Marketing

A sales parable

(for maximum humor value, mouse-over the dashed lines.)Long ago, before the mists of the dot com era wafted down upon the masses, I worked at a company that made bananas. I traveled to a customer site with Tim, the company’s top salesman to observe his crafitness. After we met with the Zookeeper and Primate Custodian,

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Schadenfreude

I was at Costco this weekend, waiting in line for gas behind a Hummer. My God, what an ostentatious vehicle. I wondered why anyone would want something — beyond the tax deductiblity aspect. (Don’t get me started on this one…) I was going to write a sarcastic top five list speculating on why people buy

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Cell phone minutes

There’s a week left to go on my cell phone billing cycle and I’m within 60 minutes of blowing my allocated minutes. It really shouldn’t be a big deal, I mean it is a frickin hour, and the worst that happens is I get a huge bill. Still, the sense of dread is strong, as

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Pancake Mix

I was cleaning out my study and found a copy of a report I worked on while doing my MBA: the dry pancake mix market. I had a lot of fun doing the market research, scanning through IRI data, and the user surveying. It’s be a shame not to share with you, what I learned

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The Mariners

Depending on your level of reality or fantaticism, what I’m about to say will either be incredibly obvious or local sports heresy: the Mariners aren’t very good. Let’s look at some numbers: At 7 wins and 15 losses (with one postponed game), they’re on pace to win 53 games this year. Fifty-three. Team hitting is

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Grade inflation

USA Today writes on Princeton University’s effort to curb “grade inflation” by rationing As to, you know, “preserve academic integrity.” Grade inflation “correction” is based on the theory that people will naturally fit into a bell curve, and that a C (or maybe a B) should be average. If you accept that Princeton is a

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Low Carb Coke?

Coca Cola announced a mid-calorie cola named C2, ostensibly to compete with Pepsi “Edge” and billed as a solution to the low-carb dieters who have been marooned on the distant asteroid where Diet Coke is unavailable. The timing of this is funny because I just finished reading Max(x) Barry’s Syrup, which spoofs marketing in the

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