Off with their ties

Bad product name of the week
That is the last place I need enemies. (source: a friend, who for obvious reasons, wishes to remain anonymous)

Success can be bad for your career
A Business Week survey found that many of the top executive recruiting firms won't even look at people who've made their career at certain highly successful companies, including Coke, AT&T, British Airways, and General Mills. The reason? The businesses are so successful that the recruiters feel a person can make their way to the top without ever learning the entrepreneurial skills and chutzpah needed to thrive in a more challenging environment. (source: Business Week, 9/3/09)

Casual every day
Declaring their independence from British colonial fashion, the government of Bangladesh has banned jackets, ties, and tucked-in shirts in an effort to reduce air conditioning costs and to conserve electricity in a grid that hasn't been able to keep up with the nation's growing economy. They also expect an improvement in morale. The government is encouraging private business to follow (no)suit. In case you're wondering, the necktie traces its origins to the uniforms of 16th century Croatian mercenaries working for Louis XIII of France. Upper-class Parisians adopted the style, but the word Croat came out "cravat." (source: Christian Science Monitor, 9/5/09)

Kid-ccessory
26% of 8- to 12-year-olds have their own cell phone. More than half of 12- to 14-year-olds do. These facts brought to you by Barry Strauber whose daughter, Natalie, 11, has a brand new back-to-school phone that is, according to her dad, "much better than mine." (source: Iconoculture)

Dibs on an eye
For fashion week, Target blanketed Times Square in vinyl. Afterwards, they're going to turn the graphics created by 4 NYC artists into 1,600 limited-edition bags by fashion designer Anna Sui. Only $2.99 each. Less waste in the landfill and a story to tell. Nice. (source: MediaDaily, 9/4/09)

What's up for fall?
Five leading consumer trends from Mintel:
1-Trust: Not lovin' big business. Least of all financial services and food safety.
2- Control: It's my financial destiny; I'm in charge. 2 in 5 say they plan to permanently spend less and decrease their reliance on credit.
3- Playfulness: I'm still pessimistic, but I need some fun breaks, like Giant Cheetos or visiting a friend.
4- Simplicity: Over 2/3 have been trying to simplify their lives. 9 in 10 think there's too much emphasis in material things in our society.
5- Trading down, up, and over: 8 in 10 are cooking more at home, but when they do get takeout, it's apt to be gourmet.
(source: MarketingDaily, 9/4/09)

Crapvertising
We've all thought about it, but feared the repercussions. Not so Crowell Advertising of Salt Lake.
http://thetracyawards.com/ . Entries so far http://www.thetracyawards.com/crap/ (source: Ad Age, 9/10/09)

Barf ‘n' go mama
Because you never know when it's gonna strike -- pretty leak-proof bags from Morning Chicness. No one will know what's stashed in your laptop case. (source: Springwise, 9/10/09)

Meet you at the Shack
There's no such thing as an early adopter anymore. Gone are the days when most of us got along just fine with older technology while a few geeks fought it out to be first in line for the pricey new stuff. Now we're all that guy. Details of our collective digital habits: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20090902/ZNYT05/909023016/1086/NEWS07?Title=Race-to-be-early-adopter-of-technologies-goes-mainstream-survey-finds
(source: Forrester/Spartanburg Herald-Journal, 9/3/09)

Gigabird
Think your internet service is slow? A tech company in South Africa got so sick of pokiness and failed connections that they decided to make a very public point. They sent 4G of data 50 miles between two of their offices using both the web and a carrier pigeon, Winston. At 2:06:57, Winston won by a landslide. The ISP had only sent 4% of the data by then. Of course, Winston wanted to crow, I mean, tweet about his success, too. And, in a country where this is business as usual, he's also captured a lot of frustrated friends on Facebook. (source: Christian Science Monitor, 9/10/09)

Odd
Seen on AdAge.com. 3 parts to the video ad: 1) Tissue going through shredder -- "Brand identity theft," 2) Kleenex is a brand name. Not any old tissue is a Kleenex® brand tissue." This is 3. Is the misuse of Kleenex particularly rampant among the marketing community? I've never written "Kleenex" into a brochure, with or without the registered mark.

The things you own end up owning you
There's about 2.3 billion sq ft of self-storage space in the US. Over 51,000 facilities-making them more ubiquitous than Starbucks. That's enough room for all 300 million Americans to stand under its collective roof. Despite an average US house size of 2,3000 sq ft, 1 in 10 households rents a unit. 15% say it's just a place to stash junk they don't need or want anymore. Most of that junk is furniture. Although the economy has pushed some people to give up their units, foreclosures have nearly made up the difference. (source: NYTimes, 9/6/09, with a nod to Tyler Durden for the subhead)

Dear Mr. O
Each day, the president reads 10 communications from us citizens. He responds to 3 every night. That means his staff have to comb through 65K letters a week plus 100K emails and thousands of calls a day. Now that's an interesting internship. http://www.whitehouse.gov/video/Inside-the-White-House-Letters-to-the-President/ (source: Very Short List, 9/11/09)

Tinnovations
Hmmm, what to do with all those empty Altoids tins...How about iPod speakers? http://www.facebook.com/altoids . Also http://science.howstuffworks.com/tinnovation-microsite.htm (source: Altoids ad on treehugger.com)