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July 2005 Archives
July 28, 2005
5 Cheap Ways Your Company Can Add Personality
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Marketing
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It's a tough market out there. In order to succeed, you need to stand out. Being the best isn't always good enough. Your company needs to have personality, it needs to have something that enables you to connect with people, something that forces them to remember you.
And it doesn't have to break the bank. Here's 5 ways you can connect with customers on the cheap:
Continue reading "5 Cheap Ways Your Company Can Add Personality"
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July 27, 2005
The Rise of Yellow
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Brand & Identity
You can thank Lance Armstrong and 50 million yellow bracelets, for yellow's rise from nowhere to be one of the most popular colors of choice. Brown and blue are two of the more popular colors lately, but they don't have a trendy athlete tie-in. Check out our recent entry on color and Personality.
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July 26, 2005
Advertising and America: A Concise History
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Advertising
A sweeping, fast-paced, non-conclusive or exhaustive history of advertising in America...
Introduction
As the century was turning over from the 1800s to the 1900s, industrial capitalists were playing a significant role in pioneering America's explosive economic growth. From oil tycoons to bankers, from automakers to clothiers, America was roaring. It's emergence not only as a nation but also as a viable player in the world fed its optimism and aggrandizement of what could be if only we put our minds to it.
Continue reading "Advertising and America: A Concise History"
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July 25, 2005
Fast Food Innovation
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Business
Combining Mexican with southern food with seafood seems to be a hit. But it's not as gross as it sounds. Fast food conglomerate Yum Brands is teaming up Taco Bells and Kentucky Fried Chickens with under-performing brands like Long John Silvers or A&W. The combined stores share space, employees, kitchens and cash registers, meanwhile they draw more people. Perhaps we could dub the strategy combine and conquer.
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July 23, 2005
Traffic Epiphany
Posted by Brian Zopf | Filed under: Marketing
I was peacefully sitting in traffic this morning, minding my own business at 3 mph when some yahoo in the lane next to me totally cut me off! I'm not sure where he thought he was going go or at what speed he thought he might get there, but wherever it was... he didn't.
My first reaction was to get mad; but instead... I had an epiphany.
Continue reading "Traffic Epiphany"
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July 21, 2005
Punctuation Matters
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Marketing
Those pesky little commas really do matter. Signs at North Miami Beach bus stops declared, "Say 'NO' to Drugs from the NMB Police D.A.R.E Officers." We certainly hope the D.A.R.E. officers aren't doling out drugs. Let that be a lesson: Misused punctuation can turn D.A.R.E. officers into drug dealers.
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July 20, 2005
Change This is Back
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Business
After nearly six months of downtime, Change This is back. It's not quite a blog, not quite a news site, more like an enabler for good ideas. They publish PDFs of smart ideas, including recent riffs on conventional business wisdom from Tom Peters and bringing Hawaiian values to business management.
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July 19, 2005
Full Circle
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Business
It would take years and years of trying before March 10, 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant, Thomas Watson, would hear each other’s voice over a wire for the first time. Just three years later the Bell Company had connected 133,000 telephones. Long distance communication would arrive in 1915 when Harold Arnold invented the first practical electrical amplifiers, allowing phone calls to reach everywhere that wires did.
Decades later, the modem would come on the scene to allow data to travel across those same wires that voice traveled over. This led the way for the world wide web of connectivity because now data could travel over voice lines.
Continue reading "Full Circle"
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July 14, 2005
Logo Design
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Brand & Identity
If every other company jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you? Spiral logos seem to be hot, but it's a sure way to blend in. This onslaught of spiral-inspired logos is amazing—and good motivation to find something more original. Graphic Design USA offers a glimpse of logo trends in 2005, culled from LogoLounge.com.
(link via Seth Godin)
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July 11, 2005
Lessons from a Pirate: Madness or Brilliance
Posted by Shawn Stewart | Filed under: Marketing
The other night my fiance and I were at home working on our wedding invitations, we decided to put on a movie as background noise for our envelope stuffing. The chosen noise, Pirates of the Caribbean. In my opinion Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the most likeable movie characters to come along in recent history. Johnny Depp was absolutely brilliant in bringing the eccentric pirate to life.
Anyway, something that Captain Jack said really made me think. The character Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) said to Jack, "This is either madness... or brilliance." To which Jack responded, "It's remarkable how often those two traits coincide."
You know what, he's right. Think about it, everything from the Space Shuttle, to FedEx to Google have been considered both.
For instance, Target. I can guarantee naysayers have that said Target couldn't compete with the likes of Wal-mart and Kmart. Umm, sure they won't.
How about another for instance: Starbucks. Again the negative bombers attack, "Who's going to pay $3.50 for a coffee?"
So what's my point? The point is more of a question, how often do you take risks with your business especially with your marketing? Are you afraid of being considered mad? If so you may never be considered brilliant. You could learn a lot from a pirate.
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July 6, 2005
C.S. Lewis on Writing
Posted by Ken Erickson | Filed under: Creativity
Whether it be through words, images, or sounds, the wise words of C.S. Lewis apply to all. When asked in a child's letter how to write, this is how Lewis responded:
"In writing, don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is 'terrible,' describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don't say it was 'delightful'; make us say 'delightful' when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, 'Please, will you do my job for me?'"
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July 5, 2005
Lessons Learned
Posted by Lisa Pileggi | Filed under: Personality News
Note: Lisa is leaving us and moving on—all the way to Spain. We'll miss you, Lisa!
A few lessons I've learned while working for Personality™:
- 4/4 is not a fraction that equals one.
- I've been known as the queen bee.
- Like clowns squeezing into a VW bug, we are attempting to fill an office space with how many desks?
- Macs are heavenly.
- Anyone ever heard of using a space heater in the middle of summer?
- Brad's a cool boss.
- It has been quite the experience, working with projects from designing a carnival ride façade, to designing and printing community cards for a well-known professional athlete.
- Always check the Pantone book before going to print. Blue can all of a sudden turn to periwinkle.
- Organizing a photo shoot takes a lot of preparation.
- The memo for my request of a hammock for my daily siesta must have been misplaced, so I guess I'll head to Spain where the siestas are actually on the schedule.
Parting words:
It has been such a wonderful experience, both professionally and personally, working for this grand company. Thank you to each of you who allowed me the opportunity to work with you during some quick, and some long projects. It has been a blast!
¡Adios!
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