Mini USA CEO Jim McDowell used some very unusual and non-traditional methods for choosing their new ad agency recently. I would imagine that they would be more satisfied with their result than if they had followed the standard operating procedure for agency selection.
Add comment January 31st, 2006
There’s a funny citibank commercial with a guy on the phone trying to get through a voice-activated phone menu, and right as he’s about to talk to a real person, he enters a tunnel and loses his phone connection. Well, if you’ve been in that situation, Kayak.com’s Paul English has a cheat sheet for cuting through the crap.
Add comment January 31st, 2006
Take a game, and study the moves that a player takes to finish a level. You start seeing interesting patterns, and gain insight into the constraints placed upon a gamer and their available choices. Writer R. LeFeuvre has an article on a level of Gradius.
The average time taken to kill the end level boss was 20.055 seconds, with the fastest player finishing him off in a mere 10.01 seconds. Six people finished the boss off at nearly identical moments. It would seem that the boss, bored with the player, actually self-destructs after 27 seconds. Beyond the almost perfectly synchronized explosions, further proof of this self-destruction can be found in the videos: no 10,000 point bonus (given to players when the boss is defeated) was awarded to these six players and, in a few of the runs, the boss detonated when when there wasn’t a single bullet near it.
Add comment January 31st, 2006
Someone at a conference I am attending mentioned a term that I thought was very witty and true. ‘Conference Coup’ is when a group of employees from a workplace go to a conference or forum, and get all fired up and excited about news paradigms and ideas and want to go back to their office and make all sorts of dramatic improvements that will redefine the company. Does it actually happen? Who knows…
Add comment January 31st, 2006
Are you a Buzz, Barry, Ray or Jill? According to this Washington Post article, Best Buy is trying to create a custom shopping environment for certain select segments of its customers. One particular group, the Jills, are not-so-tech-savvy soccer mom types. If a Jill is spotted at one of the stores that is trying out this program, they are given extra special attention, and treated the way their ‘type’ would like to be treated. Escorted into the store with a pink umbrella, one-on-one help with products. It’s a great marketing strategy. I’m a Buzz (the young tech enthusiast).
Add comment January 31st, 2006
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