Many sites in blogosphere are lit up like a Christmas trees this evening with complaints of Yahoo! Messenger being down.
What gives?
Inflated Homeowner Appraisals – WSJ Article
Now that the housing market has finally turned we learn that many of the loans were written on questionable valuations of housing once people try to refinance those outrageous nuclear no money down interest only loans. And the LTV’s (loan to values) are now inverted almost across the board on these loan types. The article blames the appraisers, but where is the blame on the ethics and others in the marketing chain:
– The home builder selling extra houses during the boom making extra profits off increasingly lower quality houses.
– The mortgage bankers and banks making fees off of the loans and then reselling them. Will they take the coming credit loss themselves or will they try to pass it onto the American taxpayer and not back to their shareholders like they should. Remember when you used to put down 20% on a house purchase, there was a reason for it that we will soon be asking why it was abandoned.
– The publishers that made it all too easy to advertise without educating the consumers, many who had no idea what interest only or ARM meant.
– Where were the reporters that write now on these subjects as if it’s new news of what drove the boom for the past five years? That silence was deafening.
Nissan Pulls New Zealand Ad, Loses Opportunities for Buzz
Nissan pulled a racy ad in New Zealand.
“Japanese car maker Nissan said Friday it has pulled a raunchy commercial starring ”Sex and the City” actress Kim Cattrall from New Zealand television after complaints over its content. Cattrall, who played the sex-obsessed, promiscuous Samantha Jones in the HBO series, appears in the ad purring with excitement about Nissan’s new sedan. “Why didn’t you tell me it was so big? I just wasn’t prepared for it,” she said, gushing. ”The all-new Nissan Tiida makes you feel really, really, really good inside.” She tells a salesman: ”Ah! That was amazing. Absolutely fabulous! I mean, the great body and the way you moved it.”
Nissan lost a chance for significant buzz here with International news stories and not having the New Zealand version of the ad up on Youtube. Shame on you guys for hiring an ad agency who doesn’t think bigger than that.
It also brings into question the age old car industry practice of renaming cars with different templates around the world when they are the same model. The new Nissan Versa in the US appears to be the same car and could have benefited from this as well. Another lost opportunity here for Nissan.
Google Blog Post: Findings on Invalid Clicks – Earnings Call Summary
Shuman Ghosemajumder, Business Product Manager, Trust and Safety posted a blog entry about a 47-page report filed by a Dr. Alexander Tuzhilin in a Texarkana court today.
It’s good to see the transparency and postings of these findings, however it’s posting on a Friday afternoon won’t get good news cycle coverage. The only thing I would like Shuman (who owes me a return phone call btw if you are reading this) to clarify is if Dr. Tuzhilin was paid by Google for his report. Otherwise it is a good post.
In other Google news, Google reported a surge in earnings. The discussion in the conference call focused on the importance of partnerships, headcount June 30 – 7,942 – hiring aggressive in 3rd quarter especially in sales and marketing and new products. Maps for mobile and creation of new ways for mobile ads to reach people are also an area of focus. Adsense for Radio was discussed (I find this area very exciting). Several other items were also brought up.
ad:tech Chicago
Are you coming? If so, please drop me a line, I want to meet you!
Dell Blog – Still Waiting for USB Port Shortage Acknowledgement
As I posted on Easton Ellsorth’s blog, the emerging future of corporate blog leadership should likely be:
LISTEN – to other blogosphere posts
ACKNOWLEDGE ISSUES – by linking to the post and talk only about how that issue is being addressed
LISTEN AGAIN – to all feedback
ANSWER – include a we hear you and are working on the problem if it can’t be immediately addressed
REPEAT
On July 7th, I posted a balanced review of my new Dell Dimension 9150, it would be great if Dell acknowledged the USB port shortcoming on their blog and discussed ways they could instruct UPS to actually treat people like the true customers they are when delivering packages. This would demonstrate that they are learning and innovating from customers which is what it is all about!
Comcast – Poor Interactive Ad Targeting Leads to Low Satisfaction
I recently have been seeing alot of interactive ads for Comcast Broadand Internet – $19.95 for the first six months. Well, when you are paying more than that and already using their ISP, why would they show you an ad showing that they don’t value current customers? Why wouldn’t you block these ads to you own IP address bank?
If you are a Comcast (CMCSA) shareholder, you should be upset at the inefficient expenditures and the unnecessary contribution to customer attrition. If you are a current customer you feel like your current business is not as important to them as a new customer. This is yet another example of Comcast management not valuing current customers and employees.
