3m Safety Glass Advertisement
I just had to blog this. I'm a very regular fastcompany reader and this evening I was reading up when I caught this ad, as they had blogged about it on the FcNow blog.
Apparantly 3M (the innovation giant) has designed a safety glass so strong that they want the public to see how much they believe in it. Therefore they have created street advertisements, that resemble "lockboxes" full of "money" (suspected play money). This is definitely one of the most attention grabbing ad concepts you will find in the city. Even if its not real.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Why Overstock.com Auctions deserves your attention.
Overstock.com Auctions vs. eBay - Price Comparisons
I was browsing Overstock.com tonight... in response to a couple articles I have read recently. They've gotten some press regarding their online auction environment gaining market penetration against the EBay behemoth. Although its not a huge share, I was glad to learn of their success in the market and even more happy to find this page on their site, with a side by side comparison of the two products. Overstock has drawn up a table of the auction products they offer and their prices versus eBay.
I suggest you take a look.
Why am I pro-Overstock? Its all eBay's fault. As a fan of selling lower cost products using the auction model, I eventually stopped all of my eBay auctioneering because of the ridiculous margins that eBay asked for when selling my low revenue products. It got to the point where I stopped selling there and started my own fixed price site, and what do you know? It's been cheaper ever since. The truth is I support competition in the market, and therefore I am in support of Overstock Auctions. After all; when there is competition the consumer always wins.
I was browsing Overstock.com tonight... in response to a couple articles I have read recently. They've gotten some press regarding their online auction environment gaining market penetration against the EBay behemoth. Although its not a huge share, I was glad to learn of their success in the market and even more happy to find this page on their site, with a side by side comparison of the two products. Overstock has drawn up a table of the auction products they offer and their prices versus eBay.
I suggest you take a look.
Why am I pro-Overstock? Its all eBay's fault. As a fan of selling lower cost products using the auction model, I eventually stopped all of my eBay auctioneering because of the ridiculous margins that eBay asked for when selling my low revenue products. It got to the point where I stopped selling there and started my own fixed price site, and what do you know? It's been cheaper ever since. The truth is I support competition in the market, and therefore I am in support of Overstock Auctions. After all; when there is competition the consumer always wins.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Brandchannel announces Readers Choice Awards for 2004
BrandChannel, the online site of Interbrand consultancy has released their list of the top most influential brands of 2004 today. Among the leaders are all the ones you would expect, and obviously have interacted with on a daily basis in some way, shape, or form.
The leader? Apple. Obviously the brand had a meteoric year in 2004, and I can't argue against that. In fact I too am inflicted with the apple bug, though I don't need an Ipod, I am certainly curious about the new MacMini computer, a sub-$500 computer, a first for Apple. Is being number 1 great? I imagine yes, since it means you have had results in the market; but are people forgetting that there could be negative associations?...being on the list of most influential brands means that you have taken over people's lives. It means that you in effect, are so popular that you are everywhere...ubiquitous. The brandchannel article goes so far as to describe the apple ipod brand in this way so there must be some weight to the argument.
The problem with being so popular, is that people eventually despise you and will want to rebel. The reason I know is that I am one of those people who thinks that the original ipod was an achievement in mp3 player technology, but as time has gone on the ipod minis and the new shuffle are simply an attempt to play off the power of the brand. Now, when anyone say's their getting a new ipod product I actually argue against it, citing that the new products offer less value than their parents, and that competitors with less brand power have gone out of their way to develop better products to compete, but are getting blocked out by the giant sequoia that is Apple. For example, for the same price as the ipod minis available today, there is a 5gb player with 20 hours of battery life which is smaller, and will play more kinds of media. This new product featurewise crushes the ipod mini, but has gotten less attention. This is a common problem with popular brands... but my knowledge of this has turned me into a iPod rebel, everyone else has swallowed the apple pill, but some of us...the rebels of the ipod wars; will rise up to educate the masses, and defeat the slavemaster: Apple computers Inc.
You should definitely check out the list. For marketers its the creme de la creme, and an opportunity to see how brands have played out globally, versus in our own minds.
The leader? Apple. Obviously the brand had a meteoric year in 2004, and I can't argue against that. In fact I too am inflicted with the apple bug, though I don't need an Ipod, I am certainly curious about the new MacMini computer, a sub-$500 computer, a first for Apple. Is being number 1 great? I imagine yes, since it means you have had results in the market; but are people forgetting that there could be negative associations?...being on the list of most influential brands means that you have taken over people's lives. It means that you in effect, are so popular that you are everywhere...ubiquitous. The brandchannel article goes so far as to describe the apple ipod brand in this way so there must be some weight to the argument.
The problem with being so popular, is that people eventually despise you and will want to rebel. The reason I know is that I am one of those people who thinks that the original ipod was an achievement in mp3 player technology, but as time has gone on the ipod minis and the new shuffle are simply an attempt to play off the power of the brand. Now, when anyone say's their getting a new ipod product I actually argue against it, citing that the new products offer less value than their parents, and that competitors with less brand power have gone out of their way to develop better products to compete, but are getting blocked out by the giant sequoia that is Apple. For example, for the same price as the ipod minis available today, there is a 5gb player with 20 hours of battery life which is smaller, and will play more kinds of media. This new product featurewise crushes the ipod mini, but has gotten less attention. This is a common problem with popular brands... but my knowledge of this has turned me into a iPod rebel, everyone else has swallowed the apple pill, but some of us...the rebels of the ipod wars; will rise up to educate the masses, and defeat the slavemaster: Apple computers Inc.
You should definitely check out the list. For marketers its the creme de la creme, and an opportunity to see how brands have played out globally, versus in our own minds.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Penn State Blog: Week 1 -- Is it Homework?
Week 1
It seems that a Penn State University Economics professor is asking his/her students to write blog articles as a homework assignment for class. Weird? Well from what I gather from the blog address: psu1234.blogspot.com, the content of the articles (basic economic principals as they relate to college student's daily lives), and the profile (there is none), it seems that a professor at PSU may be trying to peak students interests through a collaborative blog.
Its not a bad idea if you think about it; each student gets to contribute their ideas on the classroom material, relating the material to their daily lives however they wish. On top of that, students put thought into their peices so they are well enough written to be published online.
The result is a very richly written blog, full of ideas, each article precisely on-topic, but contributed from a wide variety of authors. A truly grand example of the use of blogging.
A trend? I think so
College students write billions of essays/ articles/ shorts every year and for many, it is at their peak writing ability, so why not share? I am sure we are going to see many more creative, insightful, on-point blogs such as this one written very soon.
It seems that a Penn State University Economics professor is asking his/her students to write blog articles as a homework assignment for class. Weird? Well from what I gather from the blog address: psu1234.blogspot.com, the content of the articles (basic economic principals as they relate to college student's daily lives), and the profile (there is none), it seems that a professor at PSU may be trying to peak students interests through a collaborative blog.
Its not a bad idea if you think about it; each student gets to contribute their ideas on the classroom material, relating the material to their daily lives however they wish. On top of that, students put thought into their peices so they are well enough written to be published online.
The result is a very richly written blog, full of ideas, each article precisely on-topic, but contributed from a wide variety of authors. A truly grand example of the use of blogging.
A trend? I think so
College students write billions of essays/ articles/ shorts every year and for many, it is at their peak writing ability, so why not share? I am sure we are going to see many more creative, insightful, on-point blogs such as this one written very soon.
Jayloden.com - AIM Virus Removal
Jayloden.com - AIM Virus Removal
AIM Virus's suck. Tonight I got a call from a friend with a computer virus that made their AIM act up and put up "random" away messages. Her away message would automatically come up with a link for others to click on, (e.g. "my photos from the beach"), that would send the virus to the next persons computer. It had other symptoms too, such as re-setting internet explorer's security settings, and not allowing windows Task Manager to open when the user hit CTRL+ALT+DEL.
So what'd I do? I began searching the web; having not encountered the problem before I hoped for an easy solution.
And what do you know, I got one. A guy by the name of Jay Loden (I'm assuming, after all its http://www.jayloden.com) has apparantly had the problem multiple times and taken it upon himself to make a fix for a large variety of AIM viruses and spyware issues. His tool, what he calls AIMFIX, helped us out BIGtime. It is simple, well updated, and extremely effective. It's so effective I'm writing about it here so that other inflicted users can easily find his work. My message to Jay: Keep up the good work.. Once again, for a quick fix to the AIM virus described above, try visiting JayLoden.com, and use AIMFIX.
AIM Virus's suck. Tonight I got a call from a friend with a computer virus that made their AIM act up and put up "random" away messages. Her away message would automatically come up with a link for others to click on, (e.g. "my photos from the beach"), that would send the virus to the next persons computer. It had other symptoms too, such as re-setting internet explorer's security settings, and not allowing windows Task Manager to open when the user hit CTRL+ALT+DEL.
So what'd I do? I began searching the web; having not encountered the problem before I hoped for an easy solution.
And what do you know, I got one. A guy by the name of Jay Loden (I'm assuming, after all its http://www.jayloden.com) has apparantly had the problem multiple times and taken it upon himself to make a fix for a large variety of AIM viruses and spyware issues. His tool, what he calls AIMFIX, helped us out BIGtime. It is simple, well updated, and extremely effective. It's so effective I'm writing about it here so that other inflicted users can easily find his work. My message to Jay: Keep up the good work.. Once again, for a quick fix to the AIM virus described above, try visiting JayLoden.com, and use AIMFIX.
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