It has been an interesting couple of weeks. Allow me to share some random observations on matters of marketing, culture and politics — all of which are favorite subjects of mine:

• I noticed a fascinating statistic this past week about typical users of Twitter. Seems they are a bunch of middle-agers (just like moi), usually in their mid-forties to early fifties. That actually makes sense to me. Twitter is about information, news, writing and reading. Those are all things one likes to do as you get older.
• Speaking of Twitter, I am pretty amazed at the growing and innovative use of this social media channel by marketers. Nearly every day I see yet another example of how a brand or some other marketer or communicator is launching a new product or undertaking some marketing initiative through Twitter. Those who see no future in Twitter or claim it has no business model, have not been watching closely enough (and that includes the estimable George Parker, the author of the world’s best blog on the advertising industry, who loves to  bash Twitter). Actually, Twitter has become the new star for marketers, even more so than Facebook, which probably has tweny times Twitter’s user base.
• I am a true car guy at heart, so I frequently write about the auto industry. The new Volkswagen Golf GTI (or Rabbit in the US) just won the "Car of the Year" honor from some global auto group. A neighbor has a gray GTI that, I have to admit, is pretty sweet.  I had a ‘96 VW Passat and I was none too impressed with it. It was underpowered and not terribly reliable. Maybe I should give VW another look.
• Of course, I am still waiting for that most hapless of American car companies, Chrysler, to close its deal with Fiat. The only reason I care about this deal is that it would mean that Chrysler can bring the wonderfully retro Fiat 500 (the "Cinquecento") to the US. I would buy one of those little gas-sipping beauties in a NY minute. Either in white or red (of course, if it comes in orange, I might buy two of ‘em!).
• Speaking of cars, I was reading about the NY Auto Show in the Times today and there did not seem to be any really interesting new models or concepts debuting at that famed event. Too bad. The launching of new cars is still a joy for many of us gear heads.
• Americans have dangerously short memories. Just a year or so ago gas prices soared to over 4 bucks a gallon and eveyrone was clamoring to buy hybrids and the Mercedes built SMART car (a good friend has one in San Francisco and he loves it). Now, with gas prices in the low two dollar range (in the Bay Area…gas prices are even lower around the country), auto dealers can’t give away Toyota Priuses and SMART cars. In fact, a Silicon Valley dealership has a very large parking lot brimming with hundreds of Prius hybrids waiting for buyers. They are even offering $2,500 off the sales price! A year ago, you paid a premium of up to $5K for the right to drive a Prius. When will we ever learn?
• WPP Group, the big ad agency holding company, folded its ill fated "Agency of the Future" Enfatico into Y&R this week. Seems that Enfatico could not make it on its own, even with a multi-year, multi-billion dollar contract from its sole client, Dell. AdScam’s George Parker predicted this eventuality a year and a half ago when Enfatico was launched with great fanfare by Sir. Martin Sorrell, head of WPP. George was dead on in his analysis that Enfatico was just another badly conceived "house" agency, one that did not come close to living up to its ridiculous, overly heated hype. Lesson: If you are going to create the "Agency of the Future," it better be better than the old model, or at least different. Enfatico was neither, and now it’s essentially gone (at least as a standalone agency brand).
• Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has terrible PR advisers (for her sake, I hope the Botox queen and Fox News host Greta Van Susteren is not one of them, as is widely rumored). The past week saw Palin getting into a very public and quite undignified p—ing match with her former son in law, Levi Johnson. The young Johnson lad went on several interview shows (including the CBS Morning Show and Tyra Banks) to tell his side of the story of his relationship with Bristol Palin, their child Tripp and ultimate break-up of their "engagement" (which was pretty trumped up from the get-go). The governor was not pleased about Levi singing to the media so her PR drones issued a vitriolic press release. And, then Palin herself commented on the subject at her press conference in Alaska. The fact is, Palin brought this on herself when she trotted out Levi and Bristol during the recent presidential campaign. She should heed the old saying, "when you find yourself digging a hole, deeper and deeper, stop digging." Governor Palin: Obviously your PR people have not given you this advice, or you have chosen not to take it, but do  yourself and your family a favor — shut up and stop digging!

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