It sure would be tough to be the marketer of a weight loss brand over the holidays…knowing that your prime business season sits just around the corner…January 1st.

The New York Times recently reported that Kellogg’s Special K and Weight Watchers will be advertising their products on billboards in Times Square this New Year’s Eve.

Nike and Coca-Cola are getting into the act too.

But that’s not it. Some brands are also launching MySpace pages and looking to digital media to educate consumers about their weight management plans…and the history of dieting. Interesting stuff coming from the big brands these days.

Myself, I enjoyed a few too many Christmas cookies, but worked them off in the Breckenridge, Colorado the week before New Year’s….snowboarding and cross country skiing. Wouldn’t Marion Nestle recommend balance in our diet and our lilves?

-Patrick

For 2 years, I ran New Hope’s online, or “emedia”, business. It was fun and challenging. Fun because there’s so much to learn and challenging because there are few people in the natural products industry in marketing positions who really understand the opportunity of online advertising and marketing. Often I found myself explaining what pageviews, impressions and click-through-rates were, and why website “hits” was a ridiculous statistic. Rarely did I make headway into integrated marketing program discussions. Still, I had a great time and worked with alot of great people in the industry.

So when Advertising Age released this article on the recent increase in web traffic to packaged goods websites, it caught my attention. It seems that these packaged goods (Uncle Bens, Hersheys, M&Ms, Loreal) firms are finally getting serious about online advertising…AND their online advertising is returning some significant traffic and marketing ROI.

What I’ve learned is that the nutrition industry needs some serious education when it comes to refining their basic online strategies into tactics that drive online traffic and consumer loyalty. So, in NBJ’s December Business Achievement and Executive Review issue, we had the editor of Website Magazine, Pete Prestipino, contribute a “so now you have a website…what’s next” article. Pete’s a great guy and a wealth of information on the business of emedia. Check it out over the holidays when you’re digesting that turkey/roast/ham/tofurkey feast you just gorged yourself on.

-Patrick

Though I feel for Tony LaRussa, manager of the MLB St. Louis Cardinals, you gotta get a chuckle from this story about his recent DUI charge.

Apparently Tony took some “vitamins” from one of his players that turned out to be HGH (human growth hormone). When he was pulled over, LaRussa blamed his state on the vitamins.

The Most Serious Sports News Network thankfully interviewed the arresting officer. His statement said, ““It was obvious Tony was drunk. He had dried vomit on his shirt and a bottle of Jim Beam in the passenger seat. But he kept going on and on about vitamins that he received from one of his players.”

SSN continued, “Despite his tricky defense strategy, LaRussa was sentenced to probation, including fifty hours of community service, for the misdemeanor infraction.”

No industry likes to be attacked…but I think this type of attack isn’t so bad.

-Patrick