A book to read. Warsaw 1920: Lenin’s Failed Conquest of Europe
Wow. What a good read. Especially if you like obscure but interesting history. I had no clue that in 1920 that Lenin decided to invade Poland (which had only recently become a country again after being split between Russia, Germany and Austria for over a hundred years). The history of Poland is interesting in itself (pick up James Michener’s Poland if you want a relatively easy historical lesson told in a good storytelling way).
This is a short book. It shows how close the new Soviet Union came to including Poland (and more geography if they had been successful and kept on going) as early as 1920. It also shows Poland’s resourcefulness (they didn’t really have a qualified experienced general) and fortitude in the face of some fairly overwhelming numbers. If you are interested in obscure historical moments that had an impact (because some things happened in this war that affected Soviet attitudes in WW2) then pick up this book.
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b2b selling, heck, selling in general
September 1, 2010 - 9:40 pm
Tags: a good business concept, alignment, b2b, b2b is not rocket science, b2b marketing, b2b versus consumer, book recommendations, brand, branding, business, business differentiation, business innovation, business marketing, Business Thoughts, clarity, common, communication, core competency, decision making, decommoditizing, differentiating in commodity like categories, distinct, distinctness builds value, emotional, fragmentation, functional, fundementals of evaluating buying process, hybrid sales and marketing, learning, managing business, managing customer information, managing sales cycles, marketing, sales versus marketing, short term and long term results, upside down traditional marketing funnel
Posted in Business Thoughts, Rants and Observations | No comments
Yes. I have an entire white paper on b2b marketing. But. Some things just need to be said again (and again and again and again). For some reason there seems to be a wacky belief that b2b marketing is so radically different from consumer marketing that … well … if you can do one well [...]
choosing the right word
August 29, 2010 - 11:22 pm
Tags: book recommendations, business, Business Thoughts, choose the right word, communication, effective communiction, great thoughts, leadership, learning, lessons, messaging, quotations, quotes, respect, responsibility, speaking, Stuff I Like, truth, using the right words, words
Posted in Favorite Quotes, Rants and Observations | No comments
“Where the emotion has found its thought and the thought has found the words.” Robert Frost I love this quote for a number of reasons. Let me focus on two. First is I do love words and I truly envy people who know how to take a seemingly mixed bag of words and put them [...]
about transactional branding
August 27, 2010 - 8:57 am
Tags: a good business concept, alignment, b2b versus consumer, book recommendations, brand, branding, business, business differentiation, business innovation, business marketing, Business Thoughts, clarity, common, communication, core competency, decision making, decommoditizing, differentiating in commodity like categories, distinct, distinctness builds value, emotional, fragmentation, functional, hybrid sales and marketing, leadership, learning, lessons, life lessons, managing business, managing customer information, managing sales cycles, marketing, messaging, organizational, sales versus marketing, short term and long term results, upside down traditional marketing funnel
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Ok. I use this term ‘transactional branding’ a lot when I am talking about business and defending why we shouldn’t talk about branding (or at least stop until everyone can turn off the bullshit meters and maybe all agree on terms of usage). The premise behind the phrase is that excellent marketing/communications/branding activity/whatever you want [...]
memory part 1: 65 years ago
August 20, 2010 - 10:35 pm
Tags: actions, conscience, end of world war 2, enlightened conflict, evil, genocide, government, haracter, historical amnesia, history, holocaust, humanity, leadership by courage, lessons, liberty and fraternity, life, life lessons, remember our veterans, responsibility, righteous among nations, sacrifices of the GI Generation, VJ day, war is about winning, world war II
Posted in Rants and Observations, Stuff I Like | No comments
So. This is about amnesia. Or lack of long term memory. Look. We Americans certainly have a pattern of historical amnesia on occasion. And the day I am going to refer to edges upon an amnesia moment. VJ Day. Huh? Known most for this picture to the right. VJ Day is the day that Japan [...]
memory part 2: 9/11, mosques and emotion
August 20, 2010 - 10:34 pm
Tags: character, communication, enlightened conflict, freedom is a privelege, freedom is a resposnibility, freedom of, freedom of choice, freedom of ideas, freedom of religion, freedom to worship, history, ignorance, just you can does not mean you should, leadership, learning, lessons, life lessons, pluralism, respect, responsibility, Stuff I Like, the american constitution, the mosque at ground zero, treaty of tripoli, truth, voltaire, words, you can but you shouldn't
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This is about short term memory. 9/11 bucks the trend of the sometimes American trait of historical amnesia. In general, we are a forward-looking people who don’t dwell on the past. But 9/11 remains an emotional moment of our generation (probably because it happened right here in front of us). And, of course, I placed [...]
burger mcsausage unoriginal smarts
July 21, 2010 - 9:15 am
Tags: advertising, agency, being the same as the best can be good, book recommendations, brand, branding, business, Business Thoughts, campaign, communication, competitive but not competitive, leadership, lessons, making people aware you sell the same thing, marketing, marketing parity, messaging, no superiority increases sales, strategy, Stuff I Like, the creepy burger king, truth, winning by being unique
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so. This television advertisement introducing the Burger King breakfast sausage biscuit (the one where the creepy king breaks into McDonald’s headquarters to steal the mcmuffin recipe): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF86Rb-uFNE The execution doesn’t confuse me but the effort makes me pause and scratch my head a little. But I guess if you have more money then you know [...]
Célébrons ! bastille day, baguettes & vel’ d’Hiv
July 14, 2010 - 11:53 am
Tags: baguettes, bastille day, book recommendations, character, conscience, enlightened conflict, government, history, holocaust, leadership by courage, lessons, liberty and fraternity, life, life lessons, properly ordering baguettes, responsibility, righteous among nations, sarah's key, Stuff I Like, the french revolution, the honor of the french, the marais district and vel d' hiv, truth
Posted in Personal & Nonsensical, Stuff I Like | No comments
Bastille Day So. Today, July 14th, France celebrates its national holiday in commemoration of the storming of the Bastille prison. Oh. Everyone should also note that if you want anything done in France today forget it. I flew through De Gaulle airport one 14th only to find out about 50% of the workers didn’t show [...]
boy scouts part 2
July 13, 2010 - 10:37 am
Tags: advertising, agency, be prepared, book recommendations, boy scouts, brand, branding, business, Business Thoughts, campaign, character, communication, heritage, leadership, learning, lessons, life lessons, marketing, messaging, missed opportunity, no one cares how old your company is, relevance, strategy, Stuff I Like, truth, words
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So. A friend of mine sent me the following link with the Boy Scouts advertising announcement. http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/boy_scouts_of_america_prepared hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm …. Well. Here’s the deal. And I admit. I may not be the best person to be providing a point of view here because I care about the Boy Scouts (therefore I may be biased toward being [...]
unhealthy eating Part 3: the campaign idea
July 12, 2010 - 10:21 am
Tags: advertising, being overweight can kill, book recommendations, business, Business Thoughts, campaign, change adult behavior to motivate children's behavior, communicate message to inspire behavior change, communicating message to educate, communication, ignorance, it is not a moral obligation to have a thin body, leadership, learning, lessons, life, life lessons, marketing, messaging, remembering early anti smoking intitiative, responsibility, scaring the bejesus out of people to motivate interest, strategy, Stuff I Like, treating unhealthy eating as an addiction, truth, UK anti obesity campaign, uncovering emotional trigger to stimulate behavior change, unhealthy eating, unhealthy eating and stimulating behavior
Posted in Business Thoughts, Rants and Observations, Stuff I Like | 1 comment
(foreword note) Ok. This has been a long time coming. My fault. I hadn’t mastered the link placement in post thing. Hang in there and maybe go back and peruse 1 &2 and 4 is actually now on its way. Assuming you have read Parts 1 & 2 of this diatribe you are tagging along [...]
a trip for Advertising & Marketing people
July 8, 2010 - 2:22 pm
Tags: advertising, advertising archives, advertising history, agency, brand, branding, business, Business Thoughts, campaign, duke antiquities library, education through advertising, great communication, history, learning, lessons, marketing, messaging, strategy, Stuff I Like, the effect of advertising on buying behavior
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(this is about the Duke antiquities library in Durham NC) Okay. If you are in a marketing department or an ad agency or anything to do with the art and science of communication and consumer behavior and you can only afford to send your “brightest minds” on one getaway field trip over a two year [...]



