Lists sometimes make me feel at peace. They bring things into relation with one another. Their values are yours to determine. Here’s a list of my top seven lists as of right now. If it’s too meta-content for you, have a seat in Boston common and watch the leaves fall.

See Google’s Top Ten Philosophy’s
#1 Focus on the user and all else will follow.
http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html

Seth Godin’s top 1,000 things to know
#1 How to type.

50 Top Interactive Agencies
Way to go WorldClass Strategy: #50 with only 8 employees.
www.adweek.com/aw/images/pdfs/Top_50_Interactive.pdf

Top Ten Mark Twain Quotes
#1 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Top Television Ad Spots
http://www.adweek.com/aw/creative/best_spots/index.jsp

Top Ways to Die – Darwin Awards
We salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who remove themselves from it in really stupid ways. Of necessity, this honor is generally bestowed posthumously.

http://www.darwinawards.com/

Top Ten Worst Products
#1 Microsoft Bob
http://www.cnet.com/4520-11136_1-6313439-1.html

Welcome Home. -Z

“Country Music is Three Cords and the Truth,” Harlan Howard

Country songs are great examples of how to create a memorable scene, and they directly inform the best ways to brand and position products. Perhaps their success comes from how they connect us to images we are familiar with. Whether they tap into national folk symbols , or strike a chord with a common American past, they often effectively share simple stories of love, nationalism and nostalgia. It is no wonder that country music listening surges in times of war and national crisis.

Great country songs often create these feelings immediately. I’ve selected seven examples. Each are selections from the first two lines of a notable country song.

“He was working through college on my grandpa’s farm
I was thirsting for knowledge and he had a car”
-Strawberry Wine, Deana Carter

“I was just out of the service thumbing through the classifieds
When an ad that said old Chevy some how caught my eye,”
Riding with Private Malone, David Bell

“Just the other night at a hometown football game
My wife and I ran into my old high school flame,”
Unanswered Prayers, Garth Brooks

“Johnny’s daddy was taking him fishin’
When he was eight years old,”
Don’t take the Girl, Tim McGraw

“The devil went down to Georgia
He was looking for a soul to steal,”
Devil Went Down to Georgia, Charlie Daniels Band

“I knew a man Bojangles and he’d dance for you
In worn out shoes,”
Mr. Bojangles, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

“We shared the same last name and the same color eyes,
But we fought like tigers over that old red bike.”
Brotherly Love, Keith Whitley

When asked why people appreciate country music, they often site its authenticity. Perhaps that’s why I love it as well. It makes me think of a time when I played Cowboys and Indians –before I was mindful that the game was politically incorrect.

Since that time, I’ve lived in Cowboy country twice: Dallas and Albuquerque. I remember certain things about each place: Beautiful girls clad in Diamonds and Wrangles, and tumbleweed and Mexican wedding cookies respectively. I also remember feeling bolder living there, as if the healthy ambiguities calling my moral absolutes in questions weren’t present.

Perhaps country music’s confidence and its bold ascertain of simple values provides a useful example for marketers branding and positioning products. I know it’s a great personal reminder to keep things simple.

As a final note, how popular is country?

“Country music is now playing on the radios of nearly 16 million adults between the ages of 18 and 49 each week, making it the most popular radio format in America, according to a new report from Interep, a New York City-based radio advertising sales and marketing firm.”

Welcome home. – Z

“I ascribe a basic importance to the phenomenon of language. To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization.” – Frantz Fanon

I went to an old fashion breakfast diner today and to ordered a “Venti-sized” drink. They looked at me as if I committed a mortal sin, and I honestly felt like I had. For years, I intentionally ordered “Large, Medium or Small,” at Starbucks, actively resisting their Italian sizes. Today, I caved. I would argue that the ability for brands to have us think in their terms – within the measurements they prescribe – is perhaps their most effective means of marketing.

I’d love to use eCommerce as a form of nation-building. To work with education systems to improve online literacy, enhance government infrastructure and use a new generation of Geek Squad- Peace Corps volunteers to encourage and stimulate economic growth in emerging global markets.

I recently spoke with a gentleman who told me his clients (seniors) are not online. Despite my personal experience and research to the contrary, evidence that proved seniors are not only online, but they are also one of the most active demographics online, he was not interested in “being told about his industry.”
He assumed that since his current direct marketing produced non-computer literate seniors, that all seniors were computer illiterate.

There really was no changing a mind the preferred to stay closed. This is the most frustrating thing about legitimizing online marketing, the “new advertising channel.” On the one hand, businesses want tested and proven strategies that they know have and will work. Many of the decision makers are comfortable with traditional media. However, if you’re looking to maximize your ROI why wouldn’t you purchase media on the channel that lets you best track and measure your money? Internet advertising.

In a different situation, I would have not only provided evidence to the contrary, but introduced personal experience regarding why seniors may prefer online. The internet is a form of empowerment. While seniors may be limited or reluctant in other areas of life, they are mobile and capable online. They are connected and increasingly relevant. In my work with a different client’s customers, who are in their 70s, I found this to be the case. They not only enjoyed our website, they also actively participated in online communities and discussions.

The paradigm has changed. This is fact. However, the acceptance of that change has not fully occurred.
In case you’re ever in a conversation about the internet, its users and the growing advertising marketing surrounding it, here’s some great research to call on.

“The Future of Advertising is the Internet,” – Bill Gates

-See Top 28 Countries with highest internet penetration rate. This is current research, September05. The United States is ranked 7th, with 68.6% or 203M users – Nielsen source Aug 05. Can you guess whose number 1? http://www.internetworldstats.com/top25.htm

-According to US Census estimates, there were 290.3 million US residents in 2003. See this comparative breakdown of how many residents are online, when and where. See informative, comparative research: http://www.emarketer.com/Report.aspx?us_jun04

-Internet ad spending growing 20% this year. In 2005, it will comprise 5.2% of total media spending. See: http://www.emarketer.com/Report.aspx?ad_spend_oct05

-US Internet Advertising to Reach $22.3 Billion by 2009 (currently at 12.9 Billion).

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/050914/095352.html

-Pew Internet & American Life Project:

“# 26% of Americans age 65 and older go online, compared with 67% of those age 50-64, 80% of
those age 30-49, and 84% of those age 18-29.

# 57% of African-Americans go online, compared with 70% of whites.

# 29% of those who have not graduated from high school have access, compared with 61% of
high school graduates and
89% of college graduates.

# 60% of American adults who do not have a child living at home go online, compared with 83%
of parents of minor children.”

-How Accurate is are research forecasts? heck out Jupiter’s 5 year forecast from 16 August 2005 about the growth of online advertising.

Here’s an article about the future of advertising

Who is spending money online? See the top 50: