Stay True

At first I stopped into Albertsons, but they didn’t have what I wanted, so I thought to try Safeway, but they didn’t have it either.  Hmmm, what was this elusive product that was not upon the shelves in these two conglomerate grocery competitors?  It was simply a bottle of sparkling Crystal Geyser water (berry-flavored).  I was certain both stores used to carry Crystal Geyser; after all it is a local company.  But to my surprise neither corporate grocer had this item on their shelves.  It seems that in the ever-increasing world of choice, the larger the venue, the smaller the choice.  (I found my coveted Berry-Flavored Crystal Geyser down the road at our little produce stand, “Andy’s Market”).

Don’t get me wrong these large, tumbling over grocers would like for their consumers to believe they are offering us choice, especially when there are rows upon rows of the same brand only in different flavors, shapes, and sizes.

Consider Crest toothpaste; I’ve noticed they are the masters.  They disguise the reality of choice par excellence.  Walk into any chain drug store and check out the toothpaste aisle.  Witness how many rows are devoted to Crest.  There is a row for super strength, seniors, extra fluoride, kids, and on it goes until just about one half of the toothpaste aisle is taken up by, well . . . . .  Crest.

Pretend Choice is what I like to call this marketing ploy.  Consumers are lead to believe that they do in fact have a wide-variety of choices, but in truth it’s

basically one brand in different packaging.

In our global economy choice today is something to be revered, to support, and use.  I suggest shopping local, keep your choices real, and understand it’s the handful of wholesalers in America who only want to move products—choice for the public at large is not part of their agenda.

Stay true,

M

So many of us with children joke that they are born with a computer chip, as technology seems to be a given with them.  When my ipod isn’t working properly or when I can’t figure out a new setting on my mobile phone I ask my 12 year old son for help.  If after about 5 to 10 minutes of playing around with my phone, computer, or ipod he can’t fix it then I know I will have to give in and call tech support—and we all know how much fun this can be!

Let’s face it though, tech geeks are in demand.  Geeks are hot.  Geek-chic is taking over, “Dorothy we are not in Kansas anymore”, these guys are wearing hand-embroidered $600 jeans, uber cool glasses, and Italian shoes.  Instant Acquired Wealth Syndrome is something that I’d say 9 out of 10 cases refers to the geeks who have made an enormous amount of money with their tech-based solutions—- solutions that continue to bring us all a little closer. . . . .

Personally, I am fascinated with their language, their creativity, and brains.  True every career has its own language- the language of finance, economics, medicine and whatnot, but geek language is continually being created and defined—it’s astoundingly fun!  I think geeks at large are having much more fun than their image allows us non-techies to believe . . . . .

Last week at the Microsoft WPC (World Partner Conference) in Denver, 10,000 or so Microsoft business partners met up to exchange tech solutions for just about every type of business you could think of—their was even a taxidermy solution, for well taxidermists.  I have to admit that I found all these “solutions” fascinating (once you figure out what in the hell they are talking about—get a geek to put what they are doing into lay terms there is no going back – I keep telling my friends they are just so damn creative).

Within a few short hours, after roaming the Expo Hall, I realized that there are very few of us left on earth who could live without Microsoft.  Let’s see how easy it would be for us to navigate our business worlds without Microsoft for a few days . . . . .  which has me wondering could Microsoft become part of our DNA?

Stay true,

M