No Joke: #MarthaStewart Goes Comic; #FlashSale: The New #MarcomStrategy

Comic Book format for story-telling (i.e. product/service selling), a marketing strategy that we profiled two years ago and revisited last week when Steve Jobs announced his new bio will be in comic format, is gaining traction--as evidenced by Martha Stewart's announcement that her bio will be published in a similar comic-centric format.
 "A visual medium provides perspective that is not only accessible but more relatable to the average person without losing any of the information involved." 
Don't say that we didn't tell you so.


As long as we're on the topic of trendy marcom strategies, for all of you PR 'gurus' and marketing geniuses that get paid for positioning creative branding strategies for your clients, you should know that aligning your clients with "flash sale" sites (the ones that offer steep discounts for products only if you act "now") isn't so much a sales strategy as it is a branding and marketing strategy.

Most brands have long lamented the down-sides of using juicy on-line promo coupons to bring in customers; the subsequent sales from these strategies are considered to be momentary blips, and for many merchants, these campaigns prove to be more aggravation than they might be worth.

That said, and as profiled in today's NYT , brands are discovering that flash sale campaigns have become something else: a way to advertise and find new customers, many of whom visit the sites of the brands and buy full-price merchandise soon after the sales.