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ADMIN

A Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis

November 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment

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Filed Under Design, Educational, Personal Finance

10 American Financial Meltdowns in the Past Century

October 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The zero dollar is about “the destructive role of many financial institutions, and the decline of U.S. currency to the point of seeming worthlessness.” Neatorama has a great post highlighting 10 American financial meltdowns in the past century. Try to see the glass half full. And if you have cash, buy low.

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Filed Under Personal Finance, Random

Rag Linen: The Place To Buy Rare and Historic Newspapers

August 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Attention marketing and media professionals! Looking for the perfect collectible and investment for your industry. Look no further, it’s rare and historic newspapers. These are the newspapers that first reported about the plague, smallpox, kings and queens, pirates, colonies, revolution, founding fathers, civil war, assassinations, great fires and more. All are 100 percent authentic originals. Framed, they make great wall art at PR and advertising agencies, or unique gifts for your corporate marketing clients.

With this post, I am officially launching Rag Linen, a website that sells only the finest historic newspapers, guaranteed authentic originals, and provides educational information related to newspaper history. The Rag Linen collection is offered by a handful of private newspaper collectors and historians from around the nation and features for sale some of the rarest finds ever, including:

One of the first English-language newspapers ever printed
One of the first American newspapers that was printed by Benjamin Franklin
The newspaper reporting the Boston Massacre
The newspaper reporting the Battle of Lexington and Concord
The newspaper printing the Declaration of Independence
The newspaper reporting Washington crossing the Delaware River
The newspaper reporting the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
The newspaper reporting the great Chicago fire
The newspaper reporting Babe Ruth’s called shot
The Dewey Defeats Truman newspaper

With raglinen.com, now you have the opportunity to purchase one-of-a-kind, museum-quality relics that are the world’s greatest history sources.

Historic newspapers have substantial value to historians, scholars, journalists, teachers, students, politicians, military personnel, veterans, history buffs, authors, genealogists and many others. Often times, newspapers serve as the primary or only source material for historical research - quoted in countless history books and articles. For example, Pulitzer Prize-winner David McCullough, author of 1776 and John Adams, used newspapers as primary research for his books and directly quotes historic newspapers in his books.

Rag Linen also offers an affiliate program for you to earn commission on any sales referrals.

By the way, the name Rag Linen has significant meaning in newspaper collecting. Prior to 1870, newspapers were printed on very durable rag linen paper - made from the linen in clothes and ship sails. So newspapers from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars are actually in better condition than yesterday’s newspaper, which is probably already yellow and brittle because it was printed on wood pulp.

Filed Under Educational, History, Links, Marketing, Media, Newspaper Collecting, Personal Finance, Random

Free Marketing + Media Magazines, White Papers

July 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Thanks to NetLine Corporation, I am now able to offer my readers free industry trade magazine subscriptions and white papers via toddand.com. In marketing and media, there are publications and papers on practically every major subject matter including advertising, public relations (PR), search engine marketing, online marketing, direct marketing, brand packaging, web 2.0 and customer relationship management (CRM).

All are absolutely free to professionals who qualify (helps trade publications build their qualified circulations and justify their ad rates). I did notice a few magazines are just trial subscriptions, but the majority are indeed full subscriptions. Simply pick your magazines and white papers, complete the application form and submit it.

After a quick browse, you’ll find magazines in almost every field - retail, IT, sales, marketing, media, education, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, HR, churches, architecture, construction, real estate, law, government, finance, etc.

I’ve placed a link to the free magazines in my navigation bar. As long as this is a useful resource to my readers, it will stay.

The privacy of my readers is of the utmost importance. You can read the complete NetLine TradePub.com privacy policy here, but rest assured that everything is opt-in, so you won’t receive mailings unless you choose to get them.

According to NetLine’s manager of partner development, “People are only denied subscriptions because they sign up to publications that are not relevant to their field; for instance a restaurant chef signing up to receive Oracle, they would most likely get denied. Each publisher is looking for targeted readers (this is how they are able to give the magazine subscription away for free); as far as percentages of people being rejected, it differs for each publication. A magazine like Website Magazine accepts everyone that has a website, where a magazine like The Deal may reject anyone not involved in finance so it really differs depending on the publications.”

Filed Under Advertising, Authors+Books, Blogging, Design, Educational, Management, Marketing, Media, Personal Finance, Public Relations, Random, Social Media, Strategies+Tactics, Technology, Video

Use The Vehicle Eco-Calculator To Determine The Most Ecological and Economical Car

July 10, 2008 | 3 Comments

Thinking of buying a car soon? How about a hybrid? My marketing team recently created an online tool for our executive leadership to use during the decision-making for future company fleet vehicle purchases. We labeled the tool a “vehicle eco-calculator” because it compares both the ecological and economical impact of two vehicles.

Hybrid vehicles with better fuel economy typically cost more than their gas-guzzling counterparts, which can make the decision to purchase one more difficult. This eco-calculator will calculate a specific breakeven point, or how many months it will take for you to recover the added cost of buying a hybrid. After that point, you’re putting money back in your pocket.

Realizing the value of this tool to everyone, we shared it companywide and now I’m sharing it with my readers. If you find it useful, feel free to pass it along.

The tool can be found at www.leopardo.com/vec. Simply enter a few variables about the two cars you’re considering and press calculate. The results will tell you the estimated annual gas cost and carbon dioxide emissions. More importantly, the analysis section will explain your annual fuel savings, unreleased emissions per year and the ROI payback period.

UPDATE: We’re on DIGG, so please stop by and digg it, post comments, etc.

On digg, I left a comment that I think, in part, is worth repeating here:

The Toyota Camry Hybrid costs, on average, about $4,000 more than the non-hybrid version. First costs may discourage many folks from purchasing a hybrid, but the Camry Hybrid will start returning a profit after 54 months (less than five years), according to the Vehicle Eco-Calculator (based on 20,000 miles per year driven and $4.21/gallon gas, which are both variables you can adjust in the calculator). When the 2008 Camry Hybrid is compared to the 2008 Ford Taurus, using price data from Edmunds.com and fuel economy data from fueleconomy.gov, the hybrid costs $2000 more but you’ll start putting money back in your pocket after 18 months with the hybrid.

As more and more alternative fuel vehicles are introduced - likely at higher sticker prices - this Vehicle Eco-Calculator will help compare them to gasoline vehicles and even other green cars. For instance, fuel cell cars can be compared to electric or hydrogen-powered cars, which can be compared to hybrids, etc., etc. - all to determine the most economical and ecological impact.

Filed Under Educational, Green, Links, Management, Personal Finance

New Todd And Feature for Authors and Their Books

March 23, 2008 | 1 Comment

UPDATE: Click here to access the new authors + books section.

Since launching this blog in July of 2006, dozens of authors and publishers have asked me to promote their books. While I am all about promoting a good book, I just don’t have the time to read that many books from cover to cover.

In an effort to support authors and give my readers a glimpse of new marketing and media books, I am launching an “authors + books” series. The series will feature guest-written posts by authors of new or recently-published marketing and media books. Starting today, authors wanting to participate in my promotional series can email me a short pitch.

The guest author submissions, preferably 300 to 700 words, can either be 1) an edited excerpt, so that it can stand alone, from the forthcoming or recently-published book, or 2) an original byline column not previously published anywhere else. When I say “not previously published,” I mean not verbatim. You can still use previously-published ideas, concepts and topics, but the content should be somewhat unique from any other previously-published version.

The only other requirement is that your book and post must relate to marketing, media or one of the other categories in the left sidebar of my blog. Not all author pitches will be accepted - they must fit appropriately with the theme and content of this blog.

If your pitch is approved, please submit your post with a short biographical byline (no more than three sentences) as well as front cover artwork and a head shot. Your guest posts will be archived in a new category on my blog called “authors+books.”

Lastly, I will ask that you send me a physical copy of your book, so that I can also read it when/if I have time and perhaps add some of my own commentary down the road (no guarantees). It will also become a part of my ever-growing library of marketing and media books that I keep at work for me and my colleagues to read and reference.

According to my server stats, my blog - toddand.com - currently gets 93,000 hits per month, of which almost half are unique visitors. My visitors include many of the world’s top marketing agencies, media companies, corporations and educational institutions.

Thanks for your interest in Todd And = Marketing + Media, and I look forward to your pitch.

Filed Under Advertising, Authors+Books, Blogging, Educational, Management, Marketing, Media, News, Personal Finance, Public Relations, Random, Social Media, Strategies+Tactics

Diversify Your Investments with Historic Newspapers

March 13, 2008 | 9 Comments

Between your 401K, IRA and those Apple shares you’re sitting on, you have most of your money in securities and equities. You’ve got a shrinking cash cushion and the value of your house is tanking. You may want to further diversify your portfolio.

Instead of scratch-and-win lottery tickets, why not consider collectibles? A collectible is an appreciating asset that is either rare or desired by many. Stamps, coins, fine art and sports cards are the most common collectibles, but the most appropriate collectible for marketing and media executives is historic newspapers. When framed, rare newspapers also make for unique and interesting wall art around the office.

Given the state of news media and the possible extinction of the printed newspaper, this collectible is the perfect relic for new and traditional media enthusiasts alike. Even better, unlike old baseball cards and coins, which have millions in circulation, historic newspapers are scarce. Back in the early 1700s, the earliest newspapers only printed a few hundred copies. As such, many of these early issues, when found today, are truly one-of-a-kind. The unbelievably rare newspapers go for thousands of dollars and more, but there are relatively few newspaper collectors in existence today so you can easily find museum-quality newspapers for a couple hundred dollars or less. That won’t last forever.

Previously, we discussed the most popular 20th century newspaper — Dewey Defeats Truman — so now let’s cover some of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The oldest continually published newspaper in the world began printing in Oxford, England on November 16, 1665 while King Charles II was avoiding the plague. It was called the Oxford Gazette (click image to enlarge) and many sources, including Britannica and newspaper historian Mark Mitchell (see video below), consider it to be the first English-language newspaper (it was the first to fit the definition of the term “newspaper”). After the 23rd issue of the Oxford Gazette, the King felt the plague was subsiding so he moved the paper back to London where it resumed as the London Gazette. While it originated as a weekly paper, the Gazette continues to be published each weekday in 2008 as an official record of British government. Any of the first 23 Oxford Gazette issues are worth more than $1,000 each - most reaching north of $5,000.

Across the pond, the first American newspapers began printing in the early 1700s. The Pennsylvania Gazette, started on December 24, 1728, was only the eighth newspaper printed in the colonies, and only the fourth outside of Boston.

Benjamin Franklin bought the Gazette in 1729 and gave the paper a brightness and liveliness unknown before to any colonial paper except his brother’s New England Courant, according to “American Journalism” by Frank Luther Mott. But the Gazette was a much better newspaper than the Courant - more well-rounded with “superior news handling, greater advertising and a handsomer appearance,” wrote Mott. “Franklin was more fully aware of the possibilities, limitations and responsibilities of colonial journalism than were most of his fellow editors,” Mott added.

For collectors, it is extremely rare to find pre-1750 issues of this Benjamin Franklin-printed newspaper. An issue in one of the finest conditions ever encountered is pictured at left (click to enlarge). I’ve been told there are auction records of pre-1750 Pennsylvania Gazettes to $11,000!

There are only a handful of newspaper historians and mega-collectors in the world. One is Mark Mitchell. His collection contains 20,000 original issues across five centuries and, according to his website, is one of the nation’s finest and most historically-complete private holdings. Here is a video of Mark sharing some of his private pieces:

Filed Under Educational, History, Media, Newspaper Collecting, Personal Finance, Video

Stop researching. I found the best 529 plan.

March 4, 2008 | 11 Comments

UPDATE: 529 plans have become increasingly competitive over the last few years and even more so, it seems, in the last few months. On April 16, 2008, Morningstar released its best and worst 529 list, which has seen a shake-up with many previously-horrible plans becoming excellent options now. The lesson here is do your research because 529s change like the wind.

As a new dad, I’ve been hunting for the best 529 college savings plan for my daughter. My research included dozens of personal finance websites and magazines, and I can safely say I’ve found the best option (as of today). To help any readers who happen to be looking for 529 plans, I figured I’d save you the search and share a brief summary of my findings.

The Utah Educational Savings Plan is No. 1 today. Hands down. Here’s why:

It has the lowest costs, with expenses of 0.38% or less.
Its investments are managed by Vanguard, my personal favorite fund manager.
Its low costs outweigh most in-state tax deduction benefits, according to my accountant. However, Kiplinger shares an anecdote with Chief Justice John Roberts where that isn’t the case.
It’s recommended by Morningstar.
Its age-based funds will automatically change the asset allocation to become more conservative as my daughter nears college age.
Its automatic withdrawals allow me to set it and forget it.
Its application was quick and simple - took me 10 minutes, tops.

By the way, this post helps kick start my personal finance category of posts (at left). Before blogging, my hobby was personal finance. I was very well read on the topic and could talk a mean game of equities and passive investment strategies. My interests have since transitioned to emerging media and babies, but I remain fascinated with personal finance and will continue to post on the subject from time to time.

Filed Under Personal Finance

Lunchtime House Fire Serves as a Reminder

March 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment

This is a photo I took with my cell phone on my way to lunch today. Coincidentally, my wife and I walked around our house last weekend filming our personal belongings for insurance coverage. If you haven’t done so already, let this image serve as your reminder to document your belongings. And store that documentation off site.

Filed Under Educational, Personal Finance, Random

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A Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis

10 American Financial Meltdowns in the Past Century

Rag Linen: The Place To Buy Rare and Historic Newspapers

Free Marketing + Media Magazines, White Papers

Use The Vehicle Eco-Calculator To Determine The Most Ecological and Economical Car

New Todd And Feature for Authors and Their Books

Diversify Your Investments with Historic Newspapers

Stop researching. I found the best 529 plan.

Lunchtime House Fire Serves as a Reminder

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