The intent of the hosts was clearly to use the occasion as a travelogue for their country, with short clips about Azeri culture, gastronomy and natural beauty filling in the gaps between songs.
The promotional campaign worked on me. The next day I scanned hotels.com for lodging information in Baku.
And lo and behold, what did I find but a hotel in the Azerbaijani capital named itself after the famed BBC comedy series.
1) Ubiquity: Wherever your Internet journeys may take you, there they are — lists. Lists on everything from 11 Tips On Starting A Business to 17 Ways to Make the Best Blueberry Pancakes This Side Of Omaha. No Internet site worthy of its URL is without its fair share of list posts these days.
2) Nobody Has a First Mover Advantage: Being the first to establish a particular niche can be everything on the Internet. Internet lists are so generic that anybody can run them without the fear of being accused of ripping off someone’s else’s idea. (OK, this point doesn’t drive me crazy, but I thought I would mention it anyway.)
3) Some Weaker Points Are Clearly There Just to Fill the List: At least one and probably more of the items on the list are going to be obvious filler because – though a list post appeared to be a brilliant idea at first – the realization suddenly strikes you at about item #3 that you didn’t have enough material.
4) I Am No Darn Good at Writing Them: See point #3 and multiply it by however many points are on my list.
5) They Work: People love lists. I love lists. Whenever I see one, I am bound to click on it. I want lists! Give me lists!
Spring is here, and that can only mean one think: it’s time for Baseball Ink and Chortler’s annual baseball limerick contest.
Yes, for third straight year – except for last year’s which was canceled – we are asking our loyal reader(s) to have a go combining our national pastime with light-hearted poetry of a debatable origin. Could you or someone you know be the Shakespeare of modern-day baseball-ish limerickery?
Please send your entry to webdude at chortler dot com
About Hellacious Acres: The Case of John Glass
DVD Box Art
A man suffering from amnesia wakes up in a desolate barn from a cryogenic freezer to be informed that the planet has been devastated by a world war and reduced to little habitability by a subsequent alien invasion. He is thrown into a military mission to help reestablish a livable atmosphere for what’s left of humanity. Soon enough he encounters more than he bargained for: aliens, crazy survivors, inadequate equipment and a pretty unhealthy dose of bad luck. Jam-packed with visual inventions and plot twists, this movie offers a dark and humorous take on the post-apocalyptic genre.
Invaluable things you can do to BE Cherished by your Fans
1. Mix it up. Constantly innovate. Give your Fans a different look (value packages, promotions, events, fun) as often as you can. The Dead decided what songs to play when they began each concert – songs “on the run”. Risky? Yes. Original? Yes. Did their Fans love them for it? YES!
2. Enable your customers to fulfill themselves. Do what THEY want. The key here is the “Serving” mentality. Find out what they want and desire and take them there. The Dead created a bubble for their Fans and allowed them to reach emotional highs.
3. Focus on the experience not the product. The Dead did not try to sell records. They wanted to create mind-blowing experiences for their Fans. And guess what? (They sold lots of records).
4. Save the best deals for your best customers. Using Special Promotional Deals to entice people away from their supplier is a fool’s game in any event. What makes you think that if someone takes your Special Offer they won’t leave you in a heartbeat if someone else gives them one as well? You can’t grow your business by catering to the “promiscuous” crowd of constant switchers. Furthermore, what will your loyal customers say when they find out that you are not offering the special deal to them? (I can see their taillights already). The Dead ALWAYS saved the best ticket prices, seats and deals for their Fans. The result? The most successful touring band in history.
5. Do the opposite of what your competitors are doing. Observe ‘em and do a 180. You can’t stand-out if you copy. The Dead allowed their Fans to record their music in concert. No other band did. The 180 strategy created uniqueness and remark-ability that made them unforgettable.
6. Communicate with your Fans incessantly. AND figure out how to make it easier for them to communicate with one another. The Dead were fanatics when it came to having conversations with their Fans before Social Media arrived. Their Fans responded by not only attending concerts and other Dead Events, but also by talking up The Dead to their friends. The Dead virus spread…
You can learn a great deal about business from the most interesting and surprising sources.
My heart skips a proverbial beat whenever I see a name, particularly the name of someone I admire, trending on Twitter. “Oh dear,” I say to myself and my cats. “What could have happened?”
Such was the case last night when Richard Wilson, famous for his role as the cantankerous and curmudgeonly Victor Meldrew in the British sitcom “One Foot in the Grave,” appeared in the dreaded right-hand column of the microblogging site.
Thankfully, the 140-character chorus was highlighting his name because his new show “Richard Wilson On Hold” on Channel 4 in the UK.
The show focuses on the enormous frustrations we all experience whenever the time comes to call a bank, gas company, telephone company and just about any other sizeable institution that wishes to distance itself from its customers in the interests of making things “easier” for them.
Hopefully the show will be available outside the Britain in the near future as it speaks to issues that are not singular to the United Kingdom.
