Seinfeld on Marketing ebook

This week’s “Seinfeld on Marketing” is a little special. A couple of weeks ago, Ron Shevlin suggested that I compile my weekly Seinfeld on Marketing riffs into a free ebook. (Thanks Ron!)
Please download Seinfeld on Marketing: 7 Marketing lessons from the cast of “the show about nothing” (PDF format) and feel free [...]

Nike’s Native American shoe: Niche or Naive?

Nike just announced their new shoe designed specifically for Native Americans, the Nike Air Native N7. From the press release:

The Nike Air Native N7 is the result of nearly two years of collaborative research, development and fit testing in partnership with the Native American community. The first-of-its-kind performance shoe is built on a new [...]

Show me that you love me

This may be a typical conversation in a personal relationship:
Person A: I’m not sure that you love me anymore.
Person B: I tell you all the time that I love you.
Person A: You say that you love me but I want you to show me that you love me.
Person B: How can I [...]

Seinfeld on Marketing: Commodities

This week’s Seinfeld on Marketing is special. We are going to compare two different episodes:

George and his girlfriend, Daphne, are eating at the coffee shop:
GEORGE: So how were the eggs?
DAPHNE: Eggs are eggs.
GEORGE: Eggs are eggs. That is very profound.

Kramer is eating eggs at the coffee shop when Elaine’s boyfriend, Kurt, walks in:
KRAMER: (Tastes his [...]

Brand waves

Quite simply, a wave is a transfer of energy from one place to another. A “brand wave” is also a transfer of the energy. The energy that is transferred is value, or more precise, perceived value as the company and customer both see it. In a brand wave, there are usually two simultaneous energy [...]

Will we ever learn?

Fresh from my post last Friday about policies and signs, I ran into this example at my local DHL package drop off location (sorry, it was taken from my cheap cell phone camera):

(P.S. Just in case you are keeping score at home, it took over 5 minutes for someone to come to the counter. [...]

Seinfeld on Marketing: Policies

It’s Friday. Do you know what that means? It’s time once again for another installment of “Seinfeld on Marketing.” This week we’ll be talking about company policies.
In this episode of Seinfeld, Jerry bounces a check at a local bodega. He enters the store to talk to Marcelino, the storeowner, about removing his [...]

The importance of the Newbie

The loyal customers, the ravings fans and the company evangelists get most of the digital ink these days… and for good reason. But don’t completely forget the other end of the funnel, the Newbie.
If you give the Newbie the right tools, they can give back in many ways. Let’s look at three:
Perspective – Newbies offer [...]

So what’s your problem?

Problems…it’s gasoline that keeps the marketing machine moving along. Without problems (and the solutions to solve them) there would be no need for marketing. We’d all drift aimlessly in the winds of “good enough” because without real problems there would be no need for a better solution. Thank goodness for problems! [...]

Competition myopia

Welcome to Seinfeld on Marketing! In this episode, a beautiful woman mistakes George for her boyfriend Neil, a guy who she claims looks just like plain, old George. This intrigues George; he wants to meet Neil. George is oblivious to Danielle’s advances and can only focus on finding out how Neil could ever [...]