Some products really know how to make an entrance. Originally posted on November 27, 2012. We’re taught never to judge by appearances. We all do it anyway. Our all-too-human tendency to judge a book by its cover surely is unfortunate from a social justice standpoint, but from a marketing standpoint it offers an opportunity not […]
“How reassuring it is to know,” I snarked when Facebook tycoon Mark Zuckerberg appeared before the U.S. Senate in 2018, “that powerful people who don’t understand Facebook are investigating Facebook on our behalf.” Mind you, I appreciate the plight of older congresspeople. They have staff to handle their social media. On one hand, it spares […]
What to do with an old bank building? Originally posted April 8, 2019. Last week nostalgia swept over me as I stepped inside an architectural masterpiece. An elegant survivor from banking’s bygone era of marble and polished brass, the entire building suggested strength, security, and longevity, all needful symbols for the early 20th century when people weren’t […]
A few old ideas are being modernized and revitalized. Among them are installment loans, subscription services, and a close cousin of subscription services known as continuity programs. Part of what’s new about them—and relevant to this blog—is that while such programs were once driven by checks via U.S. Mail, today they are utterly dependent on […]
Currency has come a long way since its start in the fourth century BCE. We have arrived at a time and place where you can trade between three and four slips of intaglio-printed paper with the word “One” printed on them for a gallon of gasoline, between one and two thousand of them for a new […]