Tom Stern, author of "CEO Dad," on McDonald's rewarding students who get good grades with Happy Meals: " Suddenly, any incentive we can come up with, like, say, an extra play date or more TV time is undermined by unhealthy food with a toy prize jammed in next to it. Come on, corporate America, we parents have enough trouble trying to get our kids to see the value and satisfaction in doing a job well without any bonus goodies attached to the outcome. Now you’re setting unrealistic expectations we can’t fulfill with our feeble Dad or Mom powers, and our children will be utterly unprepared for a world where every accomplishment is not reinforced with special sauce. This could leave them so ill-equipped to succeed in the workplace that the only question they’ll be asking as an adult is the one you’re asking them now: “You want fries with that?” '"
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Charles Fishman, Fast Company magazine's Editor-at-Large, on plastic bags: "The EPA estimates that U.S. consumers throw away 100 billion of the bags a year. Across the landscape, where they snag on everything and flutter in the breeze, they are a discouraging visual pollutant. And while their energy and solid waste impact may be modest, they should also be an easy habit to kick."
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Fast Company magazine's senior writer Ellen McGirt on Facebook's role in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting: "Facebook profiles of the deceased victims have been transformed into dynamic shrines, where friends can continue to post messages of sadness and tribute. And there are also more than 500 global groups that any registered Facebook user can join to share messages of support, tribute, outrage, activism or grief."
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PR expert Wendy Marx on the benefits of utilizing Web 2.0 to increase your brand presence: "Suddenly, thanks to Web sites and interactive tools like blogs, podcasts, and video, you have the opportunity for seemingly gazillions of people (over a billion folks today are online) to know about you and your brand. Frankly, if you’re not taking advantage of this, you’re not truly marketing. The fact is that every time someone visits your Website or blog or engages with you online, you’re furthering your brand."
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Video editor Bill Cammack on the micro-blogging service Twitter: "The overall effect of this twitter phenomenon is that there are never enough hours in a day anymore. Every second you're not running with the pack, you're falling behind. Unfortunately, I don't subscribe to slackers, so it's always build, create, innovate, move, report, link, blog, videoblog, discuss, contemplate, debate..."
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Senior Writer Linda Tischler on the popularity of the quickly evolving Arab city: "Dubai has gotten unprecedented press lately. You can't pick up a travel magazine without seeing stories about the place: the shopping mall with the ski slope; the world's tallest building, the crazy 'Palms' project that makes Boston's Back Bay landfill project a century or two ago look like kids filling a sandbox."
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Marketing Communications Director Valeria Maltoni on how businesses engage in conversations with their customers: "With the creation of Direct2Dell a year ago Richard and colleague John Pope also embarked on an "outreach" initiative to have conversations with bloggers. Dell is quite serious about its efforts. Where there is conversation, there is an opportunity for meeting of the minds and forward movement on action. Dell is embracing social media in all its messiness. It’s a brave experiment, which may pay off in significant improvements to their product and thus their market position in the future."
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Danielle Sacks, staff writer for Fast Company magazine, on the emerging conflict in marketing: "In the high brow stratosphere of marketing theory, one day it's all about the niche ('long tail'), the next it's all about the mass ('big seed'). Between Gladwell and Watts (who in 2003 penned the book, Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age, to much less fanfair), and Fast Company's very own Made to Stick columnists, Dan and Chip Heath, it seems an entire academic generation has emerged around the study of how to get our ideas, products and brands to stick."
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FastCompany.com's Associate Editor, Saabira Chaudhuri, on marketing across the globe: "Nowadays, with the advent of the Internet and the globalization of brands, the idea of consistency remains strong, but its implementation seems to be increasingly problematic. How does one manage to ensure trans-cultural consistency without a brand's core message being lost in translation?"
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Marketing maven Adam Hanft on Coca-Cola's recent troubles: "True, Coca-Cola has the cash to wait till someone innovates and then swoop it up. But what kind of signal does that send? It tells investors you've lost your innovative chops. And perhaps most discouragingly, it tells employees that the source of fresh thinking lies outside the organization."
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Fast Company magazine's Chuck Salter on 17-year-old Ashley Qualls, a webpreneur who built a million dollar business: "The Accidental Business has become a burgeoning byproduct of the Web. Just look at the collectors-turned-entrepreneurs on eBay alone. By providing a cheap and instantaneous distribution or publishing platform, the Internet democratizes entrepreneurship."
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Leadership consultant Ruth Sherman on the iPhone pricedrop and poor leadership: "Apple screwed its customers that it professes to value so highly. And its efforts to make amends are half-baked, at best. This is not leadership in my book and it certainly doesn't pass for an apology."
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Chris Dannen, a FastCompany.com reporting intern on finding a use for Twitter: "According to one San Diego-based writer, Twitter has been invaluable for his family; he's discovered three feeds that are providing neighborhood-by-neighborhood information on the spreading danger. Luckily, one of the feeds is operated by a local news station, so he can be fairly sure he's getting reliable reporting."
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FastCompany.com reporting intern, Liz Webber keys on idolizing green celebs: " According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau from 2005, 77 percent of Americans drive to work alone every day. Less than 5 percent take public transportation, a statistic that has changed little since 2000. Of the 10.7 percent who carpool, over three quarters ride with only one other person. That adds up to a lot of miles, a lot of gas and a lot of excess carbon emissions. I can't say I remember any celebrities talking about driving less or driving to work with their costars instead of alone. I guess carpooling just isn't as trendy as owning a hybrid."
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Senior Editor of FastCompany.com, Lynne d Johnson, on Widget hype: "There is the potential to overdo a widget marketing strategy. Companies could get it wrong. Companies that don't really need them may create them just because of the thinking that widgets are the next killer app -- that widgets are better than advertising. The truth is, in this new age, the name of the game is engagement. So it's not really a banner vs. widget argument here. What it is though, is a time to be creative about your brand and about how you market your brand. What points of engagement work best for your constituency? If you're marketing to 65 year olds, maybe widgets won't matter much. "
Read more [15]
Related Content: For additional reviews of 2007 browse the slideshows below:
- Top Innovators [16]
- Best Business Books [17]
Adapted By: Kevin Ohannessian Design by: Jen Simek