The Spin Within

These are no doubt the words a few men heard this Valentine’s Day when their order from 1-800-Flowers failed to arrive. Oops.

1-800-Flowers is under fire this week for failing to deliver countless orders on Valentine’s Day and giving no reason why. When customers were stuck on hold ‘endlessly’ – as some say – they turned their ire to 1-800-Flowers’ social media pages. Here are just some of the comments:

- @kyrauff, “How many couples broke up because of @1800flowers’ no good, very bad Valentine’s day?”

- @vancouverkate, “I’ve already been waiting 14 … Continue Reading

Facebook has been in the news a great deal lately, primarily focusing on its IPO filing and the fact that billionaires and millionaires seem to be dropping from the sky. 

I doubt that Mark Zuckerberg and his college buddies dreamed that Facebook would become such an integral part of society and that they would become the richest group of 20-somethings in the world. 

Even more, I’m sure they never dreamed their social networking/photo-sharing creation would also become the source of life-altering events…in a negative way.

In … Continue Reading

Matthew Broderick is giving us a time-out during the Super Bowl, and for a middle-aged, recession-weary public, the timing couldn’t be better.

Broderick, if you haven’t heard, is reviving Ferris Bueller, the school-cutting, life-loving teen of the 1986 movie. It is for just a brief time, but it is the quality of the moment, not the length, which matters.

The effort comes in the form of a commercial for Honda. That’s right, instead of the wickedly gorgeous, cherry-red Ferrari 250GT California, Ferris ditches work and gets his kicks in a red CRV.

But it works, not surprisingly. With smart writing, an eclectic soundtrack … Continue Reading

When you promise a free anything on Facebook, you better be prepared for it to go viral and for a lot of consumer attention. When you are not prepared, it will bite you in the butt in a big way.

Just like it did for Toronto-based Timothy’s Coffee.

We are a fan of these K-cups at our office. We have three boxes of Timothy’s Coffee in our office right now and we make coffee orders at least twice a month. So if we would have known Timothy’s Coffee was offering … Continue Reading

Groupon is launching another weird marketing campaign.

It’s called ‘Clicky.’ Clicky is a Clickable Value-Wheel that lets you spin a wheel in hopes of getting some cool discounts, with a max of $100 (kind of like Shoe Carnival, no?) Your spins are limited per day, so you can’t just spin until you win (darn).

It’s a good idea, but Groupon can’t seem to touch anything without making it weird. I mean, look how ugly the thing is. And why is it frowning? One user on Twitter … Continue Reading

Well folks, the world is getting smaller.  At least, according to Facebook – and if Facebook says it’s true…

Back in the early 90′s, the trivia game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon popularized the concept that all people were connected by an average of six or less steps.

According to Facebook, we’ve all gotten a little closer and are actually linked by an average of just under four degrees of separation.  3.74 degrees, if you want to be picky.  Using a super smart algorithm, researchers at the Universita degli Studi di Milano analyzed … Continue Reading

Nom nom nom

One does not have to live in Cincinnati to be familiar with one of its greatest brands, Graeter’s Ice Cream. The rich, chocolate-chunky treat has earned a national following, including major media coverage, due entirely to its quality and taste. (That said, endorsements from Oprah Winfrey certainly don’t hurt.)

But a recent story in the Cincinnati Enquirer proves that the hardworking members of the fourth generation of Graeters also have a good deal of savvy to go with their delicious flavors. According to the piece, the … Continue Reading

There were plenty of candidates for our list of the top PR blunders of 2011. In most cases the difference between a public relations blunder that irreparably damages your reputation and one that is just a blip on the radar hinges on how quickly, authentically and transparently the company (or the person) responds. The public is incredibly forgiving but their bullish&%t meters are high.

Netflix – Netflix ticked off millions of customers this fall when CEO Reed Hastings announced he was splitting the company in two, essentially doubling the monthly fees … Continue Reading

This is a stocking stuffer of a blog item, a posting that merely passes on some news to those of you who are not already aware. It’s intended simply to add mirth to the holiday season. So, if there are still gifts to be purchased, better tend to that.

It seems the Twitter world went into a twizzy a few days ago over the death of Lil’ Kim, the only female rapper outside of Missy Elliott to have at least three platinum albums. You know:

I got everybody rappin’ about jewelry and cars
Lil’ Kim give you a platinum sixteen bars
I’m the real … Continue Reading

There are many ways a social media user can get snowed these days. For instance, while Facebook succeeded in frosting its members by secretly tracking their behavior, LinkedIn has warmed our hearts by sending us frosty greetings disguised as personal tracking.

The greeting comes in the form of Snow E. Mann, an “Independent Snow Management Consultant,” whose profile photo is a cartoon snowman. He arrives to us via one of the cool features on LinkedIn, which is a regular update of who has recently viewed our profiles.

On Dec. 19, when I checked … Continue Reading