The Hot Iron

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Jumping Dolphins at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Light Fixture at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Subway Tracks Thru Grate in Columbus Circle, New York, NY

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Thermal Image of Me at Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago

Thursday, March 06, 2008

I Just Want To Know What’s Going On

I know there’s something going on.  And no, I am not just talking about the 80’s song by Frida.  There’s something going on out there that I don’t know about but I feel I should.  The question – and challenge – is, how do I find out about it?

I am talking about what we refer to as “the news.” In my younger days, it was easy to find out what was going on.  Growing up in western Massachusetts, the biggest choice we had was watching channels 22 or 40, and most people watched 22.  (Occasionally we watched channel 3 and saw Oprah’s friend Gayle, but that was in Hartford, CT so we didn’t care as much about the Nutmeg state, but I digress) WHYN-AM was news radio before they called it that.  Then there was the Springfield Daily-News that everybody read.  And for the smaller, local stories, there was The Reminder.  Keep in mind this was the 70’s and 80’s, and for those who were around then will know that was all we needed.

When I moved an hour away from my base to Pittsfield, MA when I graduated from college, the first thing I did was subscribe to the local newspaper, the Berkshire Eagle.  Why?  I wanted to know what was going on.  A year later when I finally landed in the Boston area, I would get the Newton Tab, Waltham Daily News-Tribune and the Sunday Boston Globe, with TV news and WBZ-AM news radio filling in the gaps.  In both cities, the combined news coverage worked, and as this time period was the 90’s.

Fast forward a decade or so, and I am in Chicago.  I have only purchased the Chicago Tribune once – my wife’s name was in it.  I get the daily emails from the Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, but they only offer the larger stories.  And TV news only shows a small subset of those larger stories - the murders, not the smaller stories like the minutiae of the city council.  Chicago is also much larger than Boston – its population is about half of that of Massachusetts!  In order to fill in the gaps, I read blogs from news providers such as Crain’s, professionally-run blogs like the Chicagoist and Gaper’s Block and a variety of individual bloggers.  Those combined give me a much better picture of the smaller news stories.

So what’s my point?  There has been a lot of talk about the demise of the printed newspaper and TV news.  Where I don’t know when this will happen, my guess it will be a slow and painful one.  I do believe the timeframe will be based on its relevancy – will it be the place people go to get the news, or be entertained?  When the news is followed by one of those Hollywood reporter shows, it’s hard to tell when one ended and the other began.  Is it that I have something out for journalists or reporters?  Heck no. I just want to know what’s going on, and they just don’t seem to be telling me anymore.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Cigars By The Window At Jack Schwartz In Chicago

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Turn Off The Lights For Earth Hour On March 29

On March 29, 2008, people around the world are invited to turn off their lights for one hour for what is called Earth Hour.  What started in Sydney, Australia last year is now spreading around the world.  I heard about this for Chicago is one of the cities participating in this program at 8 pm local time.  And this is not just a grassroots effort, as there are corporate sponsors for the event, including the local electric company.

Why not?  For someone whose condo lights could be seen from a distance a skyline shot, I am in.  I just hope too much money and effort (and electricity) is not being spent to promote it – wouldn’t that defeat the purpose?

I know from personal experience keeping the lights off can make a difference in your electric bill.  Last year when having some work done on our condo, we had the main light fixture taken down in the bathroom and the replacement didn’t go up for another month.  Looking at our bills, we noticed a significant decrease.  The new fixture also had compact fluorescent bulbs, and we have continued the savings.

Will you be turning off your lights for an hour?

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Water Bubbling Through Frozen DuSable Harbor, Chicago

Thursday, February 21, 2008

My Take-Aways From The Book This Pats Year

It would come as no surprise to my loyal readers that my favorite football team is the New England Patriots.  My first book read this year was Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi’s autobiography.  As the Pats moved through the playoffs, I thought it would be appropriate to read the book This Pats Year by Sean Glennon.

This Pats Year chronicles the 2002 season as experienced by a variety of Patriots fans each week, as well as the author, who happens to be a fan of the Oakland Raiders, a team that has a storied history with the Pats.  This book evolved from a column Glennon wrote for the Boston Phoenix.  And yes, I did find a real, business-related takeaway from this book!

My one takeaway is that it may be your product or service, but your customers will experience it in a variety of ways.  In This Pats Year, the product is the NFL football games played by the Patriots and their opponents, and the customers are the dozens of fans highlighted in the book.  Some are extremely loyal, some are not.  Some love everything the team and organization do, some do not.  One fan even lost his season ticket account for selling game tickets on eBay, but remains a fan of the team.

A similar product that came to mind after reading the book is music, especially in the light of the record industry’s attempts to hold onto their old business models as the digital age keeps moving forward.  When a musician or group creates a song or songs, it can be interpreted in many ways by their fans, in ways they may not have anticipated (listening to individual songs rather than whole albums) or may even want (Charles Manson and the Beatles!).  However there is little they can do about it, and in the end they hope to make money while still maintaining their integrity.

This type of scenario doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.  Where it can be considered a lack of control by some, to others it can be a huge opportunity.  Artists and record labels are slowly moving their catalogs online.  A related opportunity to the Patriots is the development of Patriot Place, a retail and entertainment complex currently under construction around Gillette Stadium, where the team plays.  Talk about a capitalization on your product!

Where This Pats Year may not be of interest to rabid fans of other football teams, it is a well-written observation of people in their consumption of something they believe in.  I recommend people directly involved in the development and marketing of products and services to read the book, as it may help in the analysis of your own target markets.  And if you are a Pats fan, I of course recommend it, and you may even know some of the people highlighted.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Inflatable Sales Sign on a Cold Windy Day in Appleton, WI