Rockstar...

If you call me today, I apologize if I shout at you. I took my brother
to a U2 concert for his birthday this week. Everything still seems a
little muffled.

Other than finding I'm getting a little too old for rock concerts, I
also found some savvy marketing.

At one point, Bono asked the audience to turn on their cell phones.
He commented on how the United Center, it's 20,000 seating capacity
almost at maximum, looked like the Milky Way. Then a message on
the large screen asked us to text message our names to a number in
support of the ONE.org anti-poverty campaign. Later in the concert a
message appeared on the screen "Thank you for supporting ONE.org"
and began scrolling the text messaged names while Bono sang "One".

What had Bono done?

He had etched the ONE.org website and message into our minds. He
had got thousands of people to commit by text messaging their
names. Then he cemented a commitment to be a part of ONE.org
by underscoring the names with his emotional unity song. I also i
magine he collected contacts that ONE will follow-up with.

All this by using very few words and a lot of emotion.

In this case, good marketing is simple. Focused. Memorable.
Impacting.

It rings true. It's not overly pushy or brassy. It builds a brand by
being straightforward and sincere.

And above all, I think Bono would say, it's not schmaltzy. How
does your marketing measure up?

Excuse me, I've got to run. The phone's ringing. Or is that my ears?

- Phil Sasso