What’s your favorite Olympic souvenir?

I heard a wild question on my way home – what would be your souvenir of choice from the Olympic games?

Let’s think about that – throw out the option of a medal but everything else is game – what would you say?

Me – I’d choose Misty May Traenor.

What? People don’t count? Ok, how about her headband? Too creepy? Fine. I’ll take Bolt’s shoes.

What else is there? What would you vote for? The dropped relay baton (two lucky people could get this)? A Chico kind of night from Mrs. Phelps? The Chinese team’s passports? How about Bela Karolyi’s sideburns?

Seriously, this is a tough question. Let me know what you would choose.

Coke’d out design

I came across this post on BusinessWeek.com about the design initiatives at Coke. They include moving to an aluminum bottle and incorporating new design trends.

Twenty years later I’m glad to see that Coke is focusing on changing the right thing – the bottle (not the formula). This new Coke tastes the same but is evolving to fit the trend of more personalized brands. After all, who wants to walk around drinking out of a red can just like everyone else?

The fact that Coke is evaluating its design – and has been for the last five years – should inspire any company to turn a critical eye on itself to make sure it’s evolving – but more importantly, evolving the right components.

That Nun is Hot!

Well, once again showing that the Catholic faith is up on what’s hip with the kids, an Italian priest has announced he will hold a beauty contest for nuns.

Read that again. Slowly. And see that I’m not kidding.

This comes on the heels that it’s no longer a sin to believe in aliens. Hey, who says Catholics aren’t willing to evolve. I think that could be there new tagline – ‘We evolve. Just don’t ask us to believe in it.’

Hey, at least they’re starting to take an interest in women.

Your new teacher is Mr. Smith & Wesson

I read this article on  BBC reporting on teachers in Texas allowed to bring guns to school. The Harrold School dsitrict is allowing teachers to bring firearms citing common sense as the reason.

Well, common sense says that some students might try to take a teacher’s gun. And I don’t know about you, but there probably only two teachers in my school that could operate a gun. So maybe we can rework this a little bit. I think we really need to scare the students into behaving. Beyond the guns, I’d like to propose that schools have teachers wear bullets and gernades around their chest, like Rambo. Oh, I know – we should put electric shock collars around their necks that the teachers can zing when the students are bad. What about bringing knives too? Or is that something reserved for the home economics staff? Do teacher aids and administrative assistants get guns too? Or are they just given mace or stun guns?

This could redefine how teachers are hired. Maybe as part of their interview they can go to the shooting range so the administration can determine if they’re a good enough shot. This is like watering your lawn in the middle of a downpour – let’s put that energy into focusing on what’s really wrong with schools.

I’m sorry!!!! The vacation’s over.

I’m sorry it’s been so long and you’ve had to look at that Batman poster forever. I was lucky enough to take some vacation and get some heavy work done – but now I’m back. And I promise I won’t do that again. Until next year. Here, let me make up for it. Look at the awesome Beach Volleyball team; my favorite part about the Olympics that isn’t Michael Phelps.

I thought of all of ‘us’ recently. And by ‘us’ I mean people    who care about communicating; people who care about social media forums and the power they give. I gave a presentation on eCommunications the other day, and as I was doing research it dawned on me how few companies take advantage of social media. A fatal flaw given how empowered consumers are through this tool.

Think about it – you are giving strangers the chance to write, in a public forum, about your products and services. I know we know that – but do you think others do? Are we just talking to each other up here in the choir loft?

I know adoption is high but are we converting anyone? In a day of too many brands I don’t think enough are taking advantage of these tools to differentiate themselves. The era of companies talking at consumers is over. The ‘e’ in eCommunications might as well stand for empowered. Consumers are empowered; they have opportunities to influence products and marketing. But are companies doing enough to empower their employees to take advantage of this?