Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog

Graph Media Activities with a Wheel Chart

mro — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:46:32 +0000

This hand-drawn "media wheel" shows what media people consume when and where, based on data points from a syndicated research. Here's how me made it.

Apple Envy

mro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:49:03 +0000

'Tis the season to diss Apple in some very creative and entertaining ways. I'm just not sure whether it's a sign of strategic marketing insight, or fishbowl-like confusion of message over meaning.

When Innovating, Seek Out More, and More Varied, Ideas

mro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:14:30 +0000

I’ve been reading the book “Innovation Tournaments” by Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich of the Wharton School. The book sets out a methodology (the “tournament” of the title) for companies to generate and systematically winnow down innovation ideas to eliminate all but the most exceptional opportunities.

What Shaun White and Snowboarding Can Teach You about Innovation

mro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:56:42 +0000

One of the best articles that I've read about innovation this week actually had absolutely nothing at all to do with business innovation -- at least on the surface. Hannah Karp of the Wall Street Journal recently took a closer look at When Snowboarders Baffle the Judges. Faced with the prospect of judges that are not always on top of radical new snowboarding techniques, innovative snowboarders like Shaun White have a choice -- either keep their innovative snowboarding tricks under wraps until major competitions, or step-by-step unveil these innovations to the judges before the actual event.

There Is This Company

mro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:12:41 +0000

Here's something I've been thinking about for some time now.

You see, there is this company.

It publishes over a hundred RSS feeds and several email newsletters, but not a single blog.

Is Facebook and Twitter Bad for Your Brain? Or It Actually Makes You a Better Person

mro — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:45:41 +0000

Here is an old vision of a high-tech future. It is an old magazine illustration in a 1969 Japanese Sunday magazine, which shows life in the future, pervaded by computers. This illustration “The Rise of the Computerized School,” by Shigeru Komatsuzaki is an illustrated scenario of what schools will be like in the future. Sort of Webex type of online delivery and interactive learning via a tablet.

Customers Are Talking: Here Comes “Broadcast Shopping”

mro — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:09:41 +0000

This week Doc Searls posted on an idea called “Personal RFP.” In this model, people wishing to buy a product would be able to put together an open “request for proposal” – essentially, a specification for what they want to buy, including budget, and solicit bids from suppliers wanting to sell it to them. [Nothing even approximately like this exists today, except perhaps Priceline, the reverse-auction travel broker, which is full of compromises to the Personal RFP model.]

Social Media's Promise in 2010

mro — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:49:41 +0000

(NOTE: This essay draws on a chapter in my new book, Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs, which identifies nine radical branding and marketing insights for innovative business leaders to watch in 2010).

Searching for Greenwash at Greenbuild

mro — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:31:41 +0000

I'll admit to entering the halls of Greenbuild — the mammoth green building conference and expo, held last week in Phoenix — with a cynical theory: Greenbuild would be filled with greenwash. I assumed that with nearly 1,100 exhibitors, up 25% from the previous year amid a horrid economy, the U.S. Green Building Council, the event's organizers, had lowered its standards, accepting anyone that had a green story to tell.

B2B Social Media Marketing: Branding or Lead Generation?

mro — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:05:41 +0000

Social media can be many things: a place to network with friends, a way to follow market trends and monitor brand sentiment, a customer service tool for identifying unhappy customers. But is it a tool for demand generation? I believe the answer is yes, but that it requires a different mindset for lead generation and measuring ROI.

Social Media Drives Global Product Recall

mro — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:48:41 +0000

Guest Post by: Charlie Osmond

Maclaren has become the latest victim of social media activism. They have joined a growing list of companies to have suffered at the hands of bloggers and Tweeters [Twitterers?].

Denmark Builds the Renewable Electron Economy: NOW on PBS.org Documentary

mro — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:55:19 +0000

A quick “hats off” to David Brancaccio and NOW on PBS for their well-researched and informative documentary on what Denmark is doing to attain energy independence and get off oil by building a version of the Renewable Electron Economy that is suitable for their resource base.

Tweeting at the Speed of Scale

mro — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:02:41 +0000

Originally posted on the Collaboratory
From a holistic perspective, we talk about the need for organizations to become more socially calibrated—able to adapt and respond to changes both externally and internally. The three areas where emergent outcomes can manifest are, participation with your customers, collaboration between your employees and optimization in the interactions/transactions between your business and its partners. Digging into customer participation, it’s clear that in a networked economy customers demand engagement, information, support and ultimately, value and ecosystems such as Twitter are beginning to deliver here.

The Evolution of the ATMs. 30 Years Later Still Struggling to Make Them Scam Proof. It Is All About the Human Factors.

mro — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:45:41 +0000

I find that people are over-concerned with online security every time there is a piece of news about identity theft on TV. It is really not that bad and we need to accept the fact that it will not go away. Whatever security mechanism being put can fix one hole but usually creates another hole.

Minimalism, Simplicity, and Our Complex Needs

mro — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:32:41 +0000

I think there is a lot more to this discussion, more than about “just making things simple and easy to use”. Why are some objects simple and easy to use but end up limited and boring? Why are some objects, like the iPhone, simple to use but somehow able to have many layers of more complex functions? Is this what they call simplexity, or an “emerging theory that proposes a possible complementary relationship between complexity and simplicity”? (via Wikipedia)

10 Strategies for Building a Credible Sustainable Brand

mro — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:08:41 +0000

I recently conducted a webinar on 10 Strategies for Building a Credible Sustainable Brand in conjunction with Sustainable Life Media. While I'll never again agree to develop an hour's worth of new content with 1 week's notice (!), I appreciated the opportunity to pull together a fairly comprehensive set of strategies that help brands build credibility from the ground up and minimize the risk of greenwashing. The 10 strategies include:

An Opportunity to Chase Business

mro — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:58:41 +0000

JPMorgan Chase announced earlier this week that it plans to hire 1,500 new mortgage and small business bankers by the end of 2010. I think this is a tremendous branding opportunity.

"We have invested in new systems, aggressively grown our capacity and are now looking to increase our sales force," said its head of home lending in a statement reported on CNN.

My Reading Journal: Roger Martin’s “The Design of Business”

mro — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:06:41 +0000

“The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage,” by Roger Martin. 2009: Harvard Business Press, 190pp.

When did you read it? November 2009.

Vision and Ageing

mro — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:45:41 +0000

After cognitive decline, the physiological effects of ageing on eyesight are, in my view the most important for marketers to understand. Let's be honest, it is a subject that most marketers don't ever think about. This video makes a start to explain one facet of the problem - the decline in the eye's ability to distinguish colour contrast. This article provides a much more detail explanation of the subject.

Best Practices from the Front Lines: Thought Leadership with Mark Fidelman

mro — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:19:41 +0000

Guest Post by: Maria Pergolino

Marketing automation has the ability to benefit almost every B2B company and industry, but are there benefits specific to open source companies? In our newest B2B marketing thought leadership interview, Mark Fidelman is the EVP of Sales at MindTouch and author of "Open Source Best Practices 2009" talks about open source success and using marketing automation to achieve it.

Foster Sustainable Behaviors through Fun

mro — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:58:41 +0000

Piano Staircase:
”Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feel better” is something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers. Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do? See the results here.

Marketing Messages Are Simply Another Bee in the Hive

mro — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:47:42 +0000

Cynthia Kurtz starts off a recent blog post with a provocative statement: “Telling a story is not always the best way to tell a story.”

She continues:

Just How Badly Does Murdoch Need Google's Traffic?

mro — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:31:46 +0000

The top story today was Rupert Murdoch sort of saying that News Corp might start using robots.txt on Google to prevent its stuff from being indexed. Or that's how it was interpreted on the internets anyway. Nevermind that he probably meant something different -- that News Corp will erect pay walls around its online content the way it now does with the Wall Street Journal: a headline and a paragraph of text for free, and everything else is paid.

You Get More from Almost Great Ideas

mro — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:56:47 +0000

(NOTE: This essay draws on a chapter in my new book, Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs, which identifies nine radical branding and marketing insights for innovative business leaders to watch as we roll into 2010).

Recession Forces Luxury Brands to Target the Wealthy

mro — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:38:55 +0000

The first thing that popped up on “must blog” list is another item about luxury.

According to a Luxury Institute study, summarized by AdWeek, state-of-the-market series, 77% of high-end shoppers "agreed that luxury is less important in today's economy."

Digital Trends for 2010

mro — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:52:54 +0000

I've been playing around with a staggeringly impressive presentation tool called Prezi. Above, I've uploaded a brief look at some of the DIGITAL TRENDS that I see coming to the forefront in 2010 -- real-time marketing, augmented reality, new mega-content companies to replace mainstream media companies, and interesting cultural trends like the re-invention of bank branding in the aftermath of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Shift Perspectives. A Publication “Endorsed by Futurelab”.

mro — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:55:41 +0000

These are exciting times. Sure, we have a recession, and there is the looming threat of inflation, unemployment and further value destruction. But all these clouds are also lined with opportunity. The opportunity to change the way we work. To set things right.

"Luxury Shame" a Byproduct of the Recession

mro — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:58:41 +0000

According to the consulting group Bain & Co, shoppers are suffering from "luxury shame". These results appear in its latest report about the global luxury industry.

The WSJ (sorry subscription only) covers this research and has a fascinating article about the trials and tribulations of the luxury suppliers.

Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out

mro — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:45:22 +0000

I am delighted to announce that "Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media" is now in the wild and available! This book was written as a collaborative effort by members of the Digital Youth Project, a three-year research effort funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California.

Lessons for Industrial Designers to Engineer Desirability That They Don’t Teach You In Design Schools

mro — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:01:41 +0000

Being the dean of a Design School is no easy job today. Design schools is struggling to serve three masters: to the student and the industry and to the society, the last one is a new one as designers generally have come to a consensus that design for social change is part of the design agenda.

Green Consumers and the Recession: Is It Really Different This Time?

mro — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:48:41 +0000

How have consumers' green shopping habits changed during these tough economic times? There are at least a couple schools of thought: one, that green consumerism has gotten steamrolled by the recession, viewed as a luxury no longer affordable; the other, that green shopping has endured as consumers go back to basics, rethinking the need to consume, redefining what it means to be fulfilled, and becoming less wasteful and more conscious of the impact of their purchases.

Is Everyday Management a Social Threat to Employees?

mro — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:07:41 +0000

There’s a neat article by Reuters discussing how workers’ brains and management practices often work at cross-purposes. They cite, among others, Charles Jacobs, author of the book “Management Rewired,” recently reviewed here. An excerpt of the Reuters piece:

E 2.0 - Not Joining the Debate, but...

mro — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:47:41 +0000

by: Sigurd Rinde

Being 'diplomatic' I'm not going to step into the debate featuring Dennis, Susan, Nenshad and others... but I've been waiting and waiting for one benefit to be touted, an important but unplanned benefit (the only one?) I've seen in practice myself:

Forget About Harley and Apple

mro — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:57:41 +0000

Have you noticed that most conversations about branding inevitably include references to Harley-Davidson and Apple? Sprinkle in mentions of Coke, Facebook, and Zappos, and you get the context of every agency pitch for more spending on brand engagement, loyalty, or whatever else these examples might suggest.

Pew Internet Research on the Democratization of Social Networks

mro — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:14:41 +0000

Social network services users have gone from being classic early adopters (i.e. Male, highly educated, young to middle-aged, urban) to become every man and woman – with a continued skew towards youth and as diverse, if not more than the internet-using population.

Michael Bierut’s 5 Secrets of Design

mro — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:51:41 +0000

Michael Bierut of Pentagram and Design Observer fame, has shared some of his words of wisdom collected through his years as a designer. He digs through his 86 notebooks filled with his design work, and distills his thoughts down to 5 awesome design secrets.

How Teenagers – and Adults – Consume Media

mro — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:59:41 +0000

This is the unabridged, non-edited version of an article published at bnet.co.uk
The Morgan Stanley report entitled “media and the Internet, how teenagers consume media” is one of the most striking examples of instant information circulation on a global scale. Matthew Robinson — a 15 year-old trainee who was asked to put together a report on how his peers were using the media — no longer needs to work on his online reputation. In a flash, his report was on everyone’s lips (on everyone’s desktop rather) and widely used as a perfect representation of generation Y usage of media and – especially – the Internet.

Advertising in Violent Game Scenes

mro — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:41:41 +0000

Having blasted my way through Carmageddon all the way to the streets of San Andreas and Pripyat, I'm no stranger to cartoony violence, but somehow slaughtering helpless civilian crowds wholesale just feels off. This leaked video is from the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 shooter that hits the stores on November 10th and has already broken Gamestop's pre-order records.

Crowdfunding Artistic Projects Through Kickstarter

mro — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:38:41 +0000

Brooklyn-based Kickstarter enables people to "crowd-fund" new artistic projects (books, movies, films, etc.) and then follow along the progress of the project through regular updates. In my first-ever Kickstarter project, I helped to crowd-fund a new book from Robin Sloan (a former Current TV exec and aspiring novelist) after reading about it on CNET:

The Basics of Social Media ROI

mro — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:03:41 +0000

The last post of our guide to Getting Started in Social Media looked at measurements and how brands should be ruthless about ROI. This presentation from Oliver Blanchard is a great introduction to social media ROI and how you should conceive of it and then measure it. It’s also quite amusing in parts and so is Required Reading this week at FreshNetworks

When Wal-Mart Enters the Funeral Industry, the Business Is About to Change. Will Amazon.com Follow? What's the Latest Innovation in the Funeral Busines?

mro — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:58:41 +0000

Some survey stated that the average person's greatest fear is having to give a speech in public. That’s not for me but I am sure for many. I remember one guy told he when he was put on stage in front of 800 people, the dead silence was like death. Giving a speech in public ranked even higher than death which was third on the list. So, you're telling me that at a funeral, most people would rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and give a eulogy.

Six Social Media Trends For 2010

mro — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:54:41 +0000

Originally posted on The Harvard Business Review blog

In 2009 we saw exponential growth of social media. According to Nielson Online, Twitter alone grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to outpace MySpace. So what could social media look like in 2010? In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive — at least, that's my guess. What are the near-term trends we could see as soon as next year? In no particular order:

Text Is the New Multimedia

mro — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:13:34 +0000

My Reading Journal: Morten Hansen’s “Collaboration”

mro — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:49:03 +0000

I’ve finished a few books recently but am a bit behind on reviewing them. My kids have started documenting their books in reading journals that help them with reading comprehension. To add a bit of variety (and to make sure I’m not getting lazy), I’m going to use the reading journal format for this week’s reviews.

25 Must-Read B2B Marketing Blog Posts

mro — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:58:41 +0000

Instead of scouring the web in search of the latest insight on B2B marketing tactics and trends, consult our list of 25 must-read B2B marketing posts. Find out what these influential marketing bloggers have to say about B2B social media, landing page optimization, search marketing, marketing ROI, and other B2B marketing techniques.

Three Reasons Twitter Lists Are Great (and Two Areas for Improvement)

mro — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:23:52 +0000

It would seem that this week Twitter has been releasing Lists to everybody. A lot has been written about this move and the differences it makes to Twitter and the way people will use it. For me, it makes a significant difference to the way users will use Twitter. It allows you to segment the people who are interested in on Twitter and group people who write about similar things or that you know for similar reasons or from similar places.

Send Teenagers Into Space

mro — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:27:41 +0000

No, I'm not being a grumpy parent. A nonprofit organization hopes to send as many as 200 teachers into space each year aboard private rockets. I think we should launch teenagers there instead.

Random Thoughts: From Aviva Community Fund to Positive Social Change to Women Empowerment

mro — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:38:41 +0000

I was so excited that our Aviva Community Program is getting such good response even before the official launch. It is a very important project for both our client and IC because it is something we truly believe in. It is about 1/ Empowering change in our communities while building brand 2/ Prove that social media is not a hype and if you use it right it is the most powerful communication medium 3/ Authenticity is the key ingredient of marketing, this program is about action and not just words. Check out the program here. It is truly where "Marketing Innovation" meets "Social Innovation".

P&G’s Strategic Review of Brands Isn’t Really Strategic

mro — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:19:41 +0000

The Wall Street Journal today reported that Procter & Gamble’s new CEO, Robert McDonald, had put a number of brands on notice that they had to improve results or risk being sold off.

Cap and Trade: A Tangled Web of Good Intentions and Bad Policy – Part 2

mro — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:52:41 +0000

In the first part of this post I identified 10 features of cap and trade, the favored climate policy of many policy elites at this point in time, that make the policy ineffectual. I outlined how cap and trade was sold to America and the world based on faulty assumptions as well as its superficial political appeal to the then Clinton Administration.

The Sustainability Challenge Is Complex. Is Ecolabelling the Answer or Just Another Greenwashing Tool?

mro — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:02:41 +0000

No one will disagree that today’s customer is empowered like never before. With social media and other connectivity, they are able to acquire more detailed information about brands, products and services in order to make smarter decisions; everything is just a few clicks away. Any green-washing or eco-washing can last only for a few clicks. Customers can access new knowledge about the behavior of companies and can more readily question and challenge this behavior.

We Have an Innovation Problem, and It Is Miles and Miles of Indistinguishable Stuff

mro — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:41:41 +0000

I learned today that Axe Body Spray for Men is running an ad in Uruguay where readers sending an SMS to their address receive on their phone the missing bits of a picture of a beautiful woman. (Those bits are clothed, BTW.)

Slow Design: 13 Years to Get This Wooden Radio Right

mro — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:39:41 +0000

Edit: An irate Design Sojourn reader has highlighted to me that this is Green Washing at its best. Mahogany trees takes 10 years to mature before it can be cut down. I have responded directly to her, but I also would like to hear your feedback on this?

Some Thoughts on Twitter vs. Facebook Status Updates

mro — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:53:41 +0000

The functional act of constructing a tweet or a status update is very similar. Produce text in roughly 140 characters or less inside a single line text box and click a button. Voila! Even the stream based ways in which the text gets consumed look awfully similar. Yet, the more I talk with people engaged in practices around Twitter and Facebook, the more I'm convinced these two things are not actually the same practice. Why? Audience.

Cap and Trade: A Tangled Web of Good Intentions and Bad Policy – Part 1

mro — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:28:41 +0000

I favor some of the more aggressive actions to avert climate catastrophe, actions which nevertheless do not compromise the continuity of human life and well-being. The climate which enabled our evolution as a species and the societies upon which we depend has almost no price attached to it. Averting this calamity, if we can, is the moral equivalent of war.

Getting Started 4: Track and Evaluate the Success You Are Having

mro — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:55:41 +0000

For any brand getting started in social media, the most important thing is to be able to show the impact you are having. To be able to evaluate and assess what is working and what isn’t having the results that you might expect. To show the return on investment that your efforts are having and how this compares to other methods.

Introducing … the Green Confidence Index

mro — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:59:41 +0000

Today marks the launch of a new monthly index, the Green Confidence Index, aimed at tracking Americans' attitudes about and confidence in their leaders and institutions, nationally and locally, on the subject of environmental responsibility, as well as in their own understanding of issues and their willingness to make green purchasing choices. It is the first comprehensive monthly tracking of consumers' green attitudes and purchasing.

Algorithm Fetishism or What Facebook Gets Wrong

mro — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:38:41 +0000

My Facebook news feed is overflowing with people complaining about the changes to Facebook’s news feed/live feed. They boil down to two complaints (1) the news feed has too little and (2) the live feed has too much.

Getting Started 3: Have a Go and Experiment with Social Media

mro — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:28:41 +0000

There are too many stories of brands having tried and failed to use social media effectively. It may have been a disaster or, more usually, just not have had the impact and return on investment for the brand as it might have had. The most effective way to avoid this is to make sure that when you are getting started in social media you have done some effective planning first.

China Needs a National Design Policy. But More So, Needs Entrepreneurs That Think Big and Long-Term

mro — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:12:41 +0000

China's design industry experts are calling for greater government support in order to help the their manufacturers raise the competitiveness with design innovation. Zhu Tao, president of China Industrial Design Association, said the Chinese economy suffered heavily from the global economic crisis, with factory closures and layoffs. "Without our own design, we won't have our own brands. Without our own brands, we won't be independent in the world. Being an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) is no way out," he said. China does have a design policy. Not even the US has one.

How to Talk About [Whatever It's Called]

mro — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:52:41 +0000

Do people care about the climate?

It's an open question these days, and opinion polls offer little help. Some show that climate ranks fairly low among public concerns, while others indicate a high level of concern among the populace. And in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit, now a mere six weeks away, those opinions count for something, particularly in the United States, where lawmakers are looking to be swayed one way or another.

Live TV and Real-time Chat: X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing

mro — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:55:41 +0000

Watching TV is almost always a social experience. We talk to the people in the room with us. We talk to our friends on the phone, by instant messenger or on Facebook. We talk to people with similar interests in forums and chat rooms. Some of us even just shout at the TV on our own. However we do it, TV often makes us want to talk, share opinions and express ourselves. And some TV programmes make us want to do this more than others.

Send SMS to Complete This Ad

mro — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:38:41 +0000

This Axe ad from Uruguay is the best mobile "send SMS and get something" implementation I've seen. Send a text message after dark to a phone number listed on the ad, and you'll get the missing fragment of the picture. Good teaser, meaningful payback. Very smart.

Getting Started 2: What Do You Want to Achieve?

mro — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:54:41 +0000

In the first part of our guide to getting started in social media, we looked at buzz tracking. Why brands benefit from understanding who is currently talking about them online, what they are saying, to whom and where. Once you have an understanding of what is currently being said about your brand in social media, you will be much better informed about the issues of interest to people, the opinions they have, who your influencers and advocates are and where you can start to engage with people in social media. The next step is to work out what you actually want to achieve.

Innovators Are the New Untouchables

mro — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:12:41 +0000

In an op-ed piece for the New York Times, Thomas Friedman riffs on American economic competitiveness and the state of our nation's educational system. Friedman suggests that companies are once again placing a premium on innovators and out-of-the-box thinkers:

A Simple Life or Green Living Are Not the Solutions. They Distract Us from the Real Number One Problem

mro — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:18:41 +0000

I was hearing a group of designers here in Boston saying that the only way to solve our sustainability problems is to simplify our life and go back to creating less garbage. They went on to suggest that if the government decides to stop collecting garbage, and they end up piling up in our backyard or frontyard, we would then feel the problem and start living a simple life - a radical idea but a silly one that doesn’t work. Why don’t we go back to riding horses and we do that, we will have some serious horseshit problem to deal with.

VW to Launch New Model with iPhone Advergame

mro — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:08:41 +0000

AdAge today: "Volkswagen of America is launching the newest-generation GTI exclusively on an iPhone app." The entire launch budget for the new model is estimated $500K instead of the customary $60M, since the game is the only thing VW is doing. Fail or win, this is bound to end up in everyone's PowerPoint decks, so I went in to take a few pictures as a matter of public service.

What You Think about Age Depends on How Old You Are

mro — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:58:41 +0000

Buried away in this 164 page report, just published by the Department for Wages and Pensions about the attitudes of Brits to age are some fascinating and a somewhat disturbing findings.

The research in this report is based on secondary analysis of data from five national surveys (with a total of 6000 respondents).