We decided to publish with some regularity starting this month. Figured we could balance our News, Views & Clues (AKA NVC) with our research and work on the Jedemi Chronicles. The disciplined approach is a good thing. This will be a weekly column covering things that we found intriguing. You’ll get links and context and lots (and lots!) of stimulation for curious minds.
About NVC:
First, some background is in order. Our NVC takes some inspiration from the Bruce Jenkins 3-Dot Lounge and the work of Austin Kleon AND Annie’s work from her days at a semiconductor company called CHIPS.
The point is to have a quick, curated read with interesting things we’ve discovered during the week. Our hope is that it will stimulate the reader’s imagination — inspiring further exploration. And as you know, we’re all about staying curious (#SCMF), so we’re thinking that OUR curiosity may trigger yours — leading to things you may want to share. We sort of feed off each other creating a massive Force field of energy and enthusiasm. Without further ado, go means go!
Amazon Showrooms Itself:
Online to offline…
To start, we found it interesting that Amazon is opening brick and mortar (B&M) locations (Amazon Rips Page From Rivals’ Offline Playbook: Possible bookstore openings mirror retail showrooms unveiled by other Internet sellers) considering its competitors have gone out of the B&M business because Amazon has been squashing them with online sales.
Amazon is expected to open at least two more stores and plans to eventually expand to as many as 200 locations, according to a person familiar with the company’s plans. Barnes & Noble Inc. has 640 stores by comparison.
Two problems here. First, that’s an expensive undertaking. Second, we hate it when “a person familiar” is the source. Probably not too well vetted. Take it with a grain of salt.
The Return of Kevin Butler:
While watching Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC), we saw Kevin Butler in a commercial for Boston Pizza, a Canadian pizza chain like Domino’s here in the States.
Of course, we’re playing with you a bit. Kevin Butler was part of a series of PlayStation ads for Sony where he held various VP titles (pretty much vice president of everything). He was played by actor Jerry Lambert. So memorable a character, that whenever Mr. Butler (Lambert) appeared on television (like for Bridgestone), we’d find ourselves thinking about his Sony ads. Anyway, it was kind of fun to see him in a humorous spot for a Canadian company — this time as Gerry the Boston Pizza GM (who runs his establishment like a sports enterprise). And now that KB is top of mind, we are off to do more exploring online.
Look for more much to do about Kevin Butler in future posts.
Super Ad Sunday:
Today (Feb 7) and tomorrow, ads take center stage as part of the Super Bowl presentation. To us, it feels almost anti-climatic as “ad buzz” has been getting louder and louder leading up to the game. This is because many brands are trying to make the most of their investment. That’s understandable.
We saw a couple of articles that seemed interesting. One was about tech companies that ponied up big bucks to gain visibility during the game. It has several ads embedded. We liked the one for Wix.com.
Another interesting angle came from AdAge — that takes a behavioral science slant. For example, this is what they had to say about the Apple “1984” spot — considered the number one Super Bowl ad of all time and really, why ads became a game day “must see.”
…Here we see brilliant storytelling, but we also see how a principle called the “representativeness heuristic” can drive interest in a radical, new product by aligning it with successful past innovations. Analogies transfer positive associations with a good, old idea to the new idea. In scenes evoking the well-known novel “1984,” the hammer-wielding young heroine smashing the existing norm heralds the societal sea change promised by the introduction of Apple’s Macintosh…
Will the ads live up to the pre-game hype? Stay tuned.
Buzz-kill Bust for Rumble Seat Dan
We love the writing style of Dan Neil who writes the “Rumble Seat” column which runs Saturdays in The Wall Street Journal. This weekend he provided his thoughts on the Audi Q7 SUV (Audi’s Q7 SUV: A Weighty Analysis of Design:The Audi Q7 SUV has a lot to offer. But next time, engineers should take a harder look at steel construction).
The headline and subhead say tons! His prose is a topic for another day. What was notable about this piece is the close encounter he had with the CHP.
Notable quotables:
…Other dope digital includes full-color head’s up display, with graphics for navi and status, including vehicle speed, which I ignored on my way to a very unhappy meeting with a California Highway patrolman, alas. I blame the polarized sunglasses…
And this one that gives you a sense of his writing style AND his disappointing run in with the law.
The vehicle I spent the most time in was the Prestige trim, a lot of horsy hardware, including adaptive air suspension, torque-vectoring, and four-wheel steering, wiggling some very sporty 20-inch rubber. It was awesome. It drove like a high-price sport wagon, which it sort of is, albeit with a fat man’s coffin tied to the roof.
And I was having a lovely time in this traction-jugging showboat until I saw the blue lights, which seriously curtailed my joy. I’ll circle back to Audi’s steel magnolia when I’m in a better mood.
We heart Dan Neil. You should give him a read and see if you feel likewise.
Too Long Book Marked (TLBM) – Autonomous Car Piece
Speaking of cars, while we were poking around on various websites, we came across this piece: The Secret UX Issues That Will Make (Or Break) Self-Driving Cars: In an unassuming research lab, Volkswagen is solving problems that Tesla and Google haven’t come close to cracking.
Another one where the title and subtitle are way wordy — yet we were hooked. Why?
The mention of Volkswagen — a company that is starving for good press since the Dieselgate story broke.
It’s a lengthy piece, so we bookmarked it and will return when we have extra reading time.
Featured Song
We decided it would be pretty cool if we closed out NVC with a catchy tune. With an assist from our Enchanted Jukebox, we present: 50-Ways by Train
Why this song?
To start, Train lead singer Patrick Monahan sang the National Anthem for San Francisco 49ers home opener at Levi’s Stadium (14 Sept 14). Super Bowl 50 is being played at Levi’s Stadium.
Plus, this jaunty tune about a breakup is pretty funny—
She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntan
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I’m no good at goodbyes!She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I’m all out of lies
And ways to say you died..
Amusing lyrics PLUS it is an awesome ear worm. Enjoy!
That’s a Wrap!
Hope you enjoyed this week’s NVC. Make sure you check back in for future columns along with our As We See It (AWSI) that will also be getting onto a regular publishing schedule.
Thanks for your time. Stay curious and may the Jedemi Force be with you!
-The Gang
Bonus Content
The best of Kevin Butler – VP of Everything at Sony
Full Lyrics for Train’s 50 Ways to Say Goodbye
My heart is paralyzed
My head was over sized
I’ll take the high road like I should
You said it’s meant to be
That it’s not you, it’s me
You’re leaving now for my own good
That’s cool, but if my friends ask where you are I’m gonna say
She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntan
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I’m no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I’m all out of lies
And ways to say you died
My pride still feels the sting
You were my everything
Some day I’ll find a love like yours (a love like yours)
She’ll think I’m Superman
Not super minivan
How could you leave on Yom Kippur?
That’s cool, but if my friends ask where you are I’m gonna say
She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion
Help me, help me, I’m no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert
Drown in a hot tub
Danced to death at an east side night club
Help me, help me, I’m all out of lies
And ways to say you died
I wanna live a thousand lives with you
I wanna be the one you’re dying to
Love, but you don’t want to
That’s cool, but if my friends ask where you are I’m gonna say
That’s cool, but if my friends ask where you are I’m gonna say
She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntan
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I’m no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I’m all out of lies
She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion
Help me, help me, I’m no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert
Drown in a hot tub
Danced to death at an east-side night club
Help me, help me, I’m all out of lies
And ways to say goodbye.
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