I'm not sure why - maybe the economy? Maybe it's that marketers are learning more about ROI? AdAge has an interesting take on this concept with their reviews: Ed McMahon's Bad Ad Steals the Super Bowl.

I personally thought the Coke spot trying to be a remake of the best ad ever - "Mean Joe" - was awful. To me the best ad was NBC's "LMAO" ad which, I guess, wasn't in consideration because it was for the network. I did really like the Bridgestone ad with Mr. Potato Head - that was pretty clever. And, the Cheeto's ad with the birds was pretty good, too. Also, I'd love to know what kind of traffic GoDaddy generated with their ads - I'm sure it was through the roof.

Here is the place you can watch and rate the commercials @ ESPN's SportsNation. It'll be interesting how these ads and reviews shake out over the next few days.

Here's an excerpt:

All the common rules of society still apply when contacting Journalists and Bloggers:
- Be nice.
- Be respectful of their time.
- Recognize that these are busy people too.
- Be self-aware that most of them do not like to pitched.
- Don't annoy them or hound them if you don't hear back from them.
- Say please and thank you.
- Make it easy, simple and fun to connect to you and whatever it is you're pitching them.
- Give them time and space to breathe (your rush is not their rush).

There's a bunch of other great info in the article - check it out.

"Improving Your Conversion Rate is FAR More Important Than Driving More Traffic," really encapsulates what I have proposed many times. I have made this mistake and have focused on traffic generation when, undoubtedly, I needed to focus on conversions. When I pulled my head out of the sand and did, in fact, begin to understand my conversion process - the company and the bottom line soared. Isn't that why we're all here anyway?

There is one fundamental concept that the music industry in those days (40's, 50's & 60's) has on the music industry of today. If you look at it, the flagship product of a record label at that time was the single. Albums were secondary. Labels had caravans that took their artist around the country and showcased their roster to a swarm of fans. These bands would play a few songs and then head on their way. For the most part, that doesn't happen today.

I believe that it should.

Think about it, with the advent of the MP3 and services like iTunes, the consumer has the opportunity to buy the song(s) that they like and not be force-fed an album of 2-3 good songs with 7-8 fillers. So, why do these artists and labels still need to act this way when they should be focused on selling great music. Learn from your predecessors people. Let the idea of the single reemerge.

Here's another idea. Where do artists usually make their money? Most would think that it's on albums - it's not, it's in touring. So, why not think of your singles as your "marketing materials". Give them away in anticipation of gate receipts. Your ROI would be incredible - especially in this day and age where technology has revolutionized the recording industry and greatly reduced the costs associated with quality recordings.

Labels used to offer something called "tour support" - they don't do that much anymore. Why not? Why don't labels put on the tour and spread the cost of the production across 4-6 artists on their roster? Better yet - scrap the whole idea of royalties and put your acts on salaries with a bonus structure. This will free them up so that they can mature in the industry and have long term success.

This idea will require a complete overhaul of the way the music industry operates. However, if we agree that the music industry needs to focus back on the "single" then everything else will flow from there.

Check out my latest PodCast for more....

On a side note, I'd love some feedback on the PodCasts - drop me a comment below - Thanks, cg

I loathe it when, especially on the radio, I hear someone say their domain name. How many times do you hear that and they don't even say "dot" between the "w-w-w" and the domain name? It drives me nuts. So, let's all just make a deal and drop it. When was the last time you didn't enter "www" when you navigated to a website anyway? The the "www" go the way of the pronoun "you" and let it be understood.