HOW TO TELL WHEN A MARKETING CAMPAIGN IS WORKING

In the midst of watching what turned out to be a surprising Dallas Cowboys win over the San Diego Chargers yesterday (an outcome that pleased me only slightly more than the Texas Longhorns win over Ohio State Saturday night), a commercial for the new iPod nano came on. My son, all of five years old, was in the room and the ad got his attention in a way that the football game hadn't. It was very simple--just some music playing, some narration, and a hand twirling the nano around to show how tiny it is.

Little JYB: That's cool!

Me: Do you know what that is?

Little JYB: No.

Me: Do you have any idea what it's for?

Little JYB: No. But it's cool!

And an Apple cult member may have been born.