Billy Fire LLC

I often wondered why all the new flat screen LCD and plasma screens were 16:9 ratio. This is a nice ratio but only the equivalent of cinema widescreen (1.85 to 1 in the USA and 1.66 to 1 in Europe).

I love the Panavision or Cinemascope ratio (2.35 to 1) because this is how we see (i.e. your peripheral vision goes to the right and the left NOT up and down, or at least mine doesn’t!) Many multiplex theaters are designed with widescreen as their optimum presentation format, rather than scope. The reason for this has got to be that it … Continue Reading

I read two really good direct marketing magazines: Direct and Target Marketing. The magazines’ coverage includes e-mail marketing and many other marketing related issues. What really makes them good is that they are so well written, as, I suppose, you might expect from a group of people who make a living writing copy.

Denny Hatch (in Target Marketing) and Hershell Gordon Lewis (in Direct) always write very entertaining columns that always pack a thought provoking punch. There are always several other articles that are worthy of clipping.

So, whatever sort of marketing you are in, I highly recommend … Continue Reading

I recently decided to create a popup on our home page to promote our monthly newsletter.

The industry seems to be divided on whether popups are a good idea. I suspect this is because they have been misused and abused by some sites. This has lead to the creation of popup blockers.

In our case we decided to use a popup (written using jQuery) but to restrict it (using a cookie) to make sure that it does not reappear for a site visitor for 20 days. In other words, if a new visitor came to billyfire.com today, and then visited every day … Continue Reading

A client asked for tips on what makes a good podcast. I created the following list to include some of the factors that I think makes for good podcasting – and particularly those first few podcasts:

1. Keep it short. I suggest going for about 5 minutes. A shorter podcast may encourage people to give it a try. If they have to listed to 30 minutes, they might not be so keen to invest the time. You can always increase the length of the podcast as your audience grows.
2. Focus. Focus on a particular area of interest and talk in depth on that … Continue Reading
   

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Is it me or is there something terribly wrong with the Sprint ads? I know they are designed for the lowest common denominator, but surely there must a fewer idiots in the world that Sprint imagines?

The basic premise of all the ads is that the customers are so amazed and blown over by the Sprint offer that they have to use the in-store singer or rental family to express how amazed they are at the incredible offer. To me this is like telling the viewer: “Hey, you are too stupid to see what a great offer we are making to … Continue Reading

I though the SuperBowl ads were very disappointing. Some, like the Pepsi, were just plain lame – although I suppose I remember what they were for, which is more than could be said for some of the others. Overall my impression was that bunch of advertising folks had been given a pile of money and told to do something BIG. The result was lots of celebrities and a conspicuous lack of imagination.