After what seemed like much longer than nine months, Jessica Simpson and her fiance Eric Johnson had their baby – a 9 lb. daughter named Maxwell Drew. While not the most traditional name for a baby girl, Maxwell is named after relatives on both side of the family. Her first name is Johnson’s middle name as well as his mother’s maiden name and her middle name is Simpson’s mother’s maiden name.
photo credit: simplistic designs
Who else tuned in for the 11 o’clock lottery drawing last Friday, hoping to match the winning numbers and instantly be entitled to millions upon millions of dollars?
With Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot totaling a record-breaking $640 million dollars, three lucky individuals holding winning tickets were not the only ones to wake up richer on Saturday morning. Along with several people who matched some, but not all, of the winning numbers, lottery retailers, state governments, and local news stations, profited from heightened ticket sales and increased publicity. According to reliable news sources, approximately 50% of Mega Millions sales are funneled back into prize payouts, while 35% land up in state coffers, and 15% finds itself in the hands of retailers who are responsible for ticket sales and lottery operating costs.
Beginning January 1st of this year, residents and shoppers of Montgomery County, Maryland (a suburb of Washington, DC and where I grew up), are probably going to start using more reusable grocery bags and fewer plastic ones.
photo credit: I-5 Design & ManufactureYesterday was the 6th birthday of Twitter. Hard to believe that it’s been six years since founder Jack Dorsey sent out the first tweet ever, “just setting up my twttr.”
The first movie in a four-movie franchise based on popular book trilogy, “The Hunger Games,” hits theaters at 12:01 AM this Friday. Excitement has been mounting among fans of the series for months, fueled by a phased digital campaign strategy which kicked off last year.
As tends to be the case with movie promotions, “The Hunger Games” marketing efforts have included promotional giveaways, enticing previews, and public appearances and television interviews with many of the movie’s young stars; however, the marketing team responsible for promoting this particular movie heavily focused their attention on the online social networks and platforms frequented by their young target demographic.
While most products and services lack the buzzworthy characteristics of an action-packed bestselling book series-turned-movie phenomenon, there are many valuable lessons for marketers to learn from the trajectory of “The Hunger Games.”
Yesterday, Apple announced the release of The New iPad (that’s the official name; it’s not called the iPad3.) on March 16th.
It’s Oscar time! The 84th Annual Academy awards are airing on Sunday at 7 p.m. If you’re like me, you’re mostly interested in the Best Picture category. Here are this year’s nominees:
• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse
Red Ribbon Week (Oct 22-30) is underway and schools and organizations are supporting America’s oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in a number of unique ways. Although you have surely observed individuals sporting promotional ribbons in assorted colors on many occasions, do you know the story behind the red ribbons worn during Red Ribbon Week?
Spring forward, fall back. It’s an adage that we’ve been teaching children for years. Yet, every fall, there’s at least one person who shows up for work after Daylight Saving Time (DST) ends – only to be met by a dark, empty building because the office doesn’t open for an hour. Don’t let that person be you! Remember to set your promotional alarm clock back one hour when DST ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 6.
(Don’t worry – this is just an advanced warning. We’ll remind you to change your promotional alarm clock again in two weeks.)
Sarah
Content Manager
Image by Alan Cleaver on Flickr
In case you’ve been living under a rock – or a large stalk of corn – and haven’t heard the news, a couple and their two small children dialed 911 on Monday evening after getting lost in a corn maze at Connors Farm outside of Boston.