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October 7 – 13 is national fire prevention week and this year’s theme is “Practice Your Escape Plan.” While this is a great program to educate all of us on how to escape a fire in a home or business, there is a lot we can apply to the world of marketing too.

We’ve all experienced “fires” in our work. Something doesn’t go as planned or something is overlooked until the last minute and panic takes over. With careful planning many marketing fires can be avoided. And even those that do occur can have a less damaging impact.

Take time during this year’s fire prevention campaign to first make sure that you and your family and co-workers all have an escape plan for a real fire and practice it. Then take a look at your marketing outlook for the coming months and years. At Global Marketing Solutions, we would be happy to work with you to create your own marketing fire prevention plan.
 

The Weather Channel
Looks Very Sunny
The Weather Channel Interactive, Inc recently announced the acquisition of www.lakerentals.com & www.coastrentals.com, online vacation rental websites specializing in lake and coastal properties. This acquisition also included the purchase of seven other vacation-related internet domain names.

As one of the top online vacation rental websites on the internet, forGetaway.com offers more than 65,000 vacation rental listings across the globe. Each listing provides detailed information for vacation home renters including a description of the property, photographs, rates, features and amenities, nearby activities, availability calendar, unique rental policies and a local weather snapshot.

MySpace Selects
The Weather Channel
On October 2nd, The Weather Channel Interactive, Inc. announced that it had been selected by MySpace (www.myspace.com) as its weather provider. As a result of the agreement, MySpace has developed a weather section powered by weather.com, available through a link on its home page and on every user’s personal home page.

The MySpace weather section (weather.myspace.com) will feature current conditions and 5-day forecasts as well as national and regional maps, weather headlines and weather and climate related video content. Users will have the ability to select weather conditions for up to five locations so that they can easily track weather associated with their friends and family.
We’ve Launched
a New Website
Global Marketing Solutions
has a new web address.
Come by for a visit at www.GMStheBest.biz. We take great pride in the work that we do and we wanted
a web address that reflected our spirit.
Check out the Portfolio section for samples of our work and sign up for our Newsletter.

And with our new web address comes a new set of email addresses. Please add the following to your contacts:

April W. Boone April@GMStheBest.biz
John Boone John@GMStheBest.biz
Laura McGill Laura@GMStheBest.biz

Drop us a line to say “hey” and catch up on the latest marketing news.

New Kid in Town
Did you notice a new name on the list? Laura McGill has joined, or we should say rejoined, forces with April. Laura and April met several years ago through the tourism industry and then worked together for three years. Family obligations called Laura back to the foothills of Northeast Alabama and the two parted ways.

Even though miles apart, April and Laura remained good friends. Now after a little more than three years working apart, April and Laura are back in cahoots. Laura is still living in Northeast Alabama and the working relationship is mainly computer-based.

When asked about working with Laura again, April shared, “During our years together Laura and I were a powerful team. We share a lot of the same motivations. I’m thrilled to bring her on board at GMS.”
  You’re So Fine
To answer a trivia question that came up recently, it was Toni Basil that sang the 80s hit song “Mickey.” And for bonus points, Toni was head cheerleader at Las Vegas High School and wears her actual varsity uniform from those days in the "Mickey" video.

Alabama Governor’s Conference on Tourism
April and Laura recently attended this annual tourism conference which was held in Orange Beach. We enjoyed seeing many of our long-time tourism friends. That’s just what the tourism industry does – it creates friendships that stand the test of time.

During the conference the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel

unveiled the state’s new campaign: Sweet Home Alabama. The national media coverage that followed was truly impressive. We are looking forward to this new tourism theme and to the Year of Alabama Sports in 2008.

Congratulations to all of the winners at the ABTT Awards Banquet. We have so many talented, hard-working people in Alabama who make tourism so successful.

Speaking of tourism, we would like to send a special message of appreciation to Russell Nolen, of ABTT, who retired recently. You will always be the Hyphen King, old friend. No one will ever replace you in our hearts!