Energizer battery ads: Disturbing but effective?

Though I can appreciate the creativity, I'm not sure this is good for their brand. Do moms want to buy batteries from a company who threatens them (indirectly)? The copy in the corner reads: "Never let their toys die. The World's Longest Lasting Battery"

clipped from www.frederiksamuel.com Agency: DDB, South Africa Creative Director: Gareth Lessing Art Director: Julie Maunder Copywriter: Kenneth van Reenen Photographer: Clive Stewart

Top 10 US Social-Network and Blog-Site Rankings

Here it is... a listing of the top 10 Social Networks all in one place. These numbers are for the US in April 2008.

clipped from www.marketingcharts.com Top US social-networking site MySpace.com’s audience was up 3% in April compared with April ‘07, but second-place Facebook’s was up 56% from a year earlier, according to custom lists compiled by Nielsen Online. LinkedIn, continuing its stellar growth, increased its unique audience a whopping 361% from a year earlier, reaching nearly 8.7 million in April, compared with less than 1.9 million a year earlier - and retaining its No. 4 position after having unseated Windows Live Spaces in March to take its spot. MySpace’s unique audience totaled 58.8 million in April, compared with No. 2 Facebook’s 22.5 million. Google’s Blogger remained atop the blog site rankings with 38.4 million unique visitors, up 40% from 27.4 million in April ‘07: WordPress was again up - an impressive 160% from April ‘07 - increasing its unique audience to 16.6 million.

The 4 People Every Business Owner Needs

I like this article because, as an entrepreneur, I'm on the roller coaster of small business ownership all the time. Having people to level out your highs and lows emotionally and tactically is invaluable and almost critical to success.

clipped from www.entrepreneur.com With so many facets to running a business--including sales, marketing, technology and protecting your physical and intellectual properties--having the right people in your corner can be a tremendous asset, providing both emotional support and business know-how. Unfortunately, many new entrepreneurs go it alone, without that emotional backing from friends or family. Typically, there are four common types of supporters who serve as emotional backers and/or advisors. If you are fortunate enough to find all four, you may have your own little village to help you raise a business. "The Cheerleader" rally behind your ideas and believe in you as an entrepreneur "The Role Model" actively teaching or training "The Expert" more than willing to go the extra mile by providing their expertise in a specific area. "The Techie" someone with the ability to provide such technical help in today's business world can be a godsend. Some people are fortunate to have such supporters others may simply need to look closely

Social Media - Do people really use it?

So we know what social media is but do people really use it? In order to understand the who, we have to start with the HOW. This article from Forrester Research breaks adult internet users into six groups based on their involvement in social media. What category are you in? Your customers?

clipped from blogs.forrester.com At the heart of Social Technographics is consumer data that looks at how consumers approach social technologies – not just the adoption of individual technologies. We group consumers into six different categories of participation – and participation at one level may or may not overlap with participation at other levels. We use the metaphor of a ladder to show this, with the rungs at the higher end of the ladder indicating a higher level of participation.