I was a little disappointed that it took a bit longer for me to get a response from Motrin and that the response was not a personal one, but just from “The Information Center”, but I did want to share it and commend Motrin for taking the time to respond.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare takes feedback from parents and caregivers very seriously and we sincerely apologize for any concerns raised by a recent Motrin advertisement. We have taken immediate action to respond to these concerns and have removed the advertisement from our website. Unfortunately, it will take longer for us to remove this advertisement from magazines as several are currently on newsstands and in distribution. We are committed to addressing this situation, and we appreciate all consumers’ feedback and understanding.

 

Should you have any additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-877-895-3665 or www.motrin.com.

 

The Information Center

To Be Or Not To Be A Magpie On Twitter… That is the question on Twitter today.  At least in the few snatches of time that I was able to peek at Twitter. 

What is Magpie? {I asked myself as I saw tweets flying here and there.}  I tweeted about it a little bit, got tidbits of info, then went off to check it out.  It is an ad service, in a way similar to Google Ad-Sense, that tweets a “relevant” ad at the frequency you choose. The default is one per every 5 of your regular tweets, though it can be adjusted as often as once for every one of your tweets or as slow as once for every twenty of your tweets.

I admit that when I entered my Twitter ID at Magpie, I was somewhat impressed by the amount that it said I could earn. Not as much as others, maybe, but for passive income didn’t seem too shabby.

I decided to sign up for Magpie, give it a test drive, and see what happens.  I’ve read posts both for and against the idea.  I’ve also read comments and tweets from some that have been trying it and rarely have Magpie Tweet ads come through at all for them.  I’ve read some genuine concerns about the program and I’ve read that others, like me, are going to test the waters.

I will admit that I’m still on the fence.  I plan to test it out and see how it works for me (and especially how it works for those I follow as I will be seeing their Magpie ads as well). 

Have you signed up for Magpie? Have you heard some of the buzz today (or recently)?  I’d love to read your thoughts, solet me know what you think. 

I am very excited to bring you this giveaway! Who doesn’t love Disney??  The giveaway is for a three-pack of CDs and there will be THREE winners (each winner will get the three-pack!).

* Attn: Jonas Brothers’ Fans: You’ll WANT this! *

Check it out:

Camp Rock

All-new soundtrack to the Disney Channel Movie event of the summer featuring Jonas Brothers and introducing Demi Lovato! Features a vast array of musical styles including rock, pop, hip-hop, and reggaeton.

TRACK LIST:

1. We Rock

2. Play My Music

3. Gotta Find You

4. Start the Party

5. Who Will I Be?

6. This Is Me

7. Hasta La Vista

8. Here I Am

9. Too Cool

10. Our Time Is Here (Bonus Track)

11. 2 Stars

12. What It Takes

Bolt

For super-dog Bolt (voice of John Travolta), every day is filled with adventure, danger and intrigue – at least until the cameras stop rolling. When the star of a hit TV show is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood soundstage to New York City, he begins his biggest adventure yet – a cross-country journey through the real world to get back to his owner and co-star, Penny (voice of Miley Cyrus).

TRACK LIST:

1. I Thought I Lost You - Performed by Miley Cyrus and John Travolta

2. Barking at the Moon Performed by Jenny Lewis

3. Meet Bolt Score

4. Bolt Transforms Score

5. Scooter Chase Score

6. New York Score

7. Meet Mittens Score

8. The RV Park Score

9. A Fast Train Score

10. Where Were You on St. Rhino’s Day? Score

11. Sing-Along Rhino Score

12. Saving Mittens Score

13. House on Wheels Score

14. Las Vegas Score

15. A Friend in Need Score

16. Rescuing Penny Score

17. A Real Live Superbark Score

Disney Box Office Hits

Disney Box Office Hits features the best musical moments from Disney’s biggest films performed by today’s biggest stars including Miley Cyrus, Carrie Underwood, Rob Thomas, Switchfoot, Peter Gabriel in one listening experience!

TRACK LIST:

1. Ever Ever After (Enchanted) Carrie Underwood

2. Down to Earth (WALL•E) Peter Gabriel

3. Real Gone (Cars) Sheryl Crow

4. Little Wonders (Meet the Robinsons) Rob Thomas

5. This Is Home (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) Switchfoot

6. Breakaway (The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement) Kelly Clarkson

7. Can’t Take It In (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) Imogen Heap

8. I Thought I Lost You (Bolt) Miley Cyrus and John Travolta

9. Our Town (Cars) James Taylor

10. All I Know (Chicken Little) Five For Fighting

11. The Call (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) Regina Spektor

12. Where Is Your Heart At? (Meet the Robinsons) Jamie Cullum

13. Le Festin (Ratatouille) Camille

14. Jack’s Suite (Paul Oakenfold Mix) (Pirates of the Caribbean) Paul Oakenfold

15. UNKLE Reconstruction (The Incredibles) UNKLE

TO ENTER:

Leave a comment telling me how much you’d LOVE to win this prize package!!

You can score two additional entries by (1) Stumbling this post, and (2) subbing to the RSS feed. 

Leave a separate comment for each so you are entered all three times!

DEADLINE: 11:59 PM EST, December 15, 2008

Congrats to Colleen {15} for winning the Sittercity 12 Month Membership!! 

Please email me to confirm & I will pass your information on to Sittercity and they will get you all set up. 

{ Then come back and tell me what an awesome time you had on your date! Even if your “date” is doing absolutely nothing in a QUIET house, LOL!}

CONGRATS!!

What an awesome piece of encouragement.  Go check out this video.  Bookmark it.  Replay anytime you get rejected or feel defeated. It is very short, but makes you think.

Big Failures Video 

Huge thanks to Peter for passing it along. 

Building your (my) marketing resume…

Prior to discovering the 15 Days of Marketing series by Jessica, I hadn’t given a lot of thought on HOW to go about doing this. The concept was there, but I had not figured out a “how-to” plan yet.  It was something that was usually pushed to the back burner.  Participating in this series, even at my own pace, is allowing me time to give it that little bit of focus & time it needs.  At least to start the process.   

It can be to your (my!) advantage to align with Marketing Networks that promote word of mouth marketing.  The following are ones referenced in Jessica’s series: Mom Central, Mom Select, One2One Network (geared toward savvy women), and couple that have something for everyone: Communispace & BzzAgent.  I already belong to a couple of these, but will check out the others and see if it is something that fits with my goals and with me personally.

I am working on becoming a Wishpot.com Baby Expert, another suggestion for building the marketing resume.  I need to continue working on that!    I am loving Wishpot.com & if you haven’t checked it out yet, please do.  It is FREE (love that word, lol) and you can create different wishlists for different purposes / categories.  Check it out.  If you do, look me up over there - I’m ShakeTheSalt. 

Another suggestion, that I really hadn’t given much thought to before, is to apply for a contributor spot on a blog network.  Some days I feel I can’t keep up with my own blogs, but I’m sure if gone about the right way, there can be balance. There is also Newsvine – a news site written by a community of contributors, much like a blog network.

—-

I joined Mom Central and Mom Select today, though I have come across those sites numerous times in the past.  I am already a member of One2One Network and Wishpot.com (working on becoming a Baby Expert).

SEE ALSO:
15 Days of Marketing: Day 2

15 Days of Marketing Group

Your blog is your brand.

I know that… now.  I’m fairly new to blogging (much newer than some, not as new as others). I stuck my toe in the water this past Spring and have been evolving & discovering my own branding ever since (even when I wasn’t realizing it).  I’m still not “there” but I’m working on it.

Jessica Smith of Jessica Knows recently put together a collection of information, “15 Days of Marketing” that I have found intriguing and well worth the read.  I wasn’t able to participate during the time it actually ran, but will do it at my own pace. There is also a 15 Days group on Twitter Moms.  If you want the full meat of the topic, check out those links.  In this post, you will just find my thoughts.  

The overall theme of day one is making your (my) blog more PR friendly. As I go through all the info in the 15 Days series, I will continue evaluating my blog for its effectiveness in many areas, this one included, and decide where changes, if any, need to be made.

A couple of sites that were recommended, but I have not yet used, are Skype and Get Clicky. I’m not sure at this point if Skype will work for me (I don’t have a webcam or microphone setup at the moment and not sure of the techy stuff that would go along with using Skype).  Get Clicky gives analysis of blog visitors in real time, but is not a free service.  The rates may be reasonable, but at this time I don’t believe it would be a sound investment. I do think both of these resources may be beneficial to me in the future so I will keep them in mind.

I have been a subscriber of Peter Shankman’s HARO mailing and although I truly believe in the unbelievably amazing resource that it is, I didn’t think how important it should be for me to pay closer attention, read it on a more regular basis, and search out queries where I would be able to offer quality insight.  I’m thinking now. 

I receive requests & pitches from PR firms and companies, but due to time constraints and other obligations, I usually do not blog about press releases and the like.  I am rethinking that decision and realizing that blog posts about certain topics as requested by PR firms could be viewed as a portfolio of my work and work to establish myself as a marketer.  I will still have time limitations and other obligations, but will make myself more available. I do believe in strengthening the relationship of my brand with the PR reps, the PR firms, and the brands & companies they represent. 

Something that Jessica suggested giving thought to is creating a top three favorite brands list.  Here’s my top three, plus some honorable mentions:

Hewlett-Packard: I have been a loyal HP consumer since I made that first computer purchase years ago. I have an HP desktop (love the Pavilion Slimline – takes up a lot LESS space!) plus an all-in-one HP printer (fax, print, scan, copy).  I’ll shop other brands, but I just seem drawn to HP. I’ve used them for years and trust them.  I am somewhat in the market for a laptop, and it would probably go with saying that an HP is most likely what I would purchase.

Zephyrhills Natural Spring Bottled Water: Let me preface this by saying I hate water.  But if I drink water (and I do try to, though never drink as much as I should), it has to be Zephyrhills, period.

Rubbermaid: From kitchen plastics to larger storage containers, they always come in handy and are well made.

Other products that deserve an honorary mention:

Fisher-Price and Leap Frog: Quality children’s products. I especially love the learning features, innovative ideas and technology. 

Huggies: As an infant, my son was a Pampers baby. As he became a toddler, I shopped around a little more and settled on Huggies.  It is a great product, seems to be on sale more frequently than Pampers, and has great coupons for diapers, wipes, and other bath & body products.  I also love their Cleanteam line.

Gymboree: Great quality & style, plus they have great sales!

TIVO: I. Am. Addicted. To. My. TIVO. Just saying.  Except for a few minutes of news in the am, I almost never watch live TV.  TIVO rocks, pure and simple.

Cheerios: A household staple. Always has been, always will.  My 75-year-old Daddy still eats a bowl of Cheerios every single morning. I can’t remember a time in my 30+ years when that wasn’t the case. Just about every morning, I pull out the popular yellow box to fix my two-year-old a bowl (along with his fruit of choice – banana).

My morning started out as it usually does, a little sluggish due to night-owl issues… but then I did something different. I tuned in to a couple of Blog Talk Radio shows hosted by ladies I have met online and have come to really love and respect.: Cup O’ Fabulous and The Classy Closet Show.

The latter touched on setting a goal for the week and for some reason it really struck me. So… I have decided that I am going to give that a whirl.  My goal for this week is to go to bed at a more decent time and have more productive mornings. They go hand in hand, even though one doesn’t mean the other automatically happens.

I also want to begin working on the 15 Days of Marketing at Jessica Knows (co-hostess of Cup O’ Fabulous). There is a discussion forum for it up at Twitter Moms also.

I need to get a little more focused! focused! and tie up loose ends and get current commitments met, so that will not be something holding me back.

It is already afternoon, my son is eating lunch {though Mommy has NOT eaten today – another issue it seems – need a little “me” focus?}, and after his lunch he will be taking a nap. But even though it seems much of the day is gone, I have a bright outlook.  Today just feels like a fresh start of sorts, a beginning of opportunities ahead, and it feels wonderful.

The Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat is 79% off folks. Are you there yet, making your purchase? This price will not last long, so please no comments / emails when it changes or they sell out. I’d love to hear if you snag this sweet deal though!!  Currently, only the “Cowmooflage” pattern is at this price.  (If that’s an issue, you can buy covers – this is still a great deal!! If your little one isn’t ready to “move up” yet or you are expecting, jump on this anyway and put it up. Also would make an awesome baby shower or Christmas gift!!)

BUY IT: Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat

Price as of this posting: $60

Regular Price: $280

UPDATE:

I just checked the site again @ 7:45 PM EST and the price changed to $250. That’s still a little bit off, but not the really good deal from earlier.  Were you able to jump on the deal alert price?

Moms are none too happy about the antics Motrin pulled with that ad.  Thank you Katja for staying up until the wee hours of the morning to put this video of our thoughts together - and great shots of all the Twitter moms baby-wearing I must say (happy babies & happy moms, thanks to the COMFORT of baby-wearing!)

What’s all this buzz about Motrin & #motrinmoms you ask? 

Read my post about Motrin’s EPIC FAIL babywearing ad.

Check out the #motrinmoms Twitter stream. {Lots more comments than Katja was able to fit into the video and I noticed they are STILL rolling out this morning and #motrinmoms is STILL trending #1 on Twitter.) 

You can link directly to your blog post and/or tweet by going to the Motrin Moms Mr. Linky I set up. Please use only the PERMALINK to your post or tweet so it can be easily found. {You can get the permalink to your tweet by clicking on the “x minutes/hours ago” link.} 

Motrin… really sorry about this PR headache you are waking up to, but really… some foresight might have been nice.  I’ll second Katja by saying using MomForce.com & hiring a CMO (Chief Mom Officer) may be in your best interest… for future campaigns and to find out how to bridge this gap you have now created between the Tylenol-Motrin-J&J conglomerate & Moms.