Nick Tahou's is best known for the heaping pile of food they serve called a Garbage Plate. Back in the day — $4.25 would get you two open-faced hamburgers topped with mustard, onions, and their home-made hot sauce, along with generous helpings of macaroni salad and home fries, and a pile of home-made bread. They're a little more money now - but still more food than I can eat and comfortably walk out of there.

Labels: Garbage Plate, holiday giving, Nick Tahou's, NY, Rochester

Last week at Foley's Emerging Technologies Conference, I heard experts talk about the state of the economy and how it's impacting businesses. What I heard was "nothing new." Well, that's not entirely true. We heard that the economy was so unrealistically positive the last few years, that many people lost their common sense and perspective. The risky ideas that floated along on cushy funding (from a variety of sources) are falling through their clouds now. And no one wants to invest in a business now unless it has a solid plan with a solid team. Really? Why does this make sense only now and not before?

Unfortunately, many businesses and people will be affected by the failures of others — collateral damage caused by overly-optimistic and profit-blinded business leaders. We all need to buckle down and ride out the storm now.

What's encouraging to me is that successful businesses with realistic business plans and positive cash flows will most likely continue to do well. And innovative new business ideas really need to be well thought out before moving forward with them. Good products, good service, and good ethics will prevail.

I believe it's easier to learn from our mistakes than it is to learn from our successes. And we're all going to get a whole lot wiser.

Labels: emerging technology, Entrepreneurship

I've learned two very important wealth management lessons in my life; save and give.

One of my first jobs was working as a typesetter for a small but successful quick print shop in Boston. The owner got into the printing business after some research and a few "franchise" seminars. He read the investing "hot sheets", followed the stock market, and really understood the investment world. His advice to me was ridiculously simple and obvious; if you're in debt - no matter how much, it will grow with interest. But if you can save - no matter how much, it too will grow with interest.

Earlier this Fall, I blogged about my experience at the Babson Forum on Entrepreneurship. From a seemingly unlikely source, Florine Mark, President & CEO of the WW Group, Inc. (Weight Watchers), I was touched by her story of giving. Florine talked about living in poverty with her extended family in a small New York apartment. Yet every day the children were allowed (and encouraged) to save their pennies for charity - because even though they had very little, there were others with less than them.

We're offering to help any company who would like to promote or advertise a charity on their web site. We will create a custom button or badge with your messaging, your charity's logo, and place it on your web site - FREE of charge. These buttons can link to donation forms, or the charity's web site. Read about our Give Back program here. Every little bit helps. Save and give:)

Labels: Babson Forum on Entrepreneurship, charitable giving, free charity badge, free charity button, online donation tool

We attended the Harvard Business School Marketing Conference last week, where the topic for 2008 was the Consumer Revolution. Each presentation and discussion focused on different marketing plans and methods companies have implemented with the consumer revolution—the realization that brands no longer drive consumers' habits, but that consumers drive each and every brand, determining their level of success.

The key note speakers were excellent, and both brought many examples of how they involve their consumers in developing brand marketing. Mark Addicks, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at General Mills, began his presentation by pointing out that General Mills is a terrible brand name (the truth, but not an expected confession from a company executive). Luckily for General Mills, they have become a 'house of brands', many of which are strong, recognizable, and have relatable, fun characters. He emphasized that in order to build a strong brand, you need strong leadership, leverage in the market place, and marketing scale. So, what points were most relevant to Metropolis and the work we do? Lately, we have been thinking of bigger and better—what we can do to emphasize to our clients how they can constantly make improvements using our services as well as new technology. First, Mark pointed out that package design is important to a brand. Though we don't do a large amount of package design for products, we are strong in the business of web design and print materials. These are part of a brand's "package" when you look at the larger picture, and should be carefully considered. Second, Mark showed multiple examples of how blogs can be a powerful tool when building a brand. Many companies have yet to realize the ability online blogging communities have when influencing consumers and the purchasing choices they make. The most prominent theme that Mark spoke about was that a company should always remember there is a bigger idea—every small thing they do should contribute not only to that single campaign, but to the overall brand and what it stands for.

An example of paying attention to the big picture is this Pillsbury commercial. Pillsbury is a brand that makes baked goods. But what they really want to convey is that the Pillsbury helps keep your family close and hold your household together. In a time of economic uncertainty, when people are pinching pennies, Pillsbury is conveyed as a brand your family can rely on.


Jaya Kumar, Chief Marketing Officer for Frito-Lay North America, shared his company's marketing practices and successes. Lately, Frito-Lay has been all about having their customers drive their marketing—they have asked for submissions of television commercials from all interested customers. You can go on their web site and vote for your favorite ad, and the best one wins $1,000,000. Aside from the commercial that wins, Frito-Lay can also use any of the other commercials they like that are submitted. Having customers create the content is a true example of the one idea that Jaya pushed throughout his presentation—that a brand will become stronger if the consumer can engage with it and take an active role in forming the brand and what it stands for. An effective way to keep customers engaged, as Jaya pointed out, is to constantly update your web site, and make sure its interactive.

Listening to two panel discussions also provided some interesting insights. The first was on "Marketing Your Socially Responsible Initiative." Key points included: it is important to keep your cause separate from your brand; when all factors are equal, consumers will be tipped to choose sustainable products, and; consumers are going to begin to hold retailers accountable, so it would be in big industry's favor to make green decisions. The Dove Real Beauty campaign was discussed as a cause campaign that is run by a brand, but is handled separately. The product marketing shows that by buying Dove, you contribute to their cause, but the cause marketing emphasizes the purpose and progress of the campaign.


The second panel topic was "Inside the Mind of the Consumer: Uncovering Insights through Market Research." Key points included: everything is going to have to be personalized and customized for customers to want your product, and; it is extremely beneficial to consider consumers insights when designing packaging, campaigns, collateral, etc.

So, what did I take away from this conference? Consumers are really too smart for all of the advertising sludge they are exposed to everyday, and frankly, most of them are sick of it. Consumers have the money that power the brands, and these brands have finally come to realize that their ideas, wants, needs, and opinions are the most important considerations in product design and implementation. Brands that embrace this are and will continue to be more successful for a long time to come. And on a smaller scale, here at Metropolis, we need to continue to encourage our clients to be in a constant state of reevaluating their brand and the materials they use to market themselves. It will make them more successful, keep us on top of our game, and bring us interesting work.

Labels: brand identity, consumer revolution, harvard marketing club conference