Paul Sage – Marketing

Marketing Observations with some Sage Advice

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MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS LEADER skilled at planning, creating, implementing and measuring communications in consumer and business markets. Balanced experience in corporate marketing teams, agencies and independent consulting. Flexible in all media and channels, including offline and online advertising, website optimization, social media, direct marketing, mobile marketing, trade shows, sports and multicultural sponsorships, public relations, sales training and employee communications. Industry experience includes telecom, banking, utilities, business services, building materials and healthcare. Key Capabilities • Marketing Communications Project Management • Marketing Research and Communications Measurement • Agency and Vendor Selection, Direction and Evaluation; Vendor Contract Optimization and Cost Reduction • Writing: Brand Definitions, Creative Briefs, Proposals, Online and Offline Content • Coaching and Training Specialties: Project work for companies, agencies and entrepreneurs looking to define their brands and market themselves. Brand Definition; Creative Brief Development; Agency Selection; Agency Evaluation; Agency Direction; Agency Contract Optimization; Marketing Project Management; Marketing Communications Measurement; Mobile Marketing; Writing Proposals and Social Media Content. Good

Category: Sage Thoughts

My opinions about all things marketing.

  • The Pointawfulessness of Stock Photography

    Stock photography in marketing communications: It’s pointless.  It’s awful.  It’s pointawfuless. There’s an old saying in advertising agencies and other purveyors of promotion production:  “Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick any two.” Stock photography is cheap and fast.  But it’s not always good. I bought this package of Kroger potato chips because they were half the price…

  • Say it ain’t so, Bud!

    Earlier this week longtime commissioner of Major League Baseball, 78 year-old Bud Selig, stated, “I’ve never sent an e-mail and I never will.” What’s the matter, Bud, do you think you’re too old for e-mail?  Everybody e-mails.  And the Pope tweets. I guess Bud can do what he wants to do, but as the head…

  • Spanglish Ad for Jimmy John’s

    This spot ran on Texas Rangers baseball last night on Fox Sports Southwest, an English-language network. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTB-QT7IaeM               The story is performed in Spanish, but the action is so clear, so universal, that language doesn’t matter.  We’ve all been there, and we understand. The tag at the end, both…

  • Death of a Giant

    I just heard the news that Pat Summerall died. I had the pleasure of spending a long, cold evening with Pat, filming a TV commercial in the parking lot of what was then called Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville in January 2005. It was uncomfortable, unglamorous work for the old veteran of football. He did not…

  • Betty, Duncan and the Doughboy all love a word we hate: Moist

    Yesterday on Slate.com, writer Matthew J.X. Malady went into great detail to tell us how uncomfortable the word “moist” makes many people feel. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2013/04/word_aversion_hate_moist_slacks_crevice_why_do_people_hate_words.single.html In “Why Do We Hate Certain Words? The curious phenomenon of word aversion,” Malady defines word aversion as “seemingly pedestrian, inoffensive words driving some people up the wall.” He explains that…

  • Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack

    Baseball and advertising have always been partners.  Long before NASCAR and the Barclays Premier League brought us sports figures decked in suits of many logos, the outfield walls of Major League Baseball stadiums were checkered with a panorama of ads.  All those ads probably made it harder for players to see the ball. But they…

  • A good brand is not a Zelig

    “Zelig” is a treasure of a movie.  Woody Allen directed and starred in this 1983 masterpiece mockumentary that told the story of Leonard Zelig, a man whose body, voice and personality would change in the presence of the people surrounding him.  Leonard Zelig was a chameleon, a total conformist – everything to everybody with no…

  • Do colleges need to go back to school and learn marketing?

    It’s college-shopping season.  For high school seniors the clock is ticking.  Juniors are starting to realize this party’s not going on forever.  And so we parents of overscheduled teens must encourage our young scholars to visit colleges, to narrow down the field, to ask themselves “Where would I fit in?” And we must empty our…

  • America’s love of Carnival Cruise Lines will not die

    I’ve spent time over the past three days reading Carnival’s official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Carnival?sid=0.6141771394759417 When all hell was breaking loose on Thursday night, I thought Carnival had an organized team of posers.  But the more I read this dialogue — a debate that’s not slowing down — I realize a LOT of people love Carnival…

  • Watching a brand react to a crisis in real time

    This has been a fascinating evening.  I’ve been watching CNN and following the Twitter feed and Facebook page of Carnival Cruise Lines: https://www.facebook.com/Carnival?sid=0.5826209932565689 It reminds me of that line that Hal Holbrook’s character says to Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen): Man looks in the abyss, there’s nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his…