Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

Support Your Local Retailers With The 3/50 Project

Later today I'm meeting a client for coffee at The Wild Roast. It's a coffee shop/cafe in my neighborhood. The last time I was there I noticed a table top promoting the 3/50 Project. It got my attention.

The project was started by Twin Cities based Retail Consultant Cinda Baxter. For the story on how Baxter started the project, read my post on BlogHer.

RunPee.com - a Public Service Announcement For Movie Goers

To pee or not to pee, that is the question. Trying to figure out just the right time to make a pee run during a great movie can be very distressing. You don't want to miss the best part. Now you don't have to thanks to RunPee.com

  Such a relief. 

This is what the groundswell is all about. Movie goers sharing their best times to pee with other movie goers.Pass it on. Join RunPee.com and help your fellow movie goers select the best time to take their bio-break.

The Blog Devoted To The Psychology of Clutter

Obviously, the owners of the  Psychology of Clutter blog practice what they preach.  They throw out everything-- including their blog posts! Why clutter up the blogosphere with old posts? Found this wonderful blog while doing research on how to de-clutter your office.

Fortune 500 With The Most Women Senior Executives Are Most Profitable

According to a study by Catalyst, which surveyed 353 of the top Fortune 500  companies, those with the most female executives were more profitable by a third! That's just one of the findings in a report in TIME on the future role women will play in business.

here is growing evidence that in today's marketplace the female management style is not only distinctly different but also essential. Studies from Cambridge University and the University of Pittsburgh suggest that women manage more cautiously than men do. They focus on the long term. Men thrive on risk, especially when surrounded by other men. Wouldn't the economic crisis have unfolded a bit differently if Lehman Brothers had had a few more women on board?

TIME says that instead of describing women's desire for work life balance they should start thinking of it as the smart way to make money.

Interested in Having A Fling? Introducing The Female-Targeted Mars Candy

Fling is the first new candy bar that the Mars company has introduced in 20 years. I guess their two decades of candy manufacturing celibacy is the only logical explanation of why the company decided that Faux Dressing Room Sex would be the perfect message to sell their new candy bar. Targeted to women,Fling comes in a shiny pink wrapper,is called a "finger"(I'm told that's candy industry talk)and has just 85 calories. As of May 2009, Fling is only available in California and online. While it may be making its debut in the United States, Fling was first introduced two years ago in Australia. The Candy Addict reviewed FLING

The marketing tag line for this bar is “Forever is overrated,” and sadly for this Candy Addict, the bar itself is overrated, too. I actually ate several of these for the purposes of this review, hoping in vain that it would somehow improve. Unfortunately, much like a one-night stand, it can leave a bad taste in your mouth. I realize it’s meant to be a (relatively) low-fat bar, but even being forgiving for its “diet” nature, I still have to give it a “Ummm… I’ll call you” rather than an invitation to dinner tomorrow night.

As to the current advertising campaign in the U.S. it is not using the "Forever is Overrated tagline. Instead, in the U.S. Fling is "naughty but not that naughty. This is what AdFreak has to say,

Does the Fling bar turn chicks on? If so, shouldn't they market it to men? Then, a woman's sultry voice says the candy has "less than 85 calories per finger." Calling them "fingers" is weird, too. Are we supposed to wonder where they've been? I'd like to check out that groovy boutique, though, because they sure don't let the opposite sexes change right next to each other at Marshall's. Though you can find half-eaten chocolate bars in there sometimes.

Reporting on the sexual nature of the advertising campaign, NPR says,

"The overall campaign feels weird," Lisa Johnson says. "It feels creepy." Johnson is the co-author of Don't Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy — and How to Increase Your Share of This Crucial Market. She describes the marketing as a "full-frontal attack." "The language of it has so much sexual innuendo, you could pack it into a trashy novel." Johnson says marketers are taking the connection women often make between chocolate and sensuality too literally. "There are other things you can do that can hit this note without banging on it."

Over 150,000 Jobs Will Be Lost Due To Auto Dealership Shuttering

A few years ago Americans bought 16 million cars each year. Right now, the industry is hoping to sell 10 million.As a result of this huge drop in new car sales, dealerships are being forced to close. Around 800 Chrysler car dealerships around the country received letters on Thursday saying their relationship with Chrysler was over.

The National Automobile Dealers Association has estimated that all the dealership closings, including ones already announced by G.M. and Chrysler, represent 187,000 jobs, more than the number of people who work for the two car companies in the United States.
                                                                                                                                                     New York Times

Chrysler Dealerships Closing

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LensCrafters Recycles "Va Is For Lovers" Hand Gesture

In 2007, The Virginia Department of Tourism was all set to launch a new campaign For its Virginia Is For Lovers franchise.  Only problem, that hand gesture in the poster--the heart of the new campaign --is also the hand gesture that the Chicago Gang "The Disciples" has used for years.

Virginia's reaction was to dismantle the campaign.

LensCrafters must not have the same concerns because their new See What You Love Campaign has that hand gesture all over it.

FDA Tells Cheerios - You're Not The Breakfast Of Champions

Actually, what the FDA said was claiming that Cheerios could lower cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks is a "serious violation"of federal rules.

Cheerios “may not be legally marketed with the above claims in the United States without an approved new drug application.”

The CEO of General Mills responded to the FDA saying the dispute is about language not science.

"Cheerios' soluble fiber heart health claim has been FDA-approved for 12 years, and Cheerios' 'lower your cholesterol 4 percent in six weeks' message has been featured on the box for more than 2 years.The science is not in question," the company said.

"The scientific body of evidence supporting the heart health claim was the basis for FDA's approval of the heart health claim, and the clinical study supporting Cheerios' cholesterol-lowering benefit is very strong.

Well, two years ago the Bush Administration's FDA was running the show and that may explain why Cheerios has been allowed to make this value proposition claim without a peep from the FDA. Before making this very bold claim, General Mills offered a safer cholesterol message.

Can The KINDLE DX Save Newspapers?

On Sunday I was walking my dog early in the morning and happened to catch the newspaper delivery guy making his rounds.  He was driving what looked like an unreliable Chrysler mini-van and I watched as he left his car running in the middle of the street, and walk up the driveways of two homes to make sure their Sunday paper was at the door when they wanted it. He then drove past a lot of other houses before he turned down another street.
Two homes out of twenty does not a good business model make.

 I half expected to see the milkman drive up right after him.  And yet, there are people who really love getting the morning paper -- it is part of their ritual. they know they can get the most up to date news online, but they prefer reading the paper.

It seems the newspapers - which see the writing on the wall as far as home delivery goes -- are hoping that the newest Kindle will capture the hearts and imagination of those who like to sit down with a morning cup of Joe and  a newspaper.

The device targets two markets which weren't well served by the smaller Kindle devices: newspapers and textbooks. The New York Times, Boston Globe and Washington Post are signed on board as partners, providing discounted Kindles in areas where subscriptions aren't available. New York Times head honcho Arthur Sulzberger even joined Bezos on-stage for the announcement at New York's Pace University. The Times liveblogs the announcement:

“We’ve known for more than a decade that one day an e-reader product would offer the same satisfying experience as the reading of a printed newspaper,” ]New York Times publisher Arthur] Sulzberger said. He called the partnership with Amazon an experiment and a laboratory to test new digital distribution strategies. Mr. Sulzberger did not give details on the size of the discount the papers will offer.
                                                                                                                             The Afterword

Alan D. Mutter, a former city editor at the Chicago Sun-Times who blogs at Reflections of a Newsosaur thinks newspapers are fooling themselves.

Why do newspaper publishers think they can be saved by a clunky, electronic distraction like the double-wide Kindle DX introduced today? Do they really think anyone wants to spend $489 to lug around a clunky 10.4- by 7.2-inch tablet to read a static (that is to say non-interactive) version of the paper? Of all the things that are wrong with newspapers, the format of the printed product isn’t one of them.

The reason newspaper publishers are hoping the Kindle will re-kindle enthusiasm for newspapers is they don't have a lot of other options. The new Kindle DX is spendy--$489 compared to $359 for the Kindle 2 and Zero $$$$ for the Kindle APP on iPhones and iPod Touches--- but evidently newspapers are going to offer Kindle DX at a discount to some customers. There's a great conversation about the Kindle DX over at Engadget

the DX won't save newspapers -- partner papers won't even subsidize this thing if you're within range of a paper route, which is just about as myopic as it gets. Has it even dawned on these folks that people don't enjoy getting a wad of paper thrown on their deck anymore? Bottom line is this: Amazon has to be thinking outside of the consumer realm with the DX. Be it public school systems, universities or other enterprises, that is where the money is. You'll notice newspapers weren't included in that mix -- obviously, they're not interested in throwing tradition to the wind in a last-ditch effort to find a life raft. Too bad.

Check Out BrightScope And Rate Your 401(k) Plan.

 Ouch.  If I were working at FedEx today, I'd be sending my 401(k) an email requesting a meeting. According to BrightScope FedEx's 401(k) retirement plan is definitely not delivering the returns.

 One of the myths about 401(k) plans is that if you work for a Fortune 100 , you probably have a great plan. BrightScope is here to say, " That ain't necessarily so."

BrightScope is a new service that allows you to see how your 401(k) plan performs compared to other companies in your industry sector.
 So if you work at FedEx,GE, Procter and Gamble,  you  might  want to have a sit down and say, "Can we change providers?"

While people have watched the balance in their 401(k) plans crash, the loss of money due to the investments is just part of the story. The other money-eating feature in 401(k) plans are their fees. Now, when everyone was watching their 401(k) plans grow, the fees didn't seem important.

But fees, according to the experts, can have a devastating effect on your 401(k)'s balance. The problem has been, it's impossible to figure out what your fees are because many are hidden. More on hidden fees and what you need to know on my BlogHer Post.

What BrightScope offers is a way for people to have some concrete data that they can use to try to get some answers and hopefully make sure that their plan is not charging them fees that will eat away at their savings.