

Imagine how difficult it can be to establish your brand in today’s world-wide environment.

Now imagine how more complicated that has become with the Internet diluting everybody’s attention span to that of a walnut.  Now you have an idea of how hard it can be to get a new brand noticed in the competitive world-wide field.

Especially when other companies have had decades-upon-decade head start on you.

Here is a list of the TOP 50 BEST GLOBAL PUBLICALLY-TRADED BRANDS FOR 2009, as ranked by their overall brand value in the marketplace.  

The first ten are fairly easy to pinpoint by anybody who’s been paying attention to anything around them:

  1. Coca-Cola
  2. IBM
  3. Microsoft
  4. General Electric
  5. Nokia
  6. McDonald’s
  7. Google
  8. Toyota
  9. Intel
  10. DisneyAnd the rest are a bit more interesting where they fell:
  11. Hewlett-Packard
  12. Mercedes-Benz
  13. Gillette
  14. Cisco
  15. BMW
  16. Louis Vuitton
  17. Marlboro
  18. Honda
  19. Samsung
  20. Apple
  21. H&M
  22. American Express
  23. Pepsi
  24. Oracle
  25. Nescafe
  26. Nike
  27. SAP
  28. Ikea
  29. Sony
  30. Budweiser
  31. UPS
  32. HSBC
  33. Canon
  34. Kellogg’s
  35. Dell
  36. Citibank
  37. JP Morgan
  38. Goldman Sachs
  39. Nintendo
  40. Reuters
  41. Gucci
  42. Philips
  43. Amazon
  44. L’oreal
  45. Accenture
  46. eBay
  47. Siemens
  48. Heinz
  49. Ford
  50. Zara

More interesting than how many of these global brands could you name – how many of these brands do you touch or interact with on a daily basis as part of your everyday life?

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FOOD ALERT! Girl Scout cookie Thin Mints are still smaller, so try this recipe

By web gangsta | Published: February 22, 2010


It really shouldn’t bother Web Watch as much as it does.

After all, eating too many cookies of any type isn’t good for you.  Heck, even Cookie Monster says that “Cookies are a Sometimes Food”

But as the Chicago Sun-Times and others pointed out last year, Girl Scout cookies were getting a bit smaller, perhaps due to the recession.   There’s even a FACEBOOK page devoted to fans who want to get their 8 cookies back in the box.

But now an entire whole year has passed since, and Web Watch dutifully went to the local grocery store to buy our annual allottment of Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and Samoas from the Girl Scouts (and their parents) trying to sell off their excess inventory*.

And Web Watch can confirm that this year’s Thin Mints Economic Indicator shows that the economy is still in the gutter as the 2010 box looks to be the same as the 2009 box.  That is, in 2010 we’re still looking at a smaller box and fewer cookies.

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Read This Book: William Poundstone’s PRICELESS – THE MYTH OF FAIR VALUE

By web gangsta | Published: January 1, 2010


Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value

William Poundstone is one of Web Watch’s favorite writers, having written many books around the same theme of exposing various ways that professionals (magicians, street crooks, carnies, casinos, etc) lie, cheat, and steal their way into your wallet.  

Some of Mr Poundstone’s books that you may already be aware of include:

All are great reads and lots of fun.

And now Mr Poundstone adds to his roster with PRICELESS – THE MYTH OF FAIR VALUE AND HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT.  

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Slogan Mashup of the Day: Excessive Gas? Captain Says “Make it Happen”

By web gangsta | Published: December 26, 2009


Phrases that SellHAVE A SLOGAN is one of those funny widget-driven sites that follow in the footsteps of many a  ”why didn’t we think of this sooner” item.

You know that game you play in the bar where you take any common marketing phrase or famous quote and see how much funnier it can be if you were substitute one key word with “fart” or “underpants”?  Let’s try it, shall we?

  • Give me liberty or give me underpants!
  • I regret that I have but one fart to give to this country.
  • One if by land, two if by underpants!
  • A fart in the hand is worth two in the underpants.

(Why underpants?  Because a clown once told me – seriously – that there is nothing funnier to a 5-year-old child than the word “underpants”.  There’s a reason why Captain Underpants is so popular with the kiddies. But we digress…)

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Hurray for Jeanne Sather: The Assertive Cancer Patient

By web gangsta | Published: October 10, 2009


Breast Cancer LifeHammer Escape ToolNational Feel Your Boobies Week continues…

If there’s one thing that a successful patient has in battling their own disease, it’s assertiveness.

No good ever comes from being passive and letting the disease – any disease – control you.

THE ASSERTIVE CANCER PATIENT is Jeanne Sather’s blog devoted to how she is beating her own cancer.

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Companies that Profit by using Pink Ribbons for Breast Cancer

By web gangsta | Published: October 9, 2009


Pink Ribbons, IncNational Feel Your Boobies Week continues…

If you haven’t noticed, October brings with it not just the black-and-orange fun of Halloween, but also the ubiquitious pink ribbon-emblazoned products that companies issue to show their support for breast cancer research.

Web Watch 100% supports donating to research and the good that comes from that – whether it be for breast cancer or any other charitable cause of your choice.

However, where the pink ribbon on products was once seen as solely as a philanthopic device has turned into something much more:  Just Another Marketing Ploy.

Why buy these regular spatulas when you can buy a pink spatula?

Why buy just any room circulation fan when you can buy a room circulator fan that has a pink ribbon on it?

Just browse Amazon or your favorite local store this month, and you’ll see any number of pink and ribbonized items that serve no real purpose when compared to their normal-colored counterparts sold throughout the rest of the year.

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TiVo Alert: PITCHMEN on Discovery

By web gangsta | Published: April 16, 2009


Billy Mays (the bearded one) and Anthony Sullivan (the other guy) are two of those “As Seen on TV” pitchmen, shilling products ranging from stick-up lightbulbs to cleaning supplies to other handy household products.

Since these infomercials have become so ingrained in the public consciousness (“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”), The Discovery Channel has decided to make Pitchmen, a reality-TV show about what it takes to get a new product from the pitch to TV.

Similar in concept to the ABC program AMERICAN INVENTOR from a few years ago, people from around the country bring their inventions to a pitch meeting with Billy, Anthony, and the president of Tele-Brands in the hopes that they too have the Next Greatest Must-Have item.

Along the way, we learn a little bit about what it takes to be a successful telemarketed product, such as:

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