Coupons!

After discussing various promotions in class it made me think of a site that I often visit: Brad's Deals! Brad's Deals is the top online coupon site and I'm sure many people have heard of it as it has been featured on various news shows including The Today Show. Here is a clip of Matt Lauer interviewing the founder of Brad's Deals: Brad Wilson.



As Brad says there are coupons out there for about 90 percent of the stores you shop at and his site helps users to find them! Ever since I started using this site, I rarely go shopping without looking for coupons on Brad's Deals first. For instance, last month I was due for a new pair of sneakers and I found a $10 off coupon on Brad's Deals for Dick's Sporting Goods. There was also a $15 coupon, but it was expired. Evidently, just by visiting Brad's Deals consistently you could save a lot of money! The site offers printable coupons, directs users to online deals and online promotional codes. Visit Brad's Deals to save some money!

Fun Blogs!

I have always been one to be very interested in blogs. It is fun to follow various blogs that provide new, innovative ideas for projects, presentations, interviews, etc. While interning in the spring of '08 for a small new media marketing agency in Los Angeles called Fanscape, I was introduced to some interesting blogs by my boss - ones I still follow today. My favorite blog that I was introduced to is called Mashable, "the social media guide." Since I worked with various social media tools during my internship in LA, this blog provided me with many creative ideas. Towards the end of my internship at Fanscape I became involved in a project with the CEO, Larry Weintraub. Our goal was to improve Fanscape's Web presence essentially by connecting and updating various social media Fanscape was involved with. We wanted to create a "Fanscape Universe" and be sure that each social media tool where Fanscape was involved connected users to the next.

Mashable provided us with many interesting ideas for improving Fanscape's YouTube page, MySpace page, Facebook page, blogs, etc. Some recent, interesting articles on Mashable include, "The Ten Essential Social Media Stories This week," "5 Terrific Twitter Research Tools," and "7 Totally Unique Flickr Search Tools." The site discusses social media sites many people are already using, but what is unique about the blog is that it introduces readers to new, interesting and hidden tools that could potentially make the world of difference for a business. I also love reading the blog soley due to my interest in social media tools! It is amazing what they can do and how much they can promote a business and its products/services.

My boss at Fanscape actually went to a party for Mashable - said the head writer was a really interesting guy! During my time at Fanscape what I did was essentially analyze all of Fanscape's channels; what they currently looked like, how they could be improved, and goals for the future. It is very exciting to go to Fanscape's various channels now and see how they have been improved, partially based on my feedback. Here is the Fansacpe logo when I worked there:


Here is the company's new logo:

This logo is much more current and succinct with the new company Web site. Fanscape has also updated its company information on MySpace, YouTube and Facebook so it is more consistent, transparent and has a greater impact.

Larry Weintraub's blog on "smart marketing" is also very interesting. Check it out here: http://www.larrywblog.com/