Banks Irk Me

I thought this was a thing of years past - but apparently not. Free Gifts.

1. If it's a gift, it should be free - yes?

2. When choosing a bank, my first thought is not "whoa - a freakin toaster! i'm in!" If you're offering a new car, we'll talk. I jabbed a bank on this blog a few weeks ago for free gifts and I took notice now of Community South banks offering "free gifts" for new accounts. A car wash kit. An umbrella.

Banking is a serious industry. I am trusting you with my money and my personal information, you shouyld be a tad professional. It's not to say that you can't be a little different or have a little fun... but don't sell your product like a flea market. To First Citizens and Bank Greenville, thank you for the great service you have consistantly showed... to Community South - keep your toasters.

Before reading... please register so that I can SPAM you

I hate having to give up my email address to get information. Many websites require you to register before being able to access the ino that you need, for example - the NY Times. Sure it's free... kind of - but how much time do you spend srting through various clumps of email... you're not sure how they got your address but somehow they now want you to buy their stock tips, little blue pills and apply for mortgages.

How about a suggestion? Check out this website. Bugmenot allows you to share user names and passwords letting you bypass giving up your info. They have great sites sch as youtube, NYT, NYP, IMDB and more. There are a bunch of other great resources available on bugmenot.com.

Enjoy!

Strange...

Have you ever woken up more tired than when you went to bed, simply because you had multiple weird dreams? I don't recall all of them, except about the mean bird.

I was sitting at a table at an indoor pool, there were trees - but a cardinal kept trying to attack me. It would hover over me and try to peck at my head. Staying covered with a blanket, it didn't bother me. This went on for quite some time... strange.

Anyone else ever have a really strange dream that was nonsense?

10-4... what's the frequency?

As often as possible, I like to take real life experiences in my life that deal with advertising. So, here's one now:

Over the weekend I saw an infomercial for a new product that would groom dogs nails without clipping and without hurting them. Knowing that my deal pitbull Jake Knots McDonald is not a huge fan of getting his nails clipped I thought this would be a neat thing to get and try. Of course I was too lazy to get up out of bed to write down the info. Now, here it is Monday and I can't remember the name of it, the website... That's bad. I really want to spend my $29.99 on their product, but I can't.

So how much did they spend on that one ad? A good bit is my guess, and I'm sure they got some calls from it. But guarenteed if I were to see that ad one more time they would get a call from me... and I'm sure many other people in my shoes who want to give them osme money.

"I just want to run my ad once and see what happens" says my client. "Save your money until you can run a CAMPAIGN with FREQUENCY" says the grumpy one. Surely, after a poor response from that one ad, said client is soured on advertising and throws their hands up "Advertising doesn't work!"

Maybe you need a marketing firm? A marketing firm that will work with you, no matter how big or small your budget is... or how big or small your project is. A marketing firm whose first question out of the gate is NOT "how big is your budget" but something more along the lines of "where does it hurt". Email me, bo@mustardnrelish.com, and just like the government - we're here to help.

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street - March 4th 1960

It's surely one of my guilty pleasures. I'm not a sci-fi fan, at all. But I love the Twilight Zone series by Rod Serling. The story lines are a little weird, and some waaayyyy out in left field, but look past that. Each and every episode that Serling wrote was more than imagination and science fiction. The social message in each episode, the story line that teaches very basic morals of society are incredible.

Each July 4th and New Year the sci-fi network puts on a Twilight Zone Marathon, and I try to watch each and every episode, many of them for the twentieth time, but it's amazing no matter how many times I watch them the more I pull from the story line.

It may also help that Rod Serling and I share a birthplace. Rod Serling attended my highschool (of course, many years before I), but the community is very proud of Serling and his accomplishments, and if you think about the era that these episodes ran for the first time - he was way ahead of this time. One word to describe the work of Serling... INCREDIBLE.