Yummy in the Tummy, Odious for the Ear

I was handed a free food sample on the street yesterday. A pre-made, perfectly round, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, designed to save you the laborious task of having to make a fresh one yourself. Smucker’s, who make this gastronomical delight, call it an ‘Uncrustable.’ Mmm, appetizing. Sorry, but any use of the word ‘crust’ not preceded by ‘bread’ or ‘pie,’ just makes me think of a dirty bathtub, or an unfortunate dermatological condition – not what you want when you’re biting into something the contents of which could arguably resemble the latter. I take issue with the name, not only because it grosses me out, but because it doesn’t reference the main selling point of the product.

From their site:

Simply keep them in the freezer, then pack them in your lunch in the morning. By lunchtime, Uncrustables® are thawed and ready to eat.

The selling point is that they’re on hand, ready to grab, whenever you befall a brown bag emergency, not that they don’t have crusts. It’s true they don’t have crusts but given that the ‘soft bread’ barely resembles bread, the convenient lack of crust goes unnoticed. What should it be called instead, a PB & Scurry maybe? An instawich? At least then the door is left open for other lunchtime favorites – tuna, ham & cheese. Slowly defrosted cheese. Delicious.

Am I making too much of this? Gross moniker or not, we know people are going to buy them – this is America after all, a nation long in the habit of replacing natural foods with processed ones and then shipping them half way across the country in a refrigerated container – and we’ve certainly bought poorly named products before. iPad is a recent example – it’s full of amazing features but absorbency isn’t one them. Or what about a golden oldie? SPAM. Even if it is an acronym for ‘shoulder of pork and ham,’ neither the name, nor product, is any more appetizing than the apt suggestion that SPAM really means ‘something posing as meat.’ I’ve eaten SPAM, would buy an iPad if I could afford one, and in the interest of full disclosure I should admit I even ate the Uncrustable, the whole thing, but, I didn’t buy it and I only moderately enjoyed it, so it doesn't count.

Thank you for a successful launch!

Last night, we celebrated our official launch! Yes, we have been in business for a few months but wanted to mark the occasion with friends and give thanks for all the support we've received.

Allow us to repeat ourselves, but there are some people we'd like to especially thank:

Casey and Ben at The Boardroom
~ a fantastic bar in North Beach. On top of the surf decor, you cannot beat how friendly and accommodating Casey is, and we were lucky to have such a sweet bartender as Ben. Thank you, guys - we're sending everyone we know to your bar.

Tina from TLCD Concierge
~ when you need a helping hand during busy times. She helped us search for a venue and hash out the details. And she's just an awesomely nice person.

Priscilla from Moonbabycakes
~ for your next event (or for no reason at all), treat yourself to these amazing cupcakes. Priscilla not only makes delicious, organic flavors, but she can customize the design to your liking. We recommend the red velvet.

Rob from his own (unnamed) photography biz
~ Rob is an accountant that really should be doing photography full time. His photos are amazing. He shot our profile pics, and we cannot wait to see the shots from the party. If you need a photographer, we'll connect you guys.

Michelle from her home kitchen
~ she was nice enough to contribute spinach dip to our party. We think you should consider going into catering!

Diana, a friend
~ thank you for wrangling balloons, helping set up, and snapping photos

Everyone who attended
~ some of you stayed for 15 minutes, some of you stayed for a couple of hours. We appreciate all of you and thank you for your support, over the last year and into this next year. Having you on our team really means a lot to us. A special thanks to our significant others, who have been generously supportive.

Everyone who could not make it
~ we understand you had other plans last night, but want you to know how much we truly appreciate your support. We'll be sending you a little something as thanks.


RAFFLE WINNER
As promised, we randomly drew a name from the business card pile to win a $25 iTunes gift card. And the winner is: Giselle S! Congratulations, Giselle - we'll be mailing the card to you!

Can Twitter Make You a Better Writer?

Yesterday, I found a blog posting entitled How Twitter Makes You a Better Writer. “Absurd” I thought, and read on with the sole purpose of feeling superior at the end. As the existence of this blog posting might imply, I was wrong. Not only does the author, Jennifer Blanchard, make some great points, she draws parallels between Twitter and an author I have great respect for, William Zinsser. Hmmm…color me confuted.

Blanchard’s three points were these:
· Twitter forces you to be concise – you have 140 characters to make your point.
· Twitter forces you to exercise your vocabulary – you need shorter words, and powerful verbs cut the need for adverbs and adjectives.
· Twitter forces you to improve your editing skills – you have 140 characters to make a point that people will want to retweet. Your first go will be great at 152 characters but that’s no good. It will need to be pruned.

Now read this passage from Zinsser’s On Writing Well:

“But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word. Every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb…these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence.”

Zinsser, via Thoreau, insists that we need to “simplify, simplify” and it seems that Twitter might be a way to get good at it. Who would have thought? I haven’t always been the biggest fan of Twitter – too many disappointments from the people I follow (a comedian putting on his socks is no more funny than me putting on mine, it turns out) but Twitter as a tool for crafting better writing? I can see that, and I definitely have more respect for it now.

Sorry about your flight mishap - here's a coffee mug

A friend was just reminiscing about her old job and all the traveling she used to do for it. It sounded like a lot, but to very enjoyable and sometimes exotic places. She racked up a lot of miles and soon joined the elite Million Miles Club.

Traveling that much, something is bound to go wrong now and again. When things were not satisfactory, my friend wrote a polite letter to the airline, describing the incident. From the first letter, she received a small mantel clock emblazoned with the airline logo. A nice gesture. The second time, she got a standard coffee mug, again with the company logo. Over the course of five years, she accumulated quite a few tchotchkes that had nothing to do with travel and did not leave her feeling any more satisfied.

The airline was on to something positive. It acknowledged a poor airline experience and as an apology, sent a free gift. People want to be heard and people love free stuff – the airline nailed that. BUT it seems they could have done both parties an even better service by choosing better apology gifts.

Any gift is a nice gift, so I’m not implying ungratefulness. I do believe, however, that no matter what your budget, you can provide gifts that not only make your clients happy, but strengthen your relationship.

The airline thought of a clock and a mug. If you’re going with practical, why not make those a travel clock and a travel mug? Travel industry, travel gifts. A set of travel-size anything. Luggage tags. A neck pillow. Anything to make traveling a bit easier.

What my friend suggested as a great gesture would be airline miles. It doesn’t even have to be a lot. Or drink tickets, meal vouchers (when that was applicable), priority seating for a flight. With a printable voucher, this is a no-cost alternative for an airline. And by her reaction, much more appreciated by travelers. On top of that, these gifts encourage travelers to return to the airline, since they have these great bonuses to use there.

So before you drop cash on coffee mugs or clocks, think about your customers and how they use your products or services. What will enhance their experience with you?

Additional info: a good article on choosing an appropriate promotional product

Get fear.less

"Are you ready for your fears to tremble in their boots?" That's a great description from the two-person team who just launched fear.less magazine on May 1. It's the first online magazine dedicated to stories on overcoming fear. We could all use a little help with that.

www.fearlessstories.com

The authors themselves were scared to go forward with this idea. Fear of rejection, fear of failure. But their passion and generosity pushed them to try. Their story in itself is enough to be inspired. Read through their first issue to feel unstoppable, and plan your own fight against fear.

The Disappointing Tagline - a group brainstorm

I don’t watch much TV, but this past season of Shear Genius hooked me in. This is the reality competition show for hair stylists. I love seeing how each contestant interprets a challenge, and creates something amazing.

Like any show of this kind, Shear Genius is filled with drama, color, and celebrity. It is always entertaining. But there was one thing that bothered me. At the end of each show, the host would sign off by saying, “And remember, hair is important.”

Hair IS important, no arguments there. But I thought the line sounded like a weak afterthought. For a show that showcases such creativity and highlights personality, the tagline was lackluster. It needs something with more action and more finesse. C’mon, we can do better. Let’s brainstorm…

A great style is hairapy for the soul

Care for the hair and it will care for you

Give it your all

Between hair and heaven, I’d choose hair

Hair makes the difference

Care for the hair, smile for the client

Between hair and hell stands a great stylist

Locks are loaded – aim carefully

Care for the hair that lands in your chair

Hair that makes the grade will get you paid


This is brainstorming, so anything goes. I would not use half of these but maybe they will inspire you to create something great. Let’s hear what you came up with - storm away in the comments!


PS – for anyone who did watch Shear Genius this season, you know that Brig Van Osten won. She owns a salon in Simi Valley, CA, and has a really unique personal style. She has yellow hair and wears big bows. She also has a great blog, where she talks about hair and style. Check it out at www.brigknowsbest.com.