Guru’s Take:  On average, my Mom-marketing partner, Kat Gordon of Maternal Instinct, and I hear about 5 new Mom sites a day. Some are built by pros; some are one-woman’s-passion, some are the offspring of women’s groups like Ladies Who Launch; some are non-profit or eco-Moms; some are online stores with Mom-centric products. Many are bootstrapping, searching for sponsors or Angel funding or trying to limp along on Google Adwords. Everyone is scrambling for alliances, partnerships and buzz. 

Despite the wellspring of Moms online, we can’t help but wonder how many of these sites will survive.  Lately, we’ve had so many come to us for our BrainFeed Brand Stategy Sessions that we’ve been too busy for even some very promising properties.   Obviously, we’re all for the trend toward Mom Power and MOM WOM, but in the absence of a compelling brand personality, niche, and strategy, even the highly connected, heavily funded sites are not necessarily shoe-ins.  And it only gets trickier as more major media players enter the fray.

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Next Up At Baby Pilates Class: Zuma Nesta Rock, Gwen Stefani’s Latest Production.

Gwen Stefani on Thursday gave birth to a boy, Zuma Nesta Rock.

Undoubtedly he will attend Baby Pilates classes with:

Apple and Moses, children of Gwyneth and Chris

Kal-El Coppola, son of Nicolas Cage and Alice Kim

Reignbeau, daughter of Ving Rhames

Audio Science, son of actress Shannyn Sossamon and Dallas Clayton

Alabama Luella, daughter of reality TV stars Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler

Pilot Inspektor , son of actor Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf

Denim and Diezel, sons of Tony Braxton

Banjo, son of actress Rachel Griffiths and Andrew Taylor.

Moxie CrimeFighter, daughter of Penn Jillette

Puma and Seven Sirius, children of Erykah Badu

Maybe their instructor could be Diva Muffin, daughter of Frank and Gail Zappa.

Check out this list of Celebrity Baby Names.

Note:  While the Guru, long semi-notorious as a Name Dame, Name Gnome or even the pompous — Name Generator — agrees that names should instantly telegraph a strong positive feeling and even a smile,  she also believes names should not trigger problems in the proverbial sandbox. (Even the corporate sandbox. Wakoopa anyone?)  Of course, these offspring will likely travel with pricey bench-pressing bodyguards to ward off playground bullies.  Civilians should stick with Ava and Abigail (2007 most popular girl names) or Aiden and Braden (2007 most popular boy names). They’re also more apt to fit neatly into all those teeny-tiny squares on the SAT registration forms.

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Casting Call from MTV: C,mon. You Must Know Someone Who Is MissBehaving.

Casting Call: MTV is casting for a new reality series MissBehaving (wt) from the producers of The Apprentice and Wife Swap, and is looking for bold, out-spoken, party-hearty girls who want to be transformed into proper ladies. If you fit this description and are interested in making a change, send an email to Twinsworld1@aol.com. Include name, age, contact telephone numbers, where you live, a photo and a description of yourself and details about your party habits and why you should appear on the show. Applicants must be 21 years or older. Candidates may also be nominated. (Thank you, Cynopsis!)

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Better Than Bossy? Ali Lohan’s Hip-Hop-Hot Single “All The Way Around” Launches.

Passionate fans of Living Lohan got a glimpse of the Linday’s little sister’s song being recorded but they have to wait till July 14th to find it on iTunes. Check it out on People.com’s First Listen.

The big juicy question seems to be: Which is better? Lindsay’s Bossy, which was released in May, or Ali’s Rihanna-style All The Way Around ?

Ali’s sure to be summer hit was recorded at the Maloof Music recording studio at celeb-favorite The Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. It was produced by Emanuel “Eman” Kiriakou, who’s worked with Nick Lachey and Jordin Sparks. ‘Nuff said.

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WALL-E Packs A Real Wallop for Grown-Ups.

Like a gazillion other Americans trying to beat the heat this weekend (and in our case, the smoke from the Big Sur wildfires), I had to go see the latest Pixar mechanical-marvel, WALL-E. The critically praised film is now a box office wonder as well, with domestic grosses of $103,876,000 a mere 8 days after release.

I knew I would fall madly in love with the 2008 version of E.T. and R2D2, all digi-designed into one heart-rending creature who babbled adorably electronic coos, blips and bleeps. I also knew I would love the sweetly weird love story between the cutely-clunky WALL-E and ever-so-estro-oval EVE.

But what I didn’t expect was the absolute wallop of its powerful environmental message, delivered by a chilling look at what passes for humankind 800 years in the future. Not only did I want to sprint out of the theater and head for the closest treadmill but I also wanted to crush any cup in the vicinity.

And then there were my feet. I wanted to rush out and buy new shoes, simply to reassure myself that I still wear them.

I am fantasizing a dream triple bill at my local theater:

WALL-E
An Inconvenient Truth

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Source: Favre Has “An Itch To Play Again”

ESPN is reporting that Brett Favre may want to come out of retirement and report to training camp. The legendary quarterback hinted at this possibility while on Letterman last spring. While this Cheesehead is also a Golden Bear, which means Aaron Rogers is okay by me… there’s no one like #4.

 

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The 38th Annual Pride Parade: Here Come The Brides –And Grooms.

 
They were everywhere. On giant wedding cake floats. Handing out ‘just married’ Hershey’s kisses. Waving signs and banners. Passing out stickers. San Francisco’s 38th Annual Gay Pride Festival and Parade was one ginormous wedding party — one that (thankfully) also happens to be big business for the city that deserves a boost after all its done to make these marriages a reality.

Tourism officials predicted huge crowds for the weekend — and they got them. Many hotels were sold out, including the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero where we stayed. My daughter and I came to march with my dear childhood friend — the soon-to-be California State Senator, Mark Leno, who is the author of the marriage equality bills approved by the Assembly and Senate in 2005 and 2007. Mark is one of those guys you just know is going to grow up and do something amazingly important– and he has.

SFGate reports that “with 259 marriage license appointments and 284 reservations for wedding ceremonies scheduled at the San Francisco county clerk’s office, Friday was on pace to be the city’s busiest day for weddings since gay marriage became legal earlier this month. There were 202 license appointments and 115 weddings performed on June 17, the first full day that gay and lesbian couples could get married in California.”

The wedding pavilion across from City Hall was swarming with brides, grooms and revelers when we were there. Nearby booths for hotels and resorts were handing out brochures and hawking special honeymoon deals for the newly married.

A recent UCLA study reinforces the good news, projecting the possible economic impact over the next three years :

• Total outlay for same-sex weddings by California residents and nonresidents:    $692 million
• Spending by California couples on their weddings. Assumes 51,319 couples (half of existing committed same-sex couples) will choose to marry, and estimates they will spend $7,645 per wedding:  $392 million
• Spending on weddings and tourism by 67,513 out-of-state couples. Assumes each couple spends an average of $2,962 on the wedding and $1,351 on hotel and food: $291 million
• License fees for 118,832 couples, assuming an average of $73.50 for fees: $9 million.

Beyond warming San Francisco’s coffers, today’s joyful parade warmed half a million hearts. The pictures below say it all.
>
Pictures courtesy of Katie Carroll.

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Your 15 Minutes of UGC Fame & Fortune Start Here.

While researching my article on Rickrolling, I came across a bunch of User Generated Content Contests that sound like fun. There’s something for everyone — from Creative Consumers to Brainiacs. Increasingly tuned-in marketers are playing it smart with these promotions, following the Three Rules of UGC Contest Development:

1. Tap into consumers’ passions
2. Use multiple social channels to reach consumers
3. Know your audience — pick prizes & content format accordingly

Some of these chances at fame and fortune end soon.  So hurry.

Casting Call: Lifetime Networks invites female filmmakers to submit their original short films. Deadline for entries is July 8. The winning contestant will have their short shown on Lifetime Movie Networks and receive a cash prize of $5,000 plus the opportunity to attend networking events and festivals.

TechwareLabs Case Mod Contest with over $600 in prizes!!!Quote: Are you a mad modder at heart? Have you taken the toaster over and crammed a quad core CPU, dual video cards, and four hard drives into it? Have you altered your washer to look like something that qualifies as a WMD and outfit it with a PC? If so we want to see your mod, big or small. Submit everything you have modified and we will incorporate it into a video to be hosted on our site. The winning case mod will receive over $600 in prizes and have their creation appear in the video and also be interviewed by us and be featured on our front page. Get your dremel and bondo out and let the mods begin.

Shoot, Share, Get On TV. Ziddio feels like a mash up of YouTube and Bix.com, allowing users to enter competitions and win prizes - including appearances on TV. People create videos and upload them to Ziddio.com for the world to see, laugh, question, mock, and even enjoy. Run by Comcast; frequent contests.

Do You Think You Have What It Takes To Be A Super Star?
Simon Malls is inviting you to come and check out the Simon dTOUR Live Video and Recording Studio! At select malls across the country you will have the chance of a lifetime to show us what you’ve got.

BrainReactions is an online brainstorming site. Most of the time, BStormers do it out of the kindness of their hearts and a persistent need to do something, anything with their random neuro-eurekas. But for the first time since I’ve been seeding the site with my genius, (mad) money will change hands. Check out the Monjee contest.

Someday Stories From Wells Fargo
Everybody’s got a dream for Someday. What’s yours? This is a contest that’s all about you and what you want for your “Someday.” Today, just tell us the true and aspiring story about your Someday dream and your winnings could help make it real.

Calling All Filmmakers!

Power up with this potion and get out your camera. Create a :30 (30 second) commercial featuring CUBA’s new ‘All Natural’ ‘Herbal Energy Juice’.

TruTv + Black Gold Teams Up To Go Social.
My old white water rafting buddy, Thom Beers, strikes it rich again with the premiere of Black Gold. In conjunction with this sure-to-be-another-hit, TruTV launched the Black Gold Challenge casual game on Facebook, MySpace and Bebo to promote the premiere of the new series about West Texas oil roughnecks, debuting Wednesday, June 18 at 10p. Players tap their friends to form a drilling crew then pick a spot in Texas to begin drilling for hidden caches of “black gold.” One hidden hole contains a voucher for $50,000.

What Would You Do For A Klondike Bar?
You know the drill.

CREATE ENTER JUDGE
Yahoo’s contest site, Bix, offers a variety of contests including a Spore Creature contest with a MacAir and 50-inch plasma TV as prizes. I’m thinking I might have a better shot with the Spore contest than with my karoake version of ‘Never Gonna Give You Up.’

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