The Spin Within

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend the World Business Forum, an annual event that has become the largest gathering of senior executives in the U.S. who gather annually in New York to hear from the world’s best and brightest business luminaries.  This year’s roster of speakers included former Vice President Al Gore, former Chairman of General Electric Jack Welch, marketing guru Martin Lindstrom, former Procter and Gamble Chairman A.G. Lafley, Good to Great author Jim Collins, Steven Levitt … Continue Reading

Halloween is arguably one of the best holidays all year. Dressing up in costume is one of my fave things. I LOVE pumpkin spice coffee and caramel apples. Nights are filled with scary movies (and some not-so-scary like Nightmare Before Christmas and The Halloween Tree) and haunted houses. But the main reason that Halloween is so great? People will just give you candy… FOR FREE! No rides in sketchy, windowless vans necessary.

According to this article on CNNMoney.com, Seattle is the best city for trick or treating. The list was … Continue Reading

Charlie Sheen is back in the news again. Television’s highest paid actor was briefly hospitalized Tuesday after security at the Plaza Hotel called police to report he was disorderly and had broken furniture in his room, police said.

Major news outlets reported that Sheen appeared highly intoxicated when officers arrived to his room around 1:30 a.m., and a woman with him said they had been out drinking and partying that night, according to a law enforcement official. The Today Show reported that Sheen was found “naked and agitated” in his … Continue Reading

Saved $125!

Often times, as I cash in my CVS Extra Bucks or Nordstrom Notes, I wonder how much these loyalty programs cost retailers. For some, I imagine they are a valuable loss leader. And done well, a good number should cross over into profitability.

So I ran a quick check of several recent quarterly reports and, well, it turns out a lot of retailers do not provide much detail. Costs related to their loyalty programs are typically included in the selling, general and administrative expenses, and not broken … Continue Reading

I sure hope not. But with increasing staff cuts at major news stations, it could be. Newscasters will probably not be Tweeting and posting to Facebook while on camera, but they just might eliminate the camera altogether. After all, three-fourths of Americans say they hear of news via e-mail or updates on social media sites.

Here is a social media parody by a Dallas-Fort Worth FOX station. How many social media jokes can you count?

It has been six months since Apple’s iPad hit the market, selling 7.5 million units as of September 30th. Early on, experts predicted that one of the major beneficiaries of the iPad’s success would be the struggling print industry. A recent AdAge report shed light on how exactly these publications fared on the iPad during the first six months.

The piece included some interesting figures for the industry, with one key takeway being that different print genres saw different levels of success on the iPad. AdAge reported … Continue Reading

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a luncheon put on by AdClub Cincinnati with Mary Lou Quinlan speaking about marketing to women. Aside from being a fantastic speaker, I really learned a lot from the presentation and I look forward to reading her book, “What She’s Not Telling You: Why Women Hide the Whole Truth and What Marketers Can Do About It.”

The concept of Quinlan’s book is that women tell half truths, not lies but half truths. Yep, you got us. For example, many women will say … Continue Reading

Walk into a conference with hundreds or even thousands of potential business connections, and you might feel like the lost fish in the rather gigantic pond.  A couple of days filled with different presentations does not allow network opportunities with everyone and there is a potential loss to be suffered from that. Unsocial, a free new app for iPhone, Android, and soon Blackberry, is a “FourSquare meets LinkedIn, with a touch of match.com on the side.” It takes away those overwhelming network opportunities and determines quick contacts for you. The social butterflies of who to sit next … Continue Reading

The best news is inside

When I was a reporter, I was occasionally amused by the unwillingness of some newspapers to publicly share information about changes or controversies that occurred within their newsrooms. But then, I never worked for Randy Michaels.

With Michaels, the nation gets to witness the head rolling of a contentious media leader whose dirty laundry is being aired from coast to coast. Michaels is (or was, depending when you read this) the CEO of the Tribune Co., the bankrupt owner of the Chicago Tribune and the … Continue Reading

It’s a classic brand strategy. Align yourself with something people think is cool and they will think you and your brand are cool as well. That seems to be exactly what the Catholic church is aiming to do, amid their turmoil with priest sex scandals and declining church attendance (although I don’t know how cool The Simpsons cartoon is anymore).  In the Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano, a very strange article appeared on Sunday, titled, “Homer and Bart are Catholics.” Apparently, a jesuit priest’s media study found that The Simpsons is one of the few TV programs for kids in which … Continue Reading