The River

The personal professional blog of Pamela Parker -- musings on marketing, advertising, media and technology.

Pamela Parker

People Will Pay, if they Get what they Want

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I’m so pleased Jason “Trickster” Chervokas has turned his sharp mind and excellent writing to the subject of media again. If only because I can link to it from this, my very neglected blog, and chime in with agreement. Of course, I’m not the only one linking. Fred has shared an applicable personal experience, as well.

I had a conversation the other day with a guy a bit younger than myself, who didn’t believe people (specifically young people, like college-aged and teen-aged) would pay for media. I think they will — maybe not those folks but their parents, for sure, if it’s priced reasonably — if they can access it on their terms. I find myself not buying from iTunes nowadays, when I used to do so fairly regularly, because the proprietary format doesn’t play on my TiVo. (BTW, I tried the Apple device, whose name I forget, to play iTunes songs on my stereo, and it sucks, at least for PC users.)

UPDATE: Tom has some thoughts, too.

Post-Super Bowl CGM

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No, this isn’t about the ads. I’m saving ad stuff for ClickZ and the ClickZ Blog. But isn’t it great that we live in a media environment in which Pittsburgh Steelers fans can personally thank quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for his performance, in the comments on his blog. I like it.

Unfortunately, I missed many of the ads (and the accompanying game) due to a certain nearly-seven-month-old who hasn’t yet developed an appreciation for media and popular culture. He mostly still appreciates milk. And is developing a healthy relationship with bananas.

Is the end of boredom a good thing?

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Mark Cuban hits the nail on the head with a post titled “The end of boredom”. His point? In this technology/media-fueled modern world, one need never stare into space. One need never spend a few moments inside one’s head, just thinking. One need never look around at other people who may be sharing one’s space — at the gym, on the train, on the street. Instead, we’re listening to music, watching TV, and otherwise keeping ourselves entertained during those little pauses in our lives. Is this a good thing for society? (It may be a great thing for media makers and advertisers….)

#1

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May I just take this moment to say… Hook ‘Em Horns! I’m not even a football fan, really, but am often amazed — as in this case — by the power of sports to bring people together. Even my Aggie brother was excited. (I graduated from UT Austin in ’89 with a bachelors in Radio-TV-Film.)

Stupidest Holiday E-Mail Marketing Effort

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Ok, so there’s something to be said for suggesting your products as an unexpected holiday gift option, but this e-mail I received is ridiculous:

It’s December and the holiday shopping season is upon us. When you’re thinking about gifts to buy, consider an Equifax Gift Certificate. While it might not be making wish lists, empowering someone to understand and manage their credit health could be the gift that keeps on giving.

Yeah, because people really want to be reminded of their credit history — and all of the debt they’re racking up buying Christmas gifts — during the holiday season.

Harumph

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Everybody‘s talking about Yahoo! Mail’s integration of RSS, but — despite the fact that I use Yahoo! as my primary e-mail client for all non-work mail — I can’t use it. Why? Because I’m a Yahoo! SBC (soon to be AT&T?) customer and I have a different (read:lame and behind-the-times) interface. It’s so pathetic that those of us paying Yahoo! (and SBC) for access get these little bells-and-whistles rolled out so much later than everyone else. Also still waiting for the Yahoo! Photos feature that lets you attach a bunch of pictures to an e-mail. What’s the deal, Yahoo!? *Sigh*