02.21
I just read a nice post on a blog called MisEntropy. The post is a reaction to the Forbes.com article entitled “The Man Who Predicts the Medals,” about an economist named Daniel Johnson who has predicted medal counts over the past five Olympics with 94% accuracy. The accuracy is impressive, but more interesting is Johnson’s approach—he bases his predictions solely on “per-capita income (the economic output per person), the nation’s population, its political structure, its climate and the home-field advantage for hosting the Games or living nearby.”
The operative word in that sentence is solely. Johnson is quoted in the article as saying “I know nothing about the athletes. And even if I did, I didn’t include it.” The MisEntropy post focuses on this statement:
That completely derailed me.
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09.23
With all this talk about the (hopefully) improving economy and consumer confidence, and employment numbers as a lagging indicator…I’d be interested in seeing a national employee morale index and the relationship between morale and a nation’s GDP. Is one predictive of the other? How tight is the correlation? And of course trying to design an objective measure of national employee morale would be the really fun part. (It looks like there have been attempts, and there’s the Consumer Sentiment Index, which sounds similar but isn’t directly related to employment. Let me know if you’re familiar with something along these lines.)
Doing so might also provide evidence that brand strategy can have a significant impact on employee morale. Not because agencies can create corny “you can do it” campaigns to get employees excited about making an extra cold call or working through lunch, but because
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03.23
California roll? Yeah, we can whip that up.
Would you go to a coffee place for Mexican food? A Mexican restaurant for a great latte?
DeSpyro Coffee, a relatively new spot in Huntington Beach, is committing a common brand strategy blunder right out of the gate. In choosing a somewhat descriptive name (and they could have just as easily gone with something vague like “DeSpryo’s”), they’ve set themselves up to be perceived by patrons as a coffee shop—a well-established category that comes with a certain set of expectations.
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