Kim O’Donnell discusses a variety of Thanksgiving recipes (including vegetarian) in these easy to use videos.
Daily Archives: November 23, 2004
Why Compete When You Can Lobby?
Telecoms giants oppose cities on web access. Once again, the SBC’s of the world would rather play politics than provide true high speed connectivity. 100mbps (100x faster than my home dsl line) is available in Japan and Korea for 35/month….. I wonder what the implications are for Madison and Dane County’s wireless plans?
Oscar Mayer For Sale?
Michael Arndt writes about Oscar Mayer parent Kraft Foods (itself part of Altria Group) rationalization plans (which include asset sales):
Now Deromedi is evaluating which brands to auction off next. As with the sale of Altoids and Life Savers to Wrigley, he’ll look at secondary brands or those where Kraft lacks the clout with retailers to turn things around. Analysts and consultants figure Oscar Mayer is most likely. Despite being the leader in bacon, hot dogs, and luncheon meats in the U.S., with $2.1 billion in annual sales, it has been losing out to cheaper store brands and has little brand recognition overseas. Kraft’s $1.2 billion-a-year Post cereals division, a distant No. 3 that also is ceding market share, could also be on the block. Michael A. Crowe, a senior managing director of Mesirow Financial, which owns 200,000 Kraft shares, hopes the sales come soon. “It’s not long overdue,” he says. “But it is overdue.”
This could be a rather big deal for Madison.
The Persuaders
Americans are swimming in a sea of messages.
Each year, legions of ad people, copywriters, market researchers, pollsters, consultants, and even linguists?most of whom work for one of six giant companies?spend billions of dollars and millions of man-hours trying to determine how to persuade consumers what to buy, whom to trust, and what to think. Increasingly, these techniques are migrating to the high-stakes arena of politics, shaping policy and influencing how Americans choose their leaders.
This is an interesting example: I recently posted a few comments on Pepsi Spice It looks to me like Pepsi’s ad agencies are attempting to run a viral marketing campaign using search engines. I could be wrong but find it hard to believe that customers are flocking to search engines looking for Pepsi Spice information….
The New Age of Advertising
Tom Moon (audio):
To announce its latest release How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, U2 has partnered with Apple Computer for a series of now-ubiquitous television advertisements.
Brad Livingston: Madison Airport WiFi News
Brad Livingston, Director of the Dane County Regional Airport sent me this note today regarding their plans for WiFi (Wireless Internet) access. Let’s hope this happens as it has been a long time coming. Meanwhile, IATA Director-General Giovanni Bisignani is taking on the monopoly, high margin suppliers around the air transport industry. The Economist takes a look at Bisignani’s interesting initiatives.
Color Laser Printers Add Hidden ID to Prints
Next time you make a printout from your color laser printer, shine an LED flashlight beam on it and examine it closely with a magnifying glass. You might be able to see the small, scattered yellow dots printer there that could be used to trace the document back to you.
According to experts, several printer companies quietly encode the serial number and the manufacturing code of their color laser printers and color copiers on every document those machines produce. Governments, including the United States, already use the hidden markings to track counterfeiters.