The Power of Core Values

In the past, I was never a believer in committing core values to paper. I always knew they were important, and while we certainly abided by a set of core values in our heads and hearts before, I chalked up the actual "writing of them down" as corporate schlock and rhetoric. Did anyone really care? If any of you have seen Office Space, you know what I mean (i.e., big, grey company asking its people "Is this Good for the Company"?)

I have since parked my skepticism as I found the process of committing tried and true values to paper to be liberating. Someone once told me that you know you have nailed a core value when writing it down gives you goose bumps. I mean, it actually has to mean something in order for it to be that powerful. That changed my perspective immediately. What was it that was so exciting about this place when it was just an idea, 1 phone/desk and no clients? Why did the founder wake up one day and declare "I want to start a company". This is the magic that needs to be encapsulated in your value system (the magic elixir, as it were).

For a look at what guides us at Right Sleeve, click here.

I also found that as a business grows, the founder does not have the time they had before to manage individual staff and guide them through every process, customer issue, sales call etc. It is so much easier if everyone is on the same page from day one. The values of a company end up replacing the boss in many ways. If you ever have a question about how something should be done, don't ask the boss ... consult the values. This is so much more empowering for everyone. No one wants to hear the boss drone on more than he/she already does (I speak from experience)!

This also makes your recruiting process much easier. Not everyone is going to agree with your value structure. Fair enough - pass on these candidates, regardless of their skill set. We ask everyone of our job applicants to study our core values so they can draw upon experiences that show they will be the right fit. We have made many interview mistakes in the past ("can you tell me your greatest weakness?"), but we have found that the whole conversation shifts into reality when you hold up your value system to a candidate and ask them to respond. If they lied in the job interview, you will know within 1 week of them starting on the job (at which point they should be shown the door - for everyone's sake).

The same can be said when you pitch clients. While we always want new business, we make a conscious effort to evaluate our clients and measure them against our set of values. No one wants to work with a client that does not value what you stand for. The same goes for partnering with vendors as well.

All great teams have one thing in common - alignment around a common cause. Committing values to paper is a great process to go through (and I sheepishly apologize to anyone with whom I debated this subject in the past).

Winterlicious - a squandered marketing opportunity

Winterlicious is a great idea gone wrong.

For the uninitiated, Winterlicious is a restaurant promotion organized by the City of Toronto to encourage people to try new restaurants. Participating establishments will prepare a special prix fixe menu at a substantially reduced price from their regular menu cost.

This is a cool concept as it encourages people to try restaurants they normally would not try, principally due to cost. High end restaurants like Biff's, Canoe, Monsoon open their doors to Winterlicious fans for a select period of time. People come in throngs to enjoy the savings as well as the (supposedly) great food.

Here is the problem. The restaurant often offers a substandard menu so as not to lose money on the Winterlicious promotion. They also reduce the service levels and some will even seat you in a "special" section when you announce that you have a Winterlicious reservation. In one outing, the host looked down his nose at us and said curtly "right this way, we have a wonderful table for you" (it was right by the kitchen door).

The menu is typically the light version of what you would normally get at the restaurant. Cheaper ingredients, smaller portions, slower service, sitting in the kitchen, etc all contribute to the underwhelming experience.

Why do some of the restaurants take these short cuts? I am still a paying customer ... but most importantly, I am a new customer (and like most Winterlicious types, an enthusiastic restaurant goer). I also have 1000 choices in Toronto and I have now selected your restaurant. And now you cheapen the experience for me? My expectations were so high, especially after reading the reviews from the pundits. I was excited!

Here is what I think when I leave:

1. I received poor value for my money, even at the reduced rate (I still dropped $100 incl tax/tip/booze on my meal for two .... not exactly a screaming bargain).

2. I was made to feel like a pauper as a Winterlicious customer (maybe they should hand out dunce hats and special T-shirts - NOT made by rightsleeve.com! - at the door).

3. Service was poor, and even worse if I did not order alcohol with my meal

4. A higher end restaurant like Biff's is not so high end anymore in my mind.

5. I have 1000 choices. The next time I will certainly not go to a place where I received mediocre value for my money, even if I paid a little less. A bad experience is still a bad experience, regardless of what it cost.

If I was a restaurant owner, here is how I would work the math.

1. Recognize that the cost to be an official Winterlicious restaurant is a marketing investment, not a cost.

2. Recognize that the reduced meal cost offered to patrons is also a marketing investment (I mean how much am I really losing? I doubt I am selling the food for less than cost, even at Winterlicious rates).

3. Ratchet up the service levels for my Winterlicious patrons. Give them the best seats, make the food extra special, do something to wow my new clients ... roll out the red carpet in a big way. This is my ONE chance to impress them and keep them interested.

After they leave, are my new clients raving about the experience? When people have an superb experience, especially when they get a deal, people TALK about it to EVERYONE. Conversely, when people have a poor experience, they also TALK about it to EVERYONE - often more so and certainly with more venom. Some people will even go so far as to blog about the poor experience - imagine that! :)

btw - the only restaurant that has impressed me with their great food and service at Winterlicious is the Rosedale Diner (just so you don't think I am excessively crusty)!

Conclusion - businesses that offer coupons, discounts, special promotions to bring new clients in the door have one chance to impress. Why put the B team on when you can really do something amazing to earn a client for the long term? A client who saves 20% off their meal on their first visit will more than make up for this loss in subsequent visits. It all comes down to the lifetime value of a client.

A client who saves 20% and has a bad experience will just spread the word about how underwhelming you are. What a squandered opportunity.

May Oswald be a mentor to us all

I was reminded of one of my favourite quotes in life when reading through an old travel journal from the mid 90's (before starting Right Sleeve). While on this backpacking trip in Asia, I read voraciously as I was in the right mindset to absorb new ideas. One of the best books I read was Roald Dahl's My Uncle Oswald.

I am a big believer in passion. I know that there are many pragmatic things that get in the way of leading a passionate life ("I have to work at this boring job so I can pay the mortgage", "I would really love to do xyz, but it would be too risky", etc). This is what makes us human - a natural aversion to risk and change.

Any successful person in business, politics, education, and life in general possesses many special attributes. However, without passion for what they do, nothing else really matters. I am not defining success in monetary terms (i.e., a stressed out worker bee who makes $10 million and hates what he/she does is not a successful person). I define it in the joie de vivre sense. If you have passion, everything else comes easily. If you lack passion, the rest is a slog.

Back to Oswald ... the following passage is written from the perspective of Oswald's risk averse nephew:

"I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be".

From a business sense, look at the most memorable companies in the world (or your neighbourhood) today. Take Starbucks or Google on the world stage or how about the kookie, irreverent local coffee shop in your neighbourhood. A friend of mine, Cam Heaps, started the Steam Whistle brewing company in Toronto because he was (white hot) passionate about beer. The rest is history. He has built a solid business while competing against the monster breweries and the multitude of craft labels in Canada. His passion drives the business day in and day out, against all sorts of odds. Without passion, I shudder to think where Cam would be today.

May Oswald be a mentor to us all.

The Peameal Incident.

I am a regular shopper at a local farmers market in Toronto called the St Lawrence Market. Every Saturday, the market turns into a bustling exchange similar to what one might encounter in Europe or Asia. People yell, sell, cajole, promote, swear, etc etc. It's great. It is a place where people celebrate the concept of "small is big." The shops are small, but they are big on experience. As Tara Hunt aptly says, the St Lawrence Market is a place where the boutique generation would congregate.

One of the main draws at the market is the famous Peameal Bacon sandwich (see at top). Picture slabs of peameal, some mustard, onions, black pepper, and tomatoes sandwiched between 2 pieces of kaiser bun. The Peameal. Pretty simple.

Almost everyone in the market sells this famous sandwich. Not too much to it, you think ... so why not buy from the cheapest vendor? Well, this is exactly what I did as a market newbie many years ago. I bought from a place called the Sausage King - for about 25% less than the crowded place across the aisle - Paddington's Pump. On account of price, I gravitated to Sausage King (why would I buy the same thing across the aisle for 25% more ... who do they think they are?)

For about 2 years, I put up with surly service, an inconsistent product (sometimes too fatty, sometimes a little cheap on the # of pieces of bacon, sometimes served with a day old bun, sometimes drowning in mustard), the same server who always forgot my order week to week, the same server who could never understand "grapefruit juice" despite it being front and center in their cooler (week after week after week). Despite this, I persisted ... always justifying the mediocre experience by the cost savings.

About 6 months ago, Sausage King raised their prices! Now they were only 10% cheaper than Paddington's, but it pushed me over the edge. How could they? They're not worth it! I bailed. I joined the line at Paddington's. I gave my order to the pot bellied and unshaven proprietor - who was even surlier and scarier than the Sausage King woman. However, he has a charm - much like the Soup Nazi in the Seinfeld episode has charm. He got the order right, gave the right change, and moved us along quickly ... and I loved the way he shouted "PEEAAMEAL" to the kitchen. The Sausage King woman was just plain dreary, and none too swift.

I forked out the extra cash and then gave the condiment order to an efficient assistant who got it right ... without having to ask for clarification 5 times. They also serve grapefruit juice and reach for it as soon as I request it.

The new sandwich is glorious! Worth at least twice the Sausage King offering! It has more meat, the bacon is grilled vs steamed. The kaiser bun is always fresh. The amount of mustard applied is just right. The experience is perfect. What was I thinking before? My 2.5 year son Matty also approves - I can hardly get it to my mouth before he pounces on it.

The lessons?

- When you are good, you can charge a premium, and you should.
- When you are good, you will attract the right customers - the ones who value experience and quality first, not price.
- When you are good, you continue to have line-ups when the inferior cheaper guy across the aisle will be twiddling his/her thumbs (or dealing with the price hagglers).
- When you are good, you don't fake it. If you are surly and efficient, then revel in it. Don't pretend to be something you aren't. Customers will eventually find out and punish you for deceiving them.
- Know what you are good at, focus on it, perfect it and customers will come in throngs.
- When you are NOT SO good, you have nothing else to compete on other than price.

Top Ten Learnings from 2006

Happy New Year!!

2006 has been a quite a year for learning. I am a big fan of reading, attending conferences and speaking to people much smarter than me. Over the course of 12 months, I have spent some time jotting down the 10 most profound business ideas I have gleaned from others.

1. Embrace simplicity. Make it really easy for your customers. (Google)

2. Focus on the remarkable ("Purple Cow", Seth Godin)

" It is a plea for originality, for passion, guts, and daring. Not just because going through life with passion and guts beats the alternative (which it does), but also because it's the only way to be successful. Today, the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable."

3. You are only as good as your team (Howard Schultz, Starbucks)

4. Two guiding principles I teach my 2 young sons can also be applied in a business setting:

(i) Respect others
(ii) Be interesting and interested.
[in that order]

I maintain that there is a lot in common between running a business and raising a family. Entrepreneurs, in particular, look at their businesses much in the same way that non-entrepreneurs look at their children. As such, there are similar guiding values that work for both.

(i) In business, we have a responsibility to others, be it to clients, vendors, employees (even the competition!). Without a deep respect for others, the foundation on which you are building your business is shaky at best.

(ii) To stand out, your business must be interesting and unique. You need to challenge the status quo in order to differentiate yourself. Otherwise, you just blend in with the crowd. But there are too many people that are interesting, but lack an interest in others. A business in the 21st century must maintain an interest in the world around them. Too much time looking in the mirror is never a good thing.

5. Give your clients a voice. Consumers are in charge now in way that has not been seen in the past. Web 2.0 has dramatically changed how we do business and interact with companies of all sizes. Feedback and criticism is instantaneous on the web. No one can hide now.

6. Be focused. What do you want to be remembered for?

7. Distribution is the ultimate determinant of a firm's value. He/she who can develop a platform that will engage their audience and attract traffic off/online will win. Just look at how much Google, Yahoo, and News Corp valued distribution when they bought YouTube, flickr and MySpace, respectively.

8. Stand out. Don't be scared to step out of line. Seth Godin drove this home in the Purple Cow.

"So it seems that we face two choices: Either be invisible, uncriticized, anonymous, and safe or take a chance at true greatness, uniqueness, and the Purple Cow"

9. The rewards go to those who can think in the future, not the present. Everything you do should be evaluated by how your decision today will affect the future.

10. Customer experience is everything (Mark Hurst)

American Apparel sells out?

Dov Charney's American Apparel is selling out for $382.5 MM (US)! The horror!

This is a watershed moment in the apparel business and one filled with so many ironies and contradictions.

I knew AA from the very beginning (when Dov would produce home made catalogs with even more suggestive photos back in the late 90's). AA's whole business model was based on socially responsible T-shirt manufacturing. Sure, the sex and style thing was important, but no message was more prevalent than the fact that this company cared for its workers in its downtown Los Angeles factory.

Dov railed against the machine from day one. I remember him calling retailers like Guess, Gap etc "assholes" for offshoring their production and paying minimal wages to downtrodden factory workers in Malaysia, etc. He waved his banner proudly and vigorously stuck his middle finger at the Man. In the early days, I did not think his business would fly given the commodity driven nature of the T-shirt industry. His prices were high, stock levels were awful and product quality was a mess.

But eventually, he figured it out and was able to mine a very profitable vein - the socially aware teen market. Sex sold, socially conscious manufacturing sold, Playboy/girl magazine covers on the walls of his stores sold, his sexual harassment suits attracted all sorts of attention ... and ultimately sold. Genius! As Seth Godin would say, American Apparel's Purple Cow was not clothing at all, but the idea of socially responsible clothing manufacturing.

While this was happening, skinny teens/tweens bought boatloads of expensive AA gear from the retail stores. Eventually (and shockingly) conservative corporate groups jumped on the bandwagon as they bought AA gear for their events (disclosure - yes, we partly are responsible for spreading this gospel to the corporate/cool crowd).

Does all of this change with the sale of his company to Endeavor Acquisition Corp? Endeavor has plans to take the company public and also plans to blanket the world with more stores so they can take on the likes of ubiquitous retailer Abercrombie and Fitch. A&F is not known for its socially responsible manufacturing (at least in AA's view). Is this the future of AA? Coming to you soon in America's suburban malls?

This raises an interesting question that all public companies face. Can the original spirit and joie de vivre be maintained when a company is now subject to the pressures of Wall Street and a shareholder base? Shareholders are typically different than customers in that they really only care about returns, profits, dividends etc (socially responsible manufacturing is nice and all, but only when it delivers a profit).

I am sure that Dov and his partners have thought long and hard about this. It would be a shame for them to compromise their core values just for the sake of extra dollars (they are doing pretty well right now at $250MM in sales annually). I am hoping that the craziness of AA continues to thrive and prosper with its new parents.

Introducing James Graham ...

At 3:30 Tuesday morning (Dec 13), we welcomed James Douglas Graham into the world.

Weighing in at 7lbs/1 oz, he is a beautiful and healthy little guy. Brother Matty has already been to the hospital for an inspection and he gives James the 2 thumbs up. His other brother Jack is at home and can't wait to plant a big lick on James's face when they first meet.

ma.gnolia

I am certainly not the first one to discover this site ... but ma.gnolia is a fabulous social bookmarking tool that allows users to share bookmarks and tags with one another. What I find interesting and different can now be shared with like minded types across the online community.

Holiday Heroics! Booo White Mugs!

Ok - so this is a blatant plug for rightsleeve.com, but this is just so cool .... and we think you will enjoy it.

Our creative team's latest holiday email blast is hilarious and really drives home what we stand for in this business - creative ideas and fun stuff that works for creative and fun clients! Calling all creative and fun clients!!

(oops - sorry, if we have offended the white mug crowd, but lighten up will ya?!!)

U3 smart drives - very cool

U3 smart drive technology is starting to gather traction in the market place. This technology (for now) has only been embraced by the early adopter tech crowd.


The concept is simple. U3 drives look like a regular USB flash memory stick BUT they have 1 differentiating feature - they feature software apps (word processing, email, etc software) that can be launched from almost any computer. The idea is that people in the future will only carry around their U3 smart drive and plug it into any computer. Their software apps and files will run from the smart drive. Data on the drive is encrypted so, if lost, security is not an issue. If this takes off, I am sure we will see much fewer laptops being lugged around on business trips.

This is a pretty profound technology and one that will push us further into the mobile computing space.

Read more here

Why is this relevant to our blog? My prediction is that we (and companies like us) will start to see a shift in the corporate gift space as we sell imprinted USB smart drives versus the standard USB flash memory drives that are so ubiquitous today. I give it 6-9 months before we see this shift in the corporate branded merchandise space. You heard it here first!

Flickr Moo .... Boo!

Here's my beef with buzzy web 2.0 sites. Despite rave reviews from in-the-know web evangelists, they still shaft the customer (on occasion).

Everyone loves these sites as they are community oriented and pro-consumer, but it does not do the consumer much good when transactions don't go through thus souring the overall customer experience. We have a big disconnect here.

So, to my point ... Flickr's buzzy printing site Moo can't seem to get its act together.

Here is what's wrong:

1. I crop every one of my 82 Flickr photos for printing on moo.com (a process that takes about 25 minutes ... but I will chalk this up to a creative 25 minutes so I am not griping). btw - the printable area drag and drop process is counterintuitive, but I figured it out in the end.

2. Proceed to the checkout screen - create an account, input credit card info, click proceed and it tells me my transaction has gone through (i.e., a bill is available for printing), BUT at the same time an error message appears.

3. I fire an email off to client service asking if my order actually went through (hey, this is web 2.0 - where is the IM option, or perhaps the ability to check my online account history). Anyways, client service responds in 2 days and says the order is no where to be found - it must not have gone through. Argh

4. So I try again. I repeat the cropping process (25 minutes of aggravation now - it's no longer fun and creative when doing it the 2nd time).

5. I proceed to the checkout and input my login and password at which point the screen freezes and I am out of luck. All that work for nothing. I quit.

6. Two attempts, 50 wasted minutes of cropping (why is my work not saved?) and no Moo cards.

The conclusion is that while I am all for web 2.0, community interaction, digital commerce and positive consumer experiences ... what's with all the hype when the site just does not work properly? This is fundamental and basic.

Moo - I know you are the current darling of the internet photo printing business, but wake up and make it a little easier for us wee consumers! I just want my cards!

Even the Enterprise can be fun!

Much has been written about the Enterprise and its inability to embrace the fun and quirkiness of the web 2.0 world. In a nutshell (according to some), the Enterprise = business, boring, grey, soulless cubicles, the "Man", "doesn't get it" etc.

One of the most tireless tiraders (is that a word? Well, you know what I mean) against the enterprise is Tara Hunt - an outspoken marketing rogue (self described) and evangelist for web 2.0 and the power of communities. Tara has some cool things to say and I agree with most of her marketing philosophies (and admire her passion to boot).

Anyways, the enterprise is not all that evil, especially when the office knows how to have a good time making money, returning value to shareholders and other "enterprise-y" things like that. We think we have set an example in this regard.

The quirky people at rightsleeve.com have recently joined the flickr community and hope that other offices across the land will do so as well (a few pioneering companies have already done so before us). Hey "Enterprise", let's lighten up!

Jakers goes viral!

Yehaw - Jakers (the famous rightsleeve.com office mascot) has gone viral.

Click here for a day in the life of Jakers!

Crank those speakers and shake your booty :)

Office 2.0 Conference, San Francisco

I just spent the last two days (Oct 11-12) at the Office 2.0 conference in San Francisco. I learned about the event from a friend of mine, Mike McDerment, who was speaking at the event about his new web based invoicing application, Freshbooks. This was the enterprise follow-up to the consumer driven Web 2.0 mesh conference held in May 2006 in Toronto. As a web/office 2.0 enthusiast, I was excited to spend time with some of the leading minds of this movement.

This is new territory. There is no consensus on what the future of Office 2.0 will look like, or whether we will ever get there. In many ways, it feels like we are on the brink of something very profound, yet many question marks remain.

The core principle of Office 2.0 revolves around how users collaborate with one another in an enterprise. Sending documents via email is considered "Office 1.0", while working collaboratively with colleagues on the same documents across multiple offices is what the Office 2.0 movement is all about.

Office 2.0 principles are guiding the productivity gains at rightsleeve.com. We have developed a powerful web based solution to power all of our work flow, CRM and supply chain management. It was not an easy process, but we pushed our development team hard to create something that would eliminate the paper flows, increase transparency and ultimately allow our staff to collaborate easily with one another.

Web 2.0 apps will also power the front end of our web business, ultimately benefiting clients. We have always seen our clients as partners in our success. We are looking to the web to connect clients with each other and the products they order – more on this as we roll out the features over the next few months.

Some of the memorable moments of the conference included:

- Attending the conference during the week of two major Google announcements: (i) the You Tube purchase for $1.65BN and (ii) the launch of Google Docs and Spreadsheets

- Being reminded of one of the principal obstacles to widespread Office 2.0 adoption – broadband and connectivity issues. (network issues repeatedly slowed down demo presentations and Gmail even failed once for a stressed out presenter demonstrating a mashup).
- Innovative office 2.0 applications: Joyent, Zoho, Wufoo, SugarCRM, Koral, Genius

- Andrew McAfee’s keynote address on Enterprise 2.0 (he has written what has become the academic standard on this new phenomenon)

- Esther Dyson’s somewhat luke warm endorsement of Office 2.0. I thought it was an interesting way to start a forward thinking web conference with a leading tech advocate who admitted she was more Office 0.9 than Office 2.0 (well, at least she was honest).

I was very impressed with the conference organizer, Ishmael Galimi, who whipped together this conference after evangelizing the concept in his blog earlier in the year. His philosophy (expounded on his blog IT Redux) about the move from desktop installed software to hosted web applications spurred much debate before and during the conference. It was pretty impressive that he and his team were able to assemble such a strong line of speakers and vendors in such a short period of time.

Cool things to do ...

-Take the day off work to read a new book.

-iPod>Music>Songs>All>Shuffle

-Walking your dog before sunrise

-Take photographs – lots of them

-Blow a party horn at work

-Laugh really, really hard

-Do something outside of your regular routine

-Be the first one your son sees in the morning … DAAAADDDDEEEEEEEY!

-Attend a conference
outside of your specific industry

Starbucks – why art thou inconsistent?

I have praised Starbucks in the past (and will likely continue to again), but they appear to have some creaks in its armour as it marches towards global domination. Starbucks’ brand was built on high quality coffee served in a comfortable environment. I suppose one’s expectations of a company like Starbucks are so high after consistently positive experiences at their stores.

However … what’s with Starbucks stores in the United States? I generally find them dirtier, ruder, factory-like and generally unimpressive (compared with Canada). Starbucks in the US feels more like a Burger King outlet.

-Employees are sloppily dressed (why wear the baseball cap when it’s 4 sizes too small for your head?)
- rude (“yeah, what you want?”)
- have limited selection (Chicago airport, I believe is operated by a company called HMS Host, only offers 1 brew (mild) + 1 decaf …. where is my bold? – customers have been trained to ask!!)
-ill trained (why does it take 3 staff members to process a credit card transaction?) and is more expensive ($1.75 US vs $1.75 CDN for a Tall).

You want your favourite brands to succeed, not falter. This is why I am writing about this. Howard Schultz – get over to Chicago and fix those HMS operated stores. (oh, and go to Las Vegas afterwards – the airport operated stores are not much better there either).

Creativity and chaos

The best and craziest ideas at rightsleeve.com often result from those long and tiring days when someone snaps the silence and creativity block with a comment like "hey, wouldn't it be cool to showcase our staff top ten product picks online?"

Followed up with a "ya, and let's take pictures of us in silly positions with the number 10".

Followed by ... "oh yeah, let's sharpie marker that long sleeve shirt with the number 10 and get the boss to wear it for his photo ..."

Followed by ... "I'll up that and lie on the floor in 3 positions (and 9 photo takes) to make up the number 10" (bring it on, Photoshop!)

"This is wacked ... okay - how about making 10 out of sushi and what' this? ... a dozen eggs less two = 10?"

etc etc

The bulk of our office and web creativity comes from these random 30 minute sessions of frenzied discussion, photo taking, marker wielding chaos, heated debate and creative gymnastics. Check out the results here. It may not be polished, but it's passionate!

We hope to bring you more of this in the coming weeks as this is the stuff that really makes rightsleeve.com tick.

Loot bags at TIFF 2006 ...

As an industry insider, I always find it amusing to read about the outsider's view of this business. Most people express (rightly so, in some cases) snide and snarky comments that this business is all about cheap plastic, swag, chachkas, crap, doo-das, etc etc. This business is unfortunately populated by many uneducated "professionals" who service uneducated buyers. [I won't get into what these people are called in our industry] The result is a bad product that people just don't need, let alone want.

I find it interesting that TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) distributes promotional giveaways to celebs who yawn at yet another pair Fendi sunglasses, iPod or the latest swanky cell phone. Read more in the Globe about this. Ratchet it down a notch or two for the regular folk and this is the same as a corporate buyer ordering cheap plastic pens for a high end corporate executive conference (and it happens ALL THE TIME). Cheap plastic pens for a high end corporate executive conference? You have to be kidding!

This is where this business gets its ugly reputation from. Poor purchasing decisions and poor market research - why spend the money at all?

Many promo companies squander the opportunity to make their clients look like heroes when it can be so easy! Why? People LOVE free stuff, however people REALLY LOVE free stuff that appeals to them. See more in my previous post on Starbucks where I say that people REALLY LOVE free stuff (even if it's cheap) when they perceive the value to be high to them. This is why this is an $18 Billion industry in North America alone.

So back to TIFF - why give a celeb something they have 10 of already (that they'll now get taxed for)? Why not think outside the box and get them something they really want (which may be nothing at all) ...

rightsleeve.com video premieres on You Tube

rightsleeve.com premieres it first major video release :) - "Day in the Life" video on You Tube.

Wired Mag - truly gets it!

Kudos to Wired Magazine - quick and easy to subscribe!! 2 clicks and I was done - even for a Canadian! Poor Fast Company still can't figure this out (to follow the saga, check out the previous post on how to make subscribing to your modern/new age magazine convoluted and positively antiquated).