I could say that you’re homely
Just as homely as pie
But this is Washington’s Birthday
And I’ve got to say you’re beautiful‘
Cause I can’t tell a lie

I could say that you’re stupid
Nothing up in your crown
But this is Washington’s Birthday
And the truthful he
Of the cherry tree
Would look down on me
And frown

I could say that I hate you if I try
But I’ve got to say I love you
‘Cause it’s February the twenty-second
And I can’t tell a lie

Amazing, right? Right. Let’s see you do it! (Comments section, please!)

Since the days of Irving Berlin and Fred Astaire, the birthdays of “the truthful he of the cherry tree,” along with his successor Honest Abe, have been heaped together as yet another opportunity to tirelessly promote retail sales at the time of year where the weather is miserable, the worst movies are out, and people are generally in bad moods, eating casseroles and waiting on spring.

In my inbox alone, I’ve received a “Presidents Day Sale Extended 3 More Days!” promo from Petco (I’m sure someone else is also having a birthday then, but a Lincoln-Washington-Peter Fonda-Steve Jobs-George Harrison Birthday Sale sounds like it comes with more red tape than Tax Day, so forget that option); a “Presidents Day Room Sale” from La Quinta Inn; a travel promotion to Washington, DC, from SniqueAway; and a “Presidents Day Weekend Event Sale” from Ann Taylor LOFT. Apart from revealing a lot about my personal tastes (travel often and travel cheap!), these promos also speak to growing opportunities for retailers to take advantage of the barren winter months. Let’s call it the Wintery E-Blast. (Like that?)

So I think the lesson for marketers to take away from this madness is that e-marketing is as robust as ever, as a relatively inexpensive yet highly effective means of reaching your market whenever you want to. Gone are the days where After Christmas and Fourth of July sales reign; the new promotional period is now.  Your market’s inbox is ready 24/7. So dust off your wigs and waistcoats, and take advantage of today just being … today.

It wasn’t really Van Gogh who brought this thought to mind. Not Thoreau either. Sadly, it’s more of the recent deaths that did it—deaths of people who are/were already famous. Michael Jackson. Amy Winehouse. And now, of course, Whitney Houston. I didn’t think Michael Jackson could be any more fascinating, but the late King of Pop’s posthumous business empire raised his net worth by almost 50 percent (that’s what the guys at Forbes claim). That doesn’t mean his entourage of financial helpers suddenly became mastermind businesspeople. It means we (Demand) were suddenly even more interested. Here comes Supply.

Aww. Paris and Blanket eat Lucky Charms for breakfast? MY kids eat Lucky Charms for breakfast.* I didn’t buy a commemorative coin, but I did embarrassingly applaud in the middle of the theater while watching Michael Jackson practice his never-performed concert in “This Is It” (reflex). And I was one of the hundreds of thousands of people who watched Cirque du Soleil’s “The Immortal World Tour.” You know how concerts are always deemed to be “sold out,” but when you get there, you find a sea of empty seats? That wasn’t the case. I looked around me during the height of the performance and the stadium was truly and impressively at full occupancy. Anyway, while I would definitely have paid to watch Michael Jackson sing Dirty Diana at a concert while he was alive, I would definitely not have made a special cinematic adventure out of it.

Really, while not stated quite as bluntly, this whole people-are-more-interesting-when-dead thing is common knowledge. That’s why Sony mistakenly (reaaaallly???) hiked up the prices of Whitney Houston’s albums upon announcement of her death. The almost five-dollar price increase was reflected in iTunes, but not to worry, this has supposedly all been rectified, and prices are back to normal.

People like dead people—not in a creepy zombie-like way, but in a totally normal, heightened-interest-level kind of way.

* I don’t have kids, and I don’t know what Paris and Blanket eat for breakfast.

Every single gift you give a woman can (and will!) be interpreted and re-interpreted and misinterpreted in a thousand different ways. “Why did he get me the cheap chocolate that tastes like it’s filled with dollar store toothpaste?” or “Great, a box set of My Two Dads. Does he have kids he’s not telling me about?” Go straight to an unhappy lady, do not cross go, do not collect 200 kisses.

I say this as a woman. Sometimes we do it because your gifts are genuinely confusing, and sometimes we do it just to keep you on your toes. And because fightin’ and bein’ ornery is what keeps a relationship going strong. If you don’t feel like you’re walking on eggshells, well, then I’m not making enough trouble-omelets.

Luckily, Adcetera has come up with a solution to all your Valentine’s Day woes. Our easy-to-send, even-easier-to-receive animated Valentines are perfect for everyone on your Valentine’s Day checklist. They’re incredibly cute, feature eye-catching animations, and each one sports a simple message, sure to cut down on misinterpretation. So drop those chocolates, remove that box set from your Amazon shopping cart, and check them out at www.adcetera.com/theartoflove.

And if these don’t work, you can always default to those wilted grocery store roses.

But there’s nothing like Super Bowl squares to skew your perception of the game and command your attention. It’s arguably about as random as you can get, which is why I suppose I’ve had at least a little bit of success in this game. You just put your name in a square and then numbers are randomly assigned in a matrix that has surprisingly been proven to be way more complicated than most casual Super Bowl betters expect. But it’s great because it keeps my wife and other non-football people interested in the game and particularly the score. She’s constantly elbowing me in the gut asking which numbers are hers while someone across the room is yelling out, “Who has 5-7?” Followed by, “Who has 5-0?” Or “Who has 5-3?” Everyone’s running scoring scenarios in their head in hopes that their numbers will pay off. “If the Giants get a safety and then a touchdown, I’ll win this quarter!” Well, that’s not how Wolfie played it out in his head I’m sure, but hey he got paid!

Still, my favorite of all Super Bowl bets is the side bet. I had a good one with Renee, our Studio Manager. She bet me two bucks that the first commercial (after the kickoff) would be a beer commercial. It was a very strategic choice, but I decided to take the field, tempted by the sheer number of other commercials it could possibly be: a talking-baby insurance ad, a Dominoes pizza ad that guarantees delivery by halftime, Doritos or some other snack food, a car ad, a truck ad, a new series that NBC is premiering … how could I pass up this opportunity? So I’m watching the beginning of the game very intently, not because of the action on the field, but frankly because I wanted the drive to either stall or end in a score so I could see what the first commercial would be. It was Bud Light Platinum. Two more bucks down the drain. One of my friends was really going crazy with the side bets, though. He’d wait ‘til Brady would step back to pass and raise a dollar yelling, “Complete!” hoping someone would  take “incomplete.”

I did. Too often. Brady completed something crazy like 16 consecutive passes, all the while I was convinced that he was due to miss one. Well I ran out of dollar bills before that happened.

So yeah, although I’m sad that the football season is officially over, I sure am glad that football season is officially over. ‘cause no one around here wants to bet on basketball … do you?

Adcetera has been focused on getting social for a while now, with an upsurge in both Twitter and Facebook activity. To continue this success, we created our first-ever Facebook contest. Capitalizing on three of America’s favorite things (the holidays, pet photos, and amazing prizes,) we conceived of a contest that could not lose. We also teamed with the Houston SPCA, pledging one dollar for each contest entry.

The “Naughty or Nice” contest urged Facebook users to first “Like” Adcetera. After that, they were free to post as many pictures of their pets caught in “Naughty” or “Nice” situations as they liked—and to encourage friends to upvote their pet’s pics. To support the contest, Adcetera created a wide range of collateral, including a Facebook ad, updated profile picture, an e-blast, and a web banner. A company-wide contest encouraged Adceterans to send the e-blast to as many friends and family as possible, while our partners at Houston SPCA sent a separate e-blast to everyone on their mailing list, as well. Top it all off with great prizes from Petco and sponsors like Rover Oaks, Haute Pets, The Best Little Dog House in Texas, Demi’s Dog House, and Jackson’s Place Bakery, and you’ve got a contest that couldn’t be stopped.

At the end of the contest, hundreds of entries had been uploaded, and the winners were clear. Not only had Adcetera almost doubled its friend count, but some great new friends had won amazing prizes from our sponsors. But the real winners were the animals at the Houston SPCA, who will receive some much-needed support and care due to the many entries in our contest. We can’t wait to do the next one!

Our healthy obsession with goats (the ponies of Sweden!) led to the creation of Adcetera’s first interactive iPad book for children. A little bit Who’s The Boss and a little bit Heidi, Top Goat takes kids on a whirlwind ride up (and down) Mount Literacy.

It all began with a goat, of course. Actually, several goats. A whole herd of them, in fact!

These ladies reside on a ranch in New Waverly, and they belong to our president, Kristy Sexton. And, like all goats, they’re a loud, stinky, headstrong bunch. What better topic for a children’s book? We started in with character sketches and story angles, and soon narrowed in on our topic—one bossy little goat who wanted to be king of the mountain and the patient little girl who takes care of him.

Adcetera handled every aspect of the creation of this app, from background and character design to the crafting of the story itself. In addition, all interactivity and motion was programmed using Adobe^® Flash. The result was a bright, engaging story with lots of fun built-in activities and a bit of a message about bossiness. Top Goat is now available in the App Store—and it’s a story that’s appropriate for kids of all ages.

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