Russ Page
Exploring the Art & Science of Marketing
Be all you can be?
Apr 9th
I’ve wondered at times why the Army or any other armed service spends so much money on advertising campaigns for recruits when the results of the media coverage is much more powerful in getting people to not want to join. Do they really believe that some commercial about dressing up in camo and using night vision is going to alter the perceptions of the following?
- U.S. military changes how it brings dead soldiers’ bodies home
- Two more Fort Riley soldiers dead in bomb attack
- 10 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq over weekend
I think we all get the picture. I’d even argue that the $200 million a year Army campaign is not only not working but it’s having ZERO affect on getting the recruits they want.
“We’re enlisting more dropouts, people with more law violations, lower test scores, more moral issues,†said a senior noncommissioned officer involved in Army personnel and recruiting. “We’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to get people to join.†via NYTimes.com
Can you Imagine the Job Description?
World’s biggest spending budget! Great benefits. Lot’s of sun. Two-months of paid, on-the-job training. Lot’s of exercise. Free room and board. Shifts are one-year on, four months off. Work isn’t guaranteed after that, but very likely.
Now, I want to make sure and say I appreciate what the soldiers do, but I think it is completely laughable for the armed forces to think that advertising is going to counter what we’ve all read in the press on a daily basis for the last four years.
33 percent have never heard of Mitt Romney
Apr 6th
While I’m on the topic of polls, roughly 33 percent of those asked about their opinion of Mitt Romney are saying they have never even heard of the former Massachusetts Governor. He has about 10 months to change that.
as always, via PollingReport.com
YouTube pimps the presidents. (The almost presidents)
Apr 6th
Okay, okay, they’re not all going to be president, but something tells me most of them think they are. Or do they? That’s a question to think about. Does every candidate honestly believe they will be the next president? Whatever the case, YouTube is giving them more of a shot at reaching the people than many of the traditional media will do.
Let’s face it, different media outlets are already showing some love for different candidates. Fox loves Romney. CNN loves Clinton and Obama. Digg loves Ron Paul (if you can even call that biased-ridden popularity contest the media). I’m glad though that Digg loves Ron Paul because he deserves a second look as a candidate.
YouTube Pimps the Presidents
The great Twitter opposition
Mar 29th
Everyone is all a buzz about this twitter. Here’s a few voices of opposition to consider.
You see, twitter is very popular with the geek community on the West Coast, and has kind of spread out from there. So what you see on the site is a combination of techie messages, dot-com-geek-wannabes trying to get noticed and a whole load of stuff that’s so mundane it just makes you wonder why you didn’t spend the last ten minutes doing something constructive instead – like maybe shooting yourself in the head.
Is SXSW going to be the death of twitter?
The thing about Twitter, Flickr and other similarly architected services is that we like staying in touch with the people we care about, the people we WANT to have connecttions with. Unfortunately, and as I have been saying a lot lately – Humans Don’t Scale . . .
Twitter: The Evolution of Cat Blogging
But others are asking: what’s the point? Those people just don’t get it. Clearly, Twitter is an amazing new way to blog about your cat.
okay, okay. Maybe it’s not a very big opposition.
Are you happy in your job?
Mar 29th
I’m pretty happy in my current employment, but I’ve always made a habit of seeing who’s hiring in the marketing and PR fields in the Utah market. Am I looking? No. But, I like to see what kind of work people are doing, and I occasionally post the jobs on my blog for others to see if they are looking for work.
The Funny thing is
The funny thing is, there are four or five jobs I see consistently in “help wanted” areas. They show up for a week, and then they’re gone for three or four months only to show up again. And it leaves me wondering . . .
1) Are these companies having a hard time finding qualified marketing people?
2) Are they looking for more experience than they are willing to pay for?
3) Is the workplace so terrible that people just can’t stand it, so they are constantly leaving?
4) Is the job market good enough that people are finding much better offers?
5) Is the job itself just so bad that a few months is all somebody can stand?
6) Are they looking for the equivilent of numerous marketing expertises in one person? (You know, the graphic design, web designer, internet marketing, PR person with 8 years of experience and expertise in every field person . . . by the way it pays $9 an hour kind of job).
I could name the companies and positions off the top of my head, and they aren’t jobs where you hand out Pizza Hut fliers or sell Cutco knives. Some of these companies are pretty well known. Others not so much, but they are big-time businesses in their industry. The thing that I’ve noticed happening in my own head is that I say “I would never want to work there.” No way.
What’s the problem? Is anyone else seeing this in their industry? Thoughts?
