hobbycity

Dawn and I have been busy the last couple of days taking care of mini projects and hobbies around the house...some related to Christmas, some not. I was able to nab a family tree book of the Kuehn family from my pops, so I am back on the Geni.com site again. I have over 450 people in the tree and I hope it keeps growing! I need to keep on it to add Satermo, Fladeland and Sheehan relies now.

Ella is funny with her TV selections recently. She is hooked on Sesame Street and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. But she only pays attention to certain parts of the shows. Elmo's World from Sesame Street and the intro song of Mickey's show makes her cheese out like crazy. But once those segments of the shows are done, she is out...moved on to bigger and better things. Silly girl.

My beef that I mentioned a few posts back is still on my mind. Marketing is a tough role to be in. Everyone experiences marketing/advertising/promotions all the time, everyday. Because of that, people think they are marketers in their own right. I didn't go to school for markteting, so Dawn could speak to this subject better than I could, but the point is, there are techniques, concepts, and trends that marketing folk know and see that others don't. Just as surgeons learn about procedures and bone structures, marketers learn about reactions to colors and taglines that sell. But because because of all the marketing others experience, they doubt that knowledge. Or maybe they don't doubt it, but they think they know just as much as you. But the source of the problem may not be the individual co-workers or colleagues, but rather the management and administration. If the general understanding of the organization is that marketing really knows whats it doing (which it always does), I guarantee that products/services will sell better. In that understanding, all other aspects of the organization need to work within that rule. Sales, Customer Service, Upper Management, etc., need to give the power to the marketing department. Taglines and campaigns will flow in harmony because its only marketing brain power that powers it. Obviously I am on a soap box because of the job that I have and I haven't been lucky enough to work for a company that functions in the this way. My dad worked as a marketing manager of cancer drug, Aloxi, for a pharmacutical company called MGI Pharma. The marketing managers walked on water at that place. The knowledge of the marketing team was respected and the company was successful. Enough on that note...

Story telling: I am not exactly sure how this started, but I enjoy "getting" people by making up stories. Let me explain, say you tell me that you are going to the Mall of America to do some shopping...I would quickly respond by saying, "If you walk by the big rotunda, check out the big elevators that are on the West side. Most of the time there are big banners or posters covering those elevators. I actually screwed in the i-hooks in the ceiling of the mall to hang those (and a little FF for ya, they can support 75lbs each)". So you get the point. Leading someone on to believe that I had a hand in something that I clearly didn't. But the trick is being quick and making it somewhat believable. At any rate, I don't want to give away my tricks of the trade. Only my good friends have experienced the power that is a believable story. Hopefully you will experience one in person soon.

song: Uncle Cracker - Smile

Two more random thoughts before signing off:

• 1. How does P Diddy still have street cred in the hip-hop industry? He hasn't released a song in like 10 years. And who the hell would want to work for him?


• 2. Have you noticed that recent songs that have been released have lyrics that focus on friends, family, memories and love? Maybe an effect of the crappy economy?

Looking forward to Ella's 1 year pictures and Grandma and Dave coming to visit this weekend!

I gotta jump!