Ubiquitous Marketing

Ubiquitous Marketing is the personal weblog of Keith O’Brien, editor-in-chief of PRWeek. All opinions and work represent that of Keith O’Brien and not of his employer. Topics covered include marketing, PR, advertising, journalism, culture (both mainstream and alternative), and their inevitable confluence.

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Entries from May 2008

A Million little networks

May 31st, 2006 · No Comments

When doing research for my most recent feature at PRWeek.com, I was flummoxed at just how many social networks exist and the extent of the niches they serve.
To whit:
Now, there are social networking sites tackling all manners of the
human experience from golf (GolfBuzz.com), women running businesses
(LadiesWhoLaunch.com), and adults running from MySpace (Gather.com).
Martha Stewart’s [...]

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Tags: New comms tools

Found: brand extension

May 31st, 2006 · No Comments

Fans of Lost realize that, while this summer is a new show vacuum, there are alternative avenues for Lost-related satiation, such as TheLostExperience.com and various books. One of those books, “purportedly” (what punctuation should use when writing allegedly about a fictionalized character?) written by a survivor from that flight, The Bad Twin, is the number [...]

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Tags: Branding · Television · Ubiquitous

Yes, people can find joy in being pitched

May 30th, 2006 · No Comments

Following last week’s noise about new press release templates,  you will find, in music blogger Coolfer, a happy recipient of a simple pitch from indie band The Diggs.
Pitch follows below. Simplicity and truncation are golden.

Tags: The Diggs indie rock marketing

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Tags: Music

Built-in advantage

May 30th, 2006 · No Comments

News circulated last week that Google had entered a deal with Dell to include preinstalled Google software (like Desktop) on all computers shipped, as well as making Google the default search function.
As Shankar Gupta’s article’s title states, Google can further increase its search lead due to this partnership. It’s an obvious win-win for both parties, [...]

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Tags: Branding · Product debuts · Technology

When MySpace becomes OurSpace

May 30th, 2006 · 1 Comment

David Carr hypothesizes about a MySpace demise.
Much like they did with the high school kid who hosted all the parties because his parents were negligent or absent, parents have found out about MySpace through the various news (some alarmist) reports. This is not a crack on MySpace (it’s really too difficult to know whether [...]

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Tags: 18-35 marketing · New comms tools · Word-of-mouth

The quotes that matter #6

May 30th, 2006 · No Comments

Michael Arrington, TechCrunch:
A final note: we are seeing more and more new web
applications that keep piling on new features to the point where it’s
nearly impossible to understand what they are doing. When I see
something like this - a service that strives to do one thing
efficiently and without friction, it makes my heart warm. Simple does
not [...]

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Tags: Technology · Ubiquitous · Weblogs

Disconnect

May 29th, 2006 · No Comments

Yes. Perhaps, it was not wise, reputation-wise, for Apple to pursue legal options when dealing with the leaking of private, proprietary information. Many organizations have grappled with leak investigations with limited success. And maybe, judging by the judge’s ruling, it wasn’t wise litigation strategy.
But, I personally do not recall one organized boycott against the company. [...]

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Tags: Branding · Crisis Communications · Customer Service · Technology

On OPML

May 29th, 2006 · No Comments

Regular PRWeek readers know how we relaunched the print edition in January, and, by proxy, introduced some new sections. One of the most relevant, in my opinion, is the inside information section, where we try to highlight new sections ahead of the [mainstream] curve. Here is my most recent contribution… on OPML.
Tags: OPML PRWeek Inside [...]

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Tags: Marketing tools · New comms tools · Ubiquitous

Scion’s promise

May 27th, 2006 · No Comments

There is nothing wrong with hitting the mainstream. From retailers (Wal-Mart) to singers (Kelly Clarkson), it’s a very good business proposition.
But, if you’re born, bred, and branded a niche player, then you have to acknowledge (nee admit) that every additional sale brings you closer to the mainstream and, thus, away from your current brand proposition. [...]

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Tags: 18-35 marketing · Advertising

YouTube: Google peer

May 25th, 2006 · No Comments

If you provide a service or software that counts Google as a competitor, you better study YouTube like fast and figure out what they’re doing right. And no, I don’t think it has much to do overall with Lazy Sunday.
And yes, I think it has everything to do with compatibility with blogs.

[Read more →]

Tags: Film · New comms tools · Weblogs