Have you ever had an article or magazine that you wanted to read, only to have it fall under a stack of papers never to be seen again? I have many times. With my PR job I get countless magazines, and rarely read them, unless it’s to see where an article I placed ran.
Image: 3dnews.ru
Well way back in September, a copy of the Harvard Business Review crossed my desk and had an intriguing cover that caught my eye. On the left were Pixar’s light icon and the phrase: Creativity at PIXAR. This company has fascinated me for years and I was determined to check out the article and see what kind of creativity – aside from the movies smartass – was lurking behind their animated gates. (more…)
In the business of baseball, it is important for teams to make as much money that they can. Whether it be merchandising, TV contracts or tickets, the objective is to turn a profit.
When a team has attendance issues, they may install a flexible pricing platform where they raise prices for rivals and appealing opponents (or teams whose fan base travels well Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals). This is an old practice and probably frustrating for the fans of the local nine looking to take their family out to random games. Take the Tampa Bay Rays for example: An outfield ticket is $17 for a regular game, $20 for marquee games and $24 for Prime games. Note the Rays don’t make it easy to find the definition of each game. (more…)
Some things grow better with time, wine, cheese, scotch, etc. However many have complained that the Simpsons have been sliding down the slippery lame slope. After seeing the new opening, I am jacked to see what the season has to hold.
My favorite part was Barney under Willy’s leaf pile.
There was a time not so long ago that Sports Illustrated was known for putting curses on its cover boys, Life of Riley and a swimsuit issue. However after Riley jumped ship, there was no reason to read the back page and the cover jinx seemed to fade away (here and here).
While the magazine did add Dan Patrick, yes the former ESPN stalwart, that wasn’t the real story — Sports Illustrated turned into a first-class marketer for their authors’ books, even gracing the most recent cover.
First it was Tom Verducci and Joe Torre telling all about his Yankee years. The book excerpt shed some light into the behind the scenes drama. First there was the fallout with the GM and then the hoopla with Alex Rodriguez being a Jeter-junkie and A-Fraud. Then in the most recent issue, the aforementioned A-Rod graces the cover. However, its not for any heroic deed, but rather being exposed as yet another dirty player of the steroid era.
In the case of Verducci, the plug propelled his book to the top of the NY Times Best Seller list, prompting a book tour that would be more fitting for J.K. Rowling. (more…)
