Tak Tik Boom

Awestin, Texas

Memo

TO:                 Registered Delegates
FROM:           SXSW Board of Directors
SUBJECT:     The SXSW Human Re-Purposing Project

Each year at this time, the world's most awesome people travel to Awestin, TX to join us at the gathering known as SXSW (pronounced "Some Xceptionally Smug Wankers.") SXSW exists at the intersection of technology, marketing, and self-absorption.

It's a fun

Teens and Television: The Facts

One of the characteristics of marketing professionals that makes them so insufferably dim is their obsession with young people.

The fact that over 75% of the wealth of this country is in the hands of people over 50 makes absolutely no difference to them. The fact that young people have no money and are terrible customers means nothing.

They always give you the same answer: "Yeah, but our

Interactivity: Get Over It

From CNNMoney, last week...
"Imagine if Joe Smith, in need of a new car... presses a button on his remote and instantly receives more information about a Ford F150, including where he can buy one. Meanwhile, Joe's wife, Sally, watches a later ad for a Sony phone. The product on the screen is sleek and modern, and Sally wants it. She can turn her emotion into ownership, purchasing the phone with

Ad Dude Of The Year

Last night I received the "Ad Person of the Year" award from the wonderful people at the San Francisco Ad Club at their annual awards gala. Because of time restraints, I had to edit my remarks. Here are the full remarks that I wrote for the occasion.

Thank you Ad Club for this lovely honor.

Thanks for this wonderful plaque...and the beautiful new Ferrari, and the dollar off on the drink

Neuroscience And Pseudoscience

Yesterday, The New York Times published an interview with Dr. Eric R. Kandel, the Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist and researcher at Columbia University.

One subject of the interview was the early overselling of psychoanalysis. Dr. Kandel put it this way...
"In the 1950s and early 1960s, psychoanalysis swept through the intellectual community, and it was the dominant mode of thinking about

A Simple Allegory About Music, Marketing, And Storytelling

Every evening after work I get off the Bay Area Rapid Transit system near my home in Oakland.

Often there is a saxophonist standing outside the station playing for contributions. He is a talented musician. He plays very difficult scales and very complicated jazz runs.

His collection box is usually empty.

Being the know-it-all that I am, I have an uncontrollable urge to grab the guy by the

Farcebook

Facebook is like the telephone. It's great for chatting, but not terribly good for selling.

One of the most remarkable things about it is the blind faith that marketers continue to have in it despite its questionable record as a marketing vehicle.

For people who are marketing things, there are two ways to use Facebook -- the free way and the paid way.

Making a Facebook site is the free way.