Saul Colt - The Smartest Man in the World!: ramblings

Showing posts with label ramblings. Show all posts

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Six Random Things About Me...I am not sure there are six left!

I’ve been tagged by Mark Blevis to share six random things about me with the world. I considered ignoring the tag since I am trying to make this a more focused blog but someone told me that if you don't act on these meme things, bad things happen to your friends and family and I don't want that....also I have shared so much in the past 398 posts that coming up with six new things was harder then I thought it would be....but here goes:

1- I really don't like clothes and would prefer to be naked or partially naked all the time. Clothes never seem to look good on me and I am so proud of my chest, legs and man parts I just want to show everyone...in fact I rarely wear a shirt on summer weekends (when I am home) and would wear less but I have to respect the people who live beside me. This may sound silly but I think seeing people partially clothed lets you see more of who the person is..in my case you would see scars from past surgeries and some from solving crime (I am Batman) and this is the stuff that really tells a story of who a person is...and since I spend so much time in the sun I am all golden brown.

2- I recently started meditating. I have been curious about meditation for a long time and like the idea of a clear mind since I am hoping it will allow me to be more like a Zebra and open myself up for more inspiration and creativity. So far I am enjoying the process but (and this is true) every time I really go deep inside myself I end up seeing a friend of mine dressed as Wonder Woman and I am beginning to think this friend may be the messiah!

3-I have never fantasized about making "whoopie" with more than one woman at a time but have had vivid dreams about Lynda Carter dressed as Wonder Woman teaching me spanish...Hola!

4- I am not much of a cook but I do make excellent Macaroni and Cheese. The secret is use as little milk as possible so the cheese really sticks to the macaroni and it isn't runny (yuk!)

5- When I found out that Richard Rowntree was diagnosed with breast cancer I gave myself a breast exam. If it could happen to Shaft it could happen to anyone!

6- Instead of putting a lot of different music on my iPod I usually pick two-four bands at a time and load up their entire catalog. Right now I have the entire works of N*E*R*D*, Pixies/Frank Black, Elvis Costello and Handsome Boy Modeling School.

OK....I think that very well be the last six things I have never talked about on this here blog...and since this post is not the sort of thing I have been writing about lately I will be back with one more "off focus" post on Monday before I get back to being all smart and serious and stuff

Oh ya...and I tag David Kruger, John Wurkemer, Eden Spodek, and I cant think of anyone else I guess I will just add them later.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Something that poped into my head while attending the ICE08 Conference

In my opinion there are four reasons people go to conferences.

1-To learn things
2-To catch up with old friends
3-To meet new ones and network like crazy
4-To possibly make out with people from the same or opposite sex and then never see them again.

I fall in the 1-3 category but could probably be convinced on #4 :)

Anyway while attending ICE08 this past week I was struck with an idea on how to make people like me who are interested in networking like crazy have an easier time with it.....and before I get into my idea I should say that this is in no way a complaint about ICE08. I thought this conference was incredible and Michelle Perras (and others) did a fantastic job organizing and running this event. My idea is more a general one in response to all conferences etc.

So as someone who tries to speak to everyone attending the conference (and I am sure I am not the only one) I have always been surprised by Conference/Trade Show badges. Traditionally they have the persons name large and the company name small. Now I like to know who I am talking to so I can offer up a relevant story whenever possible but to read the company name on these badges you need to stare at the persons chest for far too long.....and if it a lady you are speaking to....well you can imagine the impression you leave when you are staring too long.

I would love to see badges have the first name of the person you are talking to in a HUGE font with the last name small and then the company name HUGE and the title small. Heck I would even go further and say badges should be 3x the size they currently are.

Yes this idea is really just to make my job easier and possibly allow me to achieve the designation of MASTER NETWORKER but I can see it being helpful to others as well!

Let me know what you think.

-saul

Thursday, January 31, 2008

How Warner Brothers should "market" the New Batman film after Heath Ledger's passing...

There is a lot of chatter on the ole' interweb about Heath Ledger's death and how it will play into how Warner Brothers can and will market the upcoming Batman film THE DARK NIGHT.

No two opinions are the same and everywhere you look people are taking steps to remove Joker references from promotional materials.

I have thought a bunch about this because I have made it my mission to solve this little quandary.......and I have.

The solution is simple......do nothing.

Yep. Treat the character of the Joker exactly as he is, a fictional character. Now before you get all in a tizzy let me explain. Yes I think it is sad that Heath Ledger is dead but at the same time I would hate to see the vision of this film changed because they are afraid to use his image in a movie poster. At this point there is nothing WB can do to bring Heath back from the dead so whatever was planned should continue. Treat the Joker as the Joker and not the person who played him.

The type of people who are going to see this ONLY because it is his last film will still see it so there is no need to play into them or their wishes. So instead of pandering why not create some movie marketing magic and just keep on keeping on.

Before Ledger's passing this film was on track with some really innovative marketing campaigns. I say keep them coming and if it fits to use the Joker then use the Joker. Movies are about magic and for this movie not to become a carnival sideshow WB needs to keep with the Magic so that people want to see this film so they can be taken to another place and time......and not a memorial service.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

I know you are busy so I am reading the internet for you!

Greetings and Salutations,

Usually I post about things that caught my eye or something I dreamed up but tonight/today I wanted to remind you all that I like to read.

I read everything.

In fact I scour the entire internets daily to find any morsel of interesting information so you don't have to commit the time or energy.

You see any time I find something interesting I share it on my Google Reader I know this probably sounds like a commercial for them but I assure you I am doing this for you and not them.

So any time you need to know what is going on in the world (or at least the parts of the world I find interesting) head over to my Google Share Reader.

Why as we speak there are articles about:
Apple MacBook Air
Penn Jillette
Using Social Media to Meet People
Nike Air Force One New Release Pictures
Marketing Advice and Stories
Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise
Stuff about Saul Colt
and comic book and writers strike info

Go Check em out!

-saul

p.s. and while you are at it...why not bookmark this RSS feed...and this one too!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Post #300...or Why I signed myself out of the Hospital against Doctor's orders!

Hi Everyone!,

I get told every now and then that I should have my own reality show. Personally I don't think anyone really wants to see me go to work/watch TV/ask my wife for marital relations over and over and over but who knows. Sure I have funny interesting things happen to me....they just don't happen often. Well one of "events" happened just the other day.

So I havent been feeling so good for the past week. Had the Sweating/Sneezing/Coughing/Fever/Flu quintuplet and it really knocked me on my ass. I have been trying to work through it and treat myself with over the counter meds but this past Friday I felt worse and decided to go to the emergency room to get this looked after.

I get to the hospital and wait and wait and wait.

[fast forward 12 hours]

So the Doctor tells me he is admitting me to the hospital and I will probably be staying 5 days or so. When I ask why he informs me that I have all this stuff that we hadn't discussed during our time together and I start to question him hard since I have a bad feeling that there has been a mistake here. The Doctor continues to defend his decision and tells me that the "only reason I am being kept over is to receive fluid because I was dehydrated".

[fast forward 2 hours]

I get dropped in my room and bad feeling I have is getting bigger (or badder). Within 30 mins there is a nurse telling me that they need to check me for infection by taking an anal swab. Me being a smart ass (get it?) and because I was tired, hungry (they refused me food for 12 hours) and frustrated I start having an internal argument with myself about saying things that either make no sense or just may get me killed (as you will read in a second).

So as the nurse is getting her specimen I want to say (and I have no reason why) "You know...I usually pay extra for this." but chose to keep my mouth shut.

Once I am settled I decide to let the person in the room with me that I am not a person to be messed with. There is really no need to do this but a long time ago I read a book about what to do if you find yourself in jail (I read this before going to overnight camp).

SO how did I do this?

Well in polite conversation with my Wife I told her that my bed is about as comfortable as the time I pulled a deuce at Millhaven. (Yes this is what happens when I have no food or drink for 12 hours...I pretend to be an x-con......or an international spy) Normally this would be taken as a joke except for the fact that my roomie then opened the curtain and he was either someone who has spent real time in the clink or just someone who has devoted their life to being the absolute best "extra" for TV or Movies filmed in prison. He had it all...muscles, tattoos more muscles and yes more tattoos. He looked at me and just closed the curtain again.

Ok so back on track......The upstairs Doctor came in and told me he would be looking after me. We chatted and he explained to me what the downstairs Doctor ordered and to my surprise it didn't match anything that I was explained downstairs.

This freaked me out

I explained my concern to the doctor and the nurse and even showed then that there were orders to give me blood thinners and no fluids as well as two different kinds of the same medicine (something that the upstairs Doctor admitted was strange).

[fast forward 2 hours]

At this point I am starting to feel better (without any treatment I should add) and have decided that I am not going to sign myself out. My level of confidence was low and I had a fear I would wake up to some person writing "Good Leg" in sharpie on my leg.

I explain to the head nurse that I would like to go home. This apparently is a big deal because I was then visited by three people telling me I can go but they don't want me to etc. I explained all my concerns and the misscommunications and the person in charge asked me flat out.....

"What do we need to do to get you to stay?"

Now if this was a reality show I would've said something cute like "Private Nurses feeding me Grapes" but this was real so I said I just wanted to go home.

I was given a release form saying I couldn't hold the Hospital responsible for anything because I refused treatment. I signed the form but not without crossing out the part about me refusing treatment and changing it to "Going Fishing"

This whole experience really opened my eyes to why being a Doctor is called Practicing Medicine....it is because some are really "practicing"

-saul

p.s. BTW I am feeling OK. I am seeing my Family Doctor and everything will be cool!

P.S.S. Merry Christmas everyone!
After long discussion I was finally allowed to walk out 16 hours after I first got there.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Are we owed proper continuity in entertainment?

Full Disclosure : I may be the only person who cares about this but I think it is still worth bringing up!

I have a weird memory.....weird is the best way to describe it because I have a wealth of useless information stored in it (like that Bombo Rivera was the starting outfielder of the '78 Expos) as well as a fountain of important info......that gives me my distinction of being the Smartest Man in the World but at the same time I can't remember much of what my High School life was like.

The obvious joke would be to say I don't remember High School because of some drug related experience but the actual fact is that I was a straight laced kid and just can't remember much of that time because I have compartmentalized all those memories into a small area so I could make more room for all this new knowledge I am soaking up.

That being said I wonder if writers of TV and Movies need to pay as much attention to their writing as I do as a viewer. Watching TV for me is an exhausting experience sine I am storing every line or event so I can use it in some joke or obscure reference at another time...this is why I sometimes get frustrated watching shows that ignore major plot points from past shows as if to say "Viewers....don't sweat the small stuff and just watch". The subject of Continuity is a huge deal/debate in the comic book world but I actually give comics a break on this since there are 40+ years of stuff to worry about in some titles but TV (for me at least) is different.

The reason I am writing about this is because of the last episode of Las Vegas.

Yes I know the show isn't really worth getting worked up over but I have seen every episode and actually like it.....and now that Tom Selleck is on the show I expect to see some "magnum magic". Anyway to keep it brief I will sum this up like this.....in the show a character gets fired and is told to leave the casino and her personal belongings from her suite (where she lives) will be delivered to her. Later in the episode she has all her goodies and is living with another character because she is tight for money and is in need of a job.....sounds all kosher so far (Happy Channukah everyone) except last season it was revealed that she was independently wealthy and had a HUGEAMONGOUS (that is not a spelling error) safe in her suite loaded with the largest collection of silver bars in the history of private ownership.

Am I being unreasonable to ask people to keep their stories straight?

Am I getting frustrated with all the reality TV I have been watching?

Am I using this topic as a way to stall until I come up with something better to blog about?

Will Andrew Dice Clay sell his 900 page memoir to a publisher?

Anyway I know this probably doesn't make much sense since I am tired and need some serious sleep.....so that is where I am going right now.

Night Night (real posts coming once I get some rest...and I have some real stuff to talk about....I promise)

saul

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Celebrity Deaths and my hour (or so) with Evel Knievel

Evel Knievel passed away yesterday.

I have a bit of a morbid fascination with celebrity deaths since I can't really understand why people get so worked up about a death of someone that they have never met...but that is just me.....and that being said I wasn't really effected when I learned about Evel even though we spent an hour together chatting many years ago.

Some people are magnets for the opposite sex (or sex in general) but I am a magnet for celebrity interactions.......and here is my Evel Knievel story.

Many years ago I made my first trip to Las Vegas. I think I was 18 or 19 and tagged along with my parents for a trade show. I spent a week in Vegas and I was pretty bored by day 5 (I have been back many times and keep my trips to under 4 days so I don't get stimulation overload) and spent a lot of my evenings in the sports book of Caesars Palace watching the Baseball playoffs (Yankees vs. Mariners while Randy Johnson was still a Mariner). In the Sports book was a guy who looked as bored as me and was sitting drinking pop and completely unaffected by the surroundings so we got to talking. Me being a street proofed kid kept waiting for him to invite me up to his room but that invite never came...instead we talked about motorcycles and baseball and after an hour he said he had to go.

My attention went back to the baseball game and a waitress came over and asked how I knew Mr. Kneivel.

Me thinking this was a trivia question, answered that I knew him from watching Wide World of Sports.

She then explained that I had just been talking to him in real life and I probably had no idea.

...and I hadn't!

Said in your best Paul Harvey voice "AND NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY"

-saul

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Reminder: Come see me talk tomorrow or I will cry!

Yes you read that correctly.

I am speaking tomorow night at the Indoor Playground and am pretty excited about it since I have put together a pretty interesting presentation on building an online/offline community but since I am all about honesty on the here blog I have to admit that the advanced attendance numbers are pretty small.

So to make things more interesting I am making this promise........If you come to see my little chat tomorrow night I can promise you a few things.

-You will learn something
-You may see nudity
-I may Cry more then once
-Someone may leave pregnant

So if you happen to be in the Toronto area tomorrow night (Thursday the 29th) why not swing by the Indoor Playground (364 Richmond Street West, Suite 503) and listen to me go on and on about stuff!

Here is where you can get all the info! Or you can just show up!

-saul

Monday, November 12, 2007

I work out my mind so you can work out your arms!

My mind never stops working. I actually like it this way but sometimes it prevents me from sleeping.....so a long time ago I came up with a nighttime activity that I can do at bedtime to get me to relax so I can go night night.

My ritual starts by me slipping into something comfortable.....clearing my mind......letting my mind drift into a place where I can fantasize on how to innovate the current marketing for industries who I don't think are doing a very good job.

Yes I know that was a long way to travel for a simple masturbation joke.

Anyway I spent some time thinking up ways to re-invent the Sports Club/Fitness Club industry marketing because in my opinion this is an industry that could use some new ideas.

The goal of this post is not to "out" any one company and I am in no way pointing fingers or saying all fitness clubs employ these lazy practices but a bunch do and the perception of this industry is (in my opinion) is largely negative and that is why this was a fun little project for my brain.

To truly make a difference you need to change the way people think of a health club by making it a place people want to join, tell their friends, and hang out long after their work out is finished.

I would do this by changing all the direct mail pieces with the stock photography of frogs and generic people (a common practice with the local clubs in this area) and re work all the collateral to reflect the personalities of each unique club....the direct mail pieces should be targeted to the neighborhoods in and around the clubs and the collateral should reflect this. Make people feel they are hand selected and not a singular piece for the entire chain with multiple locations listed on the materials and drop all the questionable offers of $XX per month for the first 10 people who join only to have people show up and find out it is really three times that amount.

I see the key to making this great is by building a community.

If you create an environment where people look forward to coming and staying at your clubs you will empower the membership to boast about the clubs to the point where they are an extension of the sales team.

This is easy to type and not so easy to pull off but I see doing fun regular events like movie nights , Nintendo Wii Tennis Tournaments, Speed Dating, Surprise Birthday Parties for members on their B-Day and other member oriented events you create a feeling of club and community that will get members talking....and hopefully to non members.

Every marketing plan I dream up has a healthy dose of Guerrilla activity. I love Guerrilla stuff and done well is so over the top effective in getting people talking about your service and company....an example of a guerrilla campaign for a health club would be to have people doing barbell curls on the subway in rush hour...not saying anything or selling anything...just lifting/curling while wearing a club t-shirt.

I have an even better "WOM" idea but I am keeping it for myself since it can be used in a bunch of different ways.

.....and this is where I fell asleep........but to quickly finish the concept idea I think there are opportunities online like a Facebook Exercise Tracker App. and a whole whack of other lead generation tactics so they can dump the "win a free membership" ballot boxes that populate convenience stores all over the city.

Anyway if you are in a position to execute on these ideas I would be happy to share the rest of my ideas.......heck you could even hire me to be a consultant!

I await your call

Saul

Friday, November 09, 2007

Forget Must See TV. Now it is Must Green TV!

Two things I don't post a whole lot about about are:

- TV Show Plots
and
-The Environment

The reasons are simple. Even though I watch more then TV then most folks I rarely watch them on the broadcast day (thanks to Tivo/PVR) so I would just feel silly talking about shows that are a few weeks old..........and I choose not to talk too much about the environment (even though I have in the past) because....well....everyone else is and I don't think I have anything interesting to add to the conversation.

That is until today....and I am combining/complaining about both!

This week NBC launched a GREEN IS UNIVERSAL campaign where for a whole week NBC shows worked a "green" message into every one of their prime time shows and interstitials.

This may have seemed like a great idea in a board room but in execution it left me feeling as if I was being pandered to. Shows like 30 Rock, My Name is Earl, ER, The Office, Life, Chuck, Bionic Woman all have smart writing staffs and I watch and enjoy every one of these shows (yes...even Bionic Woman...and geez I watch a lot of NBC shows) but the Green Messaging in these episodes seemed forced (by the studio and the dialog) because......and I am making a HUGE assumption here.....I imagine this green decision came after the shows where plotted out or even written.

I feel this way since in Bionic Woman (and I am going by memory here) the good guys looked for the bad guys at an environmental fund raiser but instead of just saying in passing that "this is a environmental fund raiser" they instead worked in a full soliloquy about how this fund raiser was helping save this and that they are happy to be looking for the bad guy here. ER was almost as bad because they had a character complain that his carbon footprint increased due to a prank they pulled on him. 30 Rock was funny because they pretty much admitted they were doing this because they had to.

Anyway my point here is this "Don't mess with my TV" or better stated....this seemed crass and commercial. Two things that saving the environment are not supposed to be about. These episodes will seem strange out of context and if you are going to do a promotional tie in like this you don't want it to harm your product in the process.

NBC dropped the ball here and could've achieved the same results they set for their Green is Universal week by not playing with their shows and just had the stars/characters do the PSA's and interstitial in between the episodes. This could have saved them from getting characters to comment on how they are giving up Styrofoam cups only to have them go back to their old ways in future episodes.

Oh Ya....and don't mess with my TV

saul

24 Season 7 is not happening till 2009?

Being the Smartest Man in the World I don't get confused easily but due to conflicting reports from reputable sources I can't figure out if Season 7 of the TV show 24 has been canceled outright or is just on hold due to the writers strike.

Media in Canada has an article today saying it has been axed and to add some editorial spice they go one to add that advertisers in Canada are not concerned since it wasn't drawing viewers like it used to.

But Screen Rant is saying it is postponed but is absolutely coming back after the strike since there are 8 episodes shot already.

So what is it?

Variety says both!?!...well sorta

I will keep digging into this but until I get an answer, please enjoy the season 7 trailer.....it looked like a goody!

Depending on who you listen to.

Monday, November 05, 2007

I want my Late Night TV

If any of you read my google reader share list you will see that I share a bunch of Entertainment industry news and have shared a number of interesting articles about the WGA writers strike.

I am not going to weigh in on my opinion of the strike since....well....I have no inside info or even a different spin then you are getting from folks more connected then me.

One thing I did read this morning that I did find newsworthy and shareworthy was the report that Jon Stewart is paying his writers for two weeks out of his own pocket. Just so we are clear...he is not paying them to write his show but rather paying them to strike and do what they need to do while they are out of work.

This is a classy move and one that owners and managers of other companies can learn from. Paying your staff to strike against you is obviously not a smart idea but this is a different sort of situation so treating your staff with respect and consideration while they work out things will certainly make the return to work much easier and with less hard feelings.

More stuff later

saul

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

a reason why Hulu wont be a youtube killer

The "internets" are whizzing around with news of HULU and how it has a legitimate chance at being a real threat to YouTube.

I may be alone in this opinion but I think it it is going to have an impact but not the one everyone is expecting....and here is why.

Besides the obvious reason that people like YouTube and are used to going there for fun videos like "How Krispy Kremes Work"

or documentaries on Tom Selleck that some guy held a camcorder to his TV to record

But because YouTube is open to all people and doesn't discriminate.

You are probably asking yourself what I am talking about.

Well are you?

Ok so I found online a blog called Hurty Elbow that had links to a whole slew of Hulu videos....and being the curious investigator that I am I decided to check it out only to find out that much like NBC.com I was prevented from viewing anything because I was not using a USA based ISP.

Limiting this service to just America and not North America is short sighted and will eventually prove to be a classic example of "leaving money on the table". I admit I have not really researched into how HULU is going to work but I have read how the combination of YouTube and iTunes grew viewership for shows like The Office and 30 Rock. If one of the goals is to increase viewership then why limit the number of eyes that can view your content? On iTunes the shows where an item that people paid for and I am assuming it will be the same on HULU so again I say Why limit your audience?

I know this may come across as whiny but I take my TV viewing very seriously!
-saul

Oh and if you want to check out the HULU links (if you can) click away below!

http://www.hulu.com/embed/1
http://www.hulu.com/embed/2

http://www.hulu.com/embed/3
http://www.hulu.com/embed/4
http://www.hulu.com/embed/5
http://www.hulu.com/embed/6

http://www.hulu.com/embed/7
http://www.hulu.com/embed/8
http://www.hulu.com/embed/9

http://www.hulu.com/embed/10
http://www.hulu.com/embed/11
http://www.hulu.com/embed/12

http://www.hulu.com/embed/13
http://www.hulu.com/embed/14
http://www.hulu.com/embed/15

http://www.hulu.com/embed/16
http://www.hulu.com/embed/17
http://www.hulu.com/embed/18

http://www.hulu.com/embed/19
http://www.hulu.com/embed/20

21-1800 After The Jump

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

I have been tagged and now I have to share personal things about me!

I am “it”.

I am saying this because I was tagged by by Stephanie Fierman to participate in a b5media’s meme about 7 (G-rated) things you may not know about me (or care)....so here is my list:

1- I love Blaxploitation films like Coffee, Black Belt Jones, and Dolomite
2- I sold my 20,000+ comic book collection because I didn’t want to move them with me into my new house....but I kept my 500+ trade paperbacks.
3- I own 12 suits, 45 shirts and 100+ ties and yet I wear jeans and superhero t-shirts everyday
4- My two favourite fiction authors are Lee Child and Harlan Coben.
5- I fall asleep listening to podcasts
6- If I am home alone for dinner I will usually eat cereal.
7- I usually read two books a week...and by books I mean real books (business or fiction books)

And as a bonus.......#8 – I am the Smartest Man in the World (I bet you saw that coming)

Stolen directly from Stephanie Fierman's site

According to The New York Times, a meme “is an infectious idea or any other thing that spreads by imitation from person to person… the World Wide Web is the perfect Petri dish for memes.” It seems like a 21st century chain letter to me but (a) neither I nor any of my family was threatened with death if I didn’t ‘pass it on,’ so that’s an improvement, and (b) it seems a harmless way to connect with people and to promote websites and blogs not only inside your existing network but to a broader audience, as well. Perhaps memes could be worked into fresh “Refer A Friend” online customer acquisition campaigns.

I tagged email a few folks and told them to participate but I am not going to publicly tag anyone!

Hope you liked my list

-saul

Thursday, October 11, 2007

David Caruso wouldn't be a good marketer.....

I have a lot of guilty pleasures.

One of them is CSI Miami. I am not sure why I still watch the show since it doesn’t captivate me in the way a really good show should but there are a few things that keep me coming back for more.

One is that I love that we are to believe that at a crime scene all a CSI needs to do is spray an aerosol can of stuff into a car and they will magically get the height, weight, age, skin tone and annual salary of the person who was driving......and the other is David Caruso and his magic sunglasses.

I was thinking about David Caruso’s magic sunglasses last night and how they relate to Marketing. I admit this is a bit of a stretch but bear with me till the end.

Good/Great marketing or advertising happens when people take the time to really understand their target market. This involves going beyond just the statistics but to do some real world talking to folks and getting real opinions. I have written about companies in the past who employ celebrities to endorse their products even thought the celebrity is a bad fit...well this wouldn’t happen if people just took the time to talk to people. Personal connections and networking is such an important tool in career development so why wouldn't you use the same concepts to gather information. Asking people in casual conversations what they like and what they don't like is IMHO a far more honest and valuable tool to get real world information to what people want....since....well....you are asking real people.

Some marketers rush to judgement, make quick decisions, and walk away. This is not different from when David Caruso’s character (and yes I realize it is a TV character) Horatio Cane delivers one of his snappy one liners, puts on his magic sunglasses and walks away....heck an even further comparison can be made to the fact that Horatio never really looks at people but rather squints and looks over your or past you.

For really great marketing to happen people need to step back, look people in the eye and get to know who they are and how these people want to be spoken to and marketed to.......because if you made bad assumptions you will not only create marketing that doesn’t work but you may also find yourself in a car with a guy who is pointing a gun at you because you thought he was someone he wasn’t.....just like on the last episode of CSI Miami!

Still not sure what I am talking about?

Well then watch this.......

-saul

Saul Colt - The Smartest Man in the World!