The “New” G.M. Sounds Dangerously Like the Old, Dead Saturn

Adam Hanft — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:20:04 -0400

“The General Motors Corporation today displayed the prototype of a small car intended to someday match similar Japanese cars in cost and match or exceed them in quality.”

So wrote The New York Times on November 4th, 1983. And yesterday, with the withdrawal of Penske as a potential purchaser of Saturn, the “someday” of that distant, gauzy announcement has turned out to be never.

Starbucks Flees From its Brand, Yet Again

Adam Hanft — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:44:28 -0400

Hey you - a 60% owner of General Motors. Are you worried about the innovative dynamism of the post-bankruptcy, government-owned GM? Are you anxious about whether they are truly committed to excellence? Have no fear, kick-back and have a Margarita.

Because this week, the company proudly announced via a press release that they are launching an online suggestion box called

Opinion Exhaustion: Skittles, President Obama, and the Assault of Everyone

Adam Hanft — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:54:16 -0400

Something new is happening on Skittles.com. The company isn't putting its real estate to work as a marketing platform--singing the vast and socially beneficial aspects of Skittles.

Instead, they have turned their homepage over to their Twitter feed. On some days, Skittles turns their homepage over to their Wikipedia entry, and to their Facebook page.

That means that they're willing to live with anything that anybody might have to say about Skittles--laudatory, or lambasting them as evil purveyors of chemical sugar drops.

Why it Took an Entrepreneur to Make America Flip Over the Flip (And Why it Would have Flopped Inside any Big Company)

Adam Hanft — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:03:28 -0400