Nirvana kicked Linkin Park’s butt today on a popular music subscription service called Real Rhapsody. Ever since I’ve used the service, most of Nirvana’s catalog was limited to 30 second streaming clips and available for purchase only. I was quite surprised to see Nirvana listed as the top artist on the service’s home page over Linkin Park today. My first thought was that there was possibly a new release, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of Nirvana’s catalog is currently unlocked for streaming. 18 albums and 154 tracks to be exact. Seems most of the world’s rhapsody users are rocking out to Nirvana today. I wonder what’s going on with the rights to Nirvana’s music. Has Courtney Love’s stranglehold over Nirvana’s music finally been released? It appears that is the case.
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Scary, I know. It looks like she’s been skiing or something. Anyways, there’s a good chance Lindsay is going to prison and for probably a longer period of time than Paris. To make her stay a bit more comfortable she might find these products handy:

-a Brain Bounce Back Stressball to help her fight depression.
-an Ergonomic Pen to lessen the hand cramping from all the letters she’ll be writing to her fans.
-hand sanitizer…it’s prison. It’s dirty.
-a chocolate gift basket because you know she’s not going to eat the prison food.

Her recent incident is cause for major concern. Seriously, Lindsay. Get your act together. I’m pullin’ for ya.

I am a Texas Blueberry Farmer. I have been trying to get my gift shop up and running. I sell Texas products, jelly, jam, juice, muffins, breads, and pancake mixes, all from our own Blueberries. -Anette

Hi Anette,

Thanks for your question! This is going to be fun to answer because it will allow me to stretch my creative muscles. Imaginative promotions and advertising campaigns can be difficult to construct, but with my guidance and expertise, it should be a breeze to help you begin your business’ marketing campaign. First, however, I need to ask you some basic questions about your plans and what you want to achieve. First, who are you advertising your business too? Think about the people who would most likely buy your products. Are you an in-store business company or do you also sell your products online? These are all important questions to consider before constructing your marketing campaign.
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I had a surprise waiting for me when I got home yesterday, there was a box on my front porch with my name on it from the Boston Beer Company. I wasn’t expecting a package so I was giddy with excitement. After taking the package inside and hastily opening it, I discovered a semi-personalized message from Jim Koch, the owner and brewer at Samuel Adams. Below this note were two brand new pint glasses of a shape I had never seen before. The new glasses showcase several features designed to maximize the beer drinking experience. According to the letter, Sam Adams apparently sent the pints to me because I am a member of the American Homebrew Association.

Working for a promotional products company, I was pretty impressed with this product giveaway. I haven’t had a chance to imbibe a frothy beverage from this pint glass but I can tell you I’m looking forward to doing so.

CampusMint™, an innovative new mobile promotions service, is now available to college students across the country. It gives college students access to discounts and promotions, weather, movie times and entertainment news. Students will be able to redeem coupons at their favorite restaurants and stores by just showing their cell phone.

“No more paper coupons to cut or print out and accidentally forget when you want to use them,” says Doug Herko, VP of Advertising at CampusMint. “CampusMint eliminates paper waste while providing a convenient and ecologically responsible way to make saving money easier than ever before.”

I think this is a smart mobile phone application, plus it’s good for the environment.

“Great job, Sally Sue! Here is a new ball point pen so you can take orders more efficiently,” exclaims Bob the Boss. As Bob walks away, he thinks to himself, “I bet my employees really appreciate the employee incentive program the company has.” What is Sally thinking right now? Sally is probably thinking the best use for the new pen she received is to throw it at Bob the Boss.

Corporate gifts given as employee incentives are worthless unless the giver consciously thinks about the person they want to reward. Ensuring that your company creates the appropriate employee incentives through the use of corporate gifts may seem trivial, but its trivialities such as these that make employees want to work overtime on a pending project.

There are three keys to identifying what employee incentives will work for your company and employees.

• Employee incentives must be tailored to the person receiving the recognition.

Employee incentives in the form of a corporate gift or a promotional product should make an employee take notice. In the article “The Effective Employee Incentive Program” in Innovative Leader, G.A. Andy Marken said that employee incentives do not need to be expensive to be meaningful. They should think to themselves, “Wow. This wine gift basket is for me. My boss must really appreciate the work I do.”

• Employee incentives should be earned and not given out haphazardly.

Giving corporate gifts to employees without reason defeats the purpose of an employee incentive program. This does not mean that bosses should not give employees things without reason, but it does mean they should save the meaningful corporate gifts for the employee incentive program.

• Employee incentives must have a purpose and inspire employees to actually help and want to aid in the process of making your company a better provider to your customers.

In the article “Bad Bait- Employee incentive programs” in Entrepreneur, Jacquelyn Lynn said, “If you’re considering a new incentive program, ask employees what motivates them.” Know if your employees would rather get golf balls or a USB drive; details such as these means a more effective employee incentive program.

Following these simple rules will help ensure that your employee incentive program will succeed and that everyone at the company will be happy.

It looks like folks in the Netherlands are recycling their wood! I doubt you’ll be able to get these usb drives with a custom imprint, but you could always buy one and carve your company name in it. Er, something like that. It seems kind of awkward-looking have a branch stick out of your computer.

BMW wants to know “Who taught you to drive?” because they are on a mission to teach you to drive the right way. Using a campaign to raise awareness of their 134-acre BMW Performance Driving School in South Carolina, BMW will be hitting the print and online pavement. They have launched a microsite called RelearnToDrive.com and have unleashed several viral videos featuring offbeat characters on YouTube and Google Video. Here’s a video of your mom teaching you to drive: BMW Commercial

So, drop a comment below and let us know! Who taught you to drive??

Bart Simpson and company will be hitting theaters nationwide next month. To market and promote the movie, the studio is pulling out all the stops. Not only are the Simpsons all over Myspace, they transformed eleven 7-Eleven’s nationwide to Kwik-E-Marts, and stocked the stores with Buzz Cola, KrustyO’s, Sprinklicious donuts, etc. Speaking of Homer’s favorite pastry, the donut packaging for the soundtrack is pretty scrumptious. Nothing like a giant donut cd case!

As for the soundtrack’s tracklisting…

Track Listing:

1. The Simpsons Theme* (Orchestral Version)
2. Trapped Like Carrots
3. Doomsday Is Family Time
4. Release the Hounds
5. Clap For Alaska
6. What’s An Epiphany?
7. Thank You Boob Lady
8. You Doomed Us All… Again
9. …. Lead, Not To Read
10. Why Does Everything I Whip Leave Me?
11. Bart’s Doodle
12. Worlds Fattest Fertilizer Salesman
13. His Big Fat Butt Could Shield Us All
14. Spider Pig
15. Recklessly Impulsive**