Bob Morris' "Age of Dissonace" column in the Sunday Times examines punctuality, or the lack thereof. Are you punctually challenged? You're not alone. According to a San Francisco State University study, 20 percent of the population is chronically late for business meetings and social engagements. Freud traced the inability to manage one's time to being late at toilet training. That's a dated notion. A more …
Tiffany v. eBay
NYT: A year ago Jacqui Rogers, a retiree in southern Oregon who dabbles in vintage costume jewelry, went on eBay and bought 10 butterfly brooches made by Weiss, a well-known maker of high-quality costume jewelry in the 1950's and 1960's. At first, Ms. Rogers thought she had snagged a great deal. But when the jewelry arrived from a seller in Rhode Island, her well-trained eye told her that all of the pieces were …
Inside The MINI Pitch
This is a must read. BusinessWeek reports on the MINI pitch, and the creativity of the pitch process itself. There was plenty of face time and driving but the agencies were also required to perform in front of one another as each tried to impress the client-to-be, an unheard-of concept in the notoriously competitive ad world. "You don't expect the client in these situations to be creative...that's what they want us …
Abercrombie’s Top Dude Doesn’t Do Ugly
Benoit Denizet-Lewis for Salon: Mike Jeffries, the 61-year-old CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, is the Willie Wonka of the fashion industry. A quirky perfectionist and control freak, he guards his aspirational brands and his utopian chocolate factory with a highly effective zeal. Those who have worked with him tend to use the same words to describe him: driven, demanding, smart, intense, obsessive-compulsive, eccentric, …
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Nevada Says Even The Bears Are Moving Out of California
The State of Nevada is attempting to lure more California businesses tired of high taxes, and has started a website called Missing Bear to suggest that even the wild California bears are leaving. From the AP: "We still think there is a real need there for companies that want a way out. There is an alternative — you can run for the border," said A. Somer Hollingsworth, president of the Nevada Development …
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Cingular Making Faces
According to Cellular News, Cingular Wireless has managed to get is applying for a patent on the concept of using emoticon on mobile phones. While the aim of the patent is to enable the displaying of MSN style graphics on handsets, they also want managed to patent the delivery of text based emoticon - so presumably sending :) via an SMS - if selected via a dedicated or softkey, would be a breach of the patent in …
Doner: MIA From The WWW
Nearly every ad agency on the planet has a website, be it good, bad, or ugly. Except for one, it seems: Southfield, Michigan's Doner Worldwide, who does work for Mazda, Six Flags, DuPont, and Blockbuster, among others. They do have donerus.com registered and for use as an email domain. But no site. Poking around the web the other day, I completely came up empty on a search for Doner. Anyone know why? …
How To Throw A Strike
B.L. Ochman has some suggestions for pr flaks who want her to pay attention to their story. What's Next's Pitching Rules for Flaks Publicists, please paste these to your refrigerator or filing cabinet 1. don't pretend you're not a publicist 2. don't lie 3. if you forget rule 2, refer to rule 1 4. provide an email address from your company, not hotmail, yahoo, or gmail; and a phone number in case I have a question. 5. …
