Jedi Marketing Trick

One quick post before I hit the road for some holiday travel.

One of my coworkers knows the guy who developed the SithSense marketing flash for Burger King. I didn't really see BK choosing the Dark Lord for their spokesman, but this flash is pretty funny... and strangely accurate.

tagged: marketing, Darth Vader, Star Wars, Burger King, flash

Targeted by Marketing Guerrillas

I was sitting in the bar of the Hotel Rouge in DC the other day sipping a Manhattan with some business associates when we were approached by a little hottie carrying a wine bottle.

I assumed, as anyone would, that she was a waitress at the hipster hangout. But I learned in the next few moment the waitress gettup was camouflage.

She approached our table and offered: "Hi, I wonder if you would mind trying a free sample of our new wine, Virgin Vines Shiraz."

Wha!?! I never thought I would hear the words "free," "virgin," and "sample" in the same sentence. And even though I can think of a better context for hearing those three words, I've never been one to turn down an offer of free booze.

But let me be clear. Virgin Vines is from the famous Richard Branson (err.. ahem..) Sir Richard Branson Virgin franchise.

That's right, the people who brought you Virgin Records, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Partially Gelatinated Non Dairy Gum Based Beverages, now brings you Virgin Vines from California's Napa valley.

Based on the website, Branson and Co. are targeting a younger, club-scene demographic. But you know what? Even though this old fart doesn't fit that demographic (I'm all of 35 years now), the Shiraz was pretty damn good and I'll probably buy a few bottles.

So I fell victim to the guerrilla marketing tactic. And if you've read this far, so have you.

tagged: marketing, wine, Shiraz, Virgin

Corporate Jet Lag

It's good to be back after a business trip to the coast. I had a great trip with lots of productive meetings. Unfortunately, there was one event that left deep and permanent emotional and psychological scars.

The corporate jet.

You see, I was given the opportunity to take my company's corporate jet out to the coast, rather than fly commercial with the plebs and riffraff.

It was oh so sweet. The Gulfstream GII had plenty of leg room for my five-foot-fourteen-inch frame. The cushy Barcalounger chairs were a welcome change from the back-breaking boards you're strapped to on a commercial airliner. The other passengers on the plane were all professionals, so they were courteous and pleasant to talk to.

A breakfast of fresh fruit and pastries and hot coffee was served by a delightful attendant who was attentive and polite and genuinely seemed to enjoy her job.

Yes, I would say it was by far the best flight experience I've ever had. So, why the emotional scars? Well, it has absolutely spoiled me for "regular" air travel.

My return flight was on United Airlines out of Dulles airport. If you've never been to Dulles before, count yourself lucky. It's like a stockyard compared to just about any other airport in the country. Upon arrival, you are herded down a series of chutes for flight check-in, followed by another series of chutes for security inspection.

Once you pass though security (and get you shoes back on), you rush down several corridors to the LOADING DOCK that takes you to you gate. That's right. you get on truck/bus that drives you across the tarmac to a barn-like structure that is the departure gate.

Now, if you're unfortunate enough to be a United Express customer, you are packed like cattle into this barn/departure gate to await the boarding call for you flight. When that comes, you are taken outside into a steel garage, herded once again down livestock chute out onto the tarmac where you get onto your plane.

Well, after my experience on the corporate jet where I was treated like a passenger rather than cargo, I just can't go back to regular commercial flight. I've decided to sell my home and everything I own and buy my own Gulfstream. I found one online for the bargain price of $1.4 million.

The way I see it, people live in motor homes or houseboats, why not just live in a Gulfstream?

The rest of you commoners can have the commercial flights (although, I strongly recommend you stay away from United).

Driver's seat

Well, I'm feeling much better now. My leukocyte and killer T-cells have finally fought off the Mutant Avian Flu Plague and I'm now able to sleep through the night. Thanks to Mi'chelle for the medical advice.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging.

I ran across The Taxi flash while blogsurfing. This is pretty funny, especially when pressing the 's' and 'h' keys on the keyboard. Enjoy.

Amelie Friday

It's Friday, that means it's time to play The Amelie Game.

You know the rules, three likes and three dislikes for the week. This week, I'm starting with dislikes:

Things I dislike

• mutant head cold strains
  
• two flat tires in one week
  
• teeth-scaling implements used by dentists

Things I like

• free WiFi at Homer's
  
• Matt's Tawney Port
  
• telecommuting

Okay, now let's see what you like/dislike this week.

Autorantic Virutal Moonbat

The other day, my supermodel wife was on the phone with her cousin, who just chose a college and will be a freshman next year. Somehow, the conversation came around to why my supermodel wife is a liberal and how evil the Repulicans are.

Most of the conversation didn't make much sense to me. Probably because I was only hearing one of the parties (my supermodel wife) and trying to watch the latest episode of HBO's Rome at the same time.

Luckily, I found Sean Gleeson's Autorantic Virutal Moonbat. This handy device allows me to recreate the conversation with stunning accuracy.



I know it's been around for a while now, so this is yesterday's news to a lot of you. But it's new to me.

Good news/bad news

It's one of those good news/bad news days for me.

The bad news is that I still feel like shit. This is the strangest cold I've ever had. Really dry drainage into my throat. That's gross I know, so I won't go into the details.

But the good news is that I probably don't have Avian Flu. I rule this out because I don't make a habit of sucking the mucus out of fighting cocks.

Sometimes trainers go mouth-to-mouth with wounded birds to suck out blood and mucus. A trainer was one of 12 Thais killed by bird flu last year.

But the bad news is that I think I might have contracted Evian Flu from a tainted bottle of drinking water.

Halloween hangover

Ingredients:

• 1 Headcold
• overdose of cold medicine
  
• way too much of my kid's candy
  
• visiting Matt and Andrea and drinking Matt's Porto
  
• staying up too late, getting up too early

Mix in equal parts. Enjoy.

Tombstone Hold 'Em

If you get bored from trick-or-treating tonight, or if you have no more use for your immortal soul, you can try your luck at Tombstone Hold'em.

Here are the rules

Let’s play the Amelie Game

It’s Friday. So in the ancient tradition that I just made up, it’s time to play the Amelie Game. If you’ve ever seen the movie Amelie, you know about the lists of likes and dislikes made by the main character (coincidentally enough named Amelie) throughout the film.

Here’s my list for this week:

Things I Like

1. The tangy scent of decomposing leaves
2. Musician’s Friend
3. Bluetooth

Things I Dislike

1. Pumpkin-eating squirrels
2. lunch meetings
3. flat tires

There you go, add your own lists of likes/dislikes (three each please) in the comments section.

PS – If you haven’t yet, subscribe to The Delta Park Project podcast, the inspiration of this post and for which it is a blatant rip off — er, homage.