Author: Bob Benz

Marketing army …

Glenbot has a link to a Forbes piece on how Procter & Gamble is using word-of-mouth marketing among teens to push its products — and other companies’ products, too. It’s pretty cool stuff, though I think the P&G folks might be a little full of themselves here …

“The mass-marketing model is dead,” says James Stengel, P&G’s global marketing officer. “This is the future.”

Well, we’ll see.

But it really is prevalent, and there seems to be some potential here. When I went to the site for the remake of the Dawn of the Dead, it offered a chance to join the Zombie Army. How could I refuse? Then, less than a week later, this arrived in my inbox.

zombie army

Seems they’ll give me “points” for telling friends about the movie and generally doing things to promote it. I can redeem the points for cool zombie shirts and zombie posters and zombie screen savers.

Kinda ironic. Turning today’s youth into an army of marketing zombies, eh?

Driving all night …

I spent 15 hours in my truck during a recent two-day trip to and from Ohio University, which gave me a chance to test my iPod’s FM tuner gizmo. It worked very well, better than I expected. There are a few spots where I was catching a bit of fuzz, but overall, it was clear and made the drive much more bearable.

It plugs into your cigarette lighter and allows you to listen to your iPod on one of four FM frequencies. It also keeps the iPod charged.

Driving home Friday night reminded me of several of the long-haul late-night trips I made in my younger days. Driving back to Edinboro from a 1981 Dead show at the Capitol Center in D.C. only to run out of gas at daybreak a mile from our exit. Driving from Birmingham to Destin in the middle of a muggy summer night in 1986 and freaking out at the stars and insect accordion hum during a piss stop somewhere south of Montgomery.

And this time, driving through rainy central Ohio swarming with swollen creeks, hoping the temperature wouldn’t drop below freezing and having my entire CD collection at my fingertips. Loading all my CDs into the iPod has given me a chance to revisit stuff I haven’t listened to in a long time. Returning home, I listened to Mazzy Star, the Breeders, Natalie Merchant and Phish. The more I use this thing, the more I love it. I’m now into the “S” CDs in my collection (Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys …) and think I’ll have the whole thing loaded on the iPod within another week or so.

Here’s a link for iPod freaks with too much time on their hands …

Now Playing: From Gagarin’s Point Of View from the album Somewhere Else Before by Esbjorn Svensson Trio

Assorted Bob

Just ducky …

Post author By Bob Benz
Post date February 2, 2004

A hunter friend recently graced us with a few ducks, which I promptly marinated in cayenne, black pepper, red wine (a cab), tamari and lemon juice. I then offered this sacrifice up to the BIg Green Egg with a liberal helping of mesquite. A few hours later, the smoker surrendered two of the best ducks I’ve ever eaten. These guys were much better than the farm-raised ducks I occasionally buy at the local store, and they came with the added bonus of an occasional shotgun pellet.

Now Playing: WUMB – Folk Radio