Ad Age is attributing the success of Zipcar to “word of mouth” marketing, a position to which the trade pub seemed wedded at least since last January. That’s when one of its reporters asked Zipcar’s chief marketing officer (dreadful title!) how important word-of-mouth was to the company’s marketing strategy and she, the CMO, dutifully responded, “Very.”

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That’s Derek Jeter, beaming gleefully in a print ad for the $990 Movado Sub-Sea™ Chronograph series 800™ wrist watch. The Sub-Sea Chronograph is “water resistant to 20ATM,” which is probably a good thing, since it looks like something a high-fashion model might wear as, bikini clad, she scuttles along in the darkness of the ocean depths, pursuing gulper eels. (more…)

Two days after its author’s appearance on “Oprah,” Going Rogue is Amazon’s #1 best seller, which means Sarah Palin admirers have gotten an early start on their Christmas shopping. Whether the book’s recipients will actually read it is another matter. This is, however, no reflection on the literacy of Palinites. Or not much of one. (more…)

Who knew Gore Vidal was into scrapbooking? His picture album, Snapshots in History’s Glare, reveals a side of the literary lion we’d never seen before, and frankly, I’m disappointed. I had never taken Vidal for the sentimental type. (more…)

For years now, we’ve watched and winced as Lindsay Lohan has tried to transition from teen queen to serious artist, or what passes these days as a serious artist. She killed dead her Disney image with repeated trips to rehab and courted a more sophisticated following by aping a classic—and nude—Marilyn Monroe spread in New York. She acted in small films about Garrison Keillor and John Lennon, celebrities with much more credible claims to artistic stature. She recently became “artistic advisor” to fashion house Ungaro. Panned by couture critics, the line failed. (more…)