No fun in shopping anymore

My boyfriend and I were talking the other day about how he need to get an external hard drive. Simple enough...I referenced him to NewEgg.com as this is where I was referred to when I bought mine. The site is great: easy to navigate, consumer ratings and comments, variety of brands and options and best of all, great prices compared to any store he would find around here. Why NOT purchase his external online???

His response: There's no fun in shopping anymore...what's the point of going to a store when everything is cheaper online...I miss shopping when I can go to the store and LOOK at what I want to buy...it's taking out half the fun!

I was thinking about this, and it's totally true. Shopping online usually DOES have the best price. And like places such as NewEgg.com, the prices are significantly cheaper than any store we can find and usually there is no shipping. In addition, if you can be patient for 3-4 days, the shipping is pretty timely as well. But I do miss the days of spending too long driving around to stores to find the exact thing you want at the best price...but there is almost no point now. I'll go look because I can, but I usually end up buying them online anyways. Even Google has made it easier with their iPhone application: the Google Product Search. A person can literally stand in a store, enter the product they want and find all the prices and locations of where they can be found. Why would someone purchase the product in front of them when it's $50 cheaper on a website?

Cheap vs. Free

This article was found in the Bellingham Herald called "Selling stuff for free is a boom market, but at what cost?" By SCOTT CANON at McClatchy Newspapers.

It's about the notion of cheap and free.

Best quote from the article: "When things were the cheapest, men were the poorest," said future presidential candidate William McKinley 120 years ago. "Cheap merchandise means cheap men, and cheap men mean a cheap country."

Read this Article on the Bellingham Herald website.

Dan Weiden-Weiden + Kennedy

Dan Weiden on Weiden + Kennedy from Portland, OR. I find it worthwhile listening too....

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1329255401?bctid=24387615001

The 2nd Annual Canadian Cheese Rolling Fesitval

Alright....everyone needs to check this out! It's the 2nd Annual Canadian Cheese Rolling Festival...basically an 11 lb cheese roll is rolled down a hill and participants begin to chase it. The first to cross the finish line and get the cheese wins the cheese!!!! How great is that??? I am honestly considering joining...if not, I will def. be there to watch!!

http://www.canadiancheeserolling.ca/

Meat Cards

The new and upcoming business card....




www.meatcards.com

Come on Sprite

Really?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lp3JSnAcyI&feature=player_embedded

Sex sells...but this is a little much.

Mountain West Music Festivel

http://www.mountainwestmusicfest.com/

Check it outtttttttttt.

Radio and Newspaper Work

For the past year, all I have heard is "STAY AWAY FROM RADIO AND NEWSPAPER WHEN ADVERTISING, WHATEVER YOU DO!"

I call BS.

Yes, newspaper is dying out and probably won't be around after this next decade. And radio...you have to play the ad so many times it practically gets into the subconscious of the listener to have an effect...yes, they're limited avenues and very specific to their target audience, but they're not dead.

I for one, am the minority. I listen to the radio and read the newspaper everyday...and I am 21. Studies show my generation relies primarily on the Internet to retrieve all their information. I read The Seattle Times every afternoon when I get off work as it is delivered to my house. Convenient, but if the paper isn't there, I'll find one. The newspaper is the oldest source of information...what ever happened to enjoying 30 min of flipping through the newspaper while eating breakfast or a snack? People zone out when they watch the news...it's background noise. At least when a person READS the newspaper, they are reading the information pertinent to them as well as the headlines.

As for radio, my personal choice is the Kid Carson show from 8:35-9:00am Monday through Friday. The music is overly repetitive of the newest hits, though still alright music. I listen more for the characters for Kid Carson, Amy and Mira. They bring the news and some random topic of the day each morning in the most energetic and entertaining manner! It's great to listen too! At least I SMILE on my way to work. One of the major downfalls in radio is finding talent such as the BEAT 94.5 morning crew that keeps the listener engaged in the show.

Overall...I know this is short and maybe I am missing my point...so here it is. Newspaper and radio still work...people are still reading and listening in all generations. When professors and others tell me to steer clear from these, I don't feel like it's because of the lack of listeners so much as the cost. The cost of advertising on these is what astounds me...radio being upwards of $24,000 for a 3 month campaign and newspaper at almost $100,000 a DAY. Expensive as all get out...but I still maintain they are not a dead medium.

Dominos picks up on stencil advertising

Here's a follow up to the stencil advertising post a couple months ago...this article link from AdWeek.com shows a little bit of green advertising happening for Domino's. They've done stencils and added an incentive for consumer's walking by...the first 250 people to walk past the ad, take their picture with it and email it to Domino's receive a $15 voucher. Creative incentive...though we know this is not the first case of stencil advertising. KFC recently did stencil advertising as well...

here's the link to the short article:

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i42f2b2f43cf6c38041e2c6658a75022c