2010: The Year of Saying, "I Got It" UPDATE! Read the response by a Named Party to this post
Updated Fri Feb 3, 2012
Work/Life: Will the real Turbotax please stand up?
April 9: See UPDATE at the end of this article.
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Updated Wed Aug 17, 2011
New York, New York: If can make it there, I'll not make it elsewhere Update 8 Aug 2009: The decline of New York's garment district courtesy of the New York Times
Updated Sun Jul 17, 2011
Work/Life: Banksy and Hilton: Getting it right by being very wrong HMV 2003: Banksy. Wicked boy. [youtube Fzr__uSBBQE]
Paris Hilton stopped me and hundreds of others in our tracks in NYC. More about this vid. I've just been to the Banksy exhibition in NY.
Updated Thu Feb 24, 2011
Coffee Break Survey: Executive Toys 2010
VIDEO: Gal at ComicCon, the place where toy lovers collide
Updated Wed Jan 19, 2011
Holsteins, Heroes and Heart: A Good Host Is Hard to Find This week I embarked on what should be a simple task: finding a new web host. Like researching a new waterproof breathable jacket or non-stick omelette pan or taser to match your iPod nano, you trawl the Web, read the reviews, wonder which are bogus, glaze over at the offerings, wonder if you should be using Joomla or Wordpress, and if you need SSL and what is SSL anyway...
Updated Fri Dec 17, 2010
Feldenkrais: The slow road to success in the fast lane I just attended an introductory workshop on the Feldenkrais Method. The movements are slow. Very slow. In a typical "lesson", you move a limb just the tiniest amount, maybe an inch or less, then move it back. Then compare how your body feels before and after.It's customary to lie on a bit of thin padding, because we tend to flinch and stiffen up when we get down on a hard floor.
Updated Wed Dec 8, 2010
Asian American Advertising: It's Not All About Me Over cold spicy eggplant and tofu noodles at Hunan, a typically cacophonous downtown Chinese eatery, Sunny explained how Asian advertising is less about the individual, more about the collective.
Fri Sep 17, 2010
Advertising 101: The "Do I Give a ****" Test "Hey, seen that latest GM ad ... ?"
I'm standing in the train with weekend warriors, and the conversation is about ads. Usually seated, suited and sullen during their daily commute, today they're hanging off the pole in biking gear, yammering about the 30 seconds they pressed MUTE on last night.
"I know they turned themselves around, but the ad's enough to make me throw up," says Fred.
Wed Jul 7, 2010
Win, Win, Win, Win, Win - We'll Get Ourselves Out Of This Mess Yet My customer evangelist radar can always detect a not-waving-drowning plea for help between syllables. The unglamorous fact of fundraising life -- unless you're Lance, Haiti+CNN, or Obama on his home run -- is actually raising the funds.
Mon Jun 21, 2010
The 24/7 Customer Evangelist: A decade from across the dining room table [youtube XzukIdQHTys]The final sermon: a non-sectarian evangelist puts people before the product, stories before the sell ... together, we might just make it to heaven.
Tue May 18, 2010
Packaging Design 101: Follow through ... with decent glue. I'm on a technicality tear.My last mission was getting people to close conversations by saying "I got it".Now I'm sniffing - or rather, picking, at glue.I set out to buy a new toaster. I was hoping to make toast and get on with my life.
Wed Feb 24, 2010
Be social and the networking will follow. Oxymoron of the week: 'Let's incorporate social networking". Just look at that sentence!
Posted Fri Nov 20, 2009
Megabank Miscalculations: Still treating people like numbers after all these years Last week in my post about coupon clippers I posted a photo of a sign I came across in Georgia. Once more with feeling:
Posted Tue Jul 14, 2009
Coupon clippers: care and feeding guide A trendspotting firm recently asked me if I had any insights to share regarding customer service in a recession. No need for my second hand opinion - just stand in line anywhere in the city and you'll witness some elementary customer service blunders - in a time when companies can ill afford them.
Posted Tue Jul 7, 2009
DotComplacency: Step away from that mouse and just talk to me
EVERYONE's feeling the recessionary pinch, but online businesses – particularly those selling ephemeral and risk-based products like say, travel insurance, have a distinct advantage.
No glassy storefront, no packaged inventory piled high somewhere in the boonies, no expensive print or TV advertising. Just a website that tells you to click around 'til your eyeballs dry up, and then "add to cart."
There's often a number you can call, but they'd rather you didn't, because that involves getting a human talking – talk isn't cheap anymore.
Posted Sat Apr 25, 2009
The Longest Line in NYC: Women for Hire Job Fair
We interrupt this program for a report from the cold, hard pavement outside your window.
WATCH MOVIE if you can bear to ...
Posted Thu Feb 26, 2009
The Recession Ripple Effect: A little pay cut goes a long way
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
If ever there was a time to seriously ask yourself that question, cobwebby nostalgia aside, it's now.
Posted Tue Feb 17, 2009
When good news is good news: A Hudson River plane crash in a recession It's been almost a month since newly wikified Chesley B. Sullenberger III (one of the guys in the attached photo, don't mind which) executed a perfect duck dive. And unless cross-haired by a man in a tweedy peaked cap, ducks always end up bobbing right side up ...
Posted Wed Feb 11, 2009
