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October 29, 2004

Cities That Shine

Catalytix, a group associated with Richard Florida, has developed a regional creativity scorecard. And now, Visa USA has identified what its research considers the most entrepreneurial cities in the United States.

The Visa Entrepreneur Index was compiled using data such as the average number of new businesses created each year (or expansions and divisions of those businesses) and the number of new patents issued by the U.S. Patent Office.

The top 10 cities are:

Continue reading "Cities That Shine"

Posted by Heath Row at 6:21 PM | 2 Comments

The Near-Sighted CEO

In yesterday's Financial Times, columnist John Gapper makes the case that top organizational leaders don't need to be innovative -- that can be left to their underlings.

Contrasting David Ogilvy and Martin Sorrell -- both of whom built (and are building) advertising empires -- Gapper downplays charismatic leadership and contends that creatives don't need to work for someone who is also, well, creative. "Nobody with a spark of originality wants to work for a dunderhead," Gapper says. "If it were universally true, however, it would be a counsel of despair for most companies."

There aren't enough geniuses to go 'round, Gapper laments. Few want to manage other people, he suggests. And... companies can do just fine with managers who are skilled at corralling the creatives and heading them in the right direction. Top dogs need be generalists and operationalists. That's all. Does that ring true to you? I'm not sure it's so clear cut.

Posted by Heath Row at 1:03 PM | 4 Comments

Sex Swap

As if women need another thing to be blamed for in the workplace, metrosexuals are evidently now our doing too! (For those of you unfamiliar with the breed: the term was coined by marketers to describe the emerging group of men who have embraced qualities typically associated with women).

The Strickland Group, an executive coaching shop, recently published an in-house paper titled "The Feminization of Men." The finding? "The impact of women in the workplace has had an enormous effect on how men are expected to behave as leaders," the author of the article explained in a recent Chicago Tribune article. "It's OK to admit you don't know everything, to see how much more successful you can be by using so-called 'softer' skills, ones usually associated with women."

How liberating! Men, you no longer have to be shy about bringing in those homemade cookies for office parties or hide your tears when you lose the next new business pitch. And for those of you who have yet to get in touch with your "softer-side," I'm sure The Strickland Group will soon be offering executive coaching seminars on "occupational manicures" and "how to infuse emotions into decision-making."

Have you seen evidence of metrosexuality on the rise in your workplace? Is it changing things for better or worse?

Posted by Danielle Sacks at 11:11 AM | 15 Comments

Sick Daze

With the flu vaccine shortage and more companies moving to paid time off plans, it'll be interesting to see how the coming winter affects the health of our colleagues -- and offices.

While not as virulent as, say, a grade school, sick co-workers breed more sick co-workers, and as much as we might be tempted to tough it out in order to make deadlines and good on our commitments, sometimes the best thing to do is call in sick. In fact, Newsday reports that some leaders have taken to insisting that people go -- or stay -- home in order to stem the tide of communicable ailments.

It's a good stand to take -- and one that requires backing up. We cannot tell people to stay home if sick -- and then not cover their backs on projects and deadlines, continuing to hold them accountable. Our systems and processes need to absorb the workload and responsibilities in order to give those who need time to heal the time they need.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:02 AM | 2 Comments

October 28, 2004

Asleep at the Wheel

Sure, we've all flirted with brief moments of desktop narcolepsy (say, after staring at that screen 13 inches in front of you for 13 hours straight). But at least a head falling on the keyboard will result in nothing more than a few embarrassing typos and white-collar bruises. Imagine the consequences if you were a doctor and PowerPoint presentations were replaced with live human beings?

This is exactly the case: today a

No one should be expected to perform 24-hours a day with caffeine as your replacement for quality REM. While this raises all sorts of questions about work-life balance and sanity, it raises a larger questions for managers: Do you load up your employees to the max at the risk of losing quality work (and happy employees) or do you recognize our limits as humans, and align your expectations accordingly? Have you taken a moment out of your 70-hour workweek to think about the expectations you impose on your employees and what you might be sacrificing?

Posted by Danielle Sacks at 5:47 PM | 1 Comment

A Mickey Mouse Spectacle

For a lurid glimpse into life in the executive suite, you can't do better than the testimony in the shareholder lawsuit against Disney over the short, expensive tenure of Michael Ovitz. Shareholders accuse Disney's directors of botching their oversight of Ovitz's hiring and firing as the company's No. 2, and want $200 million -- Ovitz's $140 million severance, plus interest. They claim Ovitz was so grossly incompetent that he should have been fired for cause, and gotten no severance package. Witnesses for the plaintiffs have testified that Ovitz was utterly unprepared for a top job at a public company, and that he spent $2 million to renovate his office, and another $6 million on expenses. Disney chairman Michael Eisner called him a "psychopath" in an email.

In his defense, Ovitz testified that Eisner, his close friend of 25 years, turned on him immediately upon his arrival at the company, thwarting, second-guessing, and failiing to support him at every turn. Rival senior executives, he said, greeted him by refusing to report to him; he was left out of meetings and undercut by colleagues.

It all makes you wonder: Was Ovitz the hire from hell, or did he walk into the job from hell? Either way, the trial is more entertaining than anything Disney's studios have put out in years.

Posted by Mark Vamos at 4:39 PM | 1 Comment

Rest in Peace

British broadcasting and pop music innovator John Peel died early this week. Renowned for his radio career -- which included stints at the pirate station Radio London, which sent its signal from a boat off the coast of England, and BBC's Radio 1 -- Peel launched the careers of dozens of bands.

He also introduced several innovations to the traditional pop music format: advocating reggae, hip hop, and punk; playing songs and record sides in their entirety to encourage taping by listeners rather than fading songs in and out while others played on; and encouraging bands to release their live performances on the show as "Peel Sessions" records.

Additionally, his record collection is reportedly worth more than 1 million British pounds.

Posted by Heath Row at 4:25 PM

Being Fast in a Fast Space

I had an interesting meeting today with Harry Simpson, the head of marketing at a startup out of suburban Denver called Roving Planet. Roving Planet makes software to secure and manage wireless networks. The three-year old company started selling its products last summer and already has 75 enterprise clients and is in full hypergrowth mode. "We need to be fast in a fast space," Simpson said. "With wired networking, it took customers 15 years to figure out what they wanted and needed. With wireless, it's going to happen in four."

With that in mind, Simpson told me the story of how the company closed a couple of its marquee deals that it's done this year, one with the Philadelphia public school system, the other with Notre Dame University. During the sales process, both indicated that they wanted some additonal functionality in the product before purchasing. Roving Planet's engineering team turned out prototypes of what they were looking for, the customers realized how responsive Roving Planet would be to their needs, and that helped close the deal.

Continue reading "Being Fast in a Fast Space"

Posted by David Lidsky at 2:41 PM | 5 Comments

Jet Blues

JetBlue today announced that its third-quarter earnings fell 71 percent because of hurricanes and fuel and ticket prices. It seems that the startup airline is already facing the problems of the bigs as it tries to join their ranks. As Chuck Salter reported in our May issue, can JetBlue make the leap, will it go under, or worse, become as boring as all the other airlines? What do you think?

Posted by Michael Prospero at 10:30 AM | 1 Comment

October 27, 2004

Viral Blanketing

Talk about interoffice advocacy... and then some! When Rob Davis, a relatively new hire at Minneapolis-based PR firm Haberman & Assoc., was hit by a virus on his home PC, he didn't just clean up his hard drive, he started using a new browser, encouraged all of his colleagues to do the same -- and launched a national campaign to promote his new browser of choice.

After switching his home PC -- and officemates -- from Explorer to Firefox, Davis decided to call Mozilla, makers of the browser, to explore bringing the technology further into the mainstream. By organizing a fundraising campaign among Firefox's supporters, perhaps the community of users could raise enough money to buy a full-page ad in the New York Times, no less, to announce the November launch of the latest version of its browser.

To date, more than 8,000 people have signed on to help spread Firefox, and the original goal of raising $75,000 has been far surpassed. Business leaders such as Sun's COO are even supporting the effort.

Now -- with just six days left in the campaign, Davis hopes to net enough for two full ad pages. How could you leverage your community of customers and clients? What kind of collective action would make sense?

[Thanks, Eric!]

Posted by Heath Row at 5:59 PM | 2 Comments

The Fine Art of the Dope Slap

So Blockbuster announced today that it would use its stores, of which there are thousands, as mini-distribution centers for its video rental service that competes with Netflix. All together now: Duh! Has this not been obvious to everyone on Earth for awhile now, except, apparently, for anyone affiliated with Blockbuster?

Big companies always seem to have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to leveraging their strengths against upstart competitors in the Internet age. When I worked at a Barnes & Noble nine years ago, I wondered why there weren't computer terminals that let customers see the store's inventory, neighboring stores' inventory if their store didn't have the book, and ordering options to buy a book and send it home or to a store for pickup. (Of course, part of that was because I was wearying of having to look up and search for books that customers wanted. Who would want a book on dairy farming in Manhattan?) When B&N launched its website a couple of years later, it was a wholly separate entity from its stores, the one asset it had that Amazon didn't. B&N got its lunch money stolen by building a facsimile of Amazon instead of using its strengths. Whatever happened to ye olde click and mortar?

And until now, perhaps, Blockbuster was doing the same thing. Of course, in the meantime, it's let Netflix seize an early lead in a market it could have had if it had awakened to the power of its stores sooner. Instead it stayed mired in its weaknesses (late fees, less selection) and let the upstart build a brand by trumpeting its advantages there. But Blockbuster was sitting on its advantage all the time.

Clearly it's still worth considering in late 2004 which big companies get it and which don't when it comes to the Web and serving their customers. Who do you like? Who leaves you fuming at their idiocy?

Posted by David Lidsky at 5:55 PM | 2 Comments

Tap Group Smarts

One interpretation of Google's great market success is that it has found a way to tap into and commoditize the collective intelligence of the Internet. Through its use of a page-ranking algorithm, Google has leveraged the total knowledge and expertise of the countless individuals using the Internet. In fact, this magazine has even taken a look at how Google, well, googles itself.

Academics have already demonstrated the power of group intelligence; how groups tend to be right more often than individuals. A classic example of this phenomenon is when Jack Treynor, a former professor of finance, asked a group of students to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar. The group average was 2 percent off the true number, far closer than most of the students.

If groups reach better answers more often be than individuals, does that mean the collective should be consulted in business strategy formulation? Do all members of an organization deserve a say in key decisions? Perhaps "all" is an unrealistic number, but trying to be as inclusive as possible would seem to be a better strategy for success than going it alone. Just ask Michael Eisner about that.

Posted by Michael Taylor at 1:24 PM | 4 Comments

Free Market Philosophy

Wikipedia's Philosophy of Business section takes a long look at the very foundation of business formation and operation, business's purpose and role in society, and its moral obligations. Making a sharp disction between the philosophy of business and business philosophy -- merely ways of doing business -- the entry addresses the history of business, some of the more notable business philosophers such as Peter Drucker, and several important philosophical questions raised by and in business.

Like anything in the Wikipedia, this is a work in progress. But it's sure nice to see writing about business using words like "epistemology" and "logic."

[via bBlog]

Posted by Heath Row at 9:07 AM

October 26, 2004

Why'd You Have to Go?

FC Now reader Susie Wyshak writes:

Many companies who "lose" customers never ask why. If you want to skip a month of Netflix, you have to cancel your membership. They keep your account information, and when you come back, you receive a welcome email and orientation to Netflix. In the meantime, I have lots of friends who cancel to go on vacation and decide not to renew. How hard would it be to add this?

I moved to a place where I'm renting a room and don't need a phone line. Working Assets has sent repeated "we want you back" letters without once asking me why I "left." In the meantime, companies I really have left such as American Express keep sending me emails as if I were still a member.

She makes an interesting point. Why try to get someone back if you don't even know why they left in the first place? When people resign from the Company of Friends, I usually email them to ask why. What do you do in terms of "exit interviews" for customers?

Posted by Heath Row at 6:50 PM | 6 Comments

Every Work Day Is Halloween

Enterprise resource planning, or ERP, is one of those new-economy phrases that are easy to poke fun at. Now there's more fuel for the fire: ERP Horror Stories, a Web site that offers "terrible tales of troubled implementation." While the site is well designed -- perfect to lead up to Halloween -- the site may be best suited for technology and budgeting wags. Visitors can control how over budget a project is and can submit their own horror stories for a counseling response.

[Thanks, Eryka!]

Posted by Heath Row at 4:32 PM | 2 Comments

October 25, 2004

A Crappella

I don't know which I find more amusing: the collegiate culture of a cappella singing -- or the fact that it spills over into business schools, as well. The Summer 2004 edition of Northwestern University's alumni magazine reports that the Kellogg School of Management has no fewer than two -- two! -- a cappella groups: The Bottom Line and the Kelloggarhythms (gotta love that a cappella naming fun!).

For the last few years, the two groups have collaborated to release three CDs featuring their song stylings. The 2003 release, "Jain's Addiction," is a punny pop-music homage to dean Dipak Jain. Now, Fortune hosts a battle of the corporate bands, but I wonder: How many organizations boast in-house a cappella groups -- or, say, barbershop quartets?

Posted by Heath Row at 12:57 PM | 3 Comments

Freelance Friendly

Working Today's Freelancers Union recently surveyed its New York-based members about which companies treat freelancers best. Here are the top 10 results:

• Time Warner
• BBC
• Conde Nast Publications
• HBO
• MTV Networks
• Ogilvy & Mather
• The New York Times
• Thirteen (WNET)
• Time Inc.
• Viacom

And the definition of best? Getting paid well -- and on time. That's it? If you work as a free agent, what do you look for when working with a client? What contributes to your most successful freelance projects?

Posted by Heath Row at 12:44 PM | 1 Comment

Innovation Adoration

Harold Evans' new book They Made America is getting good pickup in recent weeks. U.S. News & World Report excerpts the book's examination of Thomas Edison, and Sunday paper mainstay Parade trots out Evans' top 10 list of the most important innovators.

• Sarah Breedlove Walker Women's independence
• Gary Kildall Computer operating systems
• Herbert Boyer Biotech pharmaceuticals
• Edwin L. Drake Oil
• Amadeo Peter Giannini Popular banking
• Leo Hendrik Baekeland Plastics
• Edwin Howard Armstrong High-quality sound
• Henry Ford The people's car
• Wilbur and Orville Wright The airplane
• Thomas Edison Electric power

In the November issue of Fast Company, our Fast Forward list looks at the 100 most important innovations for 2005. What did we miss? You tell us.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:54 AM

Rest in Peace

William H. Dobelle, a researcher who broke new ground in artificial vision, died early this month. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in medicine last year, Dobelle worked to develop a vision system in which a camera attached to special glasses sent visual information to a computer that, in turn, stimulated the brain's visual cortex.

Posted by Heath Row at 10:56 AM

October 22, 2004

The Maine Attraction

How do you know the difference between Pop!Tech and Amateur Night at the Apollo? At the Apollo, when a hot band comes on stage, members of the audience stand up and dance in the aisles. At Pop!Tech, when a hot band comes on stage, members of the audience flip open their computers and check their email.

At last night's gala concert at the Camden, Maine, conference, dozens of contented techies tapped their feet and fired up their Pentium processors while the Howard Fishman Quartet jammed. Just another groovy night at this annual Nerdistan event. Of course, this is the same place where the lunch time entertainment was a young singer/software designer, Jonathan Coulton, crooning a poignant love story: to his laptop. It featured such poignant lines as: "You make my lap hot/underneath your aluminum case," and "In a year or two, you will seem big and heavy and slow/I will carry you to wherever laptops go." There wasn't a dry eye in the place.

Pop!Tech, which bills itself as the preeminent conference exploring the impact of technology on people -- with an emphasis on the future --- is the brainchild of Bob Metcalfe, inventor of the ethernet, and now a venture capitalist with Polaris Venture Partners, and BobJohn Sculley, former CEO of Apple Computer and now a venture capitalist with Rho Capital Partners. For eight years, the two have gathered cutting edge thinkers and tech gurus (now, evidently, called "swamis") to the quaint seaside town of Camden for a three day intellectual fiesta.

This year's conference, deep in the heart of Red Sox Nation, began by paying homage to the home team's glorious victory over their arch rivals the previous night. The first screen of the opening Power Point featured this lure: Pop!Tech: a once-in-a-lifetime metaphysical sports victory included free with every registration." The crowd went wild.

Even without the MLB bait, however, the event is pretty irresistible. This year's theme is "The Next Renaissance": are we on the cusp of a second blossoming of intellectual and creative expression -- or on the brink of ecological, political, and global disaster? Is it possible to have more fun? Consider the intellectual firepower crowding the docket to present evidence on both sides: Malcolm Gladwell, Frans de Waal, and Joel Garreau on human nature; Richard Florida, Jim Rygiel, and Bruce Mau on global creativity; Thomas Barnett, Joseph Chamie and Philip Longman on demographic and military opportunities -- or meltdowns. And that was just the first day.

Here's just a sampling of the big ideas floated at Camden's little opera house:

Continue reading "The Maine Attraction"

Posted by Linda Tischler at 12:21 PM | 3 Comments

Not So Radical Sabbatical

In the past, Fast Company has espoused the notion of radical sabbaticals -- time taken away from the office to explore other opportunities and develop new skills. Like anything, there's a right way and a wrong way to take time off to renew, but perhaps, just as you can leverage a sabbatical while in between projects, you can use them to shift gears in your career, as well.

Enter VocationVacations, a service that helps clients try out their dream jobs -- with a dedicated mentor -- for a few days. Options range from architect to zookeeper and include some real ringers -- Mississippi River boat cub pilot! If you could take some time to explore another career path, what would you do? How far afield would you explore?

Posted by Heath Row at 10:46 AM | 6 Comments

October 21, 2004

Taking the Temp

Researchers at Cornell University have found that the temperature of your office can affect your productivity. Cooler temperatures can cause employees to make more errors and could increase labor costs by 10%, the study shows. In fact, turning up the thermostat from 68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit led to one team's typing errors to fall by 44% percent; typing output increased 150%.

I find this slightly counterintuitive. I always thought heat makes us slower and more relaxed, whereas colder temperatures can bring focus and clarity. How cold or warm is your office? Do you work better when you're warm? Focus better when you're cold? I just checked a small thermometer I keep clipped to my bag. Fast Company's at about 70 degrees right now.

[via FutureFile]

Posted by Heath Row at 5:28 PM | 5 Comments

Centered Thinking

Edward de Bono, author of Six Thinking Hats, opened the World Centre for New Thinking in Malta this summer.

The center's goal is to highlight new thinking from any source, organize task forces and conferences, provide facilitation services for conflict and other negotiations, and provide training in lateral thinking methods. And while the center doesn't seem to have done anything major yet, de Bono's efforts are always worth watching.

[via Innovation Weblog]

Posted by Heath Row at 5:20 PM | 4 Comments

Damn Yankees

Well, it happened. The rivalry that Michael mentioned has played itself out.

The Boston Red Sox, the team with the second-highest payroll ($130 million), beat the New York Yankees, the team with the highest payroll ($180 million). Theo Epstein's version of Michael Lewis's Moneyball seems to have worked in this instance, and, as a Yankee fan, I find myself in the unusual position of having to say, "Wait 'till next year!"

In the meantime, I came up with an explanation of how this could have happened, with apologies to the Charlie Daniels Band:

Continue reading "Damn Yankees"

Posted by Michael Prospero at 11:35 AM | 1 Comment

October 20, 2004

Yankees, Red Sox, and the Business of Rivalry

Assuming you've been alive the past week, you've likely heard something about a Yankees-Red Sox baseball series. This year's episode has been played out in two operatic acts: Yankee domination in the first three games, followed by a back-from-the-dead Red Sox rally in three absurdly close, obscenely long games since.

We’ll get Act III tonight. Some Boston fans think the historic comeback is a sign their team is destined to finally break through this year; others will say that it's all just an elaborate set-up for yet another novel, crushing way to lose. Meanwhile I challenge you to walk half a block in New York (or ten feet in Boston) today without overhearing a conversation about baseball.

Continue reading "Yankees, Red Sox, and the Business of Rivalry"

Posted by Anjani at 3:34 PM

The Brand Called URL

Inspired by our recent piece about Richard Branson, FC Now reader John Boehm emailed me to mention a project he's been working on for more than a year.

Virgin Brand is a blog that tracks the ups and downs of Virgin's -- and Branson's -- brand performance. Seems to be a useful way to keep track of the company's business performance, as well as branding successes and missteps.

Posted by Heath Row at 12:45 PM | 3 Comments

Photocopy Cats

This Friday marks the 66th anniversary of the humble photocopier, a machine that can take awhile to warm up -- but warms my heart to no end. There's just something about photocopiers: filling the tray with paper, waiting for it to collate your copies, the little indentation on the top where you can store paper clips. Photocopiers help us communicate within our teams and organizations, they can help liven up your workspace, and they can provide an ad hoc meeting space just like the proverbial water cooler.

Take a moment this week to learn about the development of the photocopier; how copiers work; and the history of companies such as Xerox and Ikon. And whatever you do, don't take your copier for granted.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:13 AM | 3 Comments

October 19, 2004

Shorting Talent

I've long held that talent is one of the more important aspects -- indeed, assets -- of any organization. It might even be the most important quality of a company. With a team of talented people -- smartly skilled colleagues -- you can accomplish more than what might be supported by available resources otherwise.

Not so, says Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink.

In a new ChangeThis manifesto entitled The Talent Myth, Gladwell asks whether smart people are overrated. "What IQ doesn't pick up is effectiveness at common-sense sorts of things, especially working with people," he writes.

In the October issue, Keith Hammonds suggests that balance is bunk. Might talent be bunk, as well?

Posted by Heath Row at 3:59 PM | 7 Comments

Reality TV's Newest Frustration: Life Coaches

Ryan's entry yesterday about bad experiences working with coaches has catalyzed some interesting discussion in the comments.

Many of the comments make me wonder: Why are people so defensive about the coaching practice? Yes, people have wonderful experiences with coaches. Yes, coaches can help people improve their personal and professional lives. But it just stands to reason that there are also bad coaches out there -- and that people have had bad experiences working with coaches.

Rather then react defensively, let's use this as a learning moment. If you're aware of any horror stories, email Ryan. Otherwise, leave a comment about how to select the right coach, how to work best with a coach, etc. We're not out to paint all coaches with a bad brush; we're just interested in cautionary tales and lessons learned.

Posted by Heath Row at 12:47 PM | 10 Comments

Fast Company... on the Air!

Deputy Editor Keith Hammonds appeared on NPR's All Things Considered yesterday to discuss family-friendly businesses and work-life balance. Take a listen online!

[Thanks, Ryan!]

Posted by Heath Row at 12:15 PM

October 18, 2004

Reality TV's Newest Sensation: Life Coaches

Staying up late to watch the end of the Red Sox-Yankees match-up last night I was bombarded in the wee hours by Fox ads touting their latest reality shows: My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss and Richard Branson's, The Rebel Billionaire. This, on top of The Apprentice and Mark Cuban's, ahem, show, even the BBC's mockumentary The Office, made me think that reality TV had gone all biz all the time.

Then I read a review in the NYT this morning of a two-year-old syndicated reality show that stars--you guessed it--life coaches. My god, these people are popping up everywhere. It got me to thinking, we here at Fast Company get inundated with life coaches telling us their success stories all the time. But rarely do we hear from people who actually worked with a life coach. Are they really that great? Surely there must be some horror stories out there.

Email some to me.

Posted by Ryan Underwood at 3:23 PM | 17 Comments

Love Letter Perfect CRM

In response to a recent article on improvements in customer service, Fast Company reader brought to my attention an article she wrote earlier this year. C+RM, What's the Plus? contends that business leaders shouldn't necessarily focus on traditional CRM in terms of managing customer relationships -- but that they should concentrate on C+RM, Cherish and Respect Management.

Do you cherish select customers? Respect all of the people you work with? How might the way we work change if we don't just respect our colleagues and partners -- but cherish them? Relish them?

Posted by Heath Row at 12:10 PM | 3 Comments

Brands on the Brain

Want some more information about the science behind the recent study on how brand affinity can affect brain activity? Last week, Samuel McClure and his colleagues published a paper in the science journal Neuron. In "Neural Correlates of Behavioral Preference for Culturally Familiar Drinks," the authors show how brand affinity can trump a blind taste test -- people who preferred Pepsi over Coke would change their response when they learned which option was Coke: Their brand knowledge flipped a switch in their head.

[Thanks, Simon!]

Posted by Heath Row at 9:26 AM | 1 Comment

October 15, 2004

I'm Gonna Wash That Ad Right out of My Hair

Even if you're not in the WB's target demographic -- and honestly, you'd be reading Tigerbeat's blog if you were -- that's no reason not to tune in tonight at 8 for What I Like About You. According to the WB, this show is about two sisters, one a "teenage livewire," the other a "straitlaced twentysomething," who become roommates (no, their names are not Felix and Oscar or Bert and Ernie or Laverne and Shirley or, oh never mind). Tonight's episode features two characters auditioning for an Herbal Essences ad. Immediately following this scene, during the show's commercial break, that ad actually appears. As a real ad for Herbal Essences.

However, this is not an in-your-face product placement insists the shampoo's brand manager: "It's about launching a new ad in a relevant way in the show's format."

Actually, she's right. This isn't product placement. It's product takeover. And it's yet another sign that we're swinging back to the early days of television when sponsors had more say in the content of programs. When The Milton Berle Show was the Texaco Star Theater and later the Buick-Berle Show.

What happens when advertisers combine digital technology with rampant product placement? Find out in the November issue of Fast Company, Fast Forward item No. 100.

Yes, even blogs are guilty of product placements.

Posted by Chuck Salter at 7:59 PM | 1 Comment

Tea Party 2004

Similar to yesterday's entry about Calvin Klein's workspace memo, I learned today that the British Ministry of Defense has asked all employees to record each cup of tea or coffee they drink while at their office -- so the ministry can charge their department accordingly. "Free tea and coffee will only be provided if a meeting lasts at least two hours," a Reuters wire story reads.

There's got to be a snappy pun in there about job perks and percolation -- or management being drips -- or prices being too steep, but I wonder: Isn't removing the coffee machine a sign that a business is on its last legs ?

[Thanks, Danielle!]

Posted by Heath Row at 3:21 PM | 2 Comments

October 14, 2004

Desk Detail

After arriving in Irving, Texas, for a Company of Friends event at the local Wingate Inn, I caught up on the day's news by browsing the Dallas Morning News.

Late this summer, Calvin Klein, a highly design- and style-oriented company, circulated a memo requesting that employees' workspaces conform to the "Calvin Klein brand aesthetic." On its face, not a bad idea. I can imagine, sharp, smart, stylized offices and common areas.

Continue reading "Desk Detail"

Posted by Heath Row at 6:58 PM | 1 Comment