Pattern Recognition

CALIFORNIA'S PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC (PG&E) RECENTLY FLIPPED THE SWITCH ON WHAT THEY SAY IS THE NATION'S FIRST SOLAR-POWERED BILLBOARD. Topped with 20 solar panels and using less than a third of the energy that billboards with Holophane lights do, the billboard is located in San Francisco, right off the busting Highway 101 9th Street exit.

By LK Hansen
DID YOU KNOW THAT COMPANIES WHO INCREASE MARKETING EFFORTS DURING A RECESSION, AS COMPETITORS SCALE BACK, CAN IMPROVE THEIR MARKET SHARE for a lower cost than during more robust economic times? As your competition cuts back, they relinquish their future clients. This is prime time to step in and fill this gap in the marketplace, claiming those prospects as your own.

FROM BILL RONAT: THIS ARTICLE LOOKS AT SOME OF THE CREATIVE WAYS THAT HOSPITALS ARE PROMOTING SERVICES. With specialized medical care, hospitals are finding that they need to get the word out if they want to find the patients who will benefit.

Go to FLORIDA TODAY to read the article. Click here.

By LK HANSEN : : BUSINESS MANAGERS AROUND THE WORLD ARE NOW COMFORTABLE OUTSOURCING LEFT-BRAIN ACTIVITIES TO INDIA OR ASIA,making the most of the automated and highly efficient production skills available in those areas. Outsourcing right-brain activities to the United States makes just as much business sense.

BY RYAN BRANDT : : THIS IS THE TITLE TO A FUN LITTLE DITTY THAT MY WIFE AND I SING TO MY THREE YEAR OLD….ONE VERSE ONLY, SUNG OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I do like trucks.

Seven months ago I almost bought a real life gas guzzling monster. Now I go to sleep at night saying a little prayer that I decided not to purchase one. And yet, now that as a nation we face over $4/per gallon for gas, a voice inside of me still wants a truck. What ‘drives’ us as a culture to want things that we should not want and buy things that we do not need?

BY BILL RONAT : : I’M GOING TO BE SHARING A SERIES OF ARTICLES I WROTE WHEN I WAS A CONTRIBUTING EDITOR FOR VIDEOMAKER MAGAZINE. These articles are still available on the magazine’s website and I’ll provide a link, but I’ll also be adding a preface to each one and include an update, if one is needed. Often, the material is still relevant, without dragging it into the present. Some things never change, even when they do.

BY LINDA BRANDT : : EVERYWHERE YOU GO THERE SEEMS TO BE RENEWED ATTENTION TO CUSTOMER SERVICE. That makes sense always, but in a down economy, even more so. Managers and leaders are sorely aware of the competition for the dollar. Beyond loss of discretionary income, there are additional depressive spending attitudes.

FROM BILL RONAT : : AS SOME OF YOU KNOW, ONE OF MY HOBBIES IS COMMUNITY THEATER. SOMETIMES WE GET TO DO A BIT OF GOOD WHILE WE HAVE FUN... HERE'S AN ARTICLE FROM FLORIDA TODAY...

Community theater actors band together to raise money for fire victims

There's always been a bit of rivalry among the community theaters in Brevard. But on Saturday, actors and patrons will put aside their loyalties for "A Bit Flamin' Sketchy."

The comedy show is a fundraiser, with proceeds going to United Way of Brevard's 2008 Fire Response Fund, which helps victims of the recent fires in Palm Bay.

BY LK HANSEN : : EVERY NOW AND THEN, I LIKE TO PRETEND THAT I'M NOT IN THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY, AND SEE WHAT TYPES OF MARKETING WORKS FOR ME.

Recently, life provided me with the perfect opportunity to do just this, as I am remodeling two bathrooms in my house. I always receive the requisite ad flyers in my mailbox daily, and I decided to break them open for a change, and take a look.

BY JENISE OSANI : : ACCORDING TO A POST ON WWW.DESIGNOBSERVER.COM, BARACK OBAMA DID NOT ORIGINALLY LIKE HIS LOGO—a sun rising over a field in the shape of an O, symbolizing hope and opportunity—because he thought it looked too polished and corporate. Not to worry, Obama, there is an underground Fairey spreading HOPE and keeping things real.

BY LINDA BRANDT : : THIS ARTICLE TALKS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CREATIVE CLASS in developing thriving communities, and includes a discussion of what it takes to truly “connect” and retain young talent (YPs) in a region. (Article first APPEARED IN THE AUGUST 2008 ISSUE OF "SPACECOAST BUSINESS".)

“Now it is the intrinsically human ability to create new ideas, new technologies, new business models, new cultural forms, and whole new industries that really matters.”

-- Richard Florida.

BY JAY DECATOR : : A BUSINESS' WEB SITE IS OFTEN THEIR INITIAL POINT OF CONTACT WITH NEW CUSTOMERS. For this reason, it is vital for the site to be continuously up to date with useful information. As anyone who has ever tried to maintain a website knows, this is not as easy as it sounds. Many times, website updates just aren't a priority. Furthermore, you may not have direct control over the site—often changes go through an independent webmaster or web development company. Their schedule may not be the same as yours, and you can't always count on them for a crucial change

BY MELINDA RIDGLEY : : ADVERTISING CAREERS CAN BE SO SEXY. THE LURE OF LIFE-LONG LEARNING, CHALLENGES TO HURDLE, THE SIZZLE OF A PITCH, THE ADORATION OF RAVING CLIENTS…ah, before you know it you are in love. However, this dynamic seducer is no easy lover. The rules change all of the time and keeping up means staying ahead of the masses. It means absorbing all the information you can, processing it and turning it into something valuable before someone else does.

BY JULIAN BENNETT : : “…HUMANS ARE SO GOOD AT VISUALIZING THE WORLD WE LIVE IN….WE NEVER REALLY SEE WHAT’S THERE.”

Say Whaaaaaaaaaat??!!!?? ….. Is that some kind of ‘can’t see the forest for the trees?’ metaphor? Actually, no.

BY TINA SHEA : : TOUCHY. FEELY.

In this day and age, it’s nice to know some people still believe in the printing process.

Paper vs. Electronic.

As an old school gal, I’ve always found comfort in holding the printed piece. The feel of the paper, the smell of the inks fresh off the press, not having to search through pages and pages onscreen for that one piece of information I need. (Remember the table of contents)? Seeing a company’s performance and vision on paper raises their level of believability.

BY BILL RONAT : : I STARTED MY CAREER LONG AGO (OH, SO LONG AGO) AS A PROFESSIONAL VIDEOGRAPHER (using an RCA TK-76, for you video historians in the crowd). It was big, it was heavy, you had to white balance just right to get the colors you wanted. These days, a video camera weighing a couple of ounces that you pick up at Best Buy would outperform it. So, yeah, things have changed. But the fundamentals of how to point and shoot and pan and zoom haven't changed. That's what this article I wrote for "Videomaker Magazine" is all about.

BY LK HANSEN : : DO PICTURES REALLY COMMUNICATE BETTER? For hundreds of new Chrome users, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. Google released its new web browser ‘Chrome’ last week, complete with a comic book to illustrate the launch.

BY JULIAN BENNETT : : WHEN I WAS AROUND SEVEN YEARS OLD, I clearly remember telling my mom how cool it would be if TV was projected into our living room with a total 3-D viewing of the entire scene. I mean, how true to life could it be, the experience itself, to have actual size actors standing there in your room, the action sequences and all the scene or set would totally surround your space and you are free to move around in the middle of what you are viewing… awesome.

BY LINDA BRANDT : : MANY GOOD IDEAS BEGIN ON COCKTAIL NAPKINS, YES…THEY REALLY DO. But the same thing occurs on torn scraps of paper, sticky notes, backs of envelopes and the margins of a magazine. Maybe it has something to do with free time—that is, time to spend at least not in the hot pursuit of your primary duties—time stolen from the day or night when you are not pushing all your brain power toward the solution/rumination on a particularly pressing issue, promise, deadline.

BY JENSIE OSANI : : YES WE CAN MAKE GRAPHICS. YES WE CAN MAKE POSTERS. YES WE CAN SEND A MESSAGE. YES WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IT’S BEEN DONE BEFORE. As America faces one of the hardest economic times in recent history, advertisers must change the voice of their brand. ‘Excess’ and ‘bling’ are no longer cool. The new message is about frugality, giving back and being part of the solution. Advertisers who understand this—who see it as platform for their brand and how they run their business—will be able to maintain a place in the market.

Check out this website highlighting WWII era posters that showcased Americans as hardworking, industrious, patriotic people during a similar time in American History.

http://www.greenpatriotposters.org/inspire.php
(Note: this page seems to load more quickly in Internet Explorer than in Firefox.)

FROM LINDA BRANDT : : SOMETHING WONDERFUL HAPPENED RECENTLY WHICH SUPPORTS THE VERY CORE OF CHILDHOOD AND ENCOURAGES THE CREATIVE KID IN ALL OF US.

Honored by the Strong Museum of Play, Rochester, N.Y., and inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame, was a singularly imaginative toy, a time-honored plaything that speeds imagination on many flights across the breadth of our known world and beyond. The honoree, one of three carefully selected winners, was the lowly stick.

BY LK HANSEN : : THE NEW YEAR IS QUICKLY APPROACHING. ALONG WITH IT ARE MILLIONS OF SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS RESOLVING TO MAKE POSITIVE CHANGES IN THEIR COMPANIES.

Too often, those resolutions are a quick list with general items, like: ‘Contact current customers’ or ‘Run ad in newspaper’. Unfortunately, these good intentions dissipate into nothing more than a memory by February 1st. The likely culprits—a lack of clarity and focus. “The Power of Focus”, written by Les Hewitt, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, address how to work around these obstacles.

FROM BILL RONAT : : I READ ABOUT THIS COMPANY IN WIRED MAGAZINE. HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT? THEY DON'T WANT TO SELL YOU AN ELECTRIC CAR. THEY WANT TO SELL YOU MILES. The company is called Better Place and their plan is to put in an infrastructure of stations where you can swap out your battery if you are on the road, or charge you up when you are close to home. They plan to be operating in Hawaii and Israel within the next couple of years and they already have the support of car companies (not in the U.S., of course) and governments. If this catches on, remember I'm the one who told you about it.

http://www.betterplace.com/

Click on "our vision" in the blue box for an excellent animation explaining their plan.

Guerrilla Sunshine-Spreading
The 'I Love You' Project

On a most recent jaunt at www.trendhunter.com, i found some love....