Monthly Archives: August 2006

Marketing Mascots Under Fire

I identified the use of mascots to be The Next Big Thing in retail marketing pretty early on, and even photographed representative examples while commuting. Other futurists have been talking about the potential effects of VOIP and bio-tech on our culture, but they all missed this one.

How do we know that silly costumes have caught on as a sales device?

They’re being outlawed.

Dog Bites Bear

Here’s how I think the whole thing played out.

Barney goes to K9 boot camp with a bunch of other dogs who are sent off to chase down drug smugglers and battle terrorism while he ends up guarding teddy bears in an obscure London museum. So naturally, one day he snaps.

Barney ripped the head off a brown stuffed bear once owned by the young [Elvis] Presley during the attack, leaving fluffy stuffing and bits of bears’ limbs and heads on the museum floor.

Barneyupdate – After finding this photo of Barney, I’m ready to adopt him. We’re already pretty good at handling charges that are inclined toward an occasional messy public outburst.

Celebrities in the House

Presenting the debut television performance of Zakary and Wynston. If you stayed up late watching HGTV on digital cable last month (and who hasn’t), you may have already seen it. W&Z share the role of ‘Toddler’. As an added bonus, look for a special cameo toward the end. While the Lipsey munchkins were naturals for this gig, landing the job had a little bit to do with me working for the company that designed the world’s first flushable toddler urinal. So I guess we all have a claim to fame.