Finally Bullfrog Powered

I just received the email saying that our house is now running entirely of green low impact power. It's a wonderfull feeling to know that we are not responsible for polluting the environment through coal and nuclear generated power.

I encourage everyone to check into it. The difference in price is almost neglectable (in our case a max. of $20/ month more).

Please click on the link below to find out more and join the many private houses and companies that are already bullfrog powered. Together, we can make coal and nuclear power plants reduntant.

Click here to become bullfrog powered.

Green Music

Did you ever think about the fact that iTunes actually sells much greener music than your local record store? By buying music online, you are cutting down on emmissions for transportation and manufacturing of packaging.

There's also many other companies that sell mp3's that are well worth checking out.


Klicktrack offers DRM free music with much better compression rates than iTunes and Klicktrack is working toward compression free quality (full CD quality). Please check them out.

Can Starbucks hear me?

Hello,

This is a little different post from what I usually post here, but it could still be very interesting as a case study in the power of experiental marketing. The ideal outcome of this experiment is mentioned at the end of this post.

I'm using a passage of Max Lendermans book "Experience the Message".
I just sent an email to Starbucks:
_____

Hello,

I'd love to quote a passage in a book I recently read. The reason for this? You'll find it after the passage.

"Take Starbucks again as an example, this time as both a brand and an experience. As Lewis Carbone writes in Clued In, "if you are considering how you feel about Starbucks, you are thinking about the Starbucks brand. If you think about how you yourself feel as a result of a visit to a Starbucks, you are relating to the experience....What customers value is the experience. And that's what they associate with the brand (brand association)" (excerpt from the book "Experience the Message" by Max Lenderman).

When I went to Starbucks in downtown Montreal (#72118), I had walked by a few other coffee stores. Since I am a regular to Startbucks, I always keep a charged Starbucks "gift card" in my wallet so that I don't need any change. After walking past the Second Cups of Montreal, a few other chains and the local small coffee stores I finally found a Starbucks in the Chapters store. The store was still closed so I waited patiently for 10 minutes to get "my Starbucks". After I finally got my coffee I wanted to use my gift card to pay for the coffee. This specific store (#72118) does not have the system set up to take gift cards. I was not really disappointed, I simply paid using some change, but it definitely wrecked the perception of this specific store for me.

With this email I simply want to point out to you, that you rely on the experience that your customer has at Starbucks. I went out of my way to get to the store, waited patiently to receive a coffee just to have "my experience" and perception of Starbucks wrecked by a cashiers system. Is that worth your highest asset?

Best Regards, Hans
_____

I was not able to find the email address of the marketing departement, but lets see what kind of response I will get.

The only real response I'd like to get from them is, to find out that they are installing a new cashiers system in that specific store.

This experiment could be taken further if they don't install a new cash by spreading this post in the marketing community, seeing that Starbucks gets used as a role model very often.

But for now, lets see what happens. If this works out, this will definitely be a lesson in marketing. But already at this point I would like to point out that the experience that your customer has definitely matters and I would love to see more business that are offering environmentally responsible products be aware of the experiential marketing. One very positive example would be Whole Foods. Excellent products with an excellent experience. As a matter of fact, I have a friends that visit the store as a highlight of the day.

I will keep you informed.

PS: "Can Starbucks hear me?"

New Media: Sucking Us Dry?

I've been "studying" and thinking about new media a lot lately. It seems to be the big hype for marketing and it does show reasonable success for those who have it mastered. New media according to the marketers is supposed to enhance community and give you a richer social network.

We must all agree that any one person only has 24 hours per day, in my opinion a lot of lives are suffering under new media, rather then being positively affected and enriched. Husbands spend to much time in front of the computer, rather then spending time with the wife; Kids are showing up late at the dinner table, because the "really really have" to finish the myspace session; wives have to quickly check "one more thing" on facebook, rather then spending time with the baby, etc.

I think it's time to switch off and grab a coffee with our loved ones in real life, rather than having a cyber cup of coffee in second life.

That said, I need to really get of the computer myself. Enjoy your REAL life. :-)

Time Management Rethought

Hi everyone,

just a very quick note. I took some time off from this blog. I had to rethink my time management and I implemented the GTD method, which took some time. If you are serious about super charging your time management and your time usability, you should read this book: "Getting things done" by David Allen. I've only been using the system for 3 days now and I've already accomplished more in those three days then in the last 2 or 3 weeks.

You can also find lots more tips about the method on the webpage of Merlin Mann, lots of tips and tools to help with GTD.

I dare you to rethink your time management, supercharge your productivity and gain back some quality family time :-)

Best Regards, Hans

Kyoto what?

Do you know what Kyoto is all about?

I find that the word Kyoto is in everyones mouth, but there's not to many people that actually know what it is all about. I found a page that explains it very well: Kyoto 101. Go check it out!

From Your Muscles straight to the Outlet

say it like Arnold:

"Froom yooa Mussels, sträght to ze Uh-ootlet!"

Arnold would probably approve of this project very much and he would generate lots of power as well. I'd like to present to you: We'lo.

It's a project a friend of mine started, where they harness the power of gym machines, transforms it into "proper" power in order to light up non-profit, government and corporate organizations. At his point the power output is not very large, because humans don't really produce that much energy, but we need to keep it in mind. With LED lighting technology and higher efficiency dynamos (the part that produces the power on the gym machine), we might be able to create more relevant power in the future. It's these small changes I believe that can make a big difference in changing peoples minds... and their weight. Lets help We'lo in their wonderful endeavors.Dave McGhee powering up a display with the We'lo bike.