from the baitshop

who’s it for?

Surprisingly, this ad isn’t just for purple and blue states. They’re investing in some of the other varieties, with hopes of putting more in play than the usual handful of folks from that state that’s high in the middle and round on the ends.

why is it being done?

Introduce the candidate and start the campaign against McCain.

are the fish biting?

TV ads are expensive, especially when compared to what is, I am not making this up, 24 hour coverage on cable. I’m sure the pollsters are seeing that these ads and helping folks to get to know Senator Obama.

where to from here?

Well, hold on to your hats, there’s about half a billion dollars of media spending on its way.

If you’re selling, you realize that you spend much of your time creating and reviewing presentations. So why are we all still wrestling with creating things on the desktop and then moving them to the web?

Now you can create and sell online, with 280Slides - a web-based presentation solution from 280North. It combines the look and functionality of Apple’s Keynote with the accessibility and price tag of Google Docs (free!). Now, anyone can create and share professional-grade presentations directly in their web browser- even PowerPoint amateurs and Keynote-phobes.

280Slides features a user-friendly toolbar, that lets you add text, shapes, images, and movies to your document. That’s right, movies. Users have the ability to add images and video directly from the web. And it’s ridiculously easy to do. Click on the pictures icon in the toolbar and a small, media browser pops up. From here, you can search the Google image directory and top Flickr hits or type the url in directly. Peruse movie results from YouTube and Vimeo, or upload your own media to the library.

Once your document is finished and saved, you can share it with the world. Email it to a friend or embed in a website. Go public and publish on SlideShare (another online presentation resource) or take it all offline and download your presentation in a PowerPoint format.

from the baitshop

who’s it for?

American Express Platinum Card holders - usually road warriors of some flavor.

why is it being done?

This ad is a great example of how licensing rights can help drive franchise profits.

are the fish biting?

It’s hard to tell, but if we could get someone from Neiman Marcus to weigh in here, we’d be much obliged.

where to from here?

Check out what’s on sale at Armani.

When customers search for products or services, location is often a deciding factor. Google has long recognized this fact and has been steadily adding features to their Google Maps API. With a simple mouse click, a user can see restaurants, hotels, and gas stations as a map overlay, helping them identify and narrow down choices by vicinity.

Now, Google is literally letting companies put their brand on the map. Google Mapplets is a free developer application that lets you add your company or product information as a place point on Google Maps. Technically, it’s a mini-webpage, so pretty much anything you can think of within the constraints of html is allowed, including images, JavaScript, and Flash. Let’s say Peppy’s Pizza adds a Google Mapplet. Customers can access their menu, read restaurant reviews, or feast their eyes on their amazing Chicago-style deep dish pies, directly from Google Maps.

Mapplets are fairly simple to create but require basic web development knowledge to write the code. Considering Google is offering a free platform for exposing your brand to millions and complete content control, it may be well worth the investment.

Dear friend of feed growth!,

It has been a year since I first launched feed growth! My aim was simple - to provide an idea each day to help you grow your business with digital tools and new media.

We’ve decided to celebrate the occasion of our anniversary in style, or better said, with a new style. With an improved layout, fresh artwork by John Nelson, and innovative features, the single serving is now a heaping helping of “fishing for customers” goodness:

• Check My Bait : Have you ever had an idea for an ad or marketing campaign but weren’t sure if the fish would bite? Or, alternatively, ever feel like you need some fresh eyes on some tired marketing investments?

Now, you can submit any kind of marketing investment (TV ad, print ad, search ad, content, promotion, website, display ad . . . get the idea?) to Check My Bait. We will post your ad and then let the feedback fun begin. Our readers and the feed growth! team will weigh in with constructive (and, okay, occasionally snarky) criticism. In other words, put your specific marketing investment or idea on a hook, before you put yourself on one.

• Minnows: Minnows are little tidbits of news handpicked by the editors of feed growth! and appear as a feed on the site. Just a little something to nibble on. Not a huge article, but still tasty.

• Growth Ideas: We’ve completely updated the look of our ideas, with a snazzy new layout and brand new sea creatures. Yes, the somewhat obtuse Rooster, Seal, Camel, Ostrich, and Ant have been put out to pasture. They’ll resurface someday soon in our archive of weird stuff.

• Weekly Email with Caption Contest: Even the weekly is getting an update! The week-in-review email will feature an original John Nelson cartoon and the opportunity to try out your comedic chops. Submit your entry by visiting feed growth! and drawing a caption directly on the cartoon (a nifty little WordPress plug-in we’ve created). The winner will appear on feed growth! the following week and will receive global acclaim, or at least the slavish following of a demented few.

As a part of our redesign, we’ve moved our email subscription over to Google’s Feedburner. It’s a free tool (that of course we’ve already written about)that converts a RSS feed to email. If you receive email from us, you will need you to sign up in the new system.

To activate your subscription to the new feed growth!, click here. It’s a necessary evil, but it only takes a minute to complete.

With all of this groovy stuff, we may need a bigger boat (just had to get that line in there, from this great movie). Feed growth! is an idea resource for you - so let us know what you would like to see.

Cheers,

Tom Klein
bait shop general manager
feed growth!

How can you capture some of the magic of animation without blowing a big hole in your budget?

Minivid is a simple animation solution that lets you create custom cartoon shorts and share them with the world. The site provides a demo for using all the features, but the drag-and drop functionality of this application makes it a snap to create and edit animations in minutes. Fuzzwich has preloaded Minivid with a stable of playful “actors”, multi-layer backgrounds, and music selections. Hit record and position your actors on screen by dragging them with your mouse. Add comment bubbles or choose from each actors available actions menu. For example, the ninja can throw a ninja star or use his sword; another character can grow a beard. You can even change the the scale of the actors or the timing of events by pausing your animation and manipulating all the ingredients in the editing bar.

Check out this nifty little animation we created on the fly:

Fuzzwich publishes and hosts all your animations on their site; animators are given a free portfolio space, where you can share your animations, launch mini cartoon campaigns, or embed your animations in your website or social media site (like Facebook or Myspace).

If you are looking to add something fun to your site or need a free tool for creating branded animations, check out Minivid. Though we warn you, be prepared to lose countless hours playing with this application.