Eddie: Say, was you ever bit by a dead bee?… I bet I been bit a hundred times that way. Slim: You have? Why don’t you bite them back? In the light of recent events, I can’t help but thinking that this exchange between Eddie, played by Walter Brennan, and Slim, played by Lauren Bacall, [...]
Archive for the ‘Value for Value’ Category
The Lego Epiphany
Posted: January 28, 2012 in Branding, Life et al, Value for ValueTags: can someone please explain, creativity, imagination, Lego
I’ve heard old timers talk about how when they were kids they didn’t have TV to deaden their imaginations. They had radio, and their minds needed to fill in the spaces between the words with a world of their own imagining. I could never really understand their objections. After all, I had TV, but I [...]
The Revolution In Education Part 2: Let them eat virtual cake
Posted: January 28, 2011 in Business, Education, Misleadership, Value for ValueTags: Academicearth.org, Bill Gates, education, Florida's Class Size Reduction Amendment, Kahn Academy, Miami Beach High, online learning, Revolution, virtual classroom
A financial crisis brought about by foreign wars and financial mismanagement and malfeasance. An administration, desperate to meet the demands of the people and stay solvent, forces through legislation that is opposed by many in the government and by the people. The first lady, when told that the people had no bread, replies, “Then let [...]
The four R’s: Reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmatic and Revolution!
Posted: January 20, 2011 in Business, Education, Misleadership, Value for ValueTags: Academically Adrift, college, education, Revolution
What does the start of a revolution look like from the inside? Revolutions don’t have a precise starting point. It is easy to say that the American Revolution officially began on July 4, 1776 with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But was that really the start of the revolution, or merely the official [...]
Looking for Mr. Right on my cell phone
Posted: October 29, 2010 in Business, Value for ValueTags: cell phone, Droid, Droid 2, mobile phone sound quality, Voyager
Don’t you hate it when people rant about the good old days? I know I do. “You young whippersnappers may not remember this, but in the good old days, Ma Bell ran the phones and you could hear a pin drop on the other end of the line. At least, that’s what the teleeevision commercials [...]
Tough love from Google and the US Post Office
Posted: December 3, 2009 in Business, direct marketing, Media, PR and News, Value for ValueTags: death of journalism, First Click Free, First Click Free policy changes, free content, free news, Google, USPS
Two seemingly unrelated news items about the US Post Office and Google caught my attention today. The first was an article in DM News that said that the US Post Office is intending to penalize mailers who don’t “meet US Postal Service standards for updating mailing lists, according to Jeff Platt, director of solutions marketing [...]
What if Land’s End were an insurance company?
Posted: July 22, 2009 in Branding, CRM, Misleadership, Value for ValueTags: AIG, Blue Cross, brand promises, Business, direct response, insurance, Land's End, recision, US Airways Flight #1549
“Guaranteed. Period.” (R) Land’s End built their direct response business — and helped the industry grow — with their “Money Back, No Questions Asked” guarantee. They engendered trust in an inherently risky proposition, that of buying products you couldn’t pick up and touch. And perhaps, because they needed to live up to that guarantee, they [...]
Dr. Bronner’s and Thorlo: A tale of two brands
Posted: June 18, 2009 in Branding, Business, Marketing, Value for ValueTags: Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, THOR-LO, Thorlos
Try this experiment. Go hiking on some back country trail one day and ask every backpacker you meet what soap they have in their backpack and what socks they have on their feet. You might be surprised how many of them say Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap and Thorlo socks. It wouldn’t surprise me, though. That’s [...]
