The weekend links

It's exam time and we're wrapping up a bunch of projects now. I call these weeks Hell weeks because of the many loose ends that need to get tied up. Also I finally am celebrating my (belated) birthday this weekend and get to party with my friends for once.

On with the links:


I saw an ad in the newspaper this week from GM extolling their new direction and the fact that they really are making cars that people want (compacts and hybrids). Somehow I really just can't trust that company any more. Apparently a lot of consumers don't either and car analysts have said that even if GM's cash flow problems stabilize, it will be incredibly challenging for them to regain the trust of consumers who frankly won't buy from a company they don't think is solvent.


Mi-Fi looks really cool, but what's the purpose if all handheld devices are Wi-Fi capable? And what kind of data charges would one see from using this device? Also I am confused about how to pronounce it. Is it Mi-Fi like "My-Fi" or is it Mi-Fi like Miffy?



John Legend sang about nutmeg last night on Stephen Colbert's Christmas show. Hilarious when he sings "the only residue I want wiping of your face is my NUTMEG" (go to 1:45)

Speaking of nutmeg, here's a great recipe for eggnog.


Advertising was sexist in 2008 - yeah but it wouldn't have shown unless test audiences responded favourably to it. Who's really sexist, marketers or the public? HuffPost broke down the top five sexist trends in advertising in 2008.

You know, Wikipedia is great for fan related information in amazing detail. It's one of those weird quirks of the dominance of user-generated content in web 2.0 when the entry for warp drive has a bigger page than that for the Canadian Constitution. Warp drive is fascinating though - you know it works by creating a bubble in subspace around the ship that expands space behind the bubble and shrinks space in front of the bubble. The spaceship essentially stays in one place while space moves around it. Now as for transwarp conduits, I'm really not sure how those work. The Borg seem to have a good understanding of the physics though.

I wanted to thank Keanu reeves for taking the tme to sit with us earlier this week. Pajiba has a hilarious page on the many faces of Keanu Reeves. You can really get a sense of his dramatic versatility.

Test your brain. This stuff is always fun. I like the emotional intelligence test.


It's really too bad that the Andromeda Strain bra (top) is sold out. I'm still looking for Christmas presents for my mom. Creative weird bras here.

And finally, hilarious news reporter meltdowns. Bill O'Reilly (Hard Copy) is really the best one.

Admit it Gen Y, you love Atlas Shrugged

In between trips to the sensory deprivation tank and group meetings for 601 that I’ll have during the few short weeks this holiday season, I’d like to get back into regular reading.

During school semesters, I find myself mostly reading blogs, online news, the Economist, and a few random magazines like AdBusters, Vanity Fair, Wine Spectator, and Travel & Leisure. I love reading, but can’t really find time to devote to sitting down, turning off the laptop, and reading a book. But that’s one of the great things about the holidays – you finally have no excuse for procrastination.

I’m going to finish reading ‘Atlas Shrugged’, Ayn Rand’s seminal tome of objectivism and free-market capitalism. And it’s a bizarre time to be reading about laissez-faire economics given the economic crisis that somehow necessitates government nationalization of key industries, bailouts, and a general rejection of the idea that individuals acting in their own self-interest will create an optimal economic outcome.

I’m at page 593 of Atlas Shrugged. The book is 1063 pages and has a font size of 8. It’s ridiculous. But still I persevere. The story is interesting, if not a bit pithy and needlessly arcing.

But what really makes me keep flipping the page is the survivalist philosophy espoused by the protagonists. Ideas like fairness is irrelevant in an argument (because who is to say what’s really fair?) or that individuals have no obligation but to themselves. As a book it is a testament to self-interest and competition. It wholly defends rationality and discredits the concept of intrinsic value or subjective interpretation. This is known as objectivism.

For example, an apple is an apple. Reality is exactly what things are, not some perceptual cloak that society has elaborately created to shape our understanding of the world.

Things are what they are, therefore what grounds do we have to question reality? If all we know of reality is what we can see, sense, and experience, then there is no rational basis upon which we can claim that it's manufactured or false.

The plot of Atlas Shrugged is set in the context of a decaying industrialist society whose government and leaders believe that nothing is absolute and refuse to believe that labour productivity actually contributes to personal well-being. Citizens become pessimistic and willfully commit themselves to a collectivist mentality, believing that society’s best interests supercede their own.

In a utopia (or Marxist state) this philosophy might work, however with no one accepting individual responsibility, the world collapses. Trains stop running, electricity shuts off, people go hungry.

Now I’m hardly suggesting that this will happen with an Obama administration – but it’s interesting to study Atlas Shrugged as an analogy to what’s happening now. The same sense of free-market individualism that Ayn Rand supports can be thought to have catalyzed the overleverage that crashed our economy.

I think for Gen Ys, Atlas Shrugged really is the perfect literary guilty pleasure. We’re not willing to accept Rand’s hard-as-nails rationality about charity or welfare, but we’re salivating over the affirmation that individuals must have personal ownership and accountability to contribute to a healthy and functioning society.


The film adaptation is scheduled for a 2009 release, and if you needed another reason to hate Angelina Jolie (although I actually love her) she’s apparently going to be the lead.

Keanu Reeves gives great client presentations

The world is abuzz with excitement over Keanu Reeves’ upcoming performance as Klaatu in “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Although he’s busy on the movie’s media circuit, Keanu agreed to sit down with me and talk about his reflections on how to do a good client presentation.

MAX: So Keanu, this Friday B!G will be going to our client for a final presentation of the results from our marketing analysis. It’s mostly industry stuff and some technical details, but the gist of the presentations insights are focused on how the recommending short, medium, and long term opportunities for a sustainable marketing solution. How do you think we should present this?

KEANU: Well, what’s the client like? I mean, Max, you invite me to sit down with you and then you ask a really vague question that’s full of a lot of bullshit marketing terminology.


MAX: Ok, Ok…no need to be defensive. Our client is friendly and we have a good rapport with them. This is our second engagement with them and they have been receptive to our objective analysis in the past. A positive relationship overall.

KEANU: So they’re not defensive themselves?

MAX: No way.

KEANU: So then ask yourselves what information they’d like to see and make sure that its communicated through words, pictures, graphs, and graphics that they’ll understand. You said they’re friendly, right?

MAX: Yep.

KEANU: Ok, so make it a conversation. This way everyone is comfortable and B!G won’t be stressing out about the need to convince the client of the insights validity. Like, lay your cards on the table to start, and enjoy the time together. It should be natural.

MAX: Natural? How so?

KEANU: Well, I always found doing screen tests and auditions that if you’re going into it assuming that your audience will not be receptive to what you have to say then you inevitably screw up. But instead if you go into the performance believing in the truth and integrity of your message, you deliver it honestly and compellingly, and you make sure to connect with your audience as real people, not an immovable object, then you’ll generally succeed and get the part.


MAX: That’s great advice! So then we’ve got our message, we know our audience, but how are we going to deliver it in a compelling way?

KEANU: Tell a story. What’s the project about?

MAX: Wind energy in Canada.

KEANU: Gnarly. Ok, so explain the market, the key insights, the potential business plays, and the potential business strategy. But remember to link it together with some unifying theme….something like ‘growth’, or ‘innovation’, or ‘threats’. A common thread is a good thing to have in a presentation so the audience can link things together in their minds.

MAX: Cue cards?

KEANU: No way. It shows that you’re unprepared. How many months have you been doing this project?

MAX: Three months.

KEANU: Yeah, so there’s no reason why you and your groups’ members can’t just walk up and speak to the points on the slides. Remember, it’s not an announcement of information, it’s a conversation of information. Oh, and you should bring any supporting evidence or analysis along with you, but try to only cover the major points in the presentation. People get bored pretty quickly in these things so keep it simple.


MAX: What presentation style is best?

KEANU: Well everyone differs, right? I’m a method actor and I take my craft very seriously. Have you seen my oeuvre of work?

MAX: Your oeuvre?

KEANU: Yeah, my films. The Lake House, Sweet November, Dracula, and Johnny Mnemonic.

MAX: I think I’ve seen Dracula or Johnny Mnemonic, but The Matrix or Speed were my favourite films of yours.

KEANU: I hated those films. There was no room for my character to blossom and self-actualize.

MAX: I see….so then what type of presentation style is best?

KEANU: Again, everyone is different, but the big qualities are honest, comfort, and knowledgeability. If you can also be animated that’s good too. When you’re enthusiastic about the material, sometimes it helps to engage your audience so they are more receptive to the messages you’re speaking. The one piece of advice I really have for your group on Friday is to never appear like you yourself are not in support of what you’re saying. Always remember that you’re the expert on the presentation – you developed it, you did the research. If you can’t convince yourself of what you’re saying, then you’ll never convince the client.

MAX: Tubular advice Keanu, thanks for shooting the breeze and giving such awesome tips. The Day the Earth Stood Still opens December 12 and looks pretty cool. Check out the trailer.

Birthday blog

One year older today, and so far the day's going great. I ate cake for breakfast and listened to a hilarious Howard Stern segment in the commute up to campus. Unfortunately I'm now sitting in a mind-numbing class and am probably going to read AdBusters while everyone presents their inane group projects. I can tell it's going to be the type of group project that students basically phone in. My own project is inane.


Oh, and birthday's are pretty good when you're on Facebook. It's fun to get a wall full of messages from friends. Haven't you noticed that your awareness of upcoming birthdays has really changed since Facebook came into our lives?

The weekend links

Crazy times, eh? I think we're all really swamped with work, hopefully this will divert your attention from studying (or while not paying attention in class). This is my last week in class and i'm really happy that this semester is over. It's probably been the most challenging few months so far in my MBA program because of my involvement with B!G, a full course load, and the 601 group project.

Over the holidays I'm going to book myself into a sensory deprivation tank for a session. Seriously I'm looking into it. If sealing yourself into a silent, dark, watery capsule for ninety minutes sounds restorative and fun, then hit me up, we'll make an afternoon out of it.

On with the links:


I love these pictures of media ownership in the North American tv market. It just reaffirms how valuable and precious the informational democracy of the internet is. Honestly, make sure to create content whenever/wherever you can online. It's important so that the medium doesn't simply become another outlet for messages to be screamed at consumers.

The BlackBerry Storm hasn't even launched and already it's causing huge problems for RIM. It's also supposed to be the most expensive product launch in the manufacturer's history. Um...maybe RIM should have focused on what BlackBeries are known for (quick typing), instead of bringing to market some flaccid offering that consumers are going to reject in favour of the superior iPhone.


I'd love to go to Socrota, an island off the coast of Yemen in the Arabian Sea, but I'm scared of Somali pirates taking me hostage. It's the most alien-looking place on Earth and reminds me of the Galapagos Islands.

You heard that sad story about the part-time worker killed by a stampede on Black Friday at a Long Island Wal-Mart? Apparently the crowd didn't kill him, advertising did.

Mobile phone retailers really run such a racket. Here are a few confessions of a Verizon Wireless customer service representative about the vicious truths cell phone companies don't want you to know.


Helmut Newton is one of my favourite portrait photographers. His work is exciting, really sexy, and unfailingly stylish. Although he's best known for nudes, you can see his other work here.


Cool watches from Nooka. No one will be able to tell what time it is (and neither will you!) but you'll get a lot of comments.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The West
The Midland
Boston
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Haha - oh gee! Doncha know I have an accent that sounds like I'm from Minnesohhhda. Where is your American accent from?


Cool shoes, but apparently it's the eco-friendly recycled cardboard packaging that's the subject of this link. Found them through this great French consumer trends site.

Shit, so my blog will never amount to anything. Alright, time to rationalize the substantial self-expressive and functionoal benefits I get from writing original content related to things I love.

I really wish that some members of my project groups had read this article before submitting their written report portions to me for editing. What crap. Learn how to write succinct copy. Become a better writer. Honestly, good communication and language skills are seriously undervalued - that's the consequence of a business school that values engineering and commerce degrees more than general arts degrees.


Photoshopped but fun truck designs from Germany. I'd freak out seeing the top one if it drove up beside me on the autobahn.



"My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hon" - wow, I never considered what an empowering song Sir Mix a Lot's 'Baby Got Back' is. Funny link, check it out.


What were 2008's most powerful brands? Southwest, Mac and Cheese, Bounty, Blu-Ray, Jawbone, True Religion, and Vitamin Water (among others).

And finally, the stomping, thumping, bluesy new video for 'Detroit '67' by Sam Roberts. Great shots. It's the kind of song I imagine them playing between plays at Red Wings games.




Cheers everyone, have a great week.

Oh, and "Becky, look at her butt...it is SO big. She looks like one of those rap guy's girlfriends..."

It pays off...eventually

It's Friday night, the Friday night before my birthday next weekend.

I really should be going out and losing my sanity in various bars downtown but I'm at home finishing work: school work, B!G work.

It's hardly as if I've procrastinated my way into this situation - hardly. I really strive to finish a lot of small things within hours of receiving them to my email just so it doesn't pile up. The big stuff I save for days like today when there's no class and I can sit down and hammer it out.

But still it mounts up.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that the hard work that you'll do, the late hours that you'll put in to various things that matter to you really will pay off.

How? Why?

Forget about getting noticed and forget about getting credit. Hard work matters because you internalize it. It makes you a morally superior person and prepares you for future hard work. You'll be better equipped so that your future hard work isn't hard at all, it's smart work (good + fast = smart).

So just grin and bear it.

Consumer trends in 2009

Trendwatching just released it's report on important consumer trends for 2009. The abbreviated version is a great summary and highlight a number of key issues which, as savvy marketers, we should all be aware of.

What's weird is that I really don't disagree with any of them. Let's take a look:


ONE
Nichetributes - "attributes, features, additions to existing products, making them more practical for specific user groups...a clear signal that the brand gets it...and pays tribute to consumer lifestyles"

I like this one. It's representative of a greater attentiveness on the part of brands to the unique and differentiated needs of their consumers. An examples is a mobile phone that syncs up with your Facebook contacts to provide you with a social network integrated address book.

TWO
Luxyoury - Consumer luxury is not what's precious, but what's scarce. Scarce experiences or rare opportunities for consumers to feel a part of something without the traditional act of consuming a rare product will now be perceived as luxurious. "Luxury in 2009 will comprise much, much more than ostentatiously flaunting wealth."

There's greater individual ownership of products and experiences all around. Brands have evolved from selling products which consumers demand, to selling experience which consumers demand because their product is the one being used.

Think about that!

THREE
Feedback 3.0 - my favourite trend on the list because it speaks to the social democratization of content. Thinking about the internet's use to provide consumers with a forum for voicing their opinions, Feedback 1.0 ca be understood as the time when "outraged individuals posted scathing reviews" and "brands were unaware or chose not to listen, dismissing these outbursts the way they'd dismissed any kind of customer dissatisfaction for decades."

Feedback 2.0 (our current state), is when consumers share and interact with each other, providing usage suggestions, improvements, and product-related tips. Consumers are having a conversation among themselves, and companies are listening but still not doing anything about it.

Feedback 3.0 occurs when an open dialogue is created online between brands and their consumers. It's when product demonstrations and testing results are used to show proof of effectiveness or directly engage irate commenters with things they've said about the brand. "Expect smart companies to be increasingly able to post their apologies and solutions, preferably directly alongside reviews from unhappy consumers."

FOUR
Econcierge - refers to the increased use of services to give consumers a chance to assess the environmental impact of their consumption habits and lifestyle. Think of it like a more sophisticated version of an energy efficiency contractor who comes to your house and seals the cracks in your windows that cause drafts.

An awesome example of this is a USB stick that plugs into the dashboard of new Fiat cars. It loads a program into the car's operating system to actively monitor and review your driving skills to improve gas mileage. You drive and the car actually gives you a carbon friendliness score.

FIVE
Mapmania - maybe it's because I always knew how to read maps and can navigate my way around pretty much anywhere with relative ease that I'm not blown away by the novelty of this fifth trend in 2009. As GPS and 3G mapping applications become more pervasive and integrated into handheld consumer devices (thus enabling geotagging)...consumers are flocking to mapping software to help them immediately find anything they need when they're not sitting in front of a laptop.

SIX
Happy ending - no, not that happy ending, you pervs!

"The most important side effect of these austere times is probably that consumers start questioning what truly makes them happy, which more often than not steers them towards the realization that happiness ain't just about traditional consumption." Gen Y loves being. A poor world economic climate can foster optimism about what potential solutions we as consumers can come up with to change things. Innovation is spurred when creative minds who are empowered to be themselves are able to find ways to democratically collaborate. "2009 will be an excellent years for businesses who show consumers that they really care."

The Hot List: December

So this year has really been exciting and the end is finally in sight. What's going to be popular in December? Typically we rationalize everything we've done in the entire year into one month of ego-fulfillment - it's like packing everything up and retaining the really useful and wanted things in our mental schemas. See, we'll start with a cognitive blank slate in January and look to new things, issues, and cultural artifacts to identify with.

So let's close out 2008 with the Hot List for December:

MUST-HAVES:


Q-Ba-Maze marble maze. This is an amazing piece of desk art and a real joy for tinkerers like me. Looks great and is fun to play with.


Blackberries as unnecessary consumer devices. Perfect example of manufactured need, since teenagers actually aren't so popular as to require BlackBerrys in class to allow them to check and respond to email and pings. What business coudl they possibly be conducting? Regardless, 85% of mobile sales occur in the holidays (ridiculous...? a little high perhaps?) and all the major carriers are really pushing their BlackBerry products. Expect more of these under the tree than any other year before (and they're not being given to business people)


First-person shooter games. Left 4 Dead, Resistance 2, and Call of Duty: World at War (among others) have all been seriously promoted in the last few weeks. Great gifts for the 32 year old guy with a week off work and no need to leave the house!
Leather bags are enduring and look good on anyone. Simple brown bags with clean lines and a distressed look that comes from actual full-weather use. Cole Haan for expensive ones, Buffalo or Urban Behavior for mid-priced and cheap ones.


Real Christmas trees as opposed to artificial trees. They shed and are a bitch to clean, but real trees actually have less of a carbon footprint than plastic trees (made from fossil fuels...) and don't sit in landfills for the next thousand years.


Wine from obscure American wine regions like Michigan, the NY Finger Lakes, Missouri, and the Texas Hill Country. They're local so they're not contributing significant carbon waste through long-distance transportation, they're significantly less expensive than California, Oregon, Washington, and Ontario wines, and they have rapidly improved in quality thanks to viticultural subsidization to diversify state agriculture.


Luxury tourism to less advertised Southern Hemisphere countries: Mauritius, South Africa, Chile, Brazil. Enough Australia. Enough New Zealand. Argentina is already basking in a popularity glow with Buenos Aires being named second most desirable city (after Bangkok).


ISSUES:


Awareness of Kopi Luwak coffee. Note, it will not actually be popular to buy or drink this coffee because it's priced up to $600 per pound and made from coffee beans that have been digested and pooped out by the civet cat in the jungles of Malaysia. I am not joking. It's apparently really nice coffee though!


Awareness of global issues during the holidays. A historic US election, highly publicized terrorist attacks in Mumbai, continuing war in Afghanistan and Iraq, genocide and starvation in Darfur, and general unrest for a lot of the world's population in less developed countries will weigh pretty heavily on consumers' minds as they sip their $50 cup of Civet Poo coffee. Be nice and donate to the Red Cross this holiday or another favoured charity of yours. I really like this GlobalGiving.com because you can choose what projects to support and actually have some sense of where your money is going. Check them out.



A subdued holidays – what’s there to celebrate? It's been a rough year and people have no money. Black Friday and Cyber Monday's sales were lower than expected, probably the lowest in twenty years. More people will be spending the holidays at home, watching their wallets, and spending time with family.


Christmas shopping with reusable bags, scorn for retailers who provide bags that cannot be recycled. They're cumbersome and incredibly wasteful. Even plastic biodegradable bags have problems being separated in the garbage by recyclers.



Greater comparison of renewable energies against each other. So start comparing geothermal, nuclear, wind, solar, and hydro. Which has the greatest cost benefits? Which has the lowest installed impact on the natural environment? It's funny because consumers aren't moving the curve for renewable energy, technologists and industrialists are. Big big companies (Exxon, Chevron, GE, Suncor) are showing more of a concerned effort at developing renewables than consumers would ever believe. Consumers though will start being more vocal about what technologies matter to them. BTW, I vote for wind, or neural energy like the Machines have been able to harness like in The Matrix!


Backlash against Dubai excessiveness. Dubai will be finishing the structural construction of the Burj Dubai, proposed construction on a tower twice the size (the Nakheel Tower), opened this luxurious Atlantis Resort on the new Palm Jumeirah, and has more construction cranes than in any other part of the world. It's not just development that's occurring in Dubai, it's a complete polarization of lifestyles there with Emiratis and expats living in opulence and undocumented workers living in squalor. But more than that, who wants to hear about an expensive nonstop party going on when the economy is in the shits? The bloom is off the rose.


CULTURE & STYLE:


Pop music feels so good lately. Crappy stuff like Poker Face by Lady GaGa (she's hot but I still really don't understand the appeal, and how stupid does she look in this picture!) or Britney's 'Womanizer'. It's cool to be mainstream again. Consumers won't really backlash against indie stuff because everyone likes to have their individual tastes anyway (and indie music has seemed to vastly improved in the last two years), but sometimes mainstream music is mainstream for a reason - it's catchy and appealing.


The Smashing Pumpkins. They've been touring as a unified band - well, just Billy and Jimmy anyway - since May, 2008 with a really great show in Paris, and there are now more critical reviews of the dates they've bee playing in North America. Indulgent playlists, crass behavior by Billy, and what would seem like staged interactions with audience members have kinda put a damper on the hopes that this is a reinvigorated band, but they claim to be working on new music to be released as a two-disc early next year. Can't wait. Download 'Gossamer', the 33 minute version for a sonic representation of the kind of indulgence I'm talking about.



Electronica & Dance. Turntabling felt so 1986, then so 2000, then apparently it's back in a big way going into 2009. The latest issue of New York Magazine asked a bunch of teenage boys what they'd most like for a holiday gift. Unanimous responses surrounded "anything DJ-related: 'Serato Scratch Live', 'concert tickets to Chromeo', 'gift certificates to karmaloop.com', and 'DJ lessons at dubspot.com' ".



Summer Heights High. Bizarre and hilarious mockumentary from Australia that is filling the void left by True Blood following the season finale last week.


The colours crimson, gold, and black.


WAYS OF BEING:


Booking cheap getaways for January. Low oil prices coupled with American and European consumers choosing to nest over the holidays have resulted in some seriously low fares for cheap vacations down south. Apparently the cheapest time to go is in January. I just went to BelAir travel and found a 7 night all-inclusive in San Andres, Columbia for $297. Insane.


Taking a Facebook holiday on December 15th. I'm not supporting this group because I'm really not sure what it's meant to accomplish. We all love Facebook, so why are we trying to prove that we don't need it? Meanwhile it already has 793K confirmed attendees worldwide.


Conservativism at the Christmas party. Inappropriate dressing at holiday parties or dressing for the sole purpose of getting attention is in pretty poor taste. Things like kilts, unkempt hair, untied ties, ridiculous boots, or belts or chains that serve no purpose. Look for a return to classically inspired fashion because of the more somber mood this holiday season. Clean, well-pressed clothes with nice lines and nothing too flamboyant.


Giving responsibly this season. This is something I think we can all learn. What are the gifts that your loved ones and friends will really enjoy this season? What are the products or experiences or ways of showing your love that will mean the most to them and last the longest? We all have no money and it's hard to justify extravagant spending this year, so why waste money on a gift that won't be liked or that's irresponsibly expensive? Furthermore, think more about the wastefulness of gift-giving as we know it - the paper, the packaging, the shipping.

Cook a meal, write a song, knit a scarf.

These are the personalized things that will really mean something to those you love. It's also a completely postmodern and Gen Y expression of individuality.