Bacon-Wrapped IT Certifications Tucked in a Snuggie, For the Zombie in You

As an internet marketer, it is difficult not to notice trends and various memes take hold with rapid speed.

Today I saw an article on Time's Blog made it official declaring 2009 the year of the Zombie, also noting their replacement of Vampires as the otherworldly creature du jour. I've been chanting "Must Eat Brainz" around the office for months now and Left 4 Dead is on constant play on our Xbox, so I already knew this to be true, and it reeked of SEO wizardry. Besides, zombies and vampires are quite the cultural metaphor for the economic crisis.

Time editors: We are Time and our Page Rank stinks! Let's talk to the blogging team and see what they have up their sleeves... Bloggers: Zombies are hot! Editor: Zombies, really?!? Blogger: Yes! Zombies! Let's write an article on our blog about zombies! You know, Diablo Cody is doing a Zombie Movie now? Editor: Who's that? Ok, never mind. Blogger: Hey, I know! We'll throw vampires in their for good measure, maybe we can play off the popularity of the True Blood/ Twilight thing too! Editor: Ok, whatever you say, internet magicians.

I work for a developer of IT Certification Training. How can I make these latest (and soon to disappear) trends work for our advantage? I've got it! Let's offer Bacon-Wrapped IT Certifications Tucked in Snuggies as Zombie-Bait!

When A Dollar Really Counts

Yesterday on my commute home, I noticed a homeless man standing next to my car holding a small cardboard sign "Please help." He caught my eye and held the sign up to my attention, and I was drawn to fish in my empty wallet. Receipts were not going to help this guy. I suddenly remembered a stash of a couple "emergency toll dollars," grabbed one, unrolled my window, and handed it to him.

The response to my handing a man a single dollar so was overwhelming, and I wished I had given more. I think he would have hugged me if he could have reached in my car. Instead, I received the prerequisite "terrorist fist jab" three times during our conversation, which spanned one very long red light.

"You never know where your angels are going to come from." "That's true," I told him. I rolled up my window. He started talking again, and I unrolled it. "You know who you look like, that Annie Frank, I've never read the book though, have you, is it really true?" "Anne Frank? Yes, that's a true story."

Christmas having just passed and having just paid for an upcoming vacation/wedding in February, we are broke. However, I am well aware that "broke" these days with two jobs, a house and two cars, is, quite frankly, lucky. I wished I thought to give the lovely man on the street the leftover apple that was sitting in my lunchbox as I drove home. As I listened to the news on the radio, staggeringly depressing global wars, economic doom and sadness, I took heart and came to the conclusion that the only thing we can do is act, locally, each in our own way. A single, tiny random act of kindness won't fix all our problems-- but millions just might.

My Baby Toe is On Facebook: The Economics of Oversharing

You are now entering the Facebook profile of my Baby Toe.

My Baby Toe is currently recovering from a case of fungus. He resides in Riverview Florida, where he enjoys a scenic view. His past life includes a brief stint at Kforce. Hobbies include: swimming, eating, and torturing those two pesky housecats. Mood: friendly. Age: Approx 3. Species: Beta Fish.

After Digg's Kevin Rose's cold rang up over 1200 followers on Twitter in one day, and people began subscribing to the twitter stream of this lady's cats, I figured all my "Facebook Friends", including family members, the people I work with, went to grammar school with, and don't even really know would want to know about the musings of our pet beta fish, right?

You thought I was talking about my ACTUAL baby toe? Gotcha.

Are these examples of creative uses of new media at their best or oversharing meets boredom at its worst? I'll let you be the judge.

Need a Break from Election Craziness? Check Out These Shrimp On a TreadMill...

More Crazy Video Mondays... and no, it's not the Sarah Palin prank-call clip. Did you know that shrimp, when placed on a treadmill, run up to 66 feet per minute for up to 3 hours without needing a rest? Well now you do. Thanks internets!

Boom-Chick-A-Boom-Boom! He's A Cat.... Flushing A Toilet!

Video O' the day... to bring a smile to your face. Dig that funky music! Now, if only I could train my cats (and husband- J/K!) ;) to do this... Thanks internets!

Want Earbuds With That?

Marketers are forever combining products, free gifts and packages in an attempt to make their brand more attractive to consumers and to (insert buzzword here) "add value".

This example of a value-added promotion, now available at Target stores nationwide, is one example of a marketer that, in my opinion, clearly missed the target. Pun intended. Free earbuds with facewash purchase? These two items have about as much in common as the political leanings of my family vs. my in-laws. ;) Also, how exactly is a person supposed to use said free earbuds while washing one's face? That would be one nifty trick!!! As the Consumerist pointed out, this may be where all the old free JetBlue earphones are going. Smart thinking guys! It's always good to recycle.

I can see that the users of Neutrogena's oil-free face wash may indeed be the same target audience as the iPod generation, but pairing el-cheapo earbuds combined with facewash? Because surely the free ones that come with your face wash are SO much better than the ones that come with your iPod...

Here's an option B for you marketers out there: How about free iTunes downloads or a gift card instead of the earbuds? I bet the packaging for that is easier on the eyes as well!

Come on marketers, you can do better. Promotion Grade: FAIL. Except for the fact that it did make me giggle through my lunch.

I Can Haz Writers Block? Inexpensive Cures

There is nothing quite like the combination of a seemingly never-ending cold, a horribly depressing news cycle and a spending two months coding an e-commerce website (when you typically spend that time working on marketing projects) to sap all the creativity out of a girl faster than my cat sneaks out the front door.

When the world is getting me down, I remember how fortunate I am to have things so many others are struggling with in these days: work in my field, a house with fixed-rate mortgage, a healthy family, and luckily considering my appendicitis attack earlier this year, health insurance. Historically, times of great economic stress, such as the Great Depression provided the world with an outpouring of arguably some of the best art, film, and literature we had seen. The same thing is happening today. People may be cutting their spending on eating out, but they still are going to movies in record breaking numbers. Essentially, in crisis, people look for beauty and escape to get them through the reality of their everyday.

What cheap-ish thrills get my creative engine going again when I am feeling zapped?
1. For me, the answer is first and foremost always books. If your shelves are falling over like mine, I highly recommend a swap site like Bookins, which lets you send books to other people for free and get new books for $4 in postage. Don't forget, libraries are free, and Borders does not charge a "browsing fee."

2. Music: Thank heaven for Music Swapping Sites, iTunes and community radio (88.5 Radio-Active Tampa!) and cheap local shows. While I love music with a passion, I am lucky in that my husband "J" does the heavy lifting, providing me with a constant stream of new music and dragging me to shows even on the days I don't feel like going out. Concerts don't always have to cost $60. Check your local papers and community radio stations for free shows and low-cost options. It's always a better story to say "I saw them at a bar with 50 people before they were famous" anyway. J has LOTS of those stories.

3. Humor: No shocker here, besides beautiful films, I am drawn to the absurd and humorous in television and film when down. Cheap(ish) thrills- NetFlix, basic cable and our trusty DVR filled with the Daily Show and Colbert Report from the previous evening, since I am a nerd and go to sleep by 10pm. That being said, I will close with this clip from last week's SNL, which had me in tears of laughter, despite a fever. Warning: it is advisable to use the potty before viewing.