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elephant.jpgTeva, maker of waterproof sport sandals, is a prime example of a company that is not integrating its PR, marketing and Internet campaigns — and is losing exposure and sales as a result.
What marketing and sales opportunities are your company missing by not having a blog?
Teva recently issued a well-written press release announcing that it is designing a new line of shoes made especially for elephants.
The sandals are designed especially for a 9 foot tall, 9100 pound elephant named Tina who lives at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. The 34 year-old Asian elephant, born in captivity, is suffering from a debilitating foot disease.
The Teva design will protect the bottoms of Tina’s feet so she can navigate throughout the habitat pain-free. When she gets her new shoes you’ll be able to watch her on the sanctuary’s way cool Elecam.
“Perhaps she will start an elephant fashion craze,” said Teva’s rep in a release on Business Wire
Can helping Tina the elephant sell Teva shoes to humans? You bet! But the company could sell a lot more, and start a viral campaign about the project, by creating a blog following the shoe-maker’s progress as it cobbles for the pachyderms.


Blogging is a fast, low cost and highly-effective publishing, marketing and content management tool. With top blogs reaching millions of people daily, and directly influencing journalists and decision-makers, thousands of whom also blog, it is time for blogging to be taken seriously in the marketing mix.
Other campaigns that cry out for blogs include:
WD40 50th anniversary site. The all-purpose lubricant has the WD40 Fan Club Board of Directors. Members point out that WD40 has thousands of uses, from keeping pigeons off the terrace (they hate the smell) to keeping toilet bowls clean. You can suggest your favorite uses at the site.
Unfortunately the uses aren’t searchable so you can’t look up a WD40 cure when you’re in need. This site would have been a perfect use for a business blog, making the Fan Club interactive and allowing for automatic searchable archiving of uses.
Dittie Tampons. Founded by Barbara Carey, President, Dittie’s products are stylish and, well, feminine. The Dittie Website features the Dittie Pledge to always pass one on to any woman in need, funny stories about tampons, and goofy Tampon Bowling, with tampons for pins. The site cries out for a blog and user forums, perhaps password protected to keep out mischief makers.
Ford UK Web site. In a clever product placement, British chick-lit writer Carole Matthews gets paid to write Ford Fiestas into her short stories. The author changed the heroine’s car in her book “The Sweetest Taboo” to a Ford Fiesta instead of the Volkswagen Beetle she’d originally penned after she received Ford sponsorship. The missed blogging opportunity: the stories should be part of a blog that allows readers to tell their own Fiesta stories and respond to the ones on the site.
Besides appearing in “The Sweetest Taboo,” the Ford Fiesta stars in a selection of short stories on the Web site. It’s an ambitious, fun promotion that weaves the car in cleverly to appeal to the author and the car’s 25-year-old demographic.
Necco Candy Necco sold eight billion Conversation Hearts for Valentine’s Day 2004, updated with sayings including “IM Me.” But they missed the opportunity for a blog where customers could suggest and vote on new messages.
Opportunities for marketing blogs abound. Shouldn’t there be one in your campaign?
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