whizdumb

Crack for data junkies

This new site called Swivel is kind of a combination of fact-based-selling and wiki. People post, alter, comment and scrutinize graphs.  Of all kinds.  Like correlating obesity with religious affiliation (apparently baptists are tubby), or the alcohol content of various beers.  One of the first graphs to jump out at me was the above comparison of crimes in Wal*Mart versus crimes in Target. 

Of course, like Wiki, the sourcing of data is something to be careful about.  But it's fantastic to browse and from what I've seen there is significant oversight by editors and those leaving comment.  Interesting site concept.

Via thunk.

Geostationary Banana Over Texas

Not sure how much I can add to this.  Giant fruit floating in space over Texas for a month.  For god's sake let's give these Canadian artists a million bucks and get this thing off the ground!

Starbucks CEO interview

(Ignore the Bush image, the Howard Schultz segment is after Bush.)

Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, was on Charlie Rose recently. I've never really heard him talk before so it was interesting to hear about how the company started and what his personal background (Brooklyn, projects) and priorities are (universal health care).

To be honest, I really don't like Starbucks. I am put off by its ubiquity and I don't connect with the iconic white cardboard cup the way a lot of people do. I just don't find it stands for much except a sort of blind masstige conformity.

As a marketer though, I respect what they've done; namely, to cultivate a fiercely loyal brand following in the absence of advertising. So I was interested to hear Schultz talk about his approach to the company and its role in culture. Here are some highlights:

- Starbucks spends more on health care insurance than they do on coffee. Each employee who works more than 20 hrs/week gets access to the company health care plan and stock options.

- "We're not in the coffee business serving people, but in the people business serving coffee."

- "There is no single patent that we have. There is no secret sauce. We buy the world's best coffee, roast it to perfection . . . but the only competitive advantage we have is the relationship we have with our people, our employees. You can't exceed the expectations of your customer unless you first exceed the expectations of your people. That's the only advantage we have, every single day."

- "We live at a time right now where we long for human connection. The world is very fragile; we work hundreds of hours [a year] more than our parent's generation, technology has become a burden not just a tool, it's very secular - our existence - and the human connection, conversation, the sense of humanity, sense of community that exists in Starbucks has proven to be a real asset to the company and probably not since the English pub has something been created . . . Starbcucks has become this third place between home and work. We have become, clearly, this third place. It is as relevant - or more relevant - as a third place outside the US."

- In America 80% of the business is takeout. In China, where they have about 500 stores, it's nearly the opposite. People linger for hours, go on dates there. Their challenge in China is to become enduring, not faddish.

- The wi-fi in their stores makes up the largest wi-fi footprint in the world

- He is seeing his stores as an entertainment network. More than 40 million people went into starbucks this week, which is twice as many as the largest network TV show audience

- Sees the brand as a distribution mechanism for entertainment content. "Starbucks can play a major role in the distribution of unique documentaries."

- "Great companies push for innovation. They compete with themselves and that's what we have to keep doing."

Steve Jobs on the iPhone

This video goes on for a while but Steve Jobs has put together a very smooth, clear and minimalist presentation of this amazing new device.

I love watching him present because he makes it look so easy. His simple, reductionist approach masks the obsessive drive beneath. But that's what it takes to achieve this kind of clarity - in presentation, design, ideas - a relentlessness for simplicity. It's really rare. Just look at the Cingular CEO who gives brief comments toward the end of the video.

A couple other notes from this speech:

- Love the setup for the '3 revolutions' announcement at around minute 27

- At about 1:41 into the show his clicker stops working. Grace under pressure for sure here, a nightmare averted.

- He gives a wonderful quote from Wayne Gretzky: "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."

Grrrrr

Great work from TBWA\Paris. Via the TBWA\Lisbon blog TBlogWA.

Yes

"Never use a long word where a short one will do, and never use jargon if you can think of an everyday English equivalent."

-George Orwell

Rest in Peas

"Columbus, Ohio: A hotbed of social rest."

"If a picture is worth a thousand words, a metaphor is worth a thousand pictures."

–Daniel Pink

Standing Still

"Standing still is the fastest way of moving backwards in a rapidly changing world."

-Bill Boggs

How iMet My Neighbor on iTunes

That's the title of a story I heard this morning on NPR.  It's about what happened when a stranger's playlist popped up on the reporter's iTunes and he decided to meet her in person.  It's well told and worth a listen.

I had a similar experience with a different outcome.  I was staying in a hotel in Houston and some guy's playlist appeared in my iTunes.  I was using the hotel network.  Only there was one major difference; we were not musical soul mates.  His playlist was loaded with Celine Deon and Kenny G.

Missing in action: Dick Clark's dignity

I was sure last year would be the last, but no. For the love of all that's holy, somebody please force this man to retire!

Update 1/15/07: Looks like Dick Clark's people took down all videos. Here is the wiki link.