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Are You Ready For Some Football? Join The Week 15 Merrill Dubrow Blog Football Pool

December 12th, 2011

WOW!!! Are you kidding me! Yes I was at the Cowboy game and shocked they gave up a 12 point lead with 5 minutes to go in the 4th quarter! All you hear from the media around here is that Rob Ryan is a genius…. really you give up over 500 yards in the BIGGEST game of the year!!!! at home!!!!! On national TV!!!!!! Seriously… Wow Congrads to Eli Manning and the Giants for a huge come from behind win!!…. FYI I picked the Giants to win and that was one of my 12 wins…. As far as the pool goes Scott Wallace and week one winner Sam Picchiotti are tied with 14 wins and if the Rams win tomorrow night they will be joined by Aaron Thomas in a tie-breaker.

Congratulations to last week’s winner Jacob Adler who becomes the first repeat winner from last year! He joins Matt Hancock, Sharon Gautschy, Andy Davis, Marshall Toplansky, Amber Leila Esco, Kelly Christine Delaney, Rick Hurwitz, Clay Dethloff, J.R. Venza, Sam Picchiotti, Bob Tekampe & couldbStu in the championship week!

To see the current standings, click here. Andrew Dixon has a two game lead over Erin Jewell in the cumulative rankings. The results page shows this week’s current standings as well as the cumulative rankings.

Remember, the weekly winners will receive $50 and be given a spot in the grand prize pool during week 17 for an opportunity to win $400 and of course bragging rights for the next 6 months. In addition, the two people who have the highest cumulative score (these standing will be updated weekly) will be given a spot in the grand prize pool along with the weekly winners.

REMEMBER THERE IS A GAME ON THURSDAY NIGHT SO THE CONTEST CLOSES AT 5PM ON THURSDAY!

Click here to participate in this week’s pool.

Feel free to share the link and have friends, colleague, relatives, kids and anyone else you want join the pool.

Good luck to all.

Posted in Contests, Sports | Post Comments
182 Reader Comments »

Attention Researchers! How Quick Needs To Be Addressed!

December 9th, 2011

For those of us who grew up in the industry, we are familiar with surveys that had a question that began with, ‘thinking about the last time you shopped at…’ With the technology that is available today, those questions could be asked while you are shopping at the store, just finished shopping or after you drove by the store.

With geo-targeting, smartphones, and thousands of different apps, all of this is pretty easy to set-up.

The question is, how quick should it happen? I want to share two quick experiences. The first one was when I purchased three televisions from Best Buy and I received an email from them thanking me for the order before I was out of the store. In fact, that thank you came before the sales associate had a chance to thank me. The second experience was when a colleague of mine checked-in through foursquare in a fast food restaurant and 5 minutes later got a link to a survey asking him about the experience.

In my mind, both of those interactions with customers were too quick. In fact, both of us were a little offended. I understand big brother but to get an interaction that quick using the latest technology is a little eerie. My colleague felt the same way. Actually, it really turned him off to the point that it left a bad taste (no pun intended) in his mouth regarding the fast food restaurant.

  • How fast is too fast?
  • How quick should a survey link be sent out?
  • Take a second and think of yourself as a consumer and decide, what makes sense?

I think we should wait at least 24 hours. If not, it could really have a negative effect on this great industry.

  • What are your thoughts?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Posted in Research | Post Comments
2 Reader Comments »

What’s Your Price To Take Another Plane?

December 7th, 2011

A few weeks ago I was boarding a plane to Las Vegas and as with most flights, the plane was sold out. Actually, it was over sold. The announcements started with “we are over sold and looking for volunteers to take another flight about 90 minutes later and were giving a $300 travel voucher.” Well, apparently not enough people thought that was an appetizing offer so 10 minutes later the offer was raised to a $400 travel voucher.

When I was younger I may have jumped at both of their offers – but today, no way! I want to get where I am going and as fast and easy as I can. I don’t like being part of any delays and more importantly I don’t want to create a delay for myself for $300-400 travel voucher.

Funny I am not sure I am alone – I watched and very few people rushed to take the offer.

  • So I ask you what are your thoughts?
  • Do you have a price that you would take a later flight?
  • How would you feel if you took the $300 travel voucher and 10 minutes later they were offering $400?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Life, Travel | Post Comments
5 Reader Comments »

Are You Ready For Some Football? Join The Week 14 Merrill Dubrow Blog Football Pool

December 5th, 2011

Did you know that 184 people entered the pool last week and (drum roll please) 122 have a better score than I do! A few people were tied with me and get this – only 22 people had less wins than I did. Clearly there should be a strategy to look at my picks and go in the other direction! With 15 games in the record books it will come down to Matt Gershner (a research veteran) or Jacob Adler (a weekly winner from last year) son of Jeff Adler and still a teen! In fact the tie breaker won’t come into play tonight. If San Diego wins so does Jacob if not Matt Gershner takes home the prize!

Congratulations to last week’s winner Matt Hancock, who joins Sharon Gautschy, Andy Davis, Marshall Toplansky, Amber Leila Esco, Kelly Christine Delaney, Rick Hurwitz, Clay Dethloff, J.R. Venza, Sam Picchiotti, Bob Tekampe & couldbStu in the championship week!

To see the current standings, click here. Erin Jewell has a slim one game lead over Andrew Dixon in the cumulative rankings. The results page shows this week’s current standings as well as the cumulative rankings.

Remember, the weekly winners will receive $50 and be given a spot in the grand prize pool during week 17 for an opportunity to win $400 and of course bragging rights for the next 6 months. In addition, the two people who have the highest cumulative score (these standing will be updated weekly) will be given a spot in the grand prize pool along with the weekly winners.

REMEMBER THERE IS A GAME ON THURSDAY NIGHT SO THE CONTEST CLOSES AT 5PM ON THURSDAY!

Click here to participate in this week’s pool.

Feel free to share the link and have friends, colleague, relatives, kids and anyone else you want join the pool.

Good luck to all.

Posted in Contests, Sports | Post Comments
190 Reader Comments »

Hunting? Really? It Doesn’t Sound Like Fun To Me… What About You?

December 2nd, 2011

I recently had a few discussions about hunting. A few weeks ago I was speaking with a co-worker about what her plans were for the weekend and she said it would be a quiet weekend since her significant other was hunting. Then, a week later a buddy of mine that I play softball with was telling me about his latest hunting trip. He goes a few times a month and truly loves it.  I must admit that I don’t get it!  During my two discussions I had tons of questions since I have NEVER been hunting:

  • Are they hunting with a gun? Bow & arrow?
  • How long do you go out and hunt for?
  • How cold is it early in the morning?
  • Is it just a bonding experience with some buddies?

I realize that you need to be still, quiet and not move a muscle, which isn’t appealing to me since I am very hyper!  Also, to be sitting in one cold place with the wind howling doesn’t seem appealing to me.

I wonder if people who hunt love it and people who don’t hunt don’t like it or understand it.

I can’t imagine going out and hunting a deer, cleaning it out and eating the meat. I know that plenty of people (especially in Texas) do it, enjoy it and can’t wait to do it again!

What are your thoughts?

  • Do you hunt?
  • If so, what weapon do you use?
  • What is the biggest animal you have killed?
  • Do you eat the meat?
  • Is it a very somber time and are you deep in thought while you are waiting for an animal to pass by?

I really look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Life, Sports | Post Comments
8 Reader Comments »

Celebrities Get How Much To Tweet About A Product? Are You Kidding Me!

November 30th, 2011

Celebrity tweets that endorse products are on the rise – clearly no surprise, but what might be a surprise is how much they get paid per tweet!

    • Lindsay Lohan $2,353 per tweet
    • JWOW $2,353
    • Mike Tyson $3,250
    • Jose Conseco $3,900
    • Khloe Kardashian $8,235

Seriously, that is a lot of money!  When I first read the article I thought, what company would pay any of these stars to endorse a product? That can’t possibly per worth it. Then, I paused for a few minutes and grabbed a calculator and thought that might not be a bad deal.

Here is my logic.

Let’s take Khloe Kardashian, who has over 5,000,000, yes, 5 million followers! Let me just say I am not a fan of the Kardashians, nor do I follow Kloe, Bruce or any of them.

So if Khloe endorses and tweets about a product, what is the ROI? Is it worth it? Well, this is where my hand dandy calculator comes in.

5,000,000 followers

If 1% take action because of Khloe’s tweet that would be 50,000 people. If you don’t like that number (which might be too high) lets use 10% of that number which would be 5,000 or .0001% of the original number (which might be more likely) and multiply the 5,000 people who buy the product (call it body lotion) for $25.00 generates $125,000 in revenue.

So the tweet cost you $8,235 and generated $125,000 – who wouldn’t take that ROI?

When I did the math I actually thought it was a pretty good deal for the companies and the tweet cost wasn’t that outrageous.

  • What do you think?
  • Where does my logic breakdown?
  • Which stars do you follow on twitter?
  • Have you ever bought a product based on a tweet endorsement?
  • If you were in charge of marketing at a large company would you use celebrity tweet endorsements?

Crazy yes – but very interesting in my mind.

I look forward to your comments.

PS – here is a sample tweet from Khloe:
OMG… Wheat Thins has a new limited time sweet cinnamon flavor…. Why am I so excited about this?  LOL

Posted in Business, Entertainment, General Comments | Post Comments
8 Reader Comments »

Are You Ready For Some Football? Join The Week 13 Merrill Dubrow Blog Football Pool

November 28th, 2011

After the Thursday games 50 people were undefeated and tied for the lead. After the early games yesterday 9 people will still perfect at 10-0! And as of this morning two people share the top spot. Lisa Smith and Matt Hancock each have 14 wins and if New Orleans wins it will come down to the tie-breaker. If the Giants win Zealie will be added to the mix.

Congratulations to last week’s winner Sharon Gautschy who joins Andy Davis, Marshall Toplansky, Amber Leila Esco, Kelly Christine Delaney, Rick Hurwitz, Clay Dethloff, J.R. Venza, Sam Picchiotti, Bob Tekampe & couldbStu in the championship week!

To see the current standings, click here. Andrew Dixon has a two game lead over Erin Jewell and a four game lead over Casey Turner in the cumulative rankings. The results page shows this week’s current standings as well as the cumulative rankings.

Remember, the weekly winners will receive $50 and be given a spot in the grand prize pool during week 17 for an opportunity to win $400 and of course bragging rights for the next 6 months. In addition, the two people who have the highest cumulative score (these standing will be updated weekly) will be given a spot in the grand prize pool along with the weekly winners.

REMEMBER THERE IS A GAME ON THURSDAY NIGHT SO THE CONTEST CLOSES AT 5PM ON THURSDAY!

Click here to participate in this week’s pool.

Feel free to share the link and have friends, colleague, relatives, kids and anyone else you want join the pool.

Good luck to all.

Posted in Contests, Sports | Post Comments
184 Reader Comments »

Movie Theaters Have So Much Extra Space – Why Don’t They Use It?

November 23rd, 2011

There are a lot of things I don’t understand and this is one of them. Every time I walk into a movie theater I am amazed at how much space they have in the lobby and what a poor job they do turning that space into revenue.

Here are a few suggestions:

  • Why not rent the space out to a company that sells movie memorabilia?
  • Why not rent out the space to a company like GameStop that sells the most up-to-date games?
  • Why not rent out the space to Apple to see their hottest products?

I must truly be missing something because I think all three of those suggestions would increase revenue for an industry that might be looking for revenue.

They have the space, they have the customers and frankly they could easily match their demographics to attract the right opportunities for companies to target new customers.

  • What am I missing?
  • What do you think of my ideas?
  • Do you have any other companies that should be included?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Business | Post Comments
6 Reader Comments »

Who Owns That Armrest?

November 21st, 2011

I remember growing up with my 2 sisters and taking a very long trip up to Montreal to visit my mom’s family every 3 or 4 months. During the 6 hour car ride one thing was for certain, we would ALL fight for the armrest. Back in the day, that was the trophy in the car, the Holy Grail and the thing we all coveted most.

Speed up 35+ years. I guess the same thing is true but this time you are playing the game with strangers, in fact most of the time total strangers. Have you gone to the movies recently and sitting on your left side is a person (stranger) who is hogging the armrest? He/she got there before you and they have the inside position and aren’t moving an inch? Or what about when you are sitting on a 4 hour flight in a row of 3 people and have 4 armrests – who gets what armrest? Does the left rule? Is the 1st to arrive the king/queen?

I know most of you are laughing and thinking I am 100% nuts, but seriously…….what do you do?

So I ask you:

  • How do you handle the situation when you need to share an armrest?
  • Does the situation change when you know the person sitting next to you?
  • What is the protocol?

I know this situation has happened to everyone but the question is what do you do?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in General Comments, Life, Travel | Post Comments
6 Reader Comments »

Are You Ready For Some Football? Join The Week 12 Merrill Dubrow Blog Football Pool

November 18th, 2011

Interesting start to week 11 as the NY Jets get upset by Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos. I am not sure how it happened all I can tell you is it did happen! Of course I didn’t predict this but 16% of the pool did – nice job!

With Thanksgiving around the corner we are posting the pool a few days early so everyone can get their picks in prior to the holiday.

A few interesting stats about the football pool:

  • We have been doing the pool for 28 weeks and the M/F breakdown of the winners is exactly even at 14 and 14
     
  • Last year’s winners in the pool averaged 12.5 wins per week while this year the average winner is 12.8
     
  • We have had 4,871 entries in the pool an average of 158 last year and 192 this year
     
  • Two people have had perfect scores J.R Vezna was 16-0, Rick Hurwitz 13-0. Other top scores include Ben Smithee who was 15-1 last year and Bob Tekampe who was 15-1 this year!

Congratulations to last week’s winner Andy Davis who joins Marshall Toplansky, Amber Leila Esco, Kelly Christine Delaney, Rick Hurwitz, Clay Dethloff, J.R. Venza, Sam Picchiotti, Bob Tekampe & couldbStu in the championship week!

To see the current standings, click here. Andrew Dixon has the top spot followed by Erin Jewell and Randy Carson in the cumulative rankings. The results page shows this week’s current standings as well as the cumulative rankings.

Remember, the weekly winners will receive $50 and be given a spot in the grand prize pool during week 17 for an opportunity to win $400 and of course bragging rights for the next 6 months. In addition, the two people who have the highest cumulative score (these standing will be updated weekly) will be given a spot in the grand prize pool along with the weekly winners.

REMEMBER THERE IS A GAME ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON SO THE CONTEST CLOSES AT 5PM ON WEDNESDAY!

Click here to participate in this week’s pool.

Feel free to share the link and have friends, colleague, relatives, kids and anyone else you want join the pool.

Good luck to all.

Posted in Contests, Sports | Post Comments
173 Reader Comments »

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