Jan 27

#LOTD2014: February Playlist

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I’m jumping back into the way-overdue Lyric-of-the-Day project recaps from 2013-2014 with the February 2014 playlist. As a refresher, each day from Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 31, 2014, I posted a lyric on my Twitter feed. At the end of each month, I created a Spotify playlist of the songs featured, and throughout much of 2013-14 here on the blog.

Here’s February’s #LOTD2014 playlist (find the Spotify playlist I’ve created from these lyrics linked at the end of the post or on the clickable image at right), with some brief explanations (in italics) for a number of the lyrics.

  • “In all that exists/None have your beauty/I see your face/I will survive” #INXS “Mystify” #LOTD2014 2/1
  • “The soul’s escaping, through this hole that is gaping/This world is mine for the taking” #Eminem “Lose Yourself” #LOTD2014 2/2
  • “I was in a fog, I didn’t notice everything everything/Was coming all apart inside of me” #TheNational “You Were A Kindness” #LOTD2014 2/3
  • “We could be daytime drunks if we wanted/But we’d never get anything done that way, baby” #RiloKiley “The Absence Of God” #LOTD2014 2/4
  • “The light’s shinin’ through on you/Yes, I’m with you my love/It’s the morning and just we two” #Cream “Sunshine Of Your Love” #LOTD2014 2/5
  • “It’s a rainy afternoon in 1990/The big city/Geez, it’s been 20 years/Candy, you were so fine” #IggyPop “Candy” #LOTD2014 2/6
  • “Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby/Try to keep myself away from me” #CountingCrows “Perfect Blue Buildings” #LOTD2014 2/7
  • “Hey, little dolly won’t you say you will/Meet me tonight up on top of the hill” #BruceSpringsteen “Ramrod” #LOTD2014 2/8
  • “Baby if you’re feeling good/Baby if you’re feeling nice/You know your man’s workin’ hard/He’s worth a deuce” #Kiss “Deuce” #LOTD2014 2/9 (The night our crew discovered one of America’s greatest dive bars: Mac’s Club Deuce in Miami Beach.)
  • “Everyone around me is a total stranger/Everyone avoids me like a cyclone ranger” #TheVapors “Turning Japanese” #LOTD2014 2/10
  • “I don’t care/Alright!?About your past, dig/I just want/Hey!/My love to last, come on” #JamesBrown “Cold Sweat” #LOTD2014 2/11
  • “They’ll stone ya and then they’ll say good luck/But I would not feel so all alone” #BobDylan “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” #LOTD2014 2/12 (An unexpected rooftop suite party in South Beach … thanks Kleiner.)
  • “Love you every day girl/Always on my mind/One thing I can say girl/Love you all the time”#TheBeatles “Eight Days A Week” #LOTD2014 2/13
  • “I’d give this world/Just to dream a dream with you/On our bed of California stars” #WoodyGuthrie #Wilco “California Stars” #LOTD2014 2/14 (Happy Wedding Day, Allen & Meredith!)
  • “Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder/Where it’s so white as snow” #RedHotChiliPeppers “Snow (Hey Oh)” #LOTD2014 2/15 (Lounging around in Charlestown, Mass., watching it snow, snow, snow.)
  • “I’m feeling supersonic/Give me gin and tonic/You can have it all but how much do you want it?” #Oasis “Supersonic” #LOTD2014 2/16
  • “President say/Little fat man ain’t it a shame/What the river’s done/To this poor crackers land” #RandyNewman “Louisiana 1927” #LOTD2014 2/17 (“Happy” Presidents Day!)
  • “Whatever you heard about me is true/I change the rules and do what I wanna do” #Prince “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” #LOTD2014 2/18
  • “I am lost, I’m no guide/But I’m by your side/I am right by your side …/Young lover I stand” #PearlJam “Leash” #LOTD2014 2/19
  • “I never did believe in the ways of magic/But I’m beginning to wonder why” #FleetwoodMac “You Make Loving Fun” #LOTD2014 2/20
  • ‘He’s drunk/He tastes like candy/He’s so beautiful/He’s so deep/Like dirty water/God he’s awful” #Hole “Awful” #LOTD2014 2/21
  • “Left for dead left for good/Left for dead not understood/But you/Always came back for more” #Whale “Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe” #LOTD2014 2/22 (A random callout in conversation while on a wedding planning trip to Santa Barbara brought this song back into consciousness.)
  • “There was a time/Before we were born/If someone asks this is where I’ll be” #TalkingHeads “This Must Be The Place” #LOTD2014 2/23 (Agreed upon wedding event locations!)
  • “He quoted some poetry/He’s Tennyson in denim & sheepskin/He looked a lot like Izzy Stradlin” #TheHoldSteady” “Chillout Tent” #LOTD2014 2/24
  • “And this is how it all ends up/When you run the whole thing down” #Sugar “Believe What You’re Saying” #LOTD2014 2/25
  • “Me catch a ship across the sea/I sailed the ship all alone/Never think I’ll make it home” #Kingsmen “Louie Louie” #LOTD2014 2/26
  • “And in another world nothing was like this/There may’ve been a girl/There never was a kiss” #TomPetty #Heartbreakers “Echo” #LOTD2014 2/27
  • “Well, show me the way/To the next whiskey bar/Oh, don’t ask why/Oh, don’t ask why” #TheDoors “Alabama Song” #LOTD2014 2/28 (USC hoops and postgame drinks, a long-standing tradition.)

Here’s the Spotify playlist if you’d like to listen along: #LOTD2014: February

Dec 21

Response December: Another Year Done … from A to zulily

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The December issue of Response hit the web and mailboxes beginning late last week. And in a random bout of timeliness — plus the fact that I’m out of the office this evening through Jan. 2 — I’m here to recap it for you. This issue’s features include a cover story on zulily, a piece on the expanding consumer electronics market, our fourth Response Advisory Board roundtable of the year, and a web exclusive on the DR radio space. For more on how we built 2016’s last issue, read on:

  • zulily (and, yes, the folks there are all about that lower-case “z,” y’all) has made a name for itself in the e-retail segment in recent years. Reaching a coveted demographic — mothers between 25-44 — helps. Quality marketers running the business don’t hurt, either. The company first came to my attention when a long-time industry colleague and friend, Chris Johns, took a gig in the company’s strategic partnerships division in 2015. After a couple of meetings (ahem, cocktails) and a couple of calls to the right people, Chris put me in touch with Lindsay Powers in the company’s PR department. Lindsay did a splendid job wrangling this story with me, from helping select the right executive — Kevin Saliba, the company’s vice president of strategic partnerships and business development —to providing contact with zulily partner Crayola to help flesh out the story. With more than 15,000 brands selling products on zulily, it’s an intriguing case study on today’s expanding e-retail environment. If you missed the link to the story above, here it is once again: Giving Moms What They Want
  • Consumer electronics technology is not only a burgeoning vertical for marketers — it’s also crucial to the delivery of every marketer’s message. Freelancer Pat Cauley did a nice job of walking this line in his update on the CE space. From AR to VR and AI to IoT (Confused? Read the story to find out what those abbreviations mean) marketers of products that use those technologies are finding fertile ground, while marketers in other verticals want to maximize those technologies as outlets for their messages. In case you skipped the link above: A Space Odyssey
  • In preparation for our final quarterly Advisors Forum feature, I spent a couple of days digging through researchers’ many (and varied) predictions for marketing — digital, TV, and beyond — for 2017. After culling those down to some of the more interesting projections, I provided the members of our Advisory Board a series of questions on the topics raised. This useful year-end exercise provided a some surprising — and conflicting — responses. As always, the online version of the Advisors Forum presents our board members’ complete and unabridged answers. Here’s that story link again: Parsing the Projections
  • Our Doug McPherson spoke with media leaders in the DR radio space for a web exclusive feature. After a downturn earlier this decade, media billings research has shown DR radio expanding healthily in recent years. What’s driving this growth in a medium that’s often scoffed at? If you missed the link above, click here: DR Radio Rocks the Reach
  • Speaking of DR radio media billings, our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings return to the space for second-quarter 2016 results. Growth remains the buzzword, as an 11.7-percent increase over 2Q 2015 results led to radio’s best second quarter since 2007. For a full look at 2Q 2016 DR radio media billings, click here: DR Radio Billings Drive Forward in 2Q 2016
  • Other key items in this month’s issue include:
  • My Editor’s Note column leads with the big news: Response moved its offices — two whole miles — in late November (if you still need that new address: 2600 Michelson Drive, Suite, 1700, Irvine, CA 92612). From there, I riff a little about fresh starts, Response Expo, and reader feedback. It’s all very exciting! If you missed the link above, here it is: We’re Movin’ on Up!

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response throughout 2016! I wish you a happy holiday season and all the best in 2017.

Dec 04

Response November: Doing Well by Doing Good

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Response November 2016Response’s November issue hit the web and mailboxes during the past two weeks. Here’s something to consider: in our four feature stories, we cover the housewares market, the medical equipment space, the travel marketing world, and home shopping/e-retail. Even for our team, that’s some impressive breadth. That’s not to mention this month’s research and opinion pages. Suffice it to say, we packed a lot into a tight 52 pages. If you want to hear more about how it came together, read on:

  • If you are in the habit of listening to your car radio, there’s a high likelihood you’ve heard a Boll & Branch ad. I can’t remember the last time I was in my car heading to our Orange County office on a Monday morning and didn’t hear a B&B ad on one of Howard Stern’s SiriusXM channels. So when I went to the IRCE show in Chicago in June, I made sure to head to the educational session featuring Scott Tannen, co-founder and CEO of the company. In the days thereafter, I reached out to Tannen’s team to see if they would have any interest in a cover feature on their performance-based marketing efforts. Very quickly, the PR liaison for the company, Dillan Arrick, was on the job. Timing was the issue, which is how many of our cover stories — this one included — take five or more months from genesis to print. Scott, his wife Missy, the company’s co-founder and president, and Dillan could not have been easier to work with. And this story is not only a great testament to performance-based metrics building a huge housewares e-retailer, it’s also a feel-good piece about a company that does things the right way. If you missed the link to the story above, here it is once again: Balancing More Than Sheets
  • Think of your own needs and desires when you travel. Are they more about convenience or comfort? Service or luxury? Now, multiply those by the choices of billions of others and you’ll understand the challenges travel marketers face in today’s consumer-controlled marketing world. Make promises … at your own peril. Our Nicole Urso Reed dove into the space for this feature, chatting with marketers from across the travel spectrum to find out what’s working — and what isn’t. In case you skipped the link above: Total Immersion
  • Another key member of our team of contributors, Bridget McCrea delved into the rapidly changing world of home shopping. With the expansion of Amazon, long-time home shopping leaders like HSN and QVC have had to nimbly adjust their business plans. And, just as they’re gaining comfort as multichannel e-retailers, along comes Amazon again — now with its own online “home shopping” programming. What’s next in the home shopping world? Here’s that story link again: The ‘Amazon-ing’ of Home Shopping
  • Our Doug McPherson‘s outstanding case study on the truly intriguing birth and success of the HurryCane, is not your average “bring a hot new product to market” story. From the why and the when to the how and the who, the success of this medical equipment legend took many hands. If you missed the link above, click here: How a HurryCane Forms
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings return to the short-form DRTV space for second-quarter 2016 results. And though those results show the least-steep decline in more than a year, short-form DRTV — at least according to how Kantar Media measures it — continues to flounder. Is it an issue of what Kantar’s measuring — to wit, are its parameters for a direct response spot too narrow in today’s performance-based marketplace? We’ve heard rumblings from readers about this, and we’re not wholly unconvinced. For a full look at 2Q 2016 short-form DRTV media billings, click here: Short-Form DRTV Media Billings Continue to Fade
  • Other key items in this month’s issue include:
  • Finally, in my Editor’s Note column, I ask marketers and other leaders in our space to look ahead — at 2017 and beyond — after spending months spellbound by the most memorable and most embarrassing election cycle in modern U.S. history. We, as an industry, have plenty of challenges — and opportunities — to focus upon in the coming months and years. Let’s get to them! If you missed the link above, here it is: Now That That’s Over …

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!