Who says branding doesn’t reap big rewards? Broadcasting bigmouth Rush Limbaugh just signed a new $400 million contract: a $100 million signing bonus and $38 mil a year for eight years.

Ironically, because of his iconic personal brand, we already know everything he’s going to say!

Only the good die young? Another one bites the dust? How do you describe the unthinkable?

My mouth literally fell open at the news today that Tim Russert had died suddenly. It felt like a death in the family, although I never knew him except from his television appearances and books.

Tim was one of the good guys: passionate about politics, a master of his craft, a hard working, decent man who adored his family and never forgot his working class roots in his (and my) hometown of Buffalo, NY. In fact, Tim and I went to the same high school at the same time. I regret never getting to know him then. Now, I guess, I never will.

My thoughts are with you, Tim — and of course, with Big Russ, too.

Business can be a lot simpler than the consultants and MBAs claim. Craigslist, for example, just listens to its customers, then gives them what they want. No wonder they’ve been profitable since day one.

Wait, that can’t be all there is to it, can it? It must be more complicated than that. Nope, not according to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster. In a recent Marketplace interview, he said:

“Like a lot of stuff we do, we’ve found it to be very effective and basically fool-proof to just prioritize our activities according to what users are asking for.”

Ryssdal: Seems bizarre in this economy to be so democratic.

Buckmaster: Well, it certainly makes our lives simpler since we just have the one criterion to go on. We don’t have to sit in rooms trying to figure out how to conquer the world because basically we are not trying to achieve any particular market share or world dominance. We’re just trying to follow up on requests that we get from users.

Ryssdal: And yet you have enormous market share and very nearly world dominance.

Buckmaster: … what better way to operate is there than to just follow up on what your customers or users are asking for, and to just block out everything else.”

Via The Consumerist

Talk about mis-cast. Katie Couric was never right for the CBS Evening News. Miss Perky was a big success in the morning, on the Today show. But her brand was all wrong for an evening newscast. She was too soft for hard news.

[Aside: Dan Rather was all wrong, too, imho. Too edgy and twitchy for an anchor. But he was awesome getting in Nixon’s face at news conferences. A news anchor used to require an authoritative, avuncular presence. That’s why “Uncle” Walter Cronkite was so perfect in the ’60s and ’70s. Of course, those halcyon television days are long gone, with the Internet (and the Daily Show) now the primary news source for people like me. And the most important qualification for a news anchor today is blonde hair, long legs and short skirts. ]

But I digress.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m seeking revenge on Time Magazine for passing over me for their Top 25 blogs. So far I haven’t been able to sink my fangs into Time. But I HAVE nudged Katie Couric closer to the ledge, sparked a blow up at Howard Stern’s show, and gotten Michael Johns kicked off of America Idol.

Yeah, that was all me, folks. Heh heh.

Time — consider yourself warned.

How the heck did Time mag miss this one in their list of Top 25 blogs? (No, I didn’t forget a link — I’m talking about the blog you’re reading!)

I mean, really, what has the Huffington Post or Lifehacker got that I don’t got? Besides worthwhile content, I mean. Which is sooo overrated.

You honestly think TechCrunch and Boing Boing are better than my crummy rag? I suppose you also think Godiva dark chocolate tastes better than Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, too. God, there’s just no accounting for taste.

Obviously, there’s some hanky-panky going on. I mean, I was assured I had a lock on Time’s stupid list. I mean, hell –  they cashed the damn check.

Heads will roll for this. I guarantee it. Stay tuned.

Another brand shoots itself in the foot. Botox, the popular anti-wrinkle drug, and its competitor, Myobloc, have both been officially linked to dangerous botulism symptoms. In a few cases, the symptoms were so bad that children given the drugs for muscle spasms have died, according to the Food & Drug Administration.

This should not be a shocker. Don’t these wrinkle-challenged women (and men) realize that Botox stands for “botulism toxin?” Score one for truth in labeling, at least.

Don’t they realize they’re letting (in many cases, encouraging) their doctors to inject a deadly poison under their skin — all in the name of vanity?

Is it the doctors? Haven’t plastic surgeons been diligent enough in informing their patients about the risks?

Or is it those damnable TV ads for pharmaceuticals, the ones aimed directly at consumers. You know the type: “Ask your doctor whether this crap is right for you.”

This kind of advertising is outlawed in every country in the world — except two. (The other, I believe, is New Zealand.) And it ought to be outlawed here. Creating a demand for your product or service is one thing. Creating a demand for dangerous drugs is another. It seems to me it’s only a short hop from there… to the creep dealing smack or crack on the street corner. He’s creating a demand, too. “Psst. Hey, man — the first one’s free.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if your business had no competitors? Imagine — if customers wanted to buy what you were selling, they’d have to buy it from you. Or do without.

Think again. If your small business really had no competition, something would be very wrong. It could mean there’s simply no market for your product or service. Maybe others tried it and failed, or customers simply don’t want it. As old-time movie mogul Sam Goldwyn put it, “If people don’t want to go see your picture, nobody can stop them.”

Besides, people often grow to hate companies that don’t have competition. Look at Microsoft (especially in the past). Look at the growing grudge many people have against Google. (Not only for their past privacy intrusions but now — yikes! — their takeover of DoubleClick. If that doesn’t prompt you to start dumping your browser cache and deleting your cookies, I don’t know what will.)

Maybe the best example is cable television. You could hear the cheers all over New York after the stranglehold monopoly of cable systems within apartment buildings, condos and co-ops was struck down by the FCC.

Now if only those of us living in small cities had the same choices. For many of us, we have two options: one overpriced cable system — bloated with hundreds of channels we don’t even watch — or rabbit ears. Do I really have to pay $100+ a month to watch Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert a few times a month?

I wish I had a competing cable system to choose. I know that would drive down prices. Or maybe someone will finally introduce something all cable systems hate and fear: a la carte pricing. That is, you pay only for the channels you want. For most of us, that would probably be 10 or 20, not 200.

Actually, when it comes to television, this guy probably has the best idea.