PSFK wrote a couple of interesting posts today (& 4/21) targeted at BMW, Starbucks and Nike. They are very of course short and to the point. But they dare to ask why these companies, who are rather favorable to causes and talked about ‘green’ before it became common-place, aren’t doing more? In fact what they are doing…isn’t even close to enough.
I would expect more…especially from BMW. Where is their ‘green’ car?
So…there has been some buzz in the last 24 hours regarding an awesome friend of mine, Andrew Hyde, and his great idea, Startup Weekend, and some ‘carbon copy’, inoneweekend.org.
It seems a little fishy and ‘weird’. I know Andrew has put in so much toward the success of Startup Weekend that it would be lame for others to copy its format. Check out his reaction here.
My thoughts: bring something original…. not a very cheap knock-off. We’ll see, maybe that will happen.
Nine years ago today my world was rocked.
April 20th always seems to put me off-kilter because 4/20 was my 9/11. In so many ways, that is the best way for me to put it. People often classify modern society as ‘pre-’ and ‘post 9/11′ and how different the world is because of that tragedy – as they should because certainly a lot has changed. But for me personally, my life was different ‘pre-’ and ‘post 4/20′. My innocence was lost. It was the moment that the realities of the world struck me right in the face.
I will never forget sitting in my German class on April 20th a young high-school freshman. The morning started out rather gorgeous but by lunch the clouds started rolling in and there was an ominous gloom that afternoon. People from the Front Rage probably can picture what I am talking about as it happens frequently in Spring and Fall. But perhaps I describe the weather as that because of that day. In fact, when the weather changes like that, I am reminded. As the bell rang in my German class though, my friend Hector asked if anyone had heard about what happened at Columbine. He told us there was a shooting but at the time it seemed not that big of a deal. Of course we were curious but this was suburban Colorado, a mass murder didn’t really make much sense. As I left school though to go workout for hockey the scale of the event seemed to unfold as I listened to the radio. As I cycled on the stationary-bike, my eyes and ears were locked to the news. Columbine? Murder?
I’m not going to go into the more immediate personal impact. The friends that were killed, injured, affected. You know what happened. But I can’t help but think today what happened nine years ago and how my life is different. It was the day I learned what evil really was and that it did in fact exist. I learned that things like this can happen to people just like me. I learned what bravery could do and what cowardness can cause. I realized that the last statement of a young woman could plant a mustard-seed of faith within me that has dictated my life ever since.
I didn’t really intend to write a blog post on Columbine today (or ever) as it is something I haven’t shared too much. The whole complexities of the situation is also far too challenging for me to even put in words and something even nine years later I am still grappling with. At the same time though, this blog is a little window into myself. A window I will mainly keep positive and professional but today I felt that it was ok to share a little side of myself. And so today I look at my life post-4/20 and think to myself oh how my life was forever changed because of it. In many ways I am actually thankful that the tragedy at Columbine broke me, woke me up, taught me fear and yet also gave me hope. But of course I am not thankful for Columbine and wishes that it could have been something else other than a tragedy to teach me these things. It was a nightmare all too real. I also think of the young lives that were destroyed and their families who lost so much…..
And here is where this post ends. I cannot sufficiently put into words a cap to this story. Simply put: today I remember.
Facebook recently unveiled its new chat feature to the masses. As a Facebook user myself, I have been curious on how it would work and look since I first heard about its impending launch in February. These days my use of Facebook is done primarily on my iphone though which doesn’t benefit from the new IM; but I should add that I love the iphone version of the site. Today though was my first time really getting to play with the new tool and I have to admit my thoughts on it are mixed. However, my friends thoughts on it tend not to be!
First, on the plus side…A few of my friends who are Facebook addicts are of course loving the new chat feature! And it wasn’t more than two minutes when I logged in on my desktop that I was asked, “Don’t you love it? lol”. I agree that as an IM goes, it is very easy and a quick way to connect with Facebook friends who happen to be online at the same time. As a user who also doesn’t really use an IM of any kind (minus the occasional gmail chat for business), this will almost force me to use it when I am online and someone just happens to message me…but this leads me to the negatives.
On the downside, this IM practically makes you a user even if you didn’t want to ‘chat’ or have a ‘chat-tool’. In fact, I don’t mind if people see that I’m online and may feel to even drop me a line, but I am not always in a position to have a conversation. Of which, even the simplest conversations seem to last 30 minutes when instant messaging. A good friend of mine who happened to be the second person to message me complained of exactly this. As a writer and frequently on her computer, this new feature opens her up to chat requests all the time! I think even when she was chatting with me, so was she with three other people! As was I! Then it becomes work! And I know many of you know what I mean. So for her especially, it is going to take-away from the fun of using it. Plus, the other downside of this new IM is that it is once again showing that Facebook is moving away from its roots. It was originally designed to be a tool for college students to stay in contact and connect…and it was awesome in that regard when I first started using it as a college student. And I used it for school purposes. But now more than ever it is just becoming a distraction for its original base. Many people today complained that while they should be doing homework they were of course ’stuck on Facebook’. Now, I am not blaming Facebook for their lack of discipline but I am going to throw it out there that this will certainly not help in most situations!
At the same time I will also admit that I am surprised this IM tool didn’t come out so much sooner. When Facebook decided to open up its doors to the whole world, not just college students anymore, and their direction changed, I would have thought this would have been part of that in the beginning. Even in a business sense, I have a strong feeling that this tool alone will up Facebook’s value so much as I see it becoming King over AOL and MSN Messenger. And the upside compared with those tools is you don’t have to download anything. Of course not everyone using the other options have Facebook accounts…but many do and it will certainly take out a chunk! And as I said, I have found it to be more easy and more simple than any other IM I have used. Although…the design leaves much to wonder; it doesn’t seem to fit with the overall look of Facebook.
So, we’ll have to continue to watch its impact. It certainly has garnered a lot of buzz. And made me an IM user…for now.
One of my favorite movie lines ever is from Tommy Boy and the reason it sticks with me is because I find myself walking through a store and saying to myself: ‘This is a piece of shit! Who’d buy this?’
The line I’m referring to from Tommy Boy goes: “…they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That’s all it is, isn’t it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer’s sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me.”
Now, I like to take out the word ‘guaranteed’. Although first – remember when ‘guaranteed’ was on everything and sort of a catch-word in the same sense ‘organic’ is today? But today I think of this quote as instead of marking ‘guaranteed’ on it – companies instead like to put flashy boxes with popular, fresh ad-support around basically…a piece of shit. And, unfortunately, it works. For a little while.
A good example of this is an old company I used to work for: Urban Outfitters. Before I bash on ‘em a little, I will say this: UO was a perfect college-job as it allowed me to get discounted clothes during a time when I was paying for school so… always broke. Their thermals and plain cotton T’s became my uniform. And I worked with some incredible people, many who remain friends (I did work with some not so cool people though – KIMI UNO, I will never forget you & must thank you for setting an example for me of how NOT to work with people and manage. You have also been excellent presentation material!).
Towards the end of my time at Urban however, things were slumping. Sales were down, the image was down. Urban Outfitters didn’t have the same presence as they had before. There were times I got free drinks when I said I worked at Urban, people became stoked, there was a coolness about it that made Abercrombie want to eat its heart out! That faded though. It seemed like the company had plateaued and was heading downward. The reason: the quality of the product had gone backwards long-before sales finally caught up to that realization. The momentum could only go so far. Why pay 3x the amount at UO for a piece that can be found at Forever 21 and is almost the exact same in style and quality?
Today though, I walked into one of the ol’ locations I used to slave at and it was wonderful to see and chat with a few faces that are still around since my time. It had been awhile since I had walked into, let alone shopped, at Urban Outfitters. But talking with a couple old friends and asking about what has changed, there definitely seemed a sense of a turn-around. Sales I was told were up and the whole place seemed to once again have energy. The source of that energy also must come from the employees and it did. I could go on and on how important it is to make sure your employees are happy, especially in an industry such as retail where they are the faces and voices of your company – but that’s for another post. As I snooped around though to see what exactly was behind this turn-around, one thing kept coming up: the quality was so much better! Now, I will say I snooped mainly in the Men’s section as I was actually shopping. But, the pieces did make me feel like it was worth throwing down $49 for a Feathers Striped Dress Shirt and $44 for a Standard Jason Plaid Military Shirt. It has been the first time in a long time since I ever felt like it was worth spending that much at UO even when I had the discount!
My point from this is that at the end of the day, quality will win and especially keep your customers. For Urban Outfitters sake, they are not quite where they used to be yet. There was a lot to still be desired. But they are going in the right direction. There are many other companies I could say quite the opposite – especially retailers. You could try all the tricks in the book such as a flashy ad campaign and appealing packaging but if it is shit, it’s shit. With the economy in the state that it is too and people are pinching they are also looking for products that will last. Companies may also be looking to cut corners during these times – but I would like to say: Be warned! Never let go of quality. I hope companies like Urban Outfitters can make a turn-around and set an example and customers like me don’t have to suffer being surrounded with shitty products. I don’t want to discount the importance of advertising, connecting with consumers, and good packaging…but it must have a product that can back up the ‘created appeal’.
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