Spam Update 2008

I regularly have clients contact me in regards to controling spam and unfortunatly the answers I find never seems to get any better.

Unfortunately as business users of email with our email addresses posted on our websites it almost always seems to be a losing battle. The biggest challenge is the tighter you try to make the spam filter the more risk you run of missing an important business email that was mistakenly trapped as spam.

Barracuda Networks Releases Annual Spam Report
At Nearly 95 Percent of Email, Spam Now Rated Worst Form of Junk Advertisinghttp://www.barracudanetworks.com/ns/news_and_events/index.php?nid=232

Study: 95 percent of all e-mail sent in 2007 was spam
CNet commentary on the above press release that might be an easier read.
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9831556-16.html

The following Forbes article from last year is a pretty easy read and highlights the profitability that keeps spams going. This one focuses on the specific stock market schemes that I am sure you have seen yourself in the past.

Why The SEC Can't Stop Spam
http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/08/sec-spam-stock-tech-security-cx_ll_0308spam.html

Update: Hillsborough County CAC - January 25, 2008

We re-elected Anthony Arena and Jim Mills as chair and vice chair for the coming year and approved with one modification all 12 Budget Review Subcommittee recommendations to be presented to the BOCC.

Our speaker this month was Paula Harvey, Division Director of Planning and Zoning Services who discussed with us the County's Comprehensive Plan Amendatory Process.

Sprint Prediction: Correct

A full six months, a holiday shopping season and a new year have come and gone since predicting that "Dreams" and subsequent ads created by two time Adweek U.S. Agency of the Year, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, would do little to improve Sprint's business situation.

According to this Reuters article that prediction was correct.

Sprint Nextel Corp reported deeper than expected subscriber losses on Friday and said it would cut about 4,000 jobs, raising fears of a slowdown in the U.S. wireless industry, and its stock dropped nearly 25 percent.

I think the reference to a slowdown in the industry is overly dramatic considering the 683,000 subscribers lost by the company did not give up cell phones; they mostly went to AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

I do have to add that I have enjoyed the campaign and think creatively, Goodby did everything they could do.

Last April I wondered if a creative campaign could help a company that customers love to hate. Unlike HP where the campaign reinforced good feelings this campaign had way too much of an uphill climb.

I'll take my digital box a bit early

According to the this St Pete Times editorial and details in this Times article, Hillsborough County has sold out to Bright House Networks by striking a deal instead of suing them for moving the access channels to a higher tier.

The cities of St. Petersburg and Tampa are spending tax payer dollars to fight a change that will be federally mandated to change on February 17, 2009.

How do you rationalize that as responsible spending?

Furthermore the change has actually increased access to government by also providing The Florida Channel on 623 which previously was not available.

While I don't agree with the County using the $150,000 to promote county government, we are getting something in a situation we don't have to be given anything and not wasting money on a legal battle that would be lost anyway.

I think the free advertising would be better utilized if granted to local non profits. The non profit community would be able to use that exposure to help generate more private support instead of depending so heavily on government subsidy.

Damn Right Your Dad Drank It!

I had planned to blog this article when it came out and never got around to it. However now I am and it is more relevant and an example of an ad that worked on me.

In Daytona this past weekend for the American Advertising Federation, Fourth District, Fall Conference I was of course at the lobby bar Saturday evening after dinner talking shop and hanging out.

I ordered my usual Maker's on the rocks, and was shocked to find that myself and another woman at the hotel over the weekend finished the supply.

What to do, I debated...

I went to the hospitality suite for a beer... not what I wanted

I walked two blocks to the liquor store... closed

I remembered talking about the new "Damn Right Your Dad Drank It!" to some fellow ad men and though heck, I'll give it try...

You know what? It's pretty "Damn" good!

Cheers to Canadian Club and great campaign that worked on me.

Hauling out imagery 60's and 70's imagery from actual Beam Global employees and positioning Dad as a once cool manly man, ads state "Your Mom Wasn't Your Dad's First," "Your Dad Was Not a Metrosexual" and "Your Dad Never Got a Pedicure."

Read the commentary from AdRANTS, Steve Hall here.

Times editorial on the FTBRC

Just thought I'd share today's Time's editorial with you, where they mention some questions that the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission should bring up. Below are the debate questions they pose, with the second being of concern to our industry.

Among the questions the commissions should debate:

• How could voters be enticed to give up Save Our Homes for a fairer property tax system?
• What is the best way to close sales tax exemptions and tax services to broaden the tax base?
• How could some of that money be used to uniformly reduce property taxes?
• What is the smartest way to provide property tax relief for businesses, owners of investment properties and renters who would get little or no benefit from the amendment approved by lawmakers?

You can read the full editorial here.

TBCN get its message out how?

An update on TBCN from the post earlier this month. It seems that TBCN is working hard to raise funds for their legal defence.

So you might ask what is the best way for TBCN to get its message out to the public?

Create poor quality TV spots and post them to YouTube!

In typical public access style the spots are inconsistent in message, with low quality video, voice overs that sound unrehearsed and tasteless content that does not even begin to be persuasive. I've heard better persuasion arguments given by high school students.

In one of the spots they even compare certain county commissioners to Hitler, Stalin & Castro.

Views them and let me know what you think.