Remember the guy from Arizona who built his own furniture from FedEx boxes? FedEx sued him for improper use of their packaging. Now, we have a new case of improper use of packaging. Two MIT students built a raft made from Gatorade bottles and paddled it across the the Charles River. After getting Gatorade's attention, they received a nice letter and some coupons—a much better repsonse than litigation. However, this …
Everyday Hero Takes AOL To Task
In the Age of Consumer Empowerment (made possible by millions of interlinked communications devices), companies that continue to practice draconion customer service will not only be outed, they will be forced to change, or face extinction. click for the You Tube video While watching Keith Olberman on MSNBC last night, I learned about one such customer's encounter with a customer service agent from AOL that made me …
As Good As Radio Gets
There's a ton of crap in the iTunes podcast directory. Which makes it all the more pleasing to find a truly great program. etown, produced by Nick and Helen Forster in front of a live audience in Boulder, Colorado is among the best of the best. Michelle Shocked and Nick Forster (of Hot Rize fame) Hopefully, you can hear the show on your local radio station. I tune in Sunday night at 8:00 thanks to Wave 104.9. Now, …
TV Ad Spending Continues To Grow (Despite It’s Its Rumored Demise)
TV ad spending is alive and well. Most of the spots consumers are asked to suffer through still suck, but that's not a deterrent to brands wishing to reach a mass audience. According to USA Today: Industry consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers — encouraged by the spread of digital and high-definition TV sets — is boosting its forecast for TV ad sales in the new edition out Wednesday of its annual, widely cited five-year …
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Hybrid News Source Launches
In order to appeal to lunchtime and evening commuters wanting a print-based update of the day's events, The Guardian will begin to offer eight to 12-page PDF documents for download. G24 will be a free service featuring news content from the Guardian Unlimited website across five subject areas: general news, international, economics, sport and media. According to MIT's AdverLab the paper will insert ads into the …
I’m A Mac
Seth Stevenson looks at Apple's new ad campaign for Slate: Directed by Phil Morrison, the campaign is a marvel of clarity and simplicity. No slogans. No video effects. No voice-overs. And lots of clean, white space. It's like a bath of cool mineral water when these ads come on after a string of garish, jam-packed spots for other products. Stevenson goes on to say why he does not like the campaign. Read his piece if …
My Morning Whine
via Hugh MacLeod I like this cartoon. While I'm not quite ready to give up blogging, I can see how that day might arrive. There are many arguments to be made for and against. I'll limit myself to one against, for now. I'm tired of how insular the activity can be. There's an entire world inside these networked machines, and the more energy one gives to it the deeper one sinks. Lately, I've been reminding myself that …
No Greed. No Need.
Wall Street Journal looks at Craigslist, the free classified service now serving 300 U.S. cities. No one really questions that Craigslist could be bigger -- much, much bigger. The company took in a relatively paltry $25 million or so in revenue last year, while its peers among the Internet's top 10 raked in billions. One industry analyst has estimated that Craigslist could generate 20 times that $25 million just by …
