Recently, I’ve done a decent job of the classic “pot calling the kettle black” by noticing and possibly pointing out others in what looks like their failed attempts at doing due diligence in their decision making. Of course I am an expert when it comes to second guessing others’ decision making, so potentially they did do some research and pre-planning and I am just not seeing it. Then again, maybe not.

The Brownstones at Town Square

I live in the suburbs and to be honest, the section of town I live in is quite affluent. One of the neighboring towns is above all the rest in terms of socioeconomic standards in the area and they really don’t take any steps to hide it. Just the opposite, actually. It’s your typical keeping up with the Jones’ but on a pretty high scale. There are no multi-unit rental facilities (truly, none) in said town and there is no city transportation system to help people get from one place to another.

All of that to set up my surprise when I watched them start a project 3-4 years ago called The Brownstones at Town Square. In this town of purely upper class, single-income homes, somebody got the bright idea to build 3-story vertical townhomes (or row homes, if you prefer) similar to those you might find in major downtown cities like NYC or SF. I get that they’re targeted at high-end buyers and that they’re good for fitting larger amounts of people into smaller spaces without putting up a high-rise; but this is a town where if you’re lot is smaller than an acre, you’re poor. They have no lack of space.

In my opinion, the developer failed to do his due diligence. He saw visions of wealthy people spending over $600k on attached housing and developing the sense of a downtown community within this town. But what it appears he didn’t do was research the fact that these are people who don’t want to live downtown. They want space. They want a minimum of three-car garages, land and a pool. If they wanted a shared wall or the ability to walk to all their ammenities, they’d have bought in a downtown area. These residents drive cars with numbers on the back that range from 740il to S550. And they’re not fond of parking them on the street in front of their home.

I’m not trying to force stereotypes, just being a realist. And fortunately for my argument, I’m not alone.

As I perused our local, weekly paper today at lunch, I noticed an article mentioning that a study had been done by Deloitte Consulting on the Brownstone properties I had always questioned. The study proved the fact that the developer and the city missed the mark on the project both for current and future residents. With quotes ranging from “they don’t seem like they belong” and “we are not very close to having it right” you can see that somebody overlooked some important steps in planning a project of this scale. My favorite though came from one of the members of the Planning and Zoning Commission for the city, “it is a hobby for the city and the chamber of commerce,” meaning that they knew up front that this project was just put in place to cover some developer’s dream without research and/or studies. Shame.

Millions of dollars and effort have been put into a very nice development and I am assuming that taxpayers flipped the bill for a portion either through direct money or tax cuts for the developer. If I had to guess, I would estimate that more than half of them sit empty today. I would chalk this one up as a sad waste of time, money and effort; I’m just glad it doesn’t have my name on it.

Failed advertising budgets

On a much shorter note, somebody should be fired for their failure in doing their due diligence in either researching viewing audiences or auditing the network on when their ads run after I witnessed a feminine hygiene product commercial last night during an airing of Poker After Dark on NBC.

Really? Is that their target viewing audience? I’m no genius but in my household, only one of us is watching poker on television and it isn’t the one buying said product.

I would think that in a time like this when budgets are so closely guarded, you would want to know more than ever when/where/how your products are being marketed. Or maybe, instead of running ten commercials during late-night poker for your product, run two commercials during Desperate Housewives and watch the dollars roll in. Again, no genius here but it makes sense in my head.

Sorry, just a long-winded sermon remembering to do your due diligence. Whether in business research, cost of a certain product or even knowing your surroundings when you decide to go off-the-cuff with your speech; think a little in advance about what ramifications each decision may have.

Augmented Reality will quickly become a big deal in the next couple of years.

PS. My phone is neither old (6-months) or junky but isn’t that exactly how advertising works on a daily basis in our lives? The goal is to get you to purchase the latest and greatest from their clients and take almost any road possible including getting you to doubt the worth of your current device. Borderline practice at best. Confession: I love every minute of it.

I’d say the creator’s of the new Joshua Jackson film One Week crossed that line recently. Their attempt to garner some hype over the movie was probably set back slightly after taking a full-page ad out in a Toronto newspaper this week and including a page filled with reviews of the film.

My guess is that they stuffed it with so many reviews to hide the fact that they were actually comments from users about a clip of the film on the video hosting site YouTube. And that at least half of the comments noted that they had not yet seen the film but are more along the lines of “this movie is going to be fantastic” and “can’t wait to see this.” Ouch. Social media marketing gone very wrong. I’m betting they know the fact this this movie should have gone straight to DVD.

See for yourself.

(via Torontoist)

In the latest they have moved away from the ‘Colour like no other’ to showing off the smoothest motion picture possible on a TV. In doing so they built the world’s largest (Guiness verified) Zoetrope. Think 1800’s, carousel viewers.

Another home run for Sony.

(via Creative Review)

Related: http://www.christianross.net/is-it-color-or-colour/

I mention New Coke just in the fact that it’s the last time I’ve seen the public create such an outcry as to get the company to notice and revert back to their trusted roots.

Until now.

If you’ve been to the store (or read an advertising blog) in the last month or so you might have noticed the new branding that Troipicana juices received this first quarter of 2009. Honestly, it was bad. I’m all for freshening up something but this one completely demolished their tried and true brand and stepped out of the box. Unfortunately they stepped, tripped and fell a little too far. From my own observation, the different cartons of juices started looking far too similar, so much so that it was difficult to discern which type of juice you were actually buying. They dropped their logo, their type choices and their customer loyalty pretty quickly.

I’m guessing somebody got fired. As of tomorrow they are announcing the discontinuation of the new brand and they will be bringing back the old within the next month. The consumer spoke and the corporation listened, for once.

Congrats to somebody at their parent company (PepsiCo) for paying attention. If they are paying attention across the board, I expect to see the horrific new Pepsi branding take a dive as well.

Also, just a thumbs up for the one social network I have gravitated towards for their influence. Twitter was mentioned in the NYT article for their instant feedback possibilities for businesses and corporations. Maybe now they have something they can hang their hat on as a start to a business model.

Note: For the uninformed, Cmd+Z is the Mac OS X equivalent of ‘Undo’ or Ctrl+Z on a Windows based machine.

Ah, the good ol’ days: http://betamaxmas.com/
via Snook

An entertaining 5 minutes showing what it is really like for men in the ‘doghouse.’
via Rob

Initially my thought this year was to purchase everyone on my Christmas list the same thing this year. Not because it would make my life super-easy but mainly because I feel that no matter what position you are in financially, it’s a good read and something I know we have benefited from going through. Ultimately though, I decided against it. It is a sensitive subject to approach and it would be far too easy to have somebody think I was calling them out.

One of the things that we have been striving for since taking the class is to live differently than how we use to live (much less how 70% or more of America lives). Accruing debt. Sadly, I could have used the lessons long before I entered college and we surely would be much farther ahead at this point in time.

Either way, one of the things both the book and the class talk about is being a slave to the mindset of “we’ll always have a car payment.” While not easy, we are working towards training ourselves to think differently than this approach.

In thinking differently, I tend to see auto advertisements differently as well. “$49 down and pay the payments on the window!,” is ingrained in my head now due to the fact that we see this one particular ad locally about every other commercial break. On every channel. Seems like a smokin’ deal, except for the fact that you just bought yourself 60-72 months worth of monthly check writing.

$49 down and pay the payments on the window!

By now you’ve surely become aware that the the major American automakers are begging on Capital Hill for some free money to help keep their businesses alive. While the thought of any of them going under could hurt our economy pretty badly, I don’t see a blank check bailout as a good idea. Go figure. Put some steps in place to show me how you are going to work to fix the problems on your end, then we’ll talk about pitching you a bone.

Today though, I was caught off guard by an ad that I had never heard before. As we were pulling into the driveway this morning after picking up some lunch, a local Ford dealership radio advertisement caught my attention. Rodeo Ford of Dallas was offering some great deal over the airwaves mostly to which I tuned out. At the very end of the commercial though, one small tidbit caught my ear. This particular dealership was offering 100 free shares of their parent company’s stock with the purchase of any new car. Not convinced of what I just heard, I questioned the wife to make sure.

Did they just offer 100 shares of Ford stock if I give them some 15k-50k dollars? Really? Isn’t this the same company that sent its CEO twice in the last 7 days to Washington to plead for money to keep from bankruptcy? The same company whose stock is currently selling for $2.08 cents per share and has a 52-week high of $3.27? Am I incorrect in my math that for being willing to give them a minimum of $250/month they will throw in a piece of paper worth $208? With not much hope of that piece even being worth $327 within the next year? And just as possible that within the next 60 days, your $208 piece of paper could essentially be worth nothing?

I’ve got to know if anybody is really buying into this? Surely there’s not one person in the area that’s heard this commercial and thought, “sweet, free Ford stock!” Sadly, I’m pretty sure I am probably wrong.

Sweet, free Ford stock!

Rodeo Ford, you want my business? Make better cars, quit trying to pull one over on me when I attempt to buy them and for goodness sake if you’re offering free stock, please give it to me in a company that I could at least stand a chance to make some money on. Like Toyota.

NOTE FROM THE MANAGEMENT: It was brought to my attention that after editing one too many times last night, I removed the title of the book mentioned above and forgot to add it back in. For those interested in reading and ultimately getting your finances headed in the right direction I would recommend either Financial Peace University or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. Easy to read and full of common sense. Bonus: All of his books, DVD’s and CD’s are on sale right now for $10 a piece. Get one. Or ask and I may add it back to your list.

Swinging kid.

Boat tow: The unfortunate results of letting your friends use your toys. They break them. Or pour water in the gas tank. Which, as it turns out, renders them broken.

Nasher Sculpture Center: “Where Once is Enough”

Carvertising: Because where else would we find it appropriate to pimp our products/services with homemade lettering and broken English? (And yes, it does say !PHAT TRAVEL JOB!)