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September 30, 2004

More on Trump and His Female Troubles

Has Jeff Probst been sneaking into Manhattan aboard Trump's private jet (make that Mark Burnett's--Trump's is probably with the repo man) to help out the folks over at The Apprentice? It certainly seems that way after last night's episode.

Although I never miss The Apprentice, I watch it in part because I love to hate it so much. How do they pick so many people who are both bad at business AND unpleasant to be around? Why are they all such evil boneheads in the boardroom? And why does Donald Trump never know ANYTHING about the tasks except what that darling old Carolyn and dottering old George tell him?

Continue reading "More on Trump and His Female Troubles"

Posted by Jennifer Reingold at 3:20 PM | 4 Comments

Stress Much?

Probably because I'm running late today, my stress level is a little higher than usual. So it was neat to receive a news release from the Hoeffner PR Group offering 10 tips to ward off stress at the office. To whit:

Organize
Plan
Prioritize
Take mood breaks
Decide
Delegate
Clear your desk
Get it together
Divide and conquer
Eliminate interruptions

When you start to feel stressed, what do you do? Does stress have a positive or negative impact on your work?

Posted by Heath Row at 3:04 PM | 6 Comments

Sleeper Hit

I overslept today. Really overslept. So much so that I missed an 11 o'clock meeting -- and a colleague called me at home to make sure I was OK. And I have no excuse. When setting my alarm last night, I set it on AM radio instead of the CD player, so I woke up "naturally" to gentle static rather than my Buddy Holly CD. Had it not been overcast, I would have woken with the sun, but as it is, I've been running late all day.

Our daily morning rituals are a major part of our work experience -- and life. Do you wake up at the same time every day? Do you eat the same thing for breakfast? Do you read the paper? Brew coffee? Pack your lunch the night before?

And what do you do on those rare occasions on which you oversleep? Do you try to come up with an excuse?

I've been poking around for better alarm clock and wake-up options. For $4.50 a month, you can sign up for WakeUpCalls, an automated service that will call you at home or on your cell phone. Alarm Clocks Online has been selling classic alarm clocks online since 1996. The Soleil Sun Alarm Clock features a light that gets brighter and brighter to wake you up gradually. And Howstuffworks explains how a wind-up alarm clock works.

Posted by Heath Row at 2:49 PM | 5 Comments

The Name Game

Say you have an opportunity to resuscitate a brand that has nostalgic appeal but a lousy track record. Back in the day, it was a major-league loser. Do you stick with the old name and try to turn its identity around, or go with a new name and start fresh?

That's the conundrum facing Washington, D.C. Thirty-three years after the Washington Senators relocated to Texas, the nation's capital is back in the grand old game. The Montreal Expos are moving to town. Now all the team needs is a new owner, a new stadium, and a name.

The Senators has decidedly mixed associations. Its best known player was Walter "Big Train" Johnson, considered by some to be the greatest pitcher of all time (417-279, 2.17 ERA in a 20-year career, 1907 to 1927). But in its most recent iteration, as an expansion team, the Senators managed just one winning season in 11 years (740-1,028 overall).

The Grays, another option, is more obscure, but also a more successful allusion; one of the top teams in the Negro League, the Grays were based in Homestead, Pa., but often played in D.C., its adopted home away from home. Or perhaps baseball promoters, eager to attract young fans who are ignorant to the game's historical references prefer something catchy. Something alliterative yet vacuous, like Washington Wizards.

If you enjoyed participating in our recent brand challenge, take a swing at this: What should Washington name its baseball team?

Posted by Chuck Salter at 1:18 PM | 4 Comments

Trump's Female Troubles

What's up with the women (or, more precisely, iron-clawed harpies) on The Apprentice this season? Carolyn Kepcher, Donald's token ice queen (who by all accounts is a lovely person outside the boardroom), had it right when she lost her cool with Jennifer C. last night: "Why can't you women get along? Seven women can't work together. I'm embarrassed to be a businesswoman."

I've never understood the source of the women's bitterness towards each other. First it was the pile-up against the allegedly crazy Stacie J. Last night, the women's bickering ran the gamut from disputes over their restaurant's decor to fights about who would run promotions to shades of anti-Semitism. I hope, for the women's sake, that some incident got left on the cutting room floor that triggered the caustic relations among the members of team Apex and this truly is a poor representation of how women conduct themselves in the real world of business.

Continue reading "Trump's Female Troubles"

Posted by Ryan Underwood at 12:15 PM | 9 Comments

September 29, 2004

Fat Company

Today, after a nice light lunch of sushi, I was walking back to the office and happened upon the Zocalo Taco-Eating Contest, another event organized by the same guys who emceed the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, so adroitly captured in our October issue (access code required) by David Lidsky, who was a bit chagrined at having missed seeing Sonya Thomas consume 48 soft-shell tacos in 11 minutes. The diminuitive Thomas, who weighs in at around 105 pounds -- at least before the event -- bested men who were probably three times her size.

For those of you who haven't had the chance to see such an event, it is an experience both fascinating and disgusting. While there isn't much movement on stage (aside from half a dozen people shoveling food into their mouths), the Shea brothers, who founded the International Federation of Competitive Eating, and who hail from the Howard Cosell School of Announcing, imbue the proceedings with a flair for the dramatic that would make P.T. Barnum proud. Their commentary makes these events quite entertaining -- if you have the stomach for it.

Posted by Michael Prospero at 2:55 PM | 3 Comments

Open to Debate

On Thursday night we'll get treated to some of the finest political oratory this land has to offer when John Kerry, tall and tan, dull and drab, squares off for the first time against George W. Bush, whose license to use the English language should have been revoked years ago.

There's almost no hope of seeing someone actually land a knockout punch, since modern televised political debate has been reduced to a flurry of weak jabs and scripted talking points. But we'll all still tune in anyway to watch them duke it out, if only because whatever else we might have wanted to watch got pre-empted.

The question of the hour is: Who will win the debate?

Posted by Anjani at 2:48 PM | 8 Comments

Leaders on Leaders

If you like Tom Peters and you like Kevin Roberts, you'll love Tom Peters interviewing Kevin Roberts.

The two discuss production values, lovemarks, customer intimacy, the need for community, and how great ideas get made. It's an interesting look into the minds of two progressive business thinkers. I'd like to see more leaders interviewing leaders!

[via Innovation Weblog]

Posted by Heath Row at 2:03 PM | 3 Comments

The Soundtrack of Success III

A couple of months ago, we began to solicit submissions for inclusion in the Soundtrack of Success, a compilation of songs that fuel readers' creative fires. Now, the Soundtrack of Success is completed -- and available online!

See what songs inspire and drive Fast Company readers. Sample the songs in the iTunes Music Store -- and download the accompanying iMix if you'd like to add the Soundtrack of Success to your workplace soundtrack. We'll continue to listen... to what you listen to.

Update: An FC Now reader has also created a Rhapsody playlist of the soundtrack. Thanks, Shannon!

Posted by Heath Row at 1:41 PM | Add Comment

Continuing to Mind the Gap

Yesterday, I wrote about the gap between vision and reality. In today's edition of Deon Binneman's email newsletter Repucomm (which is more up to date than his blog), he considers the role of such a gap in identifying vulnerabilities in your business.

A major activity of reputation management is surveillance of the internal and external environment. The chief reason reputation managers need to do it is to search for areas of vulnerabilities.

He suggests that people keep the following questions in mind:

What are the burning issues in your industry?
Which stakeholders are in a position to help or hurt the organization?
What opinions do these stakeholders -and the general public-hold toward the organisation?
Are attitudes generally favourable or unfavourable? What are their expectations of the organization? Do they feel the organizations measure up to these expectations?
If not, how strongly do they feel about the gap between expectations and performances?
What actions, if any, are they likely to take?
What is the media saying about your organization and industry, etc?

Sounds like basic competitive intelligence, but perhaps this is one of the best ways to monitor performance gaps in your work.

Posted by Heath Row at 12:04 PM | 1 Comment

After(life) a Fashion

Award-winning clothing designer Geoffrey Beene died yesterday at the age of 77. Widely considered one of the fashion industry's most innovative thinkers -- no less than Jackie Kennedy wore his clothes -- Beene focused on designing high-fashion, elegant clothing meant to be worn rather than merely seen on the runway or in a magazine. There have been innovations in how retail stores are designed, and fashion companies have struggled to reinvent themselves. What's next for workplace style? Business casual, more formal, something else? Who makes the most high-style, elegant business clothing?

Posted by Heath Row at 10:19 AM | 2 Comments

September 28, 2004

Creative Accounting Reconsidered

What riles me most about creative accounting scandals, besides their moral and ethical no-no's, is the monstrous greed and hubris exhibited by their perpetrators. Enron. Adelphia. Tyco. (Fodder all for CEO See-Ya!) These are just a few companies rocked by scandals that at their heart were about money and power. How then should I react to a new case of misleading accounting in which inaccurate financial data were used for the good of the many instead of the one?

Last week Greece admitted using fudged economic data on multiple occasions to gain entry into the European Union. Potential members of the union are required to keep their budget deficits to within 3 percent of their gross domestic products. In 2000, Greece submitted an official budget deficit of 2 percent of the gross domestic budget that has since then been revised to 4.1 percent. Additional data released also shows that the budget deficit has been revised upward by at least 2 percent for the following three years.

Continue reading "Creative Accounting Reconsidered"

Posted by Michael Taylor at 3:44 PM | 3 Comments

Martin Luther King on Change

In the current edition of the Wharton Leadership Digest, Dave Holloman, change management practice leader for IBM Business Consulting Services considers the change management lessons offered by Martin Luther King's campaign in Birmingham.

The article touches on the following concepts:

Conflict Can Be Constructive
Public and Personal Sacrifice Has Limits
Dramatizing the Reality to Vision Gap is Vital
Execution to Plan Supersedes Stakeholder Concerns and Desires

Perhaps the most interesting idea is the gap between vision and reality -- and how dramatizing those differences can help motivate the people you work with. Some business thinkers have cast this as a performance gap and suggest that you measure it based on your vision or reality. One educational leader warns against lowering your goals based on such gaps. And still another change agent proposes that reality needs to be more clearly defined before any gaps can be identified.

How have you dramatized the gap between your work's reality -- and your vision? What do you do to close that gap and move toward what Sparks describes as advancing structures rather than oscillating structures (in which no real progress is made)?

Posted by Heath Row at 2:04 PM | 2 Comments

Virgin Galactic Planetary

Earlier this year, SpaceShipOne, a commercial space flight venture backed by Paul Allen, tried for the skies, aiming to qualify for the Ansari X prize. The team is trying again early tomorrow -- and now they're joined by a leader who may not be able to make it around the world in a hot-air balloon, but who may be just what the world needs to commercialize passenger space flight.

Brand master Richard Branson (October issue access code needed) has signed on with Allen and SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan to develop a series of five-passenger rocket ships that will blast 80 miles into the atmosphere for zero-grav flights lasting several hours. Reaching about six times higher than commercial airplanes fly, the trips will run amateur astronauts almost $200,000 for a round-trip ticket.

Update: Branson also just announced the launch (pun intended) of the Virgin Digital Megastore, which will offer more than 1 million songs for download -- and use with about 50 devices. Now folks will have something to listen to as they rocket into space.

Posted by Heath Row at 10:00 AM | Add Comment

September 27, 2004

Offshoring: Storm Cloud Brewing over U.S., or Just Lost in the Global Tradewinds?

A new GAO study released last week indicates that while offshoring of U.S. jobs may be on the rise, there are still very few accurate means to measure the resulting gains and losses for the American economy. The 80-page report confirms what many people assumed: that offshoring in general is increasing, but that the net effects of forfeiting domestic jobs in the interest of greater business and economic efficiencies are just too diffuse to quantify.

Earlier this year, we took a look at the face of offshoring, sharing the stories of professionals whose careers -- and families -- have been affected. Now it's beginning to look like offshoring could be an opportunity as some American leaders begin to look overseas for opportunities. (October issue access code required.)

So it seems that no one can really say for sure how offshoring actually affects America's economic health. Even after an eight-month study, the GAO couldn't find enough information to offer a clear verdict on offshoring.

Obviously, for the thousands of people who have lost jobs because their companies have shipped tasks overseas, offshoring is a very real problem. But how real a threat is it to the U.S. economy? Will the jobs lost eventually be replaced? Should it remain a prominent issue in the presidential campaign? If so, what can -- and what should -- a president actually do to address the situation?

Posted by Anjani at 6:13 PM | 1 Comment

Politicked Off

Recently, several team members at Fast Company got into a discussion about the upcoming presidential election, the two leading candidates' campaign performance to date, and the possible outcome. The conversation was rather amicable, but chances are good that political talk at work isn't always so friendly. A recent Star-Tribune article offers some brief guidelines to broaching the subject at work. What about where you work? Are politics taboo at the water cooler? Do you know where your colleagues stand politically? Does it matter?

Posted by Heath Row at 10:45 AM | 4 Comments

From ET to Entertainment Tonight

The first major product placement I can remember is the use of Reese's Pieces in the film ET. After M&Ms passed on the chance to be featured, Hershey picked up on the opportunity -- resulting in one of the more successful candy launches.

This weekend, Brandchannel launched Brandcameo, a new service that tracks product placements in new movies -- as well as films dating back two years. It's an interesting inside look at what movies might move what products -- and there are some interesting trivial highlights: Cap'n Crunch got placed in the Butterfly Effect, while Lucky Charms made Kill Bill Vol. 2.

Where do your products need to be seen? Were you to liken your business or work to a current movie, which would it be?

Posted by Heath Row at 9:45 AM | 2 Comments

September 24, 2004

Off-Site Insights

For the last two days, the Fast Company team has been sequestered in a country home built during the 1830's in the Delaware Valley. The purpose: A strategic off-site planning session. Over the course of almost 48 hours, members of the production, design, editorial, Web, and business teams gathered to deconstruct the magazine, revisit our approach to design, improve the copy editing and fact checking processes, and otherwise reconsider the work we do.

It was an important look back at the last year -- as well as a look into the next 3-5 years. And it reminded me of the article Can This Off-Site Be Saved? In that piece, contributor Cheryl Dahle offers the following tips and techniques for designing productive -- and fun -- off-site events.

Agree on a definition of victory that matters.
To get the right results, invite the right people.
If you want mind-blowing results, expose people to mind-blowing ideas.
What people think is influenced by where they sit.
To make it work, keep it real.
You don't always have to beat the clock.
What gets measured gets attention.

In retrospect, I'd say we did five, maybe six of the above. While there are some resources available for different off-site activities and the dreaded team-building exercises, there doesn't seem to be a lot of useful material on designing better off-sites. How do you approach off-sites?

Posted by Heath Row at 2:17 PM | 7 Comments

September 21, 2004

Multiprojecting

Former intern Shasha Dai just contributed a Web Exclusive story on how to better manage multiple projects (October access code required). In his blog Focused Performance, Frank Patrick has been taking a slightly deeper -- and more technical -- look at the same topic. Since the beginning of September, he's published the following:

They might make useful parallel reads. How do you handle working on multiple projects at the same time? What have you learned about balancing your workload, accurately prioritizing, and making good on all of your commitments?

Posted by Heath Row at 1:31 PM | Add Comment

September 20, 2004

The Business of Design

Lots of companies are now discovering what Target, Pottery Barn, BMW, and Apple knew all along: Great design is a strategic advantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

That's good news for folks comfortable with the principles and language of design. But where does that leave the people whose business would benefit from an infusion of design moxie, but who don't have a clue on how to get any of their own?

Steve Kroeter aims to help. Kroeter, founder of the design education firm Design Paradigm, and author of DESIGNnewyork, a reference guidebook to all things design-driven in New York City, has put together a week-long course in design for managers who aren't designers, but have to be able to talk like one in the workplace.

Continue reading "The Business of Design"

Posted by Linda Tischler at 3:27 PM | 11 Comments

Icons on Parade

OK, I admit, I was secretly hoping that the New York advertising community would pull off some outrageous stunt -- maybe bringing back the giant Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man from "Ghostbusters" or staging a smackdown between the Energizer Bunny and the Aflac duck -- as part of the Parade of American's Favorite Ad Icons down Madison Avenue, the kick-off event of Advertising Week, which Heath mentioned last month.

What I didn't expect was such a decidedly underwhelming display of American brand might. The few NYPD foot soldiers posted to the event couldn't even be bothered to stop traffic so Mr. Peanut wouldn't be held up at the light -- this in a city where even the Kazakhstan Day Parade can tie up 40 blocks of Fifth Avenue between noon and 6 on a Sunday.

As for the icons themselves, I quote my colleague Alan Deutschman, who remarked, "They were very, uh, life-sized." In short, Kermit needn't worry about losing his spot in the Macy's parade. The Pillsbury Dough Boy, riding in the back of an Avis rental, appeared to be clutching his back in pain. Smoky the Bear had developed a worrisome paunch. A lonely red M&M rode solo. Only Chiquita, the banana babe, looked fresh and young -- perhaps because she hasn't been seen at work for several decades. It was all over in 10 minutes or less.

Meanwhile -- where were the icons that weren't already long in the tooth? The Starbucks mermaid? The Target dog? The Apple pomme?

Is this a reflection of the state of advertising in America today? That even in the epicenter of the ad world's universe, a marquee event could be so lame? If this parade had been on my Tivo, I confess, I would have clicked right through. Let's hope the rest of the week, which has an impressive line-up of events, has more steak with its sizzle.

Posted by Linda Tischler at 2:02 PM | 2 Comments

Director of Diversity Business Development

Talk about a job title of the future today. Graphic Press, an LA-based printing company whose employee base is more than 70% of minority descent, recently created the position of Director of Diversity Business Development. As one of the top 500 Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States, Graphic turned to Jose Nido, a former exec at Walt Disney World Co. -- and who was named professional of the year by a leading Hispanic business magazine.

Do you -- or does your organization -- consciously seek business partnerships with minority-owned businesses? Regardless, the bigger question might be even more interesting. How do you determine what kinds of companies and leaders you'll do business with? How do you pursue those targeted connections? Or do you just work with anyone who'll do business with you? How selective can you and your teammates afford to be when choosing clients, partners, and vendors? If you ever turn away business, why? What kinds of deals won't you pursue?

Posted by Heath Row at 11:30 AM | 1 Comment

Vended Interest

This spring, Charles Fishman took a look in ongoing developments in airline kiosks and other self-service options. But when you look at this online gallery of Japanese vending machines, what's being done stateside seems relatively mundane. Sure, we've got airline kiosks and self-service grocery checkout. And we've got gumball, candy, and pop machines. You can get a Homies figure for 50 cents.

But what about eggs, rice, and fishing lures? Given the long-running history of the vending machine, America may still be able to catch up as Kodak continues to roll out its film development kiosks and organizations such as Catalyst Consulting experiment with different approaches to public transportation self-service.

You can now get videos and DVD's from vending machines. You can get books printed just in time. You can get art.

What else could be done with vending machines?

[via Greedy Girl]

Posted by Heath Row at 11:12 AM | 1 Comment

Marketing Marketing

Earlier this year, two different organizations formed to support people practicing word-of-mouth marketing. Now for people interested in the customer experience, there's the International Experiential Marketing Association, which is part of Sales and Marketing Executives International.

The IXMA shares insights daily with free-thinking business leaders in preparing for profound changes about to challenge traditional advertising and marketing. The IXMA is a forum for radically new thinking about how brands are introduced and sustained. The IXMA shows how experiential marketing (XM) uses credible voices, sensory experiences and respect for the consumer to bring brands � and their essence and benefits � to life, and to create direct and meaningful connections between companies and their customer. Importantly, we strive to find new ways to measure and quantify the brand impact and purchase intent stemming from XM that go beyond traditional ROI metrics, to focus on the equity-building ideas of ROE � the Return on Experience.

The organization is so new, that its Web site right now is no experience. Curious what the new member experience is like.

[via Decent Marketing]

Posted by Heath Row at 10:18 AM | 3 Comments

September 17, 2004

Corporate Shrink: Question of the Week

What do you think about the use of personality tests, such as the Myers-Briggs, in business situations, including hiring and promotion decisions, career choices, and team building?

Let us know what you think!

Posted by Heath Row at 12:53 PM | 23 Comments

September 16, 2004

Work Space

Baby, once a free-agent clubhouse in Amsterdam seems to have since evolved into an international network of artists, galleries -- and a magazine. During the boom, experiments in shared workspaces and free-agent offices were relatively widespread -- at one time, Fluidminds even planned an international network of collaborative workspaces. And even today, shared workspaces such as 116 W. Houston St. and OfficeOps in New York City continue the new tradition of like-minded independent leaders connecting and collaborating.

So it was nice to see an announcement for the opening of the Gate 3 WorkClub. Launching in Emeryville, California, this fall, the WorkClub combines shared professional services with a learning community -- which includes coaching, leadership development opportunities, and networking events. While individual efforts such as this should be lauded, I'm surprised no one has succeeded with a franchise-like model yet. As the economy becomes ever more global, it seems to make sense to leverage the benefits of a global network of forward-thinking professionals sharing services, developing ideas, and building better businesses.

Are there other examples of organizations like Gate 3? I'd sure like to learn about them.

Posted by Heath Row at 3:37 PM | 4 Comments

Intern-About Is Fair Play

As summer starts to shift toward fall, it's the time of year in which summer interns depart and fall interns start their work. Former intern Melissa Korn recently shared her insights on part of her internship here at Fast Company, and today, we bid a fond adieu to Shasha Dai, whose contributions to FC Now -- and elsewhere on the Web -- have been welcome.

In fact, I just sat down with Shasha for a 30-minute exit interview. And instead of offering her feedback and advice, which we did yesterday in the first part of our internship exploration, I asked her to give me feedback and advice. And she did.

Shasha divided her input in terms of how I am as an editor, as a manager, and as a leader. It was an awesome 30 minutes -- plenty of affirmation, but also plenty of things I really need to work on and improve as part of the Fast Company team. I caught myself getting defensive here and there and -- taking those feelings as a sign that she might be on to something -- did my best to truly listen, take in, and digest everything she said. Not all of it was easy -- and won't be easy to improve.

But it got me thinking. When was the last time you sought feedback from someone who worked for you? Our editor in chief did earlier this year -- and shared the results with readers. When was the last time you turned to an intern or temp for insight on your work style? When was the last time you used a performance review not to review someone else's performance -- but for them to review your own?

Try it.

Posted by Heath Row at 12:53 PM | Add Comment

September 15, 2004

Martyr Stewart

Martha Stewart announced today that she doesn't plan to appeal the decision in her case -- and that she would like to go to prison ASAP. In an email commentary this afternoon, Robert Passikoff, President of Brand Keys Inc., suggests that the move is 50% of what she needs to do to polish her tarnished brand.

"Consumers were waiting to see the 2C's: contrition and closure. What she's provided here is at least an approach to closure," Passikoff says. "In May 2002, the brand was one of the strongest in its category. Where it is today is a perfect example of the fragility of brands that are completely invested in a human being. (Accepting her sentence) is exactly what Martha Stewart the brand needs right now."

What do you think? Too little, too late? A wise move to get back to the garden come springtime?

Posted by Heath Row at 6:00 PM | 5 Comments

Decision Maker, Deal Breaker

In the current issue of Darwin, contributor Chuck Martin considers the ways in which leaders make tough decisions.

In a nationwide survey over a base of 2,000 senior executives and managers, NFI Research found that 62 percent of executives and managers deal with making the tough decision at work right away, and 58 percent after getting opinions from others.

Paints a rosy picture, doesn't it? Wait, there's more. A third of respondents indicate that their bosses hold off on making tough calls and a third wait until absolutely necessary. Similarly, about 40% of leaders say their superiors defer tough decisions, while 25% of them report that their bosses avoid tough decisions -- or focus on calls that are easier to make.

How do you handle tough decisions? Act immediately? Or wait and see?

Posted by Heath Row at 5:41 PM | 2 Comments

Google Will Hunting

Looking for some innovative ways to recruit new talent? Check out Google's latest stunt, which was featured on NPR yesterday. Most likely on the hunt for new programmers and algorithm whizzes, Google sneakily hung banners outside of subway stops in Cambridge, Mass., and along Silicon Valley's Highway 101.

However, in Google's signature stealth style, rather than advertising "Google Engineers Wanted," the signs anonymously list a cryptic math problem ({first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e}.com -- huh?) that leads the few inspired brainiacs to a Web site that houses another equation. That equation leads to yet another equation at another site, which eventually takes the numerically-driven to a special Google page requesting their resume. That's what I call weeding out talent.

What other creative recruiting tools or stunts have you come across?

Posted by Danielle Sacks at 3:34 PM | 27 Comments

Graffiti Goes Commercial

The New York Post reports that McDonald's has enlisted the legendary graffiti team Tats Cru to develop wall murals designed to appeal to urban Latino customers. While it's great to see street artists develop businesses around their work -- Tats Cru has also done commission work for Coke -- this raises some interesting questions.

Does the mainstreaming of graffiti makes it a less legitimate artform -- especially as many cities continue to crack down on writers? And does the use of graffiti best meet McDonald's marketing needs -- when one Fast Company reader recommends that the company should refocus its attention on children, its historic customer base?

Posted by Heath Row at 9:01 AM | 2 Comments

September 14, 2004

Free Thinks

Through Sept. 19, Emerald Group Publishing is offering free access to several recent issues of the Journal of Knowledge Management. It's a pretty good deal -- a steal -- as the peer-reviewed quarterly usually runs almost $1,400 a year. Free issues focus on realtime knowledge, social capital, and rewarding team members.

Posted by Heath Row at 7:52 PM | Add Comment

The Oprah Winfrey (and GM) Show

It was the ''product placement to end all product placements,'' the Washington Post declared. It epitomized "a marketing era that morphs advertising, public relations, event marketing and product placement into one confusing jumble of information," sniffed the Detroit Free Press.

Yes, we're talking about Oprah Winfrey's season premiere in which she gave a free Pontiac sedan to 276 carefully selected car-deprived audience members. Call it what you want -- a stunt, a good deed, a talk show disguised as an infomercial. Whatever. It worked.

GM wanted to make a big splash with its new Pontiac G6, particularly with female car buyers. Oprah wanted a high-profile show. Together they made front-page news in USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, both Detroit papers, and the New York Daily News (the headline: "Oprah Win Free," naturally). And gobs of TV news. Not to mention the talk show itself.

For a mere $7.8 million -- the cost of 276 fully-loaded sedans -- GM bought the G6 the sort of publicity that's hard to put a price on (start here, though: a 30-second ad on Oprah typically runs $75,000). But will Oprah make this car a bestseller as she's done for so many books? I think it's safe to engrave her name on that salesperson-of-the-month plaque.

Posted by Chuck Salter at 3:49 PM | 71 Comments

eBay and Social Change

The Omidyar Network was founded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife to help "more people discover their own power to make good things happen." For the most part, the online workspace for the network -- once closed but now open to the public -- encompasses discussions about business, education, healthcare, and social justice. While it's unclear what kinds of productive connections have been made through the network -- much less projects -- it appears to be a worthy effort.

Posted by Heath Row at 3:38 PM | Add Comment

September 13, 2004

Parking a Lot

Seems like I've got travel on the brain today. A couple of months ago, the New York Times ran a piece highlighting several online services you can use to find parking specials near airports and hotels. They included:

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