Sorry we have been away for so long! But, we have great news, you can now order our book Bite-Sized Marketing; realistic solutions for the overworked librarian!

ALA Editions, the publishing imprint of the American Library Association (ALA), announces the release of “Bite-Sized Marketing: Realistic Solutions for the Overworked Librarian,” by Nancy Dowd, Mary Evangeliste, and Jonathan Silberman. This book shares simple and cost-effective approaches to effective library marketing in a format that reflects the way people read today. Filled with contemporary marketing ideas, the authors provide:

• How-tos of guerrilla marketing
• Cutting-edge digital marketing practices
• Benefits of traditional print media

Visually compelling and thoroughly practical, this book challenges librarians to market libraries in new and original ways.

Click here to purchase it from ALA. Contact us and we can get you a $5 coupon.

Are you a Twilight fanatic? Do you keep up with True Blood? Well, you’re not alone! Millions are crazed over vampires (like Tyra Banks asking Robert Pattenson to bite her or my roommate with her Edward Cullen poster). These shows, books, movies all seem new, but the myths are old. The story of the vampire has been told again and again. When I was younger I went through a phase reading only vampire books like the In the Forests of the Night series by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. Each vampire is different whether they can go inside without being invited or can go in daylight on cloudy days. We love them all.  As a way to entertain myself this Summer I’ve been watching the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The stories are great and always keep me on the edge of my seat. This series had been huge when it was on TV (1997-2003) and it continues to have a large following on DVD.  It’s funny to watch this older series about vampires with the dated clothing and pop culture references. People may think that by following Twilight they are participating in a new phenomenon, but it’s actually been around for ages.

Stop what you are doing and watch this amazing video from Buck!

As part of Mountain Dew’s new logo launch, the brand team at Pepsi asked us to conceive, direct and produce a short animation exploring the evolution of the Dew Brand. We decided to take a walk through history (packed with historical taglines), starting with Dew’s country roots as a moonshine mixer and getting progressively more urban as we move to modern times. And all in 15 seconds!

[via Drawn!]

Commercials have always used music, in the background or instead of dialogue. Something I’ve noticed recently though is that more and more commercials use songs from more obscure artists, not just songs that are already in the popular mainstream. In 2008 Target had this commercial: with two new roommates dancing and decorating to a song. Although the commercial was for the stuff, my friends and I bought the song. Millions of others must also have because Enur was the top dance seller on iTunes in 2008. This is great for musicians!

I am proud to announce that Musselman Library’s digital collection-GettDigital is featured on the front cover of C&RL news this month—June. This is part of concerted effort to highlight the GettDigital collections and we are thrilled to have this additional national platform to extend our reach. Thanks to ACRL and specifically to David Free! Thanks to my wonderful colleagues at Musselman Library for making marketing digital collections such an enjoyable task, Director of Special Collections and College Archivist–Karen Drickamer, Special Collections Assistant–Catherine Perry, and Cataloging/Metadata Librarian–Carolyn Sautter. Check out all of the GettDigital Pages I am sure that you will find something of interest. Remember Gettysburg is not just muskets and cannonballs.

Since Mary just posted an article about the fun WITF pledge drive, we thought we would try our hand at our own pledge drive. Fearless Future started a team for the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure in DC on June 6th. We are asking for people to donate money to our team. If you donate, you will be entered into a drawing to win 20 hours of design work/consultation from Fearless Future. We could redesign your logo, create a brochure, redo your business cards, walk you though a re-branding strategy all for FREE. Any amount would qualify you to be entered, but remember this is for a good cause. You can donate on our team page any time between now and June 6th. Follow the link below and click on the “Donate to this Team!” button. http://www.info-komen.org/goto/FearlessFuture If you can be in DC on the 6th, join our team, we would love to have you! Thank you!! Fearless Future ** UPDATE ** Team Fearless Future raised almost $1,000 for the Race for the Cure! Thank you to everyone who donated!! We also picked a winner for the free 20 hrs of work from FF. Congratulations Amanda Werhane from University of Wisconsin-Madison Library!

Okay, no one LOVES the pledge times for public radio and television, but some are less painful than others. The last two from Central Pennsylvania WITF have been down right awesome. Ever since I was a young adult in DC I have tried to support public radio because I listen to it every day! In February, right before Valentine’s day, WITF created a campaign called “show the love.” The pledge drive matched up donations with a delivery of a dozen roses. The drive encouraged listeners to pledge money and to show their love to both WITF and to someone they love or admire. It was easy way to remember to send someone some affection and also support the radio! I sent flowers to my mom and she was soooooo happy! Now WITF is in the middle of their “plant a tree” initiative and they are partnering with the PA Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to create the WITF Woodland that will plant a tree for each person who pledges to the station. Both of these pledge drives work because they have ADDED VALUE. The added value comes from getting something very specific out of pledging, In Feb it was flowers for me to send to my mom and now it is a tree in my name. When you ask people to give money to your organization make sure you are adding value by appealing to the your audience’s values!

Mary and I have been working extremely hard on our new book with our good friend Nancy Dowd. The book, Bite-Sized Marketing; solutuions for the overworked librarian, will be coming out this summer from ALA. Keep an eye out for it!

What comes to mind when you think of McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich? If you’re like the 80% of Americans* out there, words such as gross, repulsive, or dysentery probably spring to mind. But if you’re like me, godlike ambrosia would be the only appropriate description; but I’ve digressed. This commercial gives a more refreshed feel to the Filet-O-Fish as if trying to re-brand that “disgusting” image most Americans have, and the catchy tune is sure to make an impression. Whether you will change your mind about how you feel towards this square fishy patty between two buns smeared in tartar sauce, the next time you’re in any Micky D’s, “Give me back that filet o fish, give me that fish” will undoubtedly swim inside your head. Now, seriously, give me that Filet-O-Fish. * statistic completely bogus

I think this is amazing!

At San Francisco’s Pizzeria Delfina, they know how to own their pain. Rather than wringing their hands over Internet sourpusses who give them one-star Yelp ratings, they’ve printed up tees with excerpts from the most scathing reviews (“This place sucks”) and given them to the staff to wear.

[via Boing Boing]