Worth Noting Pages 1-5

WORTH NOTING 1994-2013

Copyright 2013 -- Jeff Saverine

• On Ingenuity from writer/inventor Jules Verne:  

Anything one man can imagine another will make a reality.

• On Secrecy from mob boss Carlo Gambino:  

Three men can keep a secret … if two are dead.

• On Love (3/6/96 N.Y. Post):

            Love is what happens to a man and woman who don’t know each other.

            W. Somerset Maugham

            Cole Porter said it best:

Most gentlemen don’t like love, they just like to kick it around.

·         From the movie Disclosure: 

Today, we have lots of information but no truth.

·         Business Idea: The Focus Group Channel (before streaming video became a reality)

·         Delivered via online, video, CD-ROM, satellite TV

·         continuous focus groups (24-hr access, with reruns and running updates)

·         major test markets

·         primary category coverage daily -- Autos, food, PC’s, travel, etc.

·         subcategories/brands each week or month  -- e.g. fries, toothpaste, SUVS

·         downloadable/recordable

·         revenue sources:

·         cable syst. Subs;online access; downloading/ videotapes

·         advertising/sponsorship

·         On Newspapers from Inherit The Wind:  

The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.

·         Bill Maher Quote (on why he’d never vote for a Republican who made him laugh):

I don’t want a funny Republican.  I want the mean old men who are going to watch my money.

·         Politically Correct Euphemisms from U.S. News 4/15/96 John Leo “Who’s for a Little Tongue Violence?”

·         Girdles are now shapewear

·         Homosexual marriage is now same sex marriage

·         At Stanford U., nobody ever fails a course -- instead of getting an “F” a dedicated  underachiever gets an NP -- no pass (last season the football team had 7 wins, 3 no-wins and a tie

·         Childless couples to child-free

·         Navy’s “swimmer nullification program” is a program to teach our frogmen how to kill other countries’ frogmen

·         Drag queens to “gender illusionists”

·         Multiculturalists have simply tried to add an “s” to “American People”.  This apparently harmless plural effortlessly removed the “unum” from “e pluribus unum”

·         Tagline for Strategic Alliances:  “The Company You Keep” [p.s. used by NY Life]

·         USN&WR Sections Idea:

·                     Corporate sponsorship of excerpted writing, artwork, etc.

·                     Serialized as continuity program

·         On Surviving In Today’s Fiercely Competitive Markets  -- used in a speech by Wayne Calloway, Pepsico chairman

Two hikers are walking in the woods.  They spot a bear approaching and one hiker drops to his knees and begins putting on his running shoes.  “What’re you doing?” asks the second hiker.  “You can’t outrun a bear.”  “You’re right,” replies the first hiker, “but I don’t have to.  I only have to outrun you.”

·         Ore-Ida In-store Idea (for one of my former ad accounts)

·                     balloons as in-store signage

·                     great for children/also seen by adults

·                     callouts for specials

·                     fun shapes e.g., potato, O-I bug logo

·                     alternative to high cost floor signage or freezer space

·                     instant coupons inside

·                     co-op w/ stores for exclusive “air rights”

·         Pitch to MIS/DP Personnel -- adjunct to typical image tech campaigns aimed at CEO’s

            Now that we have your boss breathing down your neck, let’s talk about how we can help YOU.

·         On the Future: Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) motto

           

            The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

·         Ubiquitous Computing defined: the term used to describe when computing will be as available and invisible as electricity

·         Social Computing defined: the term used to describe a shift in thinking -- “no longer about technology, it’s about anthropology”

·         Keith Richards on the early tensions within The Rolling Stones

People don’t see the distinction between a ‘gang’ and a ‘family’.  A family is a mature group while a gang is an immature group.  The Rolling Stones wasn’t a family. We were a gang.

·         Clark Gable On Film Roles:

            I look for roles that are everything I’ve been, everything that I am, or everything that I hope to             be.

·         Campaign Idea:  Horoscopes

·                     translate just about any message strategy, target profile or business forecast into a related                     astrological reading.           

·                     Irresistible to most people. 

·         African Saying: an aphorism for hostile takeovers, global warfare and the like

When the elephants fight, it’s the ants who suffer.

·         For AT&T:  Take a page from Dial soap and advertise/publicize company earnings, performance and other news.  Puts face on typically faceless “public” companies. 

·         On Commitment and Priorities:  Coach Vince Lombardi to All-Star Back Paul Hornung

            Only two things come before football and the Packers ... God and family.

·         Campaign Theme:  “It’s Common Knowledge”  (see also One Up On Wall Street -- The Power Of Common Knowledge

·         Defining Politics:  Book title, Politics: Who Gets What, When, How

·                     Strength of basing politics on economics -- “Half a loaf is still bread.  Half a baby is not half a child.” [wisdom of King Solomon]

·         Reading Recos -- George Matyas:

·         Becoming A Leader - Bennis

·         Leadership Factor and Changing Corporate Culture  - Kotter

·         Built To Last

·         Harvard Business Review  “From Strategy To Purpose”

·         Travel/Recreation Campaign:  Ski Vermont 1-800 VERMONT

·                     videotaped :30 commercial w/ date shown on-screen.  Effective way to show most recent ski/weather conditions.  On-screen listing of current snow bases and trails by area/resort.  (before camera phones and live video posts)

·         Commercial Correspondent:  A name for specialized reporter/journalist who focuses on business effect of events in any area of news.   A lens through which things are interpreted in a specific way.  (before advent of financial news channels)

·         Chinese Proverb: 

One dog barks at its shadow and many bark at the sound.

·         On Corporate Stewardship:  Asking operating units and line managers to “win the game” is like asking each chess piece to take the king.

·         Book Idea -- Art/Picture Book:  Life In The Balance

·                     Illustrated vignettes of opposing views of people, ecosystems, governments -- anything. Juxtapose extremes on each side against an “ideal” scenario at center/focal point.  Style might resemble Nature Company wildlife posters -- or photo collage.

·         On The Midwest: 

The reason it’s called the heartland is because the brains aren’t there.

·         On Cheating from actress Britt Eckland: 

I don’t sleep with married men.  Happily married men that is.

·         Business Invention:  A machine that can insert coupons, messages or other small items into balloons before they’re inflated.   (before balloon stuffing machines)

·         Trigger thought linking Golfers and PC/Net users:  In general, the two groups share a camaraderie that’s based on the difficulty, frustrations and complexity of playing their respective “games”.

·                     Just as experienced golfers are patient and encouraging to “hackers”, PC hackers are often supportive and encouraging to technology novices.

·         From Beyond Rangoon: Burmese perspective on one’s right to happiness.  

We are taught that suffering is the one promise life always keeps.  That way, when happiness comes we think of it as a precious gift that is ours only for a short time.

·         Excerpts From Gold Coast by Nelson De Mille:      

“An Englishman once said that he found it easier to be a member of a club than of the human race  -- because the bylaws were shorter, and he knew all of the members personally.”

“... then I said, Susan tells me I made an unfortunate remark [to you] last Sunday, and if I did, I want you to know it was unintentional.”  This is the Wasp equivalent of an apology.  If it’s worded just right, it leaves some doubt that you think any apology is required.  Lester waved his hand in dismissal.  “Never mind that.  Did you get a chance to look at [the house]?”  This is the Wasp equivalent of, “I fully accept your halfhearted apology.”

“Not only is it true that the rich do not pay their bills promptly, but when they do finally pay, they like to decide for themselves how much they owe.”

“... Revelations are like that; they just smack you across the face one day, and you know you’ve arrived at the truth without even knowing you were looking for it.  What you do about it is another matter.”

“Susan has this habit of thinking she’s told me something when she hasn’t, and then accusing me of forgetting.  I understand from friends this is quite common among wives.  I ordered another drink to jog my memory.”

“I shouldn’t have had the fourth or fifth martini.  Actually, the fifth was okay.  It was the fourth I shouldn’t have had.”

At McGlade’s local pub [Ernies?]:  “There were a few self-employed building-trade contractors who needed a drink after giving estimates to homeowners all morning, and there were the weekend joggers who all seemed to have a suspicious amount of tread left on their hundred-dollar running shoes hooked around the bar rails.  And then there were the minor gentry in their Land’s End and L.L. Bean uniforms: Docksiders, tan poplin trousers, button-down plaid shirt, and blue windbreaker.”

“Like most middle-aged men, I had no idea what to do with the truth. But I was open to suggestions.”

·         When Louis Armstrong died, someone remarked:

Gabriel had better get used to playing second trumpet.

·         Campaign Idea: “Other Lives” -- hidden, insightful views of people as they aren’t seen in their day-to-day lives.  Consumers as adventurers, musicians, artists, travelers, etc.  Idea is to profile target audience from a single, intimate life perspective related to the product or service strategy.

      As in JFK quote, 
      “People have three lives: A public life.  A private life.  And a secret life."

·         Retail Store Idea: Everything to do with the number three (3).  The perfect number -- visible in all aspects of life.

·                     Holy Trinity; Earth, Sun & Moon; Air, Land & Sea; Small, Medium & Large; Animal, Vegetable & Mineral; Jesus, Mohammed & Buddha; Three’s the charm; Pyramid Power; Far East Triads, three states of matter and so on, and so on, and so on

·         Book Idea: Time Compression Handbook.  A Bright Lights, Big City  walk-through of contemporary life -- maybe a single day or less -- each act is broken down into the multitude of options, choices and decisions we face each time we do even the simplest task e.g.: making a phone call into a menu-driven automated assistance program; vacation planning procedures; selecting coffee (regular, decaf, espresso, latte, etc.); buying shampoo; watching TV; counting fat, calories & salt; buying gas; driving kids to the variety of daily activities (sports, lessons, mall, friends’ homes, Blockbuster, Discovery Zone; etc.

       The kind of book that’d be maddening after ten pages

·         Book or Consulting Approach:  Write spec/generic business strategies for various industries or categories based on current market trends, characteristics.

·         food, tourism, autos, computers, etc

·         valuable to lg. and sm. co.’s as a ready, affordable source of ideas or actual plan foundation

·         i.e, Spec Consulting or Business Counsel        

·         Campaign Aimed at Age-Obsessed Baby Boomers:   “Yeah? Well, I’m younger than you ... jerk”.  That look and attitude that kids and teens can use to shrink any grownup to size -- especially adults who are jealous and resentful of youth to begin with.  An “us v. them” marketing approach.

       Campaign might be good for anti-aging products, exercise products, healthy food products -- anything contrasting/connecting the middle-aged to youth

·         Parasite Marketing:  6/27/94 Ad Age

·                     use competition’s ad budget to draw customers

·                     signage in an established market redirects customers to your product/business

·                  “We ‘piggyback’ on our competition. They spend the $; we park next to them”