October 2008
34 posts
1 tag
Halloween to Christmas
Is the day after Halloween trying to be the new day after Thanksgiving?
It’s really apparent this year, the stores are dying to make the conversion from Halloween to Christmas. I was at Target last night and they were consolidating the last remnants of Halloween products into one small section as the Christmas wrapping paper, lights, ornaments and cards made their way to the front of the...
Bringing too much attention to the branding... →
If you haven’t noticed already, you’re about to. Pepsi has unveiled a new look for its entire line of beverages. While the change to the Pepsi icon is visually somewhat subtle (old Pepsi…
1 tag
Bumper stickers
If I offend anyone by the post, well, sorry. But, if there’s one thing that never fails to crack me up, it’s bumper stickers.
As you’ve seen here before, I especially love the ones that tell us to preserve American jobs by buying American cars. Nine times out of ten, those 15-year-old trucks have a sticker on the other side of a kids urinating on a Ford, Chevy or Dodge logo. For...
1 tag
Short-term leases
I wonder what type of short-term lease these Halloween USA stores hammer out with these retail properties? Is it expensive, or do they get it on the cheap because of all the vacant “big box” space that’s available — especially in Michigan.
They pop up in early September and then they’re gone right after Halloween. How do they do it? I’m intrigued. Two months of...
Should I sell?
My blog is worth $1,693.62. How much is your blog worth?
So it's not Harmon Killebrew??? →
The Wall Street Journal today has a great feature on Jerry Dior, the man who 40 years ago designed the MLB logo. Take a look at the slide show in the middle of the article that shows all…
1 tag
“Taco Bell restaurant manager reserves the right to deny Free Taco to any person...”
– Written by some attorney south of the border.
What are they going to do…smell your fingers?
1 tag
“When Matt (Millen) called me and was talking about hunting and told me that he...”
– Brett Favre, after being accused of giving the Lions information on the offense he used to run in Green Bay. Can someone help me decipher this quote and the double-negative “don’t think for a second I wasn’t thinking…” huh?
Extending a sport's brand →
The World Series begins tonight—the Philadelphia Phillies and the surprising Tampa Bay Rays. (See my post from last November about me saying a name change wouldn’t get them into the Fall Classic….
“Changing names, colors and uniforms won’t get you to the World Series. In...”
– ME!!! I wrote this in a blog post on doesyourbusiness.com back on November 7, 2007. Go Rays!!
Kimberly Leclercq featured in Birmingham Eccentric →
The Birmingham Eccentric recently published a great feature article on Kimberly Leclercq, a principal and co-founder here at SOZO | Pivotal. The article chronicles Kimberly’s pretty…
1 tag
I'm done with television...
Last night I decided I’m quitting television—with a few rules and exceptions of course.
Over the years I’ve met or known people who say they don’t watch TV. They usually fall into two camps—miserable and extremely happy.
You have the people who don’t watch any TV to prove a point. They act like they’re too sophisticated for the trash that’s on the boob tube....
1 tag
Cider mill donuts have to be fresh!!
Went to Blake Farms Orchard last weekend for cider and donuts. The donuts were horrible. You could have bought better donuts in the “day-old” section at Kroger. Today, I had cider and donuts at Yates Cider Mill. These donuts were fresh with that greasy crispiness around the inside of the donut. These were real cider mill donuts.
Yates wins by a landslide.
1 tag
joetheplumber.com →
It briefly crossed my mind to register this domain name the other night. Apparently it’s been owned for a couple years and the other night it received 32,000 hits during the debate. Keep pushing those t-shirts because in a couple weeks you’ll be a plumber again. Too bad the now famous “Joe the Plumber” didn’t have that domain name.
Best Buy. Best Practices →
I recently saw that Best Buy was changing their logo. As you can see from the comparison above, the change is significant. Sure, the tag is still there, but the logo—while visually…
Knuckleballs
What happens when a knuckleball doesn’t knuckle and the other team is hitting homeruns like it’s batting practice? You get destroyed 13-4.
The only difference is an F and and H, right? →
I noticed this similarity in season kick-off logos the other night while I was at the Detroit Red Wings’ season opener but, for whatever reason, didn’t think much about it until today when…
Does your product design play a role in your... →
Question: What is this a photo of? If you said an iPhone, you’re wrong. Nice try. You were close, sort of. It’s the corner of the screen on the new Apple MacBook Pro released earlier…
More proof that hockey goalies are a strange... →
1 tag
“Bain Capital was laughed at when it was reported that they offered $4 billion to...”
– Darren Rovell, from CNBC.
I agree that the NHL is going to be impacted the most by this economy. Even before this crisis situation the NHL has had teams file for bankrupcy right and left. There are teams that just shouldn’t exist. I’m looking forward to returning to the days of a...
1 tag
Slammed in the media
My fantasy hockey team is taking a beating…thanks Kent.
Koosh: Dave will need to conjure the old spirits in Nic Corsetti’s basement. Those same spirits that watched over his squad as we completed the very first MRHL draft on Nic’s Ping Pong table. Oh how he misses the days of Bret Hull and his 70 goals, or the dominance of Al Macinnis and Tom Barasso. Dave even tried to move those spirits...
Would you pay $12 for a round-trip bus ride from... →
MLB playoff thoughts...
Love seeing the Rays beat up on the Chisox. Hate seeing the Cubs do what they always do. Thinking the Dodgers and Red Sox in the World Series would be great for Manny reasons.
1 tag
It starts in school
So the House passed the $700 billion “bailout” bill today. It should be called the “Lesson Learned” bill. Unfortunately, will everyone learn the lesson?
I’ve long been amazed that schools, especially high schools, don’t focus more on personal finance. You can do a hell of a lot more damage to yourself by not understanding the idea behind a credit card than you...
