Affiliate Classroom Rebrands to Lurn, Inc.
Is it too soon to say “Rebranding Fail”?
I just got the news that Affiliate Classroom, Inc is re-branding themselves to Lurn, Inc. I must admit that my first impression of the new name is not a positive one. I immediately wanted to ask – what was wrong with Affiliate Classroom? Didn’t it say everything it needed to say? The press release they sent along with the announcement email answered that question:
“We originally set out to provide training and best practices for affiliates. The name Affiliate Classroom made perfect sense,” said founder and CEO Anik Singal. “But in late 2008 as our executive team developed our strategic vision for the next two years, we felt limited by the name. What we’re able to offer now is beyond simple how-to information for affiliates. Changing our name is strategically liberating.”
Okay, I can understand that. When your name is very specific and your goals expand to something greater, a new name is in order. So I can support them in the decision to re-brand to a new name that’s more all-encompassing to what they want to achieve. But Lurn? I’m not sure I can be on board with the new name; for some reason it reminds me of names like Knol and Cuil and other recent social media-crazed names that seem to be trying harder to be “cool” or “cutting edge” than functional and appropriate. Which made me sad to read further down in the press release to this:
Singal added, “We’ve been getting a lot of compliments on the new name. We think that it highlights our fun personality, while staying true to our vision of empowering our students to reach their goals through technology and education.”
Maybe I’m being overly critical about the name. Afterall, that’s just my two cents. I do have to hand it to Anik & his team that they’re awesome people who are doing a good thing for the industry so I really do wish them the best of luck with the rebranding effort. For their sake I also hope more people like the new name more than I do 😛
Read MoreCribbed Content for March 6th
I haven’t had the chance to do very many of these during February… the month was filled with birthday celebrations, a vacation, and a lot of Wii in the evening since I’ve been strangely obsessed with Guitar Hero and Animal Crossing: City Folk. But since I’ve been back from vacation I’ve seen some great stuff, so I want to share.
Forgive me, some of it will be a bit out of date.
- Geno Prussakov put together a great list of affiliate marketing events in 2009.
- California is looking into a tax for online sales. Scott Jangro has written an open letter to the California outlining why it’s a bad idea. I am going to take his advice and grab the letter to send myself as a resident of California.
- Read the full California Assembly Bill 178 and contact your representatives to explain why this is a bad idea for affiliate marketers in California!
- 20/20 contacted the Performance Marketing Alliance for some background on affiliate marketing for a series they’re doing on the proliferation of work-at-home schemes. It’s good to see that they’re able to do some positive PR for the industry already… very promising since they’re off to a slow start.
- I wrote another guest post for Marketing Pilgrim, this time on The Search Engine Known as Twitter.
- If you’re at all interested in reading about my rambles about my Caribbean cruise vacation, check out my Posterous blog.
Jon Stewart Rips CNBC
I just had to share this as it’s somewhat on topic in terms of being business and economy related, but still appeals to my skewed sense of humor. Thanks to Dave Winer for posting this gem.
Read MoreCan You Shock A Marketer?
A few weeks ago, the proprietor of T-Shirt Hell announced that they were closing down, hosted a sale, and accredited the shutting down of the popular anti-PC t-shirt site to an increase in misunderstandings of the offensive humor and an increase in negative feedback. It seemed strange to me that they’d go 8 years in business and just NOW get fed up with the haters.
Of course, I’m not shocked in the least that it turned out to be a hoax – a sneaky way of drumming up some publicity for the site, generating sales in a tough economy when people are probably not as likely to spend their money on novelty t-shirts – unless threatened that they’d be gone forever. My reason for blogging about it isn’t so much that it’s noteworthy or shocking, but more so that I had no reaction beyond a quick “meh…figures”.
This begs the question: can marketers be shocked anymore? If this had been overly clever, I’d have to at least given them credit for successfully executing a good campaign in a down economy. Marketers tend to have “seen it all” in terms of schemes and campaigns and tricks to lure in consumers to buy their products. It seems to me that seeing a really clever campaign that I’d have to give props to seems fewer and far between. It’s also more abundant when my husband points something out and I just shrug my shoulders because I’m not impressed as a marketer.
So, can you be shocked by marketing and advertising anymore as a marketer, or are you too jaded by the nature of your profession to really be taken in by marketing on a consumer level?
Read MoreAffiliate Marketing Fanatics Episode 1: Almost a Fail
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
So I’ve returned rejuvenated from my vacation and I’m here to announce that I’ve started a new podcast with Michael Buechele of 11|15 Media called Affiliate Marketing Fanatics. In the podcast, hosted generously by GeekCast.fm, we discuss different tools and aspects of affiliate marketing from both the publisher perspective (Mike) and the affiliate manager perspective (mine).
We recorded our first episode just before I left for vacation and Michael worked on the editing and posting while I was gone… unfortunately as we’re just learning this stuff, there are some strange audio issues and the very end got cut off. We were using Pamela to record over Skype, so if anyone out there has any suggestions to fix them, I’m all ears.
In our first episode we discuss Zemanta, the BAAMC, RingRevenue, the PMA, and Facebook. So please, go check it out and comment and let us know what you think!
Read MoreCharity Bowl-a-Thon March 31st
Affiliate Marketers DO give back!
MarketLeverage is sponsoring a Charity Bowl-a-Thon on March 31st at 7pm in Sanford, FL. The proceeds of the event are going to be donated to the Niemann-Pick Children’s Fund in honor of Parker and Brisan Stults, the children of a MarketLeverage publisher. It’s being held at Airport Lanes in Sanford and costs $25 per bowler to participate. There are also a wide variety of sponsorship opportunities available if, like me, you don’t live in the area. Sponsorship opportunities are:
- Players: Donate 10 cents/pin for each pin knocked down by your chosen player!
- Teams: Donate 10 cents/pin for each pin knocked down by your chosen team!
- Pins: Donate 10 cents/pin for each pin knocked down for the night!
- Team Shirts: Support your favorite team and a great cause for $100- they’ll wear your logo on
their shirt! Max. of 10 logos per shirt + 1/10 shirt cost. - Team Shirts (Solo): Support your favorite team and they’ll wear only your brand/product or logo on
their shirt for $1000 + shirt cost. Max. 10 sponsors (1 per team). - Lanes: Pick your favorite team and they’ll play in your lane. Provide us with a banner to
display on your team’s lane for $250. Max. 10 sponsors (1 per lane). - Registration Area: Sponsor the area where our players sign in. Display your signage, and give away
swag for $500. Max. 2 sponsors. - Power Alley: Throughout the event, each team will have the chance to play in our power alley
twice! The power alley sponsor will donate $2/pin for each pin knocked down in
the power alley for the night. The Power Alley Sponsor will be a sole sponsor,
and can decorate with their banners around the lane. - Restaurant: The bowlers are going to be hungry coming from a long day at work to support
Parker and Brisan. If you have a restaurant or would like to pick up dinner from
the in-alley restaurant, they’d appreciate it. Table tents with your logo and
signage will be set up in the food area. - Door Prizes: Provide our teams and supporters with some great swag and a lasting
impression when they display your logo long after the event!
Niemann-Pick Disease is classified as a terminal illness, with approximately 1,200 cases worldwide. Niemann-Pick disease refers to a group of diseases passed down through families (inherited) in which fatty substances called lipids collect in the cells of the spleen, liver, and brain. Hospital costs for Parker and Brisan exceed $100,000 per month, which is why MarketLeverage is sponsoring this Bowl-a-Thon to help raise funds to help their cause.
For information on how to sponsor or participate, contact Dina at (407) 268-7667 or Dina@MarketLeverage.com. You can also make a donation directly at http://www.bripardun.com/. Do your part and give back!
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