Do You Know About the Online World's Dark Side?

Do you ever hear a story and think, "MAN! How could people fall for that!?" That was pretty much my reaction when I read the amazing tale of Bill Grizack in Adweek. Looking up Grizack on LinkedIn AFTER reading the article is an intriguing experience. Grizack talks about working for huge clients like Jack Daniels and Coca-Cola. However, you find out in the article that not only did he never work for those companies as clients, he actually went to extraordinary lengths to make it seem like he did in fact have contracts with them. Our blog post summarizes what the Adweek exposé uncovers.

Then again, maybe you have had an experience or two that shows you exactly how someone can fall for such a series of lies and tricks. Our Wednesday post tells a cautionary tale based on an experience I had with a so-called "social media guru" a few years back. My story (sadly) shows you how easy it is to assume the best about someone because that's how they present themselves online.

What Marketing Topics Interest You?

We are thinking about putting together a series of marketing seminars/webinars. They would be short (no longer than an hour) but even so, we want to make sure we cover topics that you would find helpful. What do you want to hear more about? We could discuss:

-> SEO

-> Website Development

-> Video (Produced, Periscope, Facebook Live)

-> Social Media

Or something else entirely. Let us know by replying to this email!

Business blogs are not the place to get political but political campaigns are one of the best laboratories we have for determining what works and what does not in marketing. There is a reason that the rooms behind the campaign stops are referred to as "spin rooms." Those are the locations where the political handlers try to spin their candidate's speech to their advantage.

These political "spinners" are truly the marketing brain trust of the campaign and their success or failure can many times determine the ultimate fate of their candidate.

A perfect case in point is the issue of the WikiLeaks release of the DNC emails that proved that the DNC had favored Hillary Clinton all along. While that was obviously embarrassing for the DNC, the other issue is how and by whom those emails were hacked. Some conjecture that the Russians were responsible and that the Russians favor Mr. Trump based on his favorable comments regarding Mr. Putin.

The Democrats obviously want to focus on the hack. The Republicans obviously want to focus on the content of the emails and how the Democrats process was "rigged."

This creates the basis for a heavyweight contest as powerful as Ali vs Frazier. Who will win this war of handlers could play a major role in who wins our presidency in November.

How would you handle the Dems side? How would you handle the Republicans side?

This is fascinating stuff for anybody in our field. This marketing laboratory may prove to be run by mad scientists.