I just finished watching a 20-minute video of Ken Robinson’s presentation on the nature of creativity in our education systems from the TED (technology, entertainment, design) conference, and it’s a great clip. Robinson is funny and engaging and almost...
A few weeks ago I signed a lease for Work Industries to become a tenant at 70 East 2nd Avenue, on the corner of Quebec Street, here in Vancouver. We take over the high-ceiling, big-windows, open-air, brick-walled place on August 15. The Work space is an island in the...
People talking on their cell phones while driving are worse drivers than those who are drunk. I’ve seen people walk into lamp posts while walking down the street, talking on their phone. I’ve been on my way to meet someone when I’ve received a call...
Mark Stuyt was once a salesman for Peoplesoft, the enormous software company that makes an octopus of interlinked applications to run the administrative functions of large companies. A few years ago he embarked on what he called The Truth Experiment. Then he wrote...
CBC is running a great 3-part series right now on the shifting landscape of media entitled, The End: The End of Radio The End of TV The End of Print I watched the first segment, The End of Radio, on the web and really enjoyed it. (Sidenote: Finally (!) the CBC has...
Over at the Marqui blog Tara reports back on an Influencer 50 report Marqui commissioned to tell them what groups exerted the most influence over the buying decision of their target market. The results: Industry Analysts: 22% Journalists: 18% Vendors: 18%...
Recently I went through the rigamarole of buying a cell phone for the first time. Yes, there was pain. But now I like my handy little connected toy. In the sales process I had the opportunity to choose my phone number. The sales rep turned the screen on her terminal...
This past week I’ve come across some very good thinking and writing on the current state of the advertising business. It’s heartening to see, since so much of the current practice of advertising is simple tricks and tactics, hamfistedly imported from...
Buying gasoline has always struck me as a great example of irrational behaviour masquerading as bargain hunting. People drive around until they have nothing but fumes left in search of cheap gasoline. People put $5 in and wait for the price to drop. When prices are...
Andrew Goodman of Traffick writes in a post called Do you lie for a living?: I’m just flipping through Joseph Jaffe’s excellent Life After the 30-Second Spot (the PDF version—I hate to wait). When he still worked at an ad agency, Jaffe’s...