CNN.com includes a story posted Oct 22 entitled “Extreme marketing – this car made just for you.” The story details automakers’ efforts to define and fill narrowly-defined niche markets, and includes the factoid that automakers employ research companies — whose ranks include anthropologists — to ride around in test vehicles with potential buyers to observe their lifestyles. Worth checking out for a different view of marketing research and product development.

The Sunday, Oct 22 issue of the Reno Gazette-Journal contains two interesting articles on how technology is changing how politicians campaign.

The first, “If you’re not online, you’re not credible, candidates discover,” notes that — to be credible — candidates needs to at least maintain a website, and that many also have blogs. These websites not only allow candidates to communicate with voters but can also be instrumental in fund-raising, as demonstrated by John McCain and Howard Dean during the last presidential election.

The second, “Some are calling ’06 campaign ‘the YouTube elections’,” discusses the growing influence of social networking sites such as YouTube. These sites are especially successful in reaching younger voters, who see these sites as important sources of information. The article notes that the “online forum has become so popular among campaigns that some have begun using the phrase, ‘the YouTube elections,’ to describe the phenomenon.” (YouTube was recently acquired by Google for $1.6 billion and claims 100 million video views a day.)

, reno, marketing

Erika Olsen, who appeared at the AMA’s September luncheon entitled “To blog or not to blog,” has written a new book entitled, “Strategic Planning for Dummies.”  One of the principals at Reno’s M3 Planning, Erika is strategic consultant and a business planner with seven years of experience helping entrepreneurs articulate their visions and bring them to fruition. Erica also lectures at University of Nevada Reno and University of Phoenix.

Strategic Planning For Dummies” is for business owners and entrepreneurs who seek to build and sustain a competitive edge, and shows readers how to design and implement proven strategies for sustained business growth.