“To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious.”
—Samuel Butler

According to Reuters, Google commands 47.4 percent of the U.S. Web search market while Yahoo! claims 28.5 percent.

Next month, Yahoo! will be launching Panama, a new “search marketing ranking model.” Here’s a press release about it.

Shares of Yahoo! rose seven percent yesterday on the news, but Panama is about attracting new advertisers and squeezing more dollars out of existing advertisers, not expanding Yahoo!’s overall share of the still-growing search universe — which, according to that Reuters link above, has grown 30 percent since December 2005.

Takeaway for marketers: Will Panama be a good thing? Test it. Is it delivering you the ROI you want? Then it’s a good thing.

AdAge reports that Miller is pulling the plug on the Man Laws campaign. I thought the spots were great, and the supporting Web site is one of the best I’ve seen, but all totaled it was evidently not the impetus for greater beer sales that everyone at Miller had hoped.

You’re engaged in affiliate marketing or word of mouth marketing, either as a company on the strategic level or an individual on the tactical level.

Are you breaking the law? Maybe. This blogpost from copyblogger.com will help you figure it out.

The first four episodes of 24 were released on DVD virtually simultaneously with their airing. Also on the DVD: the first 12 minutes of tonight’s episode five, which (of course) have been posted to YouTube. Here’s part one and here’s part two.

It would be pretty buzzworthy (and, in my mind, a very smart marketing move) if the producers of 24 posted the first 12 minutes of each new episode online shortly after the previous episode finished airing — for the entire season. Not that 24 needs any more hype or promotion, but it would probably further solidify the existing loyalty so many have for this amazing show.

Takeaway for marketers: One of the fundamental rules of showbiz: leave ’em wanting more. Teasers like this do exactly that. Are you leaving ’em wanting more in your own business?