Cold Kiwi…

This is a really important question to ask yourself before you start building a ‘business’ from Andy Sternovitz….

Do you have a business … or a feature?
September 26, 2010
If you build your business around someone else’s missing feature, you stand a huge risk of being eliminated. Many Twitter measurement companies saw the end of the line when they saw this headline: “Twitter to Launch Free Real-time Analytics This Year”.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise. Measurement and reporting should be a standard feature of most online software. Sooner or later, Twitter had to offer it.
Remember those spell checkers that sold separately from word processors? Harvard Graphics which made charts because Excel didn’t? When you have your next big idea, make sure it’s a business, not a feature.

Or maybe that technology was better than I thought

We love fast food.  It is what drives the country and is why I can’t sit in a middle seat on an airplane without getting major claustrophobia.  The story of McDonald’s hamburgers, which was started by the McDonald brothers in CA in the 40′s and then taken worldwide by Ray Kroc in the 50′s, is as American as Apple Pie.  

From the Foodmapping Blog: ‘American story of starting from nothing and triumphing over the odds to achieve great success. The iconic styling of the restaurants, as well as McDonald’s symbiosis with the automobile, capture a particular moment in the American psyche, when all things were possible and bigger was better, in both tail fins and franchises.’

Today, there are over 13,000 McDonald’s franchises, far outnumbering Burger King (7,000+) and Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s (about 6,000 each). This lovely map by Ian Spiro at fastfoodmaps.com maps fast food outlets in the U.S., and the numbers are truly staggering.  (read more at foodmapping blog)

According to The Consumerist –

You’re Never More Than 115 Miles From McDonald’s

Thanks to a McDonald’s in northeastern California going out of business, Americans are now never more than 115 miles from their nearest Golden Arches. The new “McFarthest” spot is a scrubby patch in northwest Nevada, ousting the previous McFarthest spot in South Dakota by 8 miles — move over,
45.45955,-101.91356, here’s 41.94389,-119.54010! Sweet, running those extra miles means I can probably Supersize my vanilla milkshake.

The McFarthest Spot Is Now Eight Miles McFarther [Datapointed]

• Endorsements must be truthful and not misleading;
• If the advertiser doesn’t have proof that the endorser’s experience represents what consumers will achieve by using the product, the ad must clearly and conspicuously disclose the generally expected results in the depicted circumstances; and
• If there’s a connection between the endorser and the marketer of the product that would affect how people evaluate the endorsement, it should be disclosed.

They shaved Chewie! The horror of it all!!!

This is an amazing photo from recently that includes the infamous Harrison Ford (aka Han Solo) and of course Peter Mayhew who played Chewie.

I love this photo, mostly because I am a big fan of Star Wars. But it is also pretty neat because it has a Chewbacca pinky ring as well as a Light Sabre pimp stick which is money!

Finally, I love the blue and black pen in his breast pocket.

This is a really cool photo.

Alright so I have not been posting. Too busy, but I will be back. I actually am working on a few other things right now that take up all my time, well besides my work that takes up 99% of my time.

I had to post this video because it is amazing. If you really watch these kids and realize what they are doing and some of the stunts they perform you will be blown away.

Jay Baer is really a brilliant interactive strategy and marketing executive. Jay is a highly respected and renowned social media strategy consultant and works with the Global 2K brand marketers and corporations on building and executing their social media and marketing strategies online. Check out his social media coaching and consulting blog called Convince and Convert, which has won awards and is currently ranked in the top 25 blogs within the Ad Age Power-150 blog network.

This video is really great and interesting. In this video Jay talks about the success of recent Brand Communities and Crowdsourcing techniques used by online marketers, especially within the CPG category (pet’s category in this video). Check out this video, it is not only really interesting and compelling content, but the ending is very amusing.