Absolut word-of mouth

Absolut launched its Cut brand minus one thing, the traditional ad.

"The only thing missing was the one element that has been present for the launch of a major spirits brands since marketing was invented. Last week, Absolut made marketing history when it launched without a cent being spent on traditional advertising."

link from Church of the Customer

TrendWatching

Trendwatching is a newsletter I receive and I find it really interesting.

"trendspotters scan the US, Canada, European Union, Japan, South Korea, India, South Africa, Australia, Brazil and 50 other nations & regions for hot, emerging consumer trends and related new business ideas."

Starbucks profits rise 27%

I'm a coffee lover. I brew coffee only in a French Press and always count to 10 before pouring the boiling water in the press reducing the bitter chemicals steeping from the coffee. I also sometimes roast green coffee in a popcorn air popper. Roasting coffee indoors is not recommend, too much smoke and chaff.

Since Starbuck announced that profits rose 27% I recalled a story that aired on the local evening news in Toronto. The reporter conducted a blind taste test with 4 different types of coffee. They were Starbucks, Second Cup, Tim Hortons and a no name coffee from a restaurant. Can you guess which people picked as the best tasting? If you live in Canada you might have a better chance of guessing. The winner was Tim Hortons. The real amusing part of this is when the reporter told people which they had picked some people cringed like the woman who was holding a cup of Starbucks in her hand. She was convinced that Starbucks tasted better.

I personally don't like the taste of Starbucks but like the brand. They use less quality beans which they roast longer and which gives you that burnt dark roasted taste. People taste the brand first then the actual coffee. I'm sticking to my French Press plus I always end up tossing the coffee I buy in coffee shops.

Artist formerly know as Music Videos

As more people spend time online listening to music and reading news, other forms of entertainment such as music videos are disappearing from programming. MuchMusic in Canada airs more reality TV programs and other music celebrity shows (Newlyweds) then music videos. Most music is now being downloaded and it makes sense that artists are adding web videos online. Canadian artist wildstrawberries has an online video Corridors. It costs less to produce and will be seen by more people than any music video, if they even got the chance to air it on television.

Krispy Kreme closes R.H. location

Richmond Hill no longer has a Krispy Kreme, the signs have been taken down and windows covered with paper. Where do I go now if I want some "glazed air"? I live near this location and remember when the line-ups started outside the door. It took me a few attempts until I could actually taste the donuts. Its no surprise that it closed.

The one thing that you can learn from Krispy Kreme is how to effectively use public relations to promote your business. They didn't use any other type of mass marketing.

McThink

This Globe and Mail article about the improvements McDonald's management has made can be summed up as follows:

You mean if you build restaurants in less than ideal locations people won't come and buy the same crap they aren't buying at other locations. Well we better stop building so many restaurants. Do you think it might be the food? Wait let me read a business book it might give us the answers since we are basically mindless droids. Wow the book says "listen to the customers and give them what they want." What are customers? Lets give them different salads choices, yogurts (the moms eat while kids eat crap) and grilled sandwiches like Quiznos. Hire a marketing genius to come up with the "forever young" marketing idea like Pepsi, sort of. Teenagers are now welcomed since they tell us you have money to spend. Boy that was hard, did anyone hurt their brain?

Pillars of Creation

Upgrade to Smoke Signal 5.01

Over at Airbag the idea of using smoke signals to communicate to the outside world about the selection of the new Pope might seem outdated but this comment makes a great point:

"You know, I hate to say it, but the Vatican has a good idea. Have a little fire, make a little smoke, and let everyone else spread the news."

Isn't that what we all really want to achieve with our marketing.

Right and Left

Tom Guarriello at The TrueTalk blog has a great post about left and right brain thinking, business and creative. It discusses Daniel Pinks ideas from his new book A Whole New Mind plus other ideas. One of the purposes of my blog is to get business people to better understand the value of design, the right brain. As Tom states:

"And, don't forget, the culture as a whole is still fiercely left-brain, objectivist. Remember, "art" is still suspect in most polite society."

The solution as he states is that the lefties and righties need to talk to one another and,

"Each of us needs to start developing our non-dominant hemisphere today"

Amen!

Google da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci's birthday

Wal-Mart No.1 furniture retailer

Lock the doors and don't let the kids out. You would think that the best thing for a furniture store selling quality products would be Wal-Mart. Growth for companies such as Ethan Allen are flat while others are closing their doors. Target and Wal-Mart are enticing people with prices. Wal-Mart is now the No. 1 furniture retailer in the US in terms of sales, according to industry publication Furniture Today. Where do you go when you eventually want something of quality? read the story

Trump's Design Apprentice

Every week I have been watching The Apprentice since season 2. Week after week the majority of assignments given to the team are "design projects". This week it was to design a brochure for the new Pontiac Solstice. Before that it was designing clothing for American Eagle, then there was an ad for Grand Turismo, then a commercial for Dove, new bottle design for Pepsi and many more. What design company are these people interviewing for, ideo?

Come on give them some tasks like a profit and loss statement, see who has the best pie chart for the month or have them measure something like Donald's hair. Have them do an analysis of why Trump's casino failed, even better have them file a retail link report for a company and make recommendations. Give them tasks they might actually be doing for Trump not fairy tale tasks. It wouldn't make for great tv.

All these projects are about managing but can you see how the roles of designers are further marginalized with a show of this nature. They think anyone can do these jobs and they aren't as important as the managing.

Bootstrapping

Are you deciding to launch a company. You have a great product and need venture capital to get you started. According to Greg Gianforte CEO, RightNow Technologies that isn't the case. His secret bootstrapping.

"How do you launch a successful high-tech business? If you ask the typical MBA, they'’ll give the same answer. Write a comprehensive in-depth business plan, take it to investors to secure a healthy initial round of funding, recruit the heaviest heavyweights you can, and start the PR machine cranking. But, of course, they’d be completely wrong." link

The best part of the article are the comments about MBAs. I always see jobs asking for people with MBAs but never asking for people who can add value to the company.

"The good thing about bootstrapping is that the company cannot afford expensive fluff and so we tend to have few MBAs and when we do hire them it is to do administrative tasks and we leave the real strategy to the entrepreneurial business people."

"I have my own view on MBAs as a PR person and it is this: if a client tells me they have a MBA, I know we're in trouble. I have never come across another qualification that provides so much misplaced self-belief."

The reason I like these comments have to do with my most recent experience. I started working for this company producing all their marketing material. After a month they hired someone who had almost completed an MBA and had this fancy job title in their previous position. They paraded this person in, took them to lunch, they were acting as if it were Christmas, there was excitement in the air. Meetings were being held involving this new person. They didn't take me out to lunch when I started. The owner of the company was speaking to me differently making me aware that the savior had arrived.

After I met this person I quickly came to a snap judgment, you know in a BLINK. I said to myself I don't think so. After a few months the air had settled and the tables had turned. This new person then began to tell me about what was happening. The owner of the company was asking why they were not selling. He wanted sales and new accounts. All I know was that they were thinking of firing this person. So obvious it was this person had already began going on job interviews.

On the other hand after seeing the response the company was receiving from work I had done they began to look at me and treat me differently. You see I was a someone with a design education amongst a group of people with business degrees.

Pissing Problem

Toilets are now rising from the ground in Aberdeen where city council is trying to solve the problem of men urinating in the street. Up to three men can use the facility at the same time. How comforting knowing that two other strangers are standing next to you in the middle of the night. What's wrong with a bucket outside your local pub or even better they could pass buckets around in the pub, come on people think!

Artichoke Pasta

Artichoke Pasta

12 oz pkg angel hair pasta
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 onion finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 container cherry or 3-4 ripe plum tomatoes
12-18 oz. jar artichoke hearts in olive oil
1/2 cup firmly packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Parmesan and Romano cheese

Boil water for cooking the angel hair. Saute mushrooms, garlic, onion in hot oil in a large skillet 4-6 minutes and no longer. Add wine and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally and boil 6-8 minutes or until mixture is reduced by half.

Stir in tomato, artichoke hearts and spices. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly heated. Toss with hot pasta. Add a generous amount of Parmesan and Romano cheese.

Italian Government SMS message

The Italian government sent out this SMS message for people coming to Rome to pay respect to the Pope.

Translation:
If you are going to Rome to pay hommage to the Pope, use public transport. Be ready for long but organized queues (very long). Hot by day, cold by night. To keep informed isoradio 13.3.

Link from Smart Mobs

Death and a Fine?

Pic from SKY TG24

Business 2.0: Bottom Line Design Awards

Business 2.0 has assembled a panel of nine creative leaders such as Hartmut Esslinger, founder Frog Design, Rob Forbes from Design Within Reach etc. to pick top product designs for the year.

Praying for the Pope

Visit the Catholic Insider for some updates plus it's a very interesting blog.

Blah Blah Blah

Read about it here

21 most influential things or people changing design

This list was compiled by ICON magazine. Its a list remember and meant to be disagreed with as they mention. Top six according to them:

1. IKEA
2. Rapid prototyping
3. Easyjet
4. Milan
5. Design Academy Eindhoven
6. Alice Rawsthorne

Blogs come in at number 9