Monday, December 2
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up
Brilliant Marketing
Alaska Airlines Targets Niche Market with Irresistible Promotion
Last month, Alaska Airlines encouraged impulsive surfers to hop aboard and fly to Hawaii by offering last-minute discounts that increased as the island waves grew larger.
The airline ran the ads on surfline.com, a site that offers surfing forecasts for sites around the globe. The higher the predicted surf in Hawaii, the greater the discount.
That’s a great example of targeted advertising.
Here’s an article from Adweek about the campaign (no charge, but you have to register on the site to read it).
Recommended Reading and Viewing
“A Beautiful Day…” is a Beautiful Movie
I greatly enjoyed the new film about Mr. Rogers, starring Tom Hanks, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”
After you see it, I encourage you to read the 1998 Esquire article on which the movie is based — a long, but fascinating read.
Then I encourage you to listen to this episode of the Big Questions podcast in which Cal Fussman interviews the author of that article, Tom Junod. He is the focus of the film, and in this interview he discusses his real-life interactions with Mr. Rogers and how the film got it right.
Marketing Funnies
Making Fun of “Forever 21” and Similar Brand Names
The clothing and accessory retailer “Forever 21” filed for bankruptcy in September.
That’s not funny. But this cartoon is.
On This Day
“Thriller” Debuts on MTV
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying Michael Jackson’s influence. On this day in 1983, MTV aired Jackson’s 14-minute version of “Thriller” for the first time. Many consider it the most influential music video ever. Here it is.
Quotable
Fred Rogers
“In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.”
Any reading, listening, quoting, resourcing that you think we should share? Send us a tip.
Until next time, enjoy the rest of this week and the weekend.
Tom