Filed under: Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Monster Worldwide (MNST), Small business

Back in 2000, a variety of dot-coms - like Pets.com, LastMinuteTravel.com, Monster.com (Nasdaq: MNST) and so on - spent gobs of money on Super Bowl commercials. Of course, it marked the height of the bubble. Since then, upstart companies have been mostly afraid of producing commercials.

Hey, take a look at this classic ad from Pets.com (now defunct), during the 2000 Super Bowl:

But don’t be afraid. While I’m not suggesting that you shell out $2.7 million for a Super Bowl ad, I still think things are different. After all, it’s fairly cost-effective to advertise on local cable channels. What’s more, on the internet video is also surging.

So how can you crank out a top-quality 30-second spot?

Let’s take a look:

Production: Technology is making it incredibly cheap to create commercials. “All you need is an Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Mac laptop and the iMovie software that comes with the personal,” said Rob Frankel, who is the author of The Revenge of Brand X and has his own marketing firm. “And just about any MiniDV camera can produce broadcast-quality video.”

That’s all he needed to create this spot:

To spice things up, you can use stock footage and music clips (which may even be free). “A simple Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) search will find a lot of stock content,” said Frankel.

Crafting the right message: It’s temping to be too cute or cutting-edge when putting together a 30-second spot. Unfortunately, the result is that your audience ignores things - or is just confused. Some tips:

• Focus on one idea (that’s simple to understand). Clutter is your enemy.
• Avoid special effects and location shoots.
• Don’t star in your own commercials.

“Notice that some of the ideal commercials these days offer one central image or theme with even stark or simplified backgrounds,” Rachel Weingarten, who is the president of GTK Marketing Group. “It might be wiser to spend more on the concept and come up with a very clever and catchy phrase or theme or even sweepstakes or promo that can drive people to your website, retail location or some other call to action.”

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar On the web Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

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Filed under: Estates

The Parisian neighborhood of Montmatre has a rich history in the arts. The hilly area was once home to Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh and others including Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. His home Ch

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Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

From the Real Estalker:
–The Desert House, the sleek and modern prototype for the deluxe prefabs created by starchitecture firm Marmol Radziner in Desert Hot Springs has been listed at $1.85 million.
–Did Scott Baio move to a five-bedroom home in Encino? The Real Estalker Mama reports that Baio and his wife, Peaches Renee Sloan, still occupy Baio’s home on Royal Oak Road in Encino. It looks like the couple “bought” the new home on the show for reality drama’s sake.
–Rande Gerber and Cindy Crawford are renting out a beach front four-bedroom home in Malibu for $22,500 a month.
–Rumors have been swirling that Britney Spears purchased a new house in Hermosa Beach before she went into the hospital. The home in question appears to be owned by professional photographer Dani Brubaker (who recently took pictures of Britney and her children for OK Magazine) and it seems unlikely that Britney actually bought this home.
–Has billionaire Ron Burkle helped Michael Jackson save Neverland Ranch? Roger Friedman at Fox News has reported that Burkle might have intervened of Jackson’s behalf to provide an extension to give Jackson time to refinance.
–Jennifer Aniston has moved out of the Malibu cottage she’s been renting since 2005.
–Jermaine Dupri has listed a five-bedroom home in Atlanta, Georgia for $1.5 million. The listing is here.
–Melrose Place actor Grant Show has listed his three-bedroom house in the Beachwood Canyon for $1,995,000. The listing is here.
–Singer Dido has listed her house in the prestigious Bird Streets area of Los Angeles for $4.6 million. The listing is here.

From the Wall Street Journal’s Private Properties:
–A Parisian home that once belonged to Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir is on the market. It is out estate of the day later today.
–NBA point guard Baron Davis of the Golden Say Warriors has sold a pair of adjacent condos in West Hollywood for $2.66 million.
–Investment banker Warren Woo has paid $20 million for a home in Los Angeles, plus $2 million more for furnishings.

From the NY Observer’s Manhattan Transfers:
–A two-floor penthouse at 530 East 72nd Street which was lived in by Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow and then by Andy Warhol’s physician, Denton S. Cox is on the market for $5,995,000 and it’s a real fixer-upper. The listing is here.
–Ex-F.B.I. Special Agent Ali Soufan, who now works for Guiliani Partners, and his wife just paid $1.7 million for a new Manhattan apartment.
–Stephen Drucker, House Beautiful’s editor, and real estate agent Frank Newbold closed this month on a two-bedroom co-op at 125 East 74th Street for $1.45 million.
–Parker Posey, who late last year listed her apartment in an 1845 brownstone on East 10th Street near Third Avenue for $1.175 million, is in contract to purchase a $1.35 million one-bedroom co-op at 30 Fifth Avenue.
–Salman Rushdie’s ex-wife, 37-year-old Padma Lakshmi, the model-turned-Top Chef hostess paid $1,651,111 for a long, full-floor loft in Alphabet City.

From Berg Properties Huge Time Listings:
–Wilmer Valderrama has sold a home in Tarzana for $1,750,000 after it had been listed for $2,250,000 and later reduced to $1,950,000.
–Rupert Murdoch has taken $2,000,000 off the asking price of his Long Island, N.Y. mansion, Rosehearty, reducing its listing price from $14,800,000 to $12,800,000. It was our estate of the day back in July.

From the NY Post’s Gimme Shelter:
–A new record residential price has been set for the North Fork of Long Island. A 135-acre estate that includes a 19-acre vineyard has been sold for $19.5 million. The original asking price for Indian Neck Farm was $22 million when it went on the market in 2006.
–Edgar Bronfman Jr. and his wife, Clarissa, finally have taken possession of their 11-room co-op at 1040 Fifth Ave.
–Author and interior decorator Regina “Gigi” Mahon has paid just over $14 million for two condo apartments on the fifth floor at the soon to be completed Plaza.
–Polo-playing communications mogul Adam Lindemann has found a new oceanfront Hamptons hideaway in Montauk for $21.5 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
–Keith Yamashita, a high-powered business consultant, has listed his contemporary Manhattan Beach home at $3.449 million because he and his partner, Todd Holcomb, are planning to return to San Francisco, where their 10-year-old company, Stone Yamashita Partners, is based. The listing is here.

From AOL Real Estate:
–A list of America’s richest counties.

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Ouch! That pun was about as bad as they get, but I couldn’t resist.

I found some great shoes that I wanted to tell you about. They are called Z-Coils, and they’ve saved me endless pain and problems with my knees. They look funny (my daughter calls them my “Tigger” shoes after Pooh’s bouncy friend Tigger), but I don’t care. When you can be out of pain and able to walk all over, who cares? I feel like the z-coils are “shock absorbers” for my feet.

The week after I got them, I went to Washington, DC and walked all over. Before the Z-coils, I would not have been able to do that. I couldn’t even walk through a large grocery store without pain.

Z-coils are sold in individual stores. You can see the locations on their website (www.zcoil.com)

No, I’m not getting paid to tell you about these shoes - no kick-backs (pardon the second pun). I don’t take money to promote products. I wanted to do this post because I figure maybe they can help you like they helped me. It’s a “Tipping Point” thing. If enough people know about them, they will have more stores and the price will come down.

Have you tried Z-Coil shoes? If so, let me know what you think.

(They also have more formal styles for work, in case you were wondering.)

Tags: baby boomers, walking, z-coil shoes

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There is an interesting little article on the second page of the second section in Saturday’s (2/2/08) WSJ.  It’s sort of obvious when you think about it.  When companies list “Cash” on the balance sheets, they don’t really have greenbacks stuffed in the corporate mattresses.  They’ve the cash invest in cash equivalents.  These instruments are investment vehicles for which there’s a ready market so that they can be sold instantly to raise cash.  No large mystery here.

Securitized bond backed by sub-prime mortgages used to be considered cash equivalent investments.  Oops.  You may have seen or will soon see non-financial corporations taking write-downs against cash.  Their bonds that they have which are backed by sub-prime mortgages no longer have a ready market and sometimes no market at all.  Hence, they are no longer think about cash equivalent investments.

When you are looking at a company as an investment for your funds.  If one of the big reasons you’re thinking of that company is because they’ve lots of cash on hand, you need to think again carefully.  You need to find out if that company has significant exposure to sub-prime mortgage bonds.

 Well, nuts. 

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