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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

I interviewed the man who coined the term "Waverunner."

Yes, it’s true. Tom Thiede, President of Blue Horse, is the man who authored the name “Waverunner.” He also came up with the name “Blue Horse.” Of course, not every name stuck. Some of his less successful lobs were “Guzzler” for an SUV and “Pits” for a man’s cologne. But he’s still working, so someone must want to hear what he has to say.

I certainly do, so I invited him to wade in with some blog topics. In typical Tom Thiede form, he had a slew of suggestions. Rather than put a muzzle on his creativity, I thought I would simply share them, and invite your comments and reactions.

So here we go.

1. Given the world of podcasting, Web sites and blogs, what new avenues of social marketing can we foresee? Could we, Tom asks, set up curbside monitors with a thought for the day to which people can respond? Does anyone out there have some other forms to share?

2. Tom wonders why there is not a National Advertising Agency Day. Oh, sure there are parties in New York. There are always parties in New York. But what about a way to celebrate the true pioneers of our industry? Like the guys who invented “Limited Time Offer” and “Member, FDIC.”

3. How small is small? Everyone wants information in sound bites and video clips. :60’s became :30’s became :15’s became :10’s became product placements. How small can we crawl? Can we advertise on molecules?

4. In a world where all radio stations sound alike, how come there are more of them?

5. What’s the over/under on the death of the home phone?

6. Whatever happened to the anti-monopoly attitude of the government? AT&T was broken up. Now they’re back together! And even bigger! It used to be that no company could own more than seven TV and seven radio stations. Take a look at what Clear Channel now owns. Are we better off as a society? As a culture? As a former member of the League of Nations?

7. What do we have to do to end reality TV? Huh? What?

Tom was ready to continue, but clearly we have enough to engender some thoughtful debate, if not medication. I invite your comments.

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