Each year, GoDaddy tries to inject shock value into its Superbowl commercial, and the 2013 spot was no exception, with its somewhat gross, supermodel on supergeek action.  The big question is whether it works.  Here’s how to find out.  If you were going to buy a domain name for a website, where would you start? …

If you think only men read Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue, you may be surprised to learn that 18 million women read this annual publication as well.  This year, one of the models is sporting a bikini from Target.  Which is why Target is the exclusive advertiser in a 12-page swimsuit supplement, “Secrets of Swimsuit,” in…

There are a lot of factors on which to base your choice of media and creative.  What your competition is doing shouldn’t be one of them.  And yet, many companies place media or make decisions on copy or design based on exactly that — because the competition is doing it.  But what if the competition…

Why is Zappo’s so popular?  You might talk about the deep selection offered by the online shoe retailer, or guess that it’s pricing that makes them prosper.  But the truth is probably much simpler.  With free shipping and free returns for a year, Zappo’s removed the argument for not buying from them.  Then selection and…

Have you ever read the copy in an ad, a brochure or a website and thought, “If I didn’t already know what these guys d, I’d have no idea from what I just read”?  It happens all the time.  It’s like there’s software that accesses a library of cliches, rearranges them, then churns out sentences…

The annual post-game conversation about which Superbowl spots were best leads to a much larger question.  Why not look at every one of your marketing messages as if the Superbowl was your stage?  Every TV commercial.  Every radio spot.  Every billboard.  Every social media promotion.  Every ad in print.  Successful Superbowl spots may have big…

It’s the chore that marketers find most challenging — so it’s often simply ignored.  If you’re a banker, how do you motivate someone to switch banks (always an arduous process)?  If you’re a medical practice, how do you convince someone to leave their current provider and come to you, which means filling out all those…

The strength of your brand is determined almost entirely by how many other choices there are like you.  Want to know if you really have a brand?  Think of any famous rock or pop star.  How many others are there like him or her?  The lower the number, the stronger that musician’s brand.  For example,…

A portion of Medicare payments are now withheld from hospitals and paid out to those organizations that meet goals for patient satisfaction and clinical measures.  While there’s considerable debate abut whether this measure will actually improve the quality of care (similar efforts in the past suggest that it won’t), there is an interesting idea here…

One of the secrets to successfully developing new products or services is to look for less — to find ways to make something simpler rather than more complex.  Can you help a customer accomplish something in ten less minutes, or with ten fewer keystrokes?  Can you take steps out of a process or pieces out…