The fascinating biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, former editor of Time, is chalk full of great insights from the “intersection of art and technology”, an intersection that Jobs understood better than anyone else in the technology industry and why Apple became the highest net worth company in America.
Read Full Article
I’ve done the commute, mostly into Toronto, and I tried to be a big boy about it, but I couldn’t get around the notion that it was killing me. The Economist reports on a recent study done in Sweden that concludes that if you commute more than 40 minutes, you are 40 percent more likely to get divorced. I moved my office to Burlington around 12 years ago, and moved my home there 3 years ago. I walk to work, walk home for lunch even. I drive about a tenth as much as I used to and I eat meals prepared at home. I can work until 6 and be home at 6:07. I can’t tell you what a difference it makes. But best of all, or at least as important, my work is far better than it ever was. Now part of that can be blamed on being older and having more experience, but I think a better lifestyle leads to much better work. I think we’ll see more companies considering how to get people to live closer to work. It will be very good for business, our economy and our well-being.
Read Full Article
If brands delivered on their promises, they could actually spend far less on advertising and promotion. Word of mouth would be exponential, especially in the age of Facebook and Twitter. It can cost several times as much to get a new ciustomer as it does to keep one. What’s more, poor customer service is heartbreaking for employees.
Superior Propane has been quietly changing its brand from the inside out with help from a PLAY created internal campaign called “We speak customer”.
Read Full Article
When I was young, I dreamed about all the ways we were going to join together and save the world. Then, all sorts of other priorities took hold, building a career or business, taking care of children, making mortgage payments.
Read Full Article
Building your brand and your business on-line is more than a matter of putting up a nice web site and having a Facebook page. Engaging people is such a passive manner is expensive without much return.
That’s why PLAY has introduced a web-based dashboard where visitors are given special offers in exchange for providing their e-mail address and entry into contests for major prizes when they share it with friends. The dashboard makes it easy to share on Facebook, Twitter, SMS and through e-mail because messages to friends are already pre-loaded. It’s just a matter of clicking on icons. The results for this technology will astound you.
Read Full Article
TV shows such as Mad Men help support the notion that advertising people grab their ideas virtually out of thin air. If you’re zany enough or “mad” enough you come up with ideas to any challenge if you just think hard enough. And drink lots of whiskey in the middle of the day.
Of course, to those of us who help clients consistently increase their businesses, nothing could be further from the truth. Getting great results means following a strict strategic and creative process that turns up an insight, which leads to a strategy and a big idea that engages prospects. Otherwise, it’s a roll of the dice, a shot in the dark and you’ll come up unlucky and broke more often than not. The worst gamblers are the ones who get lucky early and think it is their own prowess that got them there.
Read Full Article