Cure for the common cold

Can’t someone discover a cure for the common cold? I’m so sick of blowing my nose and coughing. It’s going on two weeks. In the last two weeks I’ve spent who knows how much money on Sudafed, Robitussin, Cold Calm, Kleenex, Mucinex, Diet Sprite, EmergenC, Alleve, Afrin and generic Tylenol and Vapor Rub. I'm wearing out the neti pot!

I think the ‘cold symptom industry’ is a racket against a cure. Come on, people go through cancer treatment and live a long healthy life cancer free, why can’t they cure a cold? Think about it. If they come up with a vaccine, that eliminates a whole aisle at Walgreens. All those scientists, package designers, box suppliers, and marketers would be out of a job. Huh. And how much is spent on advertising? Can “this economy” take another hit? Probably not. So we’re stuck fighting the mucus. Uggh.

Everybody cut, everybody cut...

Have you seen the commercial for the crazy new toe-nail clipper with a light and magnifying glass? The Sure Clip commercial is hilarious and so is the product. I wish I could have been in the product development brainstorming session when they came up with the idea.

“What problems are we trying to solve?”

Problem: “I hate it when I clip my toenails and the clippings hit me in the face or go flying onto my friends!”

Solution: “How about we add a clipping caddie? It will store all the clippings, eliminate the mess and people can easily recycle if they want!”

Problem: “When I clip my toenails, I can’t really see the toe jam with the angle of my hammer toe.”

Solution: “Why don’t we add a magnifying glass?”

Problem: “It’s really hard to see when I clip my nails in the movie theater or on an overnight flight.”

Solution: “Why don’t we add a light to the magnifier?”

Awesome!

So last night I’m at a work party at Sky Lounge listening to the band, “Vote for Pedro” an 80’s-90’s cover band. The TV next to the stage is tuned to ESPN Sports Center (target audience: sport junkies afraid to get a pedicure)…and the commercial comes on while the band is playing “Footloose” featuring the lyrics “everybody cut, everybody cut.” Are you kidding me?! Priceless.

A night without TV...

Gasp! Shocking I know. Just the thought. But it happened in the Scherting household!

Monday night, I walked the dogs, a friend stopped by to bring me some Delicious tortilla soup (yum, thank you Fern!) and I went to the gym. Came home around 8:30 and thought to myself, let’s try a night without TV!

I’ve been pondering the idea for awhile. Now I love the water cooler chat over why Russell should have won Survivor. I love the witty banter of my favorite Monday night nerds on Big Bang Theory. I love comparing episodes of the Office to real work-life with my co-workers. A night without TV is blasphemy!

I didn’t stop there! No music, no Internet. It was just quiet time with some old magazines from 2007, working on my new vision board…cutting out words, phrases and pictures. Thinking about what I want this year. (btw, 2010 It’s All About Me!)

So you are a marketer, how do you get your messages to me? No TV, no radio, not online. Hmm. Magazines were out-of-date. The database marketer in me says direct mail! I was actually cutting up some mail pieces and catalogs. With everyone relying on e-mail, e-newsletters, Twitter, Facebook etc. a really good mail piece, with the right message to the right person can still work.

Direct mail isn’t dead yet. But don’t take any lessons from credit card companies. Seriously, how many of those checks are they going to send me? Sometimes I get two of the same mailer on the same day. Don’t they de-dupe their list? What a waste! But the AT&T piece with coupon codes for Video-On-Demand movies…now we’re talking. And B2B…I rarely get a compelling message in my physical inbox on my desk. I get annoying cold call voice mail messages but nothing tangible and relevant to support the message. How hard is that?