The back porch light in my new house is broken. Or the light switch, which is more of a square button, is broken. Sometimes I can’t get the porch light to come on. And, more often, I can’t get it to turn off. (The electricians say it’s not that easy to fix — different story). 

There’s a saying in the construction business: Measure twice. Cut once. But apparently that never made it to the signage industry. VI Marketing Strategist Deana Paulson noticed that two men across the street were adhering signage to a window ‑ backwards. We watched for about five minutes waiting for their reactions when they would realize that the sign was placed incorrectly. 

The sales of ‘green’ products have been shrinking during the latter half of 2010. In 2008, marketers scrambled to add some element of environmentalism to their products. Most did it with packaging (recycled, less product, etc.), while others addressed manufacturing methods that claimed a smaller carbon footprint. Other products that truly were more inherently environmental sprang up and have created a niche industry. Example: Method cleaning products.

I think it’s safe to say that it’s part of our job in marketing to be a good “people person.” At the office, I interact with a lot of different people on a daily basis, and I actually start to build relationships with some of these people (face-to-face and via the phone). I’ve come to realize that these relationships are extremely important...perhaps one of the most important components in our line of work.

As a people person I have always enjoyed networking. As a Marketing professional it is essential to my job.

Blockbuster Video's bankruptcy filing (Sep 23) should be a wake-up call to every marketer in the world. Blockbuster failed because competitors took their business. These competitors aren't necessarily much better at marketing that they stole share from Blockbuster.

I walked into a music store the other day in Guthrie OK - The Double Stop Fiddle Shop . The owner, Byron Berline is a legend in Bluegrass music. I was asked to conduct an on-camera interview with Byron and was thrilled to find him humble, charming and as talented as I had hoped.

You'll notice in the image below that we are zooming in on the words 'Visual Image Advertising' and there are the noticeably bolder letters 'l' and 'i' in the words. As we zoom in, that disparity disappears quicker than my stapler. (Seriously guys, I want it back.)

I married into a family of huge hockey fans. They held season tickets to the Blazers games for more than 10 years, having anywhere from 10 to 14 seats each year, some of them on the glass. And of course, they all had matching Blazers jerseys with their names on the back.

If you know VI , you know that we're a strategy-driven group. We don't develop creative ideas before we develop strategy. Period. I honestly believe that we're pretty unique in that regard. If creative comes before strategy, you have no strategy. And that's a short road to failure.

We've had quite a few conversations in the last year with organizations that are seeing their market share fall and can't find their way out of it. What they had in common was not poor marketing, per se. Rather, it was how they were going to market.

A Michigan television station has begun running local obituaries. About $100 gets your Aunt Tilley's mug on the tube and on the station's website as well. Apparently, the passing of 3 of the 4 daily newspapers in the viewing area prompted requests from grieving widows.