De-averaging your marketing investments and paying close attention to how your incremental marketing investments pay off is a post I've been intending to write for a while now. The good folks at Rimm-Kaufman group, however, saved me the trouble with yesterday's excellent PPC Averages can Hide Incremental Nightmares.  Please take the time to read it. As I [...]

Ever get an email from an automated system that just makes no sense? Here's an example, courtesy of Coca-Cola's My Coke Rewards program.

At one point during my college days I wanted to be an A&R guy for a record label. My reactions to smoke-filled clubs and early-to-bed habits caused me to rethink that career option. But music, and the marketing of it, has remained a lifelong interest. Last night, my wife and I saw Duran Duran at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. This was her 11th or 12th time and my 10th time to see the band. When you go to a Duran Duran show, you know you're going to see a great performance, an enthusiastic crowd and hit after hit. What I didn't expect was a textbook example of creating and maximizing a marketing channel, and an example of how big a part luck plays in everything we do as marketers.

Papa John's follows Guy Kawasaki's advice and made a mantra of "make it easy" to sell more pizza. Over $1 billion later, what's next?