Canuckflack

There are many decisions that contribute to the growth of a successful business. Faced with a limited marketing budget, many can benefit from a carefully chosen name that not only engages and possibly entertains, but also clearly communicates the benefit to the customer.

Like the rabbitry featured in today’s Wall Street Journal article about alternate food sources for cat owners.

Hare Today

As in: hare today, gone tomorrow.

A fairly macabre name for a rabbitry that’s selling 1,000 pounds of raw rabbit meat each week. But still awfully funny.

Slightly more exceptional is the feline diet followed by one online cat nutrition expert:

“Holisticat’s Ms. Arora is a vegetarian, but feeds her cats mice, rats, rabbits, Cornish game hen, quail, pheasant and chicken. For Thanksgiving she buys Missy, Pigpen, Trikki and Puma a small heritage-breed turkey from a nearby farmer.”

I wonder if that turkey is still alive when it’s turned over to the cats.

*smirk*

But seriously, that sounds like the cats are following a Colonial Williamsburg diet.

But then their names would by Moppet, Fluffy, Downy and *that damn wild cat that keeps impregnating my little princesses.”

[Tags] cat food, rabbits, feline diet [/tags]

Twenty-eight years ago this weekend, the Specials shot towards the top of the British charts with Gangsters.

Their interpretation of ska was directly responsible for me dancing  strangely and dangerously for quite a few years. Just check out the clip of Nite Klub on the old documentary Dance Craze. (It’s a must watch, in my opinion.)

If you’re looking for some authorized boots, try the Specials site.

Lily Allen appeared with The Specials at Glastonbury this year – the video for Gangsters is on YouTube, of course. And the original video was much better.

Allen was interviewed by Canadian cultural treasure Nardwuar in June. (abridged interview on Youtube, full transcript) Some choice quotes below:

Nardwuar: … Were there any local ska bands you checked out from England?
Lily Allen: No.

Nardwuar: None?
Lily Allen: It’s kind of a bit before my time really.

Nardwuar: Well, I mean the bands that are going on right now, like were there any local, contemporary ska bands?
Lily Allen: I don’t really like modern, contemporary ska. Don’t think it’s very good. It’s the older stuff.

————————–

Nardwuar: From South By Southwest, “Lily Allen commented on her manager’s incredibly minute male appendage”?
Lily Allen: No, I didn’t. I commented on the editor of the NME magazine’s minute appendage.

Nardwuar: Would you ever make fun of your manager’s minute male appendage and how do you know that it isn’t a minute male appendage?
Lily Allen: I don’t.

Nardwuar: So to know that Lily Allen likes back hair, that’s awesome.
Lily Allen: Yeah, I like back hair.

Nardwuar: You have an amazing tongue. Have people said that to you Lily Allen? You have an amazing tongue?
Lily Allen: My boyfriend has. [laughs]

Nardwuar: Ba-boom. What I meant by that, you’ve had a lot of photos taken of you, and your tongue is always positioned really interestingly. What are the different Lily Allen tongue positions?

Lily Allen: [Lily shows tongue positions] That one, that one, that one, that one, that one occasionally.

Nardwuar: I like the little one, the little cat one. The cat one, that’s great. I love the Lily Allen tongue positions.

[tags] Specials, Specials, AKA, Lily Allen, ska, two tone, twotone, 2tone, Nardwuar [/tags]

Here you go folks. I’ve tried to draw out the career arc for the typical alternative band (or one hit wonder pop band). The arc progresses from left to right, with the four segments representing roughly two to three years in total (although it could be 18 months if you’re an American Idol winner).

I know I’m being unfair. Many bands have very successful careers as independent artists, profiting from one huge national hit to avoid working crap jobs as baristas ever again. Others turn away from more mainstream paths to emphasize their music and build a close connection to their loyal fans.

I’m thinking, really, of those bands whose career has been defined by one song. No matter how varied their discography (empthreeography?) and how nuanced their work, the only time most of us think of these bands is when we catch a bar or two of their signature song in an office building lobby, at the mall, or waiting for a teller at the bank.

Or in an ad for a feminine hygiene product.

• the Cranberrries’ Linger
• Dido’s Here With Me
• BareNaked Ladies One Week
• Counting Crows Mr. Jones
• Midnight Oil, Beds are Burning
• Jesus Jones, Right Here Right Now
• Lily Allen/Professor Longhair, Knock Em Out (ad)
  

A special added treat: Midnight Oil on Alan Thicke’s talk show – that’s right, Alan Thicke people!

[tags] music promotion, music marketing, AOR, AC radio, American Idol, radio, record sales [/tags]

Once you find someone who gives good quote, you’ve got to hang onto them.

“He’s putting his money where is mouth is, and I like that,” Black said. “He’s got his own skin in the game, thinks out of the box, and seems to be one of those guys that takes the bull by the horns and just runs.” (AP)

That’s quite a handful of mixed analogies from retail analyst Jennifer Black, in response to the hiring of Canadian Glenn Murphy as Chairman and CEO of Gap. Murphy, you should know, has led a turn around in the fortunes of Shoppers Drug Mart, the largest drug chain in Canada. Here’s another fabulous quote:

“I think even their management is surprised with themselves and the home run they just hit,” said Jennifer Black … “You only see this once in a while where a company steps on the gas, hits all the cylinders and just flies. They are really flying.” (AP. 2004)

[tags] retail analyst, good quote, analogy [/tags]

Wow. What a month for professional sports. Which is the worst personal failing currently staining the reputation and future of a professional sport?

• Jordan and Eric Staal, two National Hockey League players are booked for “harassing passing motorists” after a bachelor party in Minnesota (that’s right – NHL players go to Minn. to party!)
• National Basketball League referee Tim Donaghy is accused of fixing basketball games he both officiated AND bet on;
• Michael Vick, the quarterback for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, is implicated in a horrid dog fighting training camp;
• The parade of bicyclists caught doping just continues, effectively eliminating the race leader and three Top-5 contenders from the Tour de France.

The crisis management skills at NHL head office aren’t being called upon, but every other sport has been facing a nightmare.

I bet Barry Bonds is glad everyone chipped in to overshadow the great debate over whether Bud Selig will be at the ball park when Bonds breaks the great career home run record.

[tags] NFL, NHL, Staal, NBA, Tour de France, bicycling [/tags]

It’s not breaking news that Starbucks is leaving its location inside the Forbidden City. The decision was driven, to a large degree, by the opposition stirred up by Rui Chenggang. His persistent criticism eventually resulted in a 500,000 signature petition for the franchise to leave the UNESCO World Heritage site.

But how could Starbucks avoid stoking a growing popular unrest without undermining the popularity of the other 170-odd franchises across the country?

Make it a logical and easily understandable corporate decision: avoiding the dilution of the brand.

“There were several choices, one of which was to continue, but it would not carry the Starbucks name any more,” [Eden Woon, VP for Greater China] said. “We decided at the end that it is not our custom worldwide to have stores that have any other name, so therefore we decided the choice would be to leave.” (AP )

Really, who would want to buy Starbucks coffee that’s been co-branded as “Palace Museum” – the corporate brand planned for the other facilities in the City.

The Economist rightly points out that Rui Chenggang is no mere blogger. He’s an anchor for China Central Television. He has an international reputation, including speaking experience in Europe and across Asia.

His discussion of Starbuck’s presence in the Forbidden City was supported by other government-owned media (not really a rarity in China). Even if there was occasional criticism of his stance, particularly in more entrepreneurial Shanghai, it’s an indication that the government was at least silently supportive of the criticism.

It doesn’t hurt that Chenggang’s argument ultimately made perfect sense, even if Starbucks had existed inside the Forbidden City for nearly seven years:

“I was having lunch with an Indian person today, and I said, ‘Would you Indians allow a Starbucks to be inside the Taj Mahal?’ And he said, ‘No, of course not, we would never let that happen.’ “The Forbidden City,” Rui added, “is not an airport.”(LA Times)

Let’s leave the final word to Eden Woon, the VP from Starbucks:

“Never forget the core values and the characteristics that make your brand famous in your home country or elsewhere globally, but always be flexible to adapt to the special Chinese environment.” (China CSR)

[tags] Starbucks, Forbidden City, Chenggang, UNESCO, World Heritage Site [/tags]

“… The old diplomacy was defined by a world of limited information. It was a veritable secret garden of negotiations. And secret negotiation still matters. But we live in a world where the views of a Pashtun herdsman, and the conflict he faces between illegal opium production and legal farming, holds the fate of a critical country in the balance. So the new diplomacy is public as well as private, mass as well as elite, real-time as well as deliberative. And that needs to be reflected in the way we do our business.”

- excerpt from David Miliband’s first speech as Foreign Secretary, speaking to The New Diplomacy (text on FCO site, spotty video on YouTube, and webcast on avaaz.org) Which signals a greater commitment to online communities and a frank conversation with the general public?

• a blog, or
• co-hosting your first major policy speech with an international and online activist organization?

David Miliband, the British Cabinet Minister formerly known online for his personal blog posts as DEFRA Minister, has been promoted to the post of Foreign Secretary. No new blog yet, but the signs are encouraging. In fact, Miliband’s first major policy speech was co-hosted by avaaz.org – a relatively new international and online activist organization. In addition to the vague but reassuring words in his speech about non-traditional influences on diplomacy and foreign policy priorities. the new Foreign Secretary fielded some questions submitted online by avaaz’ members.

“…At the end we handed David Miliband his own Book of Global Public Opinion, with all our members’ thousands of questions and pieces of advice, warning and encouragement. Clarion calls for an ethical foreign policy, a new global climate treaty, all-party negotiations and ending occupation in the Middle East, the protection of human rights and decisive action on poverty. I hope he’s reading it now.” (Paul Hilder, in HuffPost)

The talk is even being walked on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website. The FCO is encouraging Britons to “Have Their Say” about the speech and the FCO’s priorities. Unfortunately, the system seems to consist of an HTML form, a formal review process once submitted, and then a static compilation of comments.

The three themes under this section have links to reddit, del.icio.us and digg – but none of the other pages on the FCO site seem to have them. It’s a first step, isn’t it?

The larger question remains how Miliband’s past experience with online comment and activism will be reflected in the polices and practices developed by the FCO. Will public diplomacy really change as a result?

Or will the process be more incremental, simply as a result of institutional inertia and the greater challenge of shifting the course of a large foreign policy apparatus?

*crossposted from sosaidthe.org

[tags] Government 2.0, online activism, Miliband, FCO, public diplomacy [/tags]

I’m loving the new energy awareness campaign from flickoff.ca (and flickoff.org). I saw the first mainstream ad (here) yesterday, and it’s edgy and engaging. Not quite as raw as the first ad, but more informative. In the new ad, a young woman* walks the viewer through the argument for energy reduction, and a few steps anyone can take. Meanwhile, the logo flashes for a brief split second – and it’s easy to misinterpret THAT logo.

The campaign is supported by several companies with strong youth ties, including Roots, Virgin Mobile and MuchMusic. The narrator* of the ad is Hannah Simone, the host of MuchNews and the New Music on Much Music.

In a cross promotion homerun, MuchMusic managed to get one of the Flick Off t-shirts (available from Roots) onto Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) during his recent appearance in Toronto to promote the new Harry Potter movie.

Predictably, the Ontario government’s $500,000 in support for the campaign drew criticism from the opposition parties:

“…It’s bad judgment. It’s offensive, it shouldn’t be done this way. There are lots of ways to educate kids without using language like this.” [said Conservative Party Leader John Tory]

NDP house leader Peter Kormos expressed similar views in a different way.

“That the taxpayer would spend flickin’ money on a campaign that is based on telling people to flick off just blows my flickin’ mind. Nobody has lost their flickin’ sense of humour … but the minister got burned flickin’ big-time.

“Parents are going to be flickin’ embarrassed … (They) have enough to deal with (besides) the Ministry of the Environment in a government that simply doesn’t give a flick about their children’s language.” (Windsor Star)