The recession certainly hasn’t affected the sexual-accessories business and in fact it may have helped.

Data show that such things as his-and-hers lubricants and mass-market sexual-enhancement devices are producing fireworks in supermarket and drug-store aisles.

First-quarter sales of personal lubricants soared 32% to $41.2 million, according to Information Resources Inc., led almost entirely by continued strength from last year’s launch of Johnson & Johnson’s K-Y Yours & Mine his-and-hers lubricants.

Carumba, what is going on?

That jump was even before ads launched last month behind K-Y Intense, the first major mass-market female-arousal gel, a product which has gotten major end-aisle displays in such surprising places as Walmart!

Yes Walmart, they banned the new Green Day album but made space to sell arousal gel!

Meanwhile, the small but suddenly booming “sexual-enhancement devices” category in food, drug and mass-market stores is growing even faster, albeit off a very small base, up 74% to $10.1 million for the full year ended April 19, according to IRI, with Church & Dwight’s Trojan and Durex products leading the way.

“When the economy goes down, sex goes up,” said a Johnson and Johnson spokesman by way of explanation, but he and the brand team declined to elaborate on why their products seem to be booming when the economy isn’t.

32GB and 16GB storage (up from the current 16GB and 8GB models)

3.2-megapixel camera (up from the current 2-megapixel camera)

Video-recording and editing capabilities

Ability to send a picture & video via MMS

Discontinuation of the metal band surrounding the edge of the device

OLED screen

1.5 times the battery life of the current models

Double the RAM and processing power

Built-in FM transmitter

Apple logo on back will glow

Rubber-tread backing

Sleeker design

Built-in compass

The camera, GPS, compass and Google map combined will identify photo and inform about photo locations

Turn-by-turn directions

Now I will have to trade in the one I have!

We may be in a recession, but this year’s batch of interns at the creative advertising agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky will be getting fatter paychecks.

Not that the agency itself will be funding the pay increases for the 40 young talents who will slog away in its Miami and Boulder, Colo., offices on accounts such as “Guitar Hero” and Burger King. Rather, Crispin has launched an eBay auction for their services.

On-again, off-again Twitterer and top Crispin creative Alex Bogusky announced the auction this week via a tweet. The bidding began at $1 and as of this post had already climbed to $1,225, with eight days and 22 hours remaining. (That’s more than $30 for each intern.)

Bogusky
“The interns only make minimum wage, so we thought this would be a great way to augment that,” Mr. Bogusky said in an e-mail. “They’re excited about that.”

The winning bidder will receive a “creative presentation” developed by Crispin’s interns in a three-month period, consisting of strategies, recommended brand positioning and concepts. What the bidder won’t get is production services or any finished advertising materials. Travel and any other out-of-pocket expenses for the interns aren’t included either.

It seems a bit counterintuitive to farm out your own talent, but Mr. Bogusky said he doesn’t really see it that way. Each year, the interns work for Crispin clients, but a portion of their time is carved out to work on special assignments that are typically pro bono. Now they’ll just work on this instead. “It would be great if the high bidder is a cause-related thing,” Mr. Bogusky said.

Who isn’t welcome? The likes of Pizza Hut and Philip Morris. The fine print on the online auction page states that Crispin, which works for Domino’s, “reserves the right to decline services in the event of a conflict with any of our existing clients or for any other reason (like if you sell cigarettes) in our sole discretion.”

I was there for the eruption and it was amazing. I will never forget the power of the blast and the destruction.

St. Helens today.

Since the 1950s, Topps has sold baseball trading cards filled with photos and stats, bringing the game to life. Now the company is bringing its cards to life.Consumers will be able to activate baseball cards with an Augmented Reality feature at the Toppstown Web site.

Beginning this year, collectors who hold a special Topps 3D Live baseball card in front of a webcam will see a three-dimensional avatar of the player on the computer screen. Rotate the card, and the figure rotates in full perspective. It’s called “augmented reality,” a combination of a real image with a virtual one.

“This is the ‘Beam me up, Scotty’ version of a baseball card that will get kids to buy more. We see this baseball season as a redefining moment for us,” said Steve Grimes, chief digital officer at Topps.

Topps needs to augment reality because baseball cards are struggling in the Internet age. Today’s collectors, most of whom are still boys, can just as easily and less expensively find the sports facts they want online.

While once a $1 billion business, the market for sports trading cards has shrunk to $200 million in yearly revenue today, according to information provided by Major League Baseball Properties in a recent lawsuit against a former card licensee. (The players’ association licenses the right to use players’ likenesses.)

The baseball card business is dominated by Topps, based in New York, and Upper Deck, based in Carlsbad, Calif. According to Chris Olds, editor of Beckett Baseball, a card collectors’ publication, Topps has the edge. “When people think baseball cards, they think of Topps,” he said.

Michael Eisner, the former chief of Walt Disney, did too, and in 2007 his Tornante Company and Madison Dearborn Partners bought Topps for $385 million. They hatched big plans to make trading cards relevant again.

Total Immersion, a French company, brought Topps the augmented reality technology. It has already been used in a theme park and for some auto design work. Using the technology, card collectors see a three-dimensional version of a player and can play elementary pitching, batting and catching games using the computer keyboard.

Mr. Eisner said Topps expected to ship 10 million packs of Series 1 (12 cards for $2) and Topps Attax cards this year (5 for $1). Scott Kelnhofer, editor of Card Trade, an industry publication, says the Total Immersion technology could strike a chord with boys. “This is the boldest technology idea we’ve seen in sports cards so far. The key is not to have it be a novelty and then it’s on to the next one.”

Mr. Eisner says he does not see Topps as a trading card business. “I see it as a cultural, iconic institution not that different from Disney; it conjures up an emotional response that has a feel good, Proustian kind of uplift,” he said.

Mr. Eisner has also created Back on Topps, a 17-episode Internet comedy that spoofs his acquisition of the company. He is developing a movie based on another of the company’s products, Bazooka Joe bubble gum. He also wants to create sports films.

Topps and Upper Deck already drive collectors to the Web by inserting special cards with unique codes in the packs. Entering the codes at Toppstown.com or UpperDeckU.com allows fans to create avatars, trade virtual cards and enter virtual worlds and interact with other visitors.

On deck: virtual cards that “come alive and contain video,” said Louise Curcio, vice president for marketing at Upper Deck.

For Mr. Eisner, the Topps 3D Live cards are a natural extension of the brand. “We take technology as our friend,” he said. “The playing card is the beginning, not the end.”

At 38-years-old, DiFranco is something of a modern musical marvel. She has released 22 albums in 18 years, toured continuously over the same time and sold over 4 million albums. And she did it all without ever signing to a record label. How is that possible?

How can an artist gain a devoted following in today’s music industry without Top 40 radio cuts of her singles and music videos on MTV? The answer: by changing the rules.

That is just what Ani DiFranco did. In 1989 at the age of 18, DiFranco founded Righteous Records, renamed Righteous Babe Records in 1994. When it started out, the Buffalo, NY based Righteous Records was nothing more than DiFranco herself, as she admitted, “In the beginning, it was more of a joke than a real business…You know, ‘Yeah, uh-huh, I got a record company. You’re looking at it!”

Righteous Records was nothing more than DiFranco herself. In 1993, she partnered with Scot Fisher to expand the label and make it into a more successful business venture that could reach more people. One problem: neither of them had a lick of business experience or a desire to make money. Not usually a recipe for success.

But DiFranco’s sole goal was to find a way to produce her music that didn’t feed the corporate pig she rails against in her songs.

She created her own label so that she could make music and market herself while still being able to sleep at night. Sure, she wouldn’t make millions of dollars every year, but if DiFranco could expand Righteous Babe Records enough to sell albums and book a lot of gigs, she would be a happy folksinger.

In selling her music and herself, DiFranco’s goal wasn’t to rake in the profits; it was to say what she wanted to say – controversial or not. For instance, in April of 2002 she debuted a poem called “Self Evident” at a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The poem rails against the United States’ arrogance and George W. Bush, even going as far as to say he “stole the oval office and that phony election.” Keep in mind this was in the aftermath of 9/11 when most Americans were feeling patriotic.

Artists like the Dixie Chicks were chastised by their own fans for saying anything negative about the president for years after 9/11. But not Ani. Her record sales only went up, and fans only became more loyal.

And though her goal wasn’t to be financially successful, Righteous Babe Records now boasts a dozen artists (as well as Ani herself) and grosses some pretty impressive profits for an independent record label.

Righteous Babe Records makes about $5 million a year – $1 million of that in profit. Plus, because DiFranco owns Righteous Babe Records and can make her own rules, she gets $4.25 of the profit on her record sales as opposed to the standard $1.00-2.00 pocketed by artists signed to big name labels.

So, how exactly did DiFranco gain a loyal fan base while still becoming a financially successful artist?

Ani DiFranco: The Brand

Go to Righteous Babe Records’ website and you will find a merchandise section complete with t-shirts, coffee mugs, and key chains. Smells a little like shameless self-promotion and selling out, right? Well, take another whiff. “DiFranco’s merchandise sales go back to the community.”

Keep surfing through Righteous Babe’s website, and you will find a section called “Action” in which DiFranco uses her financial fortune and star power to mobilize fans to change the world in small ways. So, she sells merchandise featuring her name, making herself into a brand, but she also gives back her time and profits to the community.

In a way, DiFranco’s entire career mimics this balance, and that is where the key to her success lies. In DiFranco’s own words, “The older I grow, the more I understand peace and stability as a product of balance.”

She tours and puts out albums like any other artist, but she balances it with political activism and a mom and pop record label. For example, when fans write to Righteous Babe Records, they get a hand-written response, and if they call they speak to someone in Righteous Babe’s Buffalo headquarters, not in India. Those small personal touches make DiFranco relatable and keep her fans (like myself) extremely loyal. DiFranco was revolutionary for her time.

Independent Labels: The Future of the Music Industry?

While DiFranco’s business venture was revolutionary for its time, the music industry might take a few hints from DiFranco’s way of thinking. Or so says Seth Godin, a big time marketer and author of numerous bestsellers like Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.

According to Godin, “do it yourself” artists stand out in today’s industry because of their grassroots efforts. “You have to make it easy for people to speak up,” Godin said in an interview with Rollo and Grady. “You have to make it easy for people to find each other, to talk about it. You have to create a culture for your tribe.”

DiFranco does just that in the “Mobilize” section of her website. Here, fans can sign up to be part of DiFranco’s Street Team program, “a small army of volunteers in major markets with a long-term commitment to promoting the music of [Righteous Babe Records] artists.” In essence, any Ani DiFranco fan can become an integral part of marketing DiFranco and other Righteous Babe Records artists.

What does this do for DiFranco? It keeps her fans feeling connected and invested in her success while gaining her valuable and free exposure.

Oprah Winfrey is regarded as the most influential woman on U.S. television, driving popular opinion in areas such as books, pop culture and even politics through her support for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. KFC’s latest promotion is proof positive!

Some claim it was her support that catapulted Obama into the Whitehouse.

The Oprah Winfrey-fueled free chicken give-away that caused pandemonium this week at Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants has been canceled due to what the fast-food chain called an “overwhelming response.”

I went of course and got a “rain check.”

Roger Eaton, president of KFC in the United States said restaurants would no longer accept the free coupons for its new grilled chicken meal after Oprah’s chat show promotion caused long lines around the nation.

“The lines of customers wanting to redeem their coupons have been out the door and around the block, so we’re unable to redeem customer coupons at this time.” Eaton said in a statement issued late Thursday.

KFC said millions of Americans had downloaded free coupons after the offer was featured on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and Web site on Tuesday, driving traffic to levels unseen in the brand’s 50-year history.

Eaton apologized to customers for the cancellation of the scheme and said those who already had a coupon could get a rain check form to enable them to use it at a later date.

Recently, Apple proudly strutted its feathers, pointing at the one billion iPhone free and paid apps users have installed on their little bundles of electronic joy. Now, the folks at LSVP have done the math and calculated how much revenue, approximately, that billion generated.

Short version: not that much.

Long version: Anywhere between $20 and $45 million; when you count in LSVP’s approximation that the ratio of free to paid apps, is somewhere between 1:15 and 1:40, and O’Reilly’s estimate that the mean price for paid apps is $2.65. Multiply these numbers and you get revenue of $70-$160 million; Apple’s 30%, which is how much they get from each sold application puts their chunk of the cake at $20-45 million.

Not bad considering there are only 5 million iPhones in the market. I had better start building an app!