The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. We are a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and marketing skills.  Check out thousands of cutting edge examples at our web site.  Join us on Facebook and Twitter.

Sent via TVSpy's email servers. Visit TV Spy's Marketing Matters.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(919) 217-4438
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter



In This Issue
How Ratings Measurement is Hurting Broadcast TV
Evening News Ratings Down
'Nightline' Heats Up Late Night Wars
Oprah Viewers Tuning Out
World Cup Draws 132 Mil to ESPN Platforms
NFL to Air Canadian Football
Comcast Reaches Out to Latinos
China Launches Global English TV Channel
Al Qaeda Tries English-Language Online Mag for Recruits
Nielsen Resurrects 'Live' Local Ratings
Tobacco 'Truth' Ads Still Effective
Kraft Foods Gets Sociable on Facebook, Twitter
25% of Consumers Plan To Eat Out More
Bulwer-Lytton 2010 Bad Fiction Winners


Quotes

"Culture is only true when implicitly critical, and the mind which forgets this revenges itself in the critics it breeds.  Criticism is an indispensable element of culture."
- Theodor W. Adorno

"In most modern instances, interpretation amounts to the philistine refusal to leave the work of art alone.  Real art has the capacity to make us nervous.  By reducing the work of art to its content and then interpreting that, one tames the work of art.  Interpretation makes art manageable, conformable."
- Susan Sontag

"The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic."
- Oscar Wilde


How Ratings Measurement is Hurting Broadcast TV
by Graeme Newell
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.602communications.com
Twitter: gnewell
Facebook: facebook.com/gnewell

One of the biggest criticisms of the millennial generation is that they confuse participation with winning.  Everyone gets a trophy in the playoffs.  They feel they deserve a promotion because they simply showed up for work everyday.

Well in the past decade, TV has slipped into this same mindset of mediocrity.  TV has experienced a subtle yet disturbing change in its measurement of success, and it is most evident in our most hallowed institution - the rating point.

When I began my career, broadcast TV was in its heyday.  Viewing was on the rise.  Production values were steadily increasing. Scripts were improving. Whole new genres were being born. 

Back then, TV staffers would gather around the table each morning and discuss the rating point levels for last night's shows.  Ratings are the percentage of ALL the people in a market who turn on a program.  Some viewers start with their TV off, and others switch over from other programs.  During these days times were good.  There was a tremendous amount of appointment viewing.  Viewers purposely tuned in for broadcast events like "Must-See TV."

During these early days, station staffers never paid much attention to the share of audience.  Share counts only people who have their TV On. It doesn't count people who could watch but choose not to.  You can have a tremendously high share, but it can be misleading.  If you are getting a huge piece of a very miniscule pie, you're not getting much to eat.  If you get a huge share of a very low rated program, you aren't attracting many viewers. 

During these heady days, we didn't need the calming illusion of share, because we were the tune-in masters.  A share number just couldn't properly showcase our glory.  Only a rating point could showcase the amazing appointment viewing prowess of our sticky programming. Only a rating point could glorify our raw recruiting muscle that could coalesce an audience from thin air.

Now fast forward a few decades and you'll notice that discussions about rating points have waned.  Talk of ratings points are a painful reminder of Broadcast TV's serious decline in the past decade.

We just couldn't bring ourselves to measure our life's work with such a miniscule digit.  "Woohoo! We got a 1.5 rating."  This just doesn't sound as good as "we got an 18 share."  And it sure is convenient and useful on those corporate performance calls.  By using share as the game standard, you didn't need to recruit an audience.  Beating the other guy across the street was enough.

So what happens?  The audience begins to disappear from the discussion.  In a workshop last week, I asked the station staff to describe how their audience had changed during the tumultuous days of the past two years.  They had a very time describing anything.  Then I asked them to describe how their competitors had changed in the past two years.  I had to stop them after a half hour of running down every miniscule blip from the guys across the street.

If you judge the success of your work by its share, you can continue to declare victory book after book, when the reality is that fewer and fewer people are using your product.

Judging performance by share gets us off the hook.  In the strange reality of share, it is okay that the number of people watching the show have seriously declined, as long as the guy across the street has a lower share than me.  We ease our mind  by telling ourselves that if all the competitors are declining, there is nothing that can be done.  This measurement allows us to delude ourselves into thinking that losing slowly, is actually winning.  It gives us an excuse not to improve, not to throw the bums out, not to transcend tired priorities.

This channel performance measurement has sabotaged innovation. By skillfully concealing the number of customers in a statistical representation, we can turn a failure into a success.  The metric serves the ego, not the bottom line.  A bigger share of nothing is still nothing. 

It's time we stopped talking about share and get back to the harsh reality of rating points.  Broadcast ratings will continue to decline in the coming years as cable channels proliferate, internet viewing takes off, and baby boomers die off.  

Respected television industry analyst Andrew Tyndall just made the prediction that broadcast television will be dead within ten years.  "Broadcast television is an industry in decline. There will be demand for video journalism, just not on a broadcast platform." 

When we talk about share, we are kidding ourselves.  If we hope to reverse the slide, we need to openly embrace where we are and the pain to come. The future is not about winning a bigger portion of an ever-diminishing audience, it is about recruiting brand new customers from unexpected places.   We need a metric that is an unflinchingly pragmatic gauge of new customer recruitment.  Unless we bring non-viewers into the tent, Tyndall's prediction is inevitable. 

This is where we need to take a cue from the Canadians, because they have created an admirably courageous success metric.  They don't talk about share.  They don't even talk about ratings.  They talk about viewers.  Ask a Canadian executive how she did last night and she will quote the number of people who watched.  "I had 91,000 viewers last night." Ask an American producer how many actual people watch his show and most will not be able to tell you. 

The Canadian metric is a raw, unflinching gauge of success that has nothing to do with competitors and everything to do with audience. A competitor's success doesn't matter.  Just because your competitor loses doesn't mean you win.  Turn off the competitor's channel feed in your office.  All that matters is the number of people your channel turned into customers tonight.

Graeme Newell is a broadcast and cable marketing consultant who specializes in relationship branding using core emotional drivers.  He guarantees that his teasing seminar will immediately increase your news ratings or his workshop is free.  Find out more here.

Evening News Ratings Down
The network news standings, always near immutable, showed nothing suggesting a shakeup during the second quarter – though they did demonstrate a distinctive trend for all parties: downward.  For ABC and CBS, down meant all the way to another new low, this time for evening newscast ratings in the second quarter of a year (at least since the Nielsen company started using its current people meter system in 1987).  It was the lowest second quarter for NBC since 2007.  In terms of competitive placement, NBC’s news dominance was unshaken – and barely stirred – from April through June.  In the morning, the “Today” show ruled as ever; in the evening, Brian Williams maintained a strong edge.  But in a world where mass erosion is the rule, NBC’s losses were marginally bigger than those for second-place ABC.  As for CBS, deep in third place in both morning and evening, the one pinpoint of light was an almost steady performance in the evening news in the group that news advertisers pay for, viewers between the ages of 25 and 54.  Over all, Mr. Williams continued to lead in the evenings with about 7.6 million total viewers and 2.3 million in the 25-54 group, according to Nielsen.  The numbers were down about 5 percent from last year.  ABC’s “World News,” now with Diane Sawyer as anchor, reached about 7 million viewers with about 2 million in the 25-54 group.  In both cases that represented about a 4 percent drop from last year at the same time.  CBS’s “Evening News,” with Katie Couric, pulled in about 5.5 million viewers, down about 6 percent from last year, and about 1.6 million in the preferred age group, down only about 30,000 from a year ago.  The morning story, while still dominated by NBC and the “Today” show, at least had one dose of promising news for “Good Morning America” on ABC.  Alone among the network news shows, “GMA” did not decline in total viewers, matching its 4.27 million from a year ago.  But the show lost about 100,000 viewers in that ad-friendly age group.  “Today,” on the other hand, lost about 360,000 total viewers but only 80,000 in that 25-54 bunch, meaning it extended its edge over “GMA” where it counts most.  Over all, “Today” had 5.1 million viewers, still almost a million more than “GMA.”  CBS’s “Early Show” continued to be out of the running. It had 2.45 million viewers, down from 2.74 million a year ago.  It also lost more 25-54 viewers — 130,000 — than either of its competitors.
Media Decoder


'Nightline' Heats Up Late Night Wars
The late-night television war is heating up -- and the battle is not just between CBS'  the "Late Show with David Letterman" and NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."  Throw ABC's "Nightline" in there, too.  With second-quarter Nielsen ratings numbers released on Thursday, each show was spinning its position heavily.  While "Leno" still had the highest ratings and most viewers in second quarter, it also saw the biggest declines from second quarter last year.  "Letterman" made up some ground but saw second quarter ratings declines also -- just significantly less than "Leno."  It was "Nightline" that showed ratings gains over last year and made up more ground percentage-wise on "Leno" than "Letterman" did.  The "Letterman" show crowed that it produced its best second-quarter ratings against NBC's "Tonight" since 1995.  But NBC said "Leno" still won every key demo during the quarter -- and since he returned as host of the show on March 1, he's won a preponderance of the nights among adults 18-49 and viewers.  "Nightline" pointed out that "Letterman's" gains on "Leno" were more about "Leno's" audience declines than "Letterman's" audience gains.  While Leno lost 21 percent of his second-quarter viewers compared to last year, and with Letterman losing 7 percent of his, "Nightline" pointed out that it grew its viewership in second quarter by 2 percent.  In 18-49 viewership, Leno declined by 33 percent and Letterman dropped by 7 percent, but "Nightline" grew by 3 percent.  And "Nightline" pointed out that both Leno and Letterman posted their lowest 25-54 second quarter deliveries in 18 years, with "Leno" also posting its lowest viewer totals since 1992, and Letterman its lowest since 1993.  It was the first time "Nightline" beat "Letterman" in the second quarter in both viewers and adults 25-54 since 2000.
TheWrap


Oprah Viewers Tuning Out
Oprah is not going to go out on top.  Last week was the lowest rated in the 24-year history of her show according to Nielsen.  "The Oprah Winfrey Show" has been in reruns for several weeks but compared to the same week last year -- which was all reruns, too -- the ratings were down an eye-watering 23 percent, according to tvbythenumbers.com, a ratings Web site.  The audience for Oprah was just over 4 million viewers -- the lowest it has ever been since the show first went on the air in 1986.  The bottomed-out ratings have had little practical effect on the daytime talk show against which all the others are measured.  Her ads remain the highest-priced on afternoon TV and getting big-name guests is still no problem.  The falling audience numbers may be a reaction to Winfrey's announcement earlier this year that 2011 would be her show's final season.  Viewers have begun to disconnect from her in anticipation of her departure from five-days-a-week TV.  Insiders have been saying for a while that Oprah's influence may be at an all-time high, but her impact on TV is starting to fade badly.  This week, Forbes named Oprah its No. 1 most powerful celebrity for the fourth time and reported that she has earned a staggering $315 million over the last year.
NY Post


World Cup Draws 132 Mil to ESPN Platforms
ESPN is now estimating that through June 27, some 132 million people have so far consumed 2010 FIFA World Cup content across all ESPN platforms, which includes ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, as well as on the internet, mobile, radio and ESPN The Magazine.  Of that total, 90 percent have seen the coverage on ESPN's TV platforms, 27 percent on the web, 11 percent listened on radio, 7 percent used mobile and 2 percent read the magazine.  The data is a compilation put together by ESPN Research working with data from Knowledge Networks and Nielsen.  On TV, ESPN networks are showing a 58 percent increase in viewers, compared to the 2006 Cup.  And even if the U.S. team's record-breaking telecasts are removed from the totals, ESPN said its TV viewing is still up 34 percent compared to 2006.  ESPN said out-of-home viewing and non-TV platforms add 47 percent to ESPN's daily World Cup TV average.  The Eastern time zone has gotten the greatest audience lift from out-of-home viewing with an 18 percent boost, while Mountain and Pacific time zones have gotten the greatest percent of time-shifted viewing -- 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively.  The logic is that many of the live matches televised are during the day when East Coast viewers are at work, so they would catch more of the matches from out-of-home sources.  And the West Coast viewers would be asleep during an abundance of the morning telecasts which are being televised live from South Africa, so they are watching in time-shifted mode.  Online, World Cup content on ESPN.com has delivered 87.5 million visits and 305.9 million page views through June 27.  ESPN's mobile offerings have generated 70.3 million visits and 385.5 million page views of World Cup content.  And ESPN3.com's live and replay of World Cup matches have been viewed by almost 5.8 million unique viewers.
TheWrap


NFL to Air Canadian Football
If you think four downs are too many and eleven players aren't enough, the NFL Network has your football fix.  The NFL Network and the Canadian Football League have reached an agreement to put 14 regular season CFL games on the league-run cable network, beginning with a Montreal-Saskatchewan game Thursday night, July 1, at 7 pm ET.  NFL Network will then air three Saturday games in July, and then Friday night games beginning again in September.  No CFL games will air in August, when the NFL Network has a preseason-packed schedule of NFL exhibitions.  NFL Network will take a feed produced by Canadian sports broadcaster TSN.
Broadcasting & Cable


Comcast Reaches Out to Latinos
Comcast Corp. said it would add a Latino to its board of directors after it closes on its deal to take control of NBC Universal.  The move is part of an effort by Comcast and NBC Universal to ease concerns among the Latino community about the possible effects of their proposed merger on media diversity.  The two companies also unveiled several other initiatives it hoped would lower the volume on the protests over the deal.  Besides adding a board member within 24 months after the deal is sealed, Comcast and NBC said they would boost the number of Latinos working at both companies as well as carry more independent channels and do more business with Latino-owned vendors.  Signing a letter supporting their pledges were several Latino advocacy groups, including the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the National Hispanic Media Coalition. The National Hispanic Media Coalition and its chief, Alex Nogales, had been very critical of Comcast since the deal with NBC Universal was announced.  In a blog post on Comcast's website, Comcast also says the two companies will boost carriage of Telemundo, which NBC owns, as well as create new Telemundo spin-off channels.  Both companies also committed to expanding outreach to Latino students and increasing scholarship and internship opportunities.  Comcast also has an African-American -- former Fannie Mae executive Kenneth Bacon -- on its board of directors.
LA Times


China Launches Global English TV Channel
China's state news agency Xinhua has launched a 24-hour global news channel in English.  The channel will broadcast news, features and lifestyle shows.  Officials said CNC World would present "an international vision with a China perspective".  The launch is being seen as an attempt by China to develop its influence abroad and counter foreign media views.  Beijing keeps close control over media in the country - it often accuses Western media of bias and of reporting only negative news stories from China.  CNC - China Xinhua News Network Corporation - said it would offer "a better view of China to its international audiences" and enable "more voices to be heard by the rest of the world".  Beijing has been pouring millions of dollars into the broadcasters in an attempt to promote its own messages about China to the wider world.  Last July, CCTV began broadcasting in Arabic to some 300 million potential viewers in 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa.  The channel was already broadcasting in English, French and Spanish as well as Chinese.  All the media outlets, as well as smaller independent news organizations, are closely controlled by Beijing, either directly or through self-censorship to avoid being shut down.  They routinely face restrictions on what stories they can report.  China frequently complains that foreign news organizations present a biased or unfair view of news from the country, focusing on negative stories and ignoring positive developments.
BBC

Al Qaeda Tries English-Language Online Mag for Recruits
Al Qaeda has launched this week what it is calling its first English language online magazine, a move that could be seen as a way to recruit more American-born terrorists.  The magazine was posted on radical Islamist websites Tuesday, said Maryland-based SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that tracks terror groups.  The launch of the magazine, called "Inspire", though did not go smoothly as only three pages of what was billed as a 67-page magazine appeared online.  A fourth page was unsuccessfully posted on websites and showed nothing but garbled images.  A table of contents of the magazine listed an article called "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom."  The magazine also promised to have an article written by fugitive American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.  Awlaki has recently been linked to the failed attempted Christmas Day bombing of a plane bound for Detroit, Michigan.  The director of the National Counterterrorism Center said this week that the U.S. government believes Awlaki had "a direct operational role" in the bombing attempt.
CNN


Nielsen Resurrects 'Live' Local Ratings
In a development that is sure to please major advertisers and agencies who buy local television advertising, Nielsen Thursday issued a surprise announcement that it will bring back its "live-only" local TV ratings, effective with the start of the 2010-11 TV season.  Nielsen originally dropped the live-only TV ratings in April, when it implemented a plan to introduce time-shifted ratings data in local TV markets, and said its data processing capabilities at that time only enabled it to provide three streams of data, and that the majority of its clients did not believe the live-only ratings were as important as the ones including time-shifted viewing, even though major ad agencies insisted they were vital to their local TV planning, buying and posting.  "We believed (and still believe) that the live/same day, live/plus 3 and live/plus 7 streams were the most reflective measures of how people watch television," Nielsen Senior Vice President-Managing Director of Local Media Client Services Sabrina Crow reiterated in the notice sent to clients Thursday afternoon.  "Given our capacity limitations, the feedback we received from the industry as a whole, and Nielsen and client analysis of consumers' viewing patterns, we eliminated live-only ratings from our local overnights and electronic data files," she noted, adding that the decision to restore the live-only ratings stream is the result of Nielsen's ability to increase its local TV ratings data processing.
MediaPost


Tobacco 'Truth' Ads Still Effective
Critics who complain that each new installment of “The Real World” on MTV seems just like the ones before may or may not be right.  But anyone watching the premiere of “The Real World: New Orleans” on Wednesday night was not wrong if they believed they saw a commercial during the show that originally ran in 2004.  The commercial, for the American Legacy Foundation’s efforts to curb smoking among teenagers and young adults — known as the “Truth” campaign —actually appeared twice during the show.  The spot originally ran during Super Bowl XXXVIII on Feb. 1, 2004.  The commercial was produced to look as if it was for a make-believe product called Shards O’Glass Freeze Pops — ice pops with wicked-looking shards of glass protruding from multiple places.  The spot was meant to mock the ads from tobacco marketers that belatedly concede the unhealthful effects of smoking by presenting a corporate apologist for the make-believe maker of Shards O’Glass.  The commercial is being revived after six years as part of a new campaign, Eric Asche, senior vice president for marketing at the foundation, said in a telephone interview on Thursday afternoon.  “There’ll be two more spots coming out in August or September,” Mr. Asche said, taking the same tack as the 2004 commercial in presenting what it would be like, according to the foundation, if all marketers sold their products the way the tobacco companies do.  “It’s still very salient,” Mr. Asche said, “and clearly communicates the tacks taken to market cigarettes to the American public.”
Media Decoder


Kraft Foods Gets Sociable on Facebook, Twitter
The number of advertisers with presences in the social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are increasing faster than the lines at the supermarket when the values of the cents-off coupons are being tripled.  Now, two familiar brands of baked goods sold by Kraft Foods are stepping up their marketing efforts in social media.  One brand, Oreo cookies, is going to be giving its Facebook page a global look, effective on Monday.  The other brand, Wheat Thins crackers, is starting a campaign to reward fans of the brand who discuss it on Twitter.  Oreo has been on Facebook since last August with a page that has been primarily American-oriented.  But the many comments left on the page from other countries — reflecting that more than half the brand’s 5 million Facebook fans are from outside the United States — led to a rethinking of how Oreo is presented on the Web site.  “It was an ‘A-ha’ moment for us,” said Mark Clouse, senior vice president for global biscuits at Kraft Foods in Northfield, Ill., reflecting that the company understands Facebook “is now a global vehicle and a platform we can use to have a global dialog” with consumers.  Turning to the Oreo sibling Wheat Thins, that brand is working with a Chicago agency named the Escape Pod on a project in the form of a campaign that will carry the theme “The crunch is calling.”  The Wheat Thins campaign, which is getting under way this week, will include a channel on YouTube.  It is centered on a mobile team for the brand that travels around bestowing surprising treats to brand fans.
Media Decoder


25% of Consumers Plan To Eat Out More
In another sign pointing to continuing recovery for the restaurant industry, 25% of consumers surveyed during May and June by Market Force Information indicated that they plan to increase their eating-out occasions over the next three months.  This represents a significant jump in consumer confidence compared to Market Force's December '09 dining preferences/trends survey, when just 5% of consumers indicated such intentions.  In addition, just 8% of consumers are now indicating that fear about the economy will cause them to eat out less often in coming months.  Last December, more than half said they expected to be eating out less often.  About two-thirds (67%) are currently indicating that their eating-out patterns will not change over the next three months, compared to 44% in the December survey.  The results confirm social media's increasingly critical role in communicating with restaurant patrons.  About half now indicate that they sometimes read online reviews and blog and tweet about restaurants.  In the past 30 days, almost one in two had read an online review, blogged or tweeted about a restaurant to get a recommendation, and 13% had posted an online review after dining out.  Importantly, "very satisfied" customers -- those giving a five out of five rating to a restaurant -- were found to be three times more likely to recommend (both online and offline) a restaurant to friends than merely "satisfied" customers.
MediaPost


Bulwer-Lytton 2010 Bad Fiction Winners
Where www means 'wretched writers welcome'

Winner:

For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity's affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss--a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil.
- Molly Ringle, Seattle, WA

Runner-Up:

Through the verdant plains of North Umbria walked Waylon Ogglethorpe and, as he walked, the clouds whispered his name, the birds of the air sang his praises, and the beasts of the fields from smallest to greatest said, "There goes the most noble among men" -- in other words, a typical stroll for a schizophrenic ventriloquist with delusions of grandeur.
- Tom Wallace, Columbia, SC 

Winner: Adventure

The blazing equatorial sun beat down on Simon’s head and shoulders as he dug feverishly in the hot sand with the ivory shoe-horn his mother had given him before the homecoming game with Taft, when the field was so wet that he’d lost his low-tops seven times in the cold sucking mud.
- Adam McDonough, Reedsburgh, Wi

Runner-Up:

When Hru-Kar, the alpha-ranking male of the silver-backed gorilla tribe finished unleashing simian hell on Lt. Cavendish, the once handsome young soldier from Her Majesty’s 47th Regiment resembled nothing so much as a crumpled up piece of khaki-colored construction paper that had been dipped in La Victoria chunky salsa.
- Greg Homer, Placerville, CA

Winner:  Children’s Literature

“Please Mr. Fox, don’t take your magic back to the forest, it is needed here in Twigsville!” pleaded little Isabel, but Mr. Fox was unconcerned as he smugly loped back into the woods without answering a word knowing well that his magic was only going to be used to make sure his forest would be annexed into the neighboring community of Leaftown where the property values were much higher.
- Pete Watkins, Broken Arrow, OK

Winner: Detective

She walked into my office wearing a body that would make a man write bad checks, but in this paperless age you would first have to obtain her ABA Routing Transit Number and Account Number and then disable your own Overdraft Protection in order to do so. 
- Steve Lynch, San Marcos, CA

Runner-Up:

As Holmes, who had a nose for danger, quietly fingered the bloody knife and eyed the various body parts strewn along the dark, deserted highway, he placed his ear to the ground and, with his heart in his throat, silently mouthed to his companion, “Arm yourself, Watson, there is an evil hand afoot ahead.
- Dennis Pearce, Lexington, KY

Winner: Fantasy Fiction

The wood nymph fairies blissfully pranced in the morning light past the glistening dewdrops on the meadow thistles by the Old Mill, ignorant of the daily slaughter that occurred just behind its lichen-encrusted walls, twin 20-ton mill stones savagely ripping apart the husks of wheat seed, gleefully smearing the starchy entrails across their dour granite faces in unspeakable botanical horror and carnage – but that’s not our story; ours is about fairies!
- Rick Cheeseman, Waconia, MN 

Winner: Historical Fiction

In Southwestern Germany just east of the Luxemburg border and north of France where history pitted various related Hapsburg Royals against each other and the Archbishops of Trier, the Abbots of St. Maximin, various members of the nobility, and mobs of axe-bearing villagers, there stands a ruin whose building stones mostly were carted off to build other buildings.
- Mary Ann R Unger, Ewing, NJ

Runner-Up:

The band of pre-humans departed the cave in search of solace from the omnipresent dangers found there knowing that it meant survival of their kind, though they probably didn't understand it intellectually since their brains were so small and undeveloped but fundamentally they understood that they didn't like big animals that ate them. 
- Mike Mayfield, Austin, TX 

Winner: Purple Prose

The dark, drafty old house was lopsided and decrepit, leaning in on itself, the way an aging possum carrying a very heavy, overcooked drumstick in his mouth might list to one side if he were also favoring a torn Achilles tendon, assuming possums have them.
- Scott Davis Jones, Valley Village, CA

Runner-Up:

The wind whispering through the pine trees and the sun reflecting off the surface of Lake Tahoe like a scattering of diamonds was an idyllic setting, while to the south the same sun struggled to penetrate a sky choked with farm dust and car exhaust over Bakersfield, a town spread over the lower San Joaquin Valley like a brown stain on a wino’s trousers, which is where, unfortunately, this story takes place.
- Dennis Doberneck, Paso Robles, CA

Winner: Romance

"Trent, I love you," Fiona murmered, and her nostrils flared at the faint trace of her lover's masculine scent, sending her heart racing and her mind dreaming of the life they would live together, alternating sumptuous world cruises with long, romantic interludes in the mansion on his private island, alone together except for the maids, the cook, the butler, and Dirk and Rafael, the hard-bodied pool boys.
- Paul Chafe, Toronto, ON

Runner-Up:

She purred sensually, oozing allure that was resisted only by his realization as an entomologist that the protein dust on the couch from the filing of her crimson nails was now being devoured by dust mites in a clicking, ferocious, ecstatic frenzy.
- Jonathan Blay, Bedford, Canada

Winner: Science Fiction

t'Bleen and Golxxm squelched their way romantically along the slough beach beneath the three Sommodian moons, their eye-stalks occasionally touching, and tenderly belched sweet nothings like, "I don't think I've ever had such a charming evening," and, "Say, would you like to gnaw that hunk of suppurating tissue off my dorsal appendage—it really itches."
- Bryan Olive, Tustin, CA


www.bulwer-lytton.com/



-------------------------------
The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. We are a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and marketing skills.  Check out thousands of cutting edge examples at our web site.  Join us on Facebook and Twitter.

Sent via TVSpy's email servers. Visit TV Spy's Marketing Matters.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(919) 217-4438
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter