Do we need to market the value of education?

Below is a link that takes you to a blog post with 7 different videos shot using cell phones. All of these are videos shot by high school students mostly without their teachers knowledge. It left me numb. The utter callousness, disrespect and lack of value for education these kids display is very frightening.

I don't know what the panacea is, I do know it is not simple and I do believe it begins at home :).

-> Link
Hat Tip: Seth Godin

Watch what you say....

I came across this article on tampabay.com as part of work related research.

Jesus' maker, David Socha, said he created the biblical toys to give girls an alternative to dolls in G-strings and boys a source of amusement not modeled on "demons" and "spawns of Satan."

"The Bible's full of violence, but I don't think violence is glorified in the Bible," said Socha, CEO of California-based One2Believe. "When I was growing up, I was always GI Joe. I was never the bad guy. Now, I think some kids are playing the bad guy. We're trying to bring wholesomeness back."

I am sure his intentions are really good but I am not sure the best way to position it is through stereotypes. Girls like dolls in G-string whereas boys like "spawns of satan".... heh! man wish the boys and girl in Austin were that simple to understand ;-)

I am actually very much for him offering more choice to kids. I just unfortunately get the stench of piety and close-mindedness from that tag line (talk about not stereotyping people *grin*)

Impossible is not the same as never been done before

1. This is great marketing for NorthFace. This is NorthFace doing to running and life/motivating/fitness/inspiration what DeBeers did to Diamonds and Engagement/Marriage/Romance
   
2. But it is still very much real and very powerful in its message. Is every man a Dean? No!, But is it good for the country if people watch less TV and do more running, you bet it is.
3. What do you do if meet your goal of a 50x50x50. Running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, you run a marathon backward, then what? You decide to run from NYC to SF. This is the story of Dean Karnazes.
   

Blog link here.

Business plans need compassion too

I like the idea behind greendimes. They work (constantly they claim) on taking you out of the junk mail life cycle. In addition they plant a tree, for every month you continue to be their customer. Will this make you carbon nuetral, heh I don't think so :) but it does seem like an interesting business model.

Is this a eco-friendly marketing plan?

What if

All the shoe companies decide to fight Zappos at their own game. Why not have retail shoe outlets whose only purpose is to help you (the customer) find your size and check out the look in front of those fabulous full length mirrors. Have you located your shoe of choice? Great here is what you do now.

Next to every shoe rack is a kiosk/browsing station that lets you order the shoe from their online warehouse and at prices that are cheaper or competitive with Zappos. So why not? Yes you do lose customers who desire to walk out of the store with the smell of new leather or suede or whatever composite nasa inspired material in their bag. But do they really want that over the savings they would get if you dropped the rates and deliver the shoes in a couple days.
Can you crunch the numbers and see if the increase in sales (assuming there is an increase in sales) would justify free shipping or two day shipping, etc? Strike a partnership with UPS (almost everybody does these days)
You have increased floor space, more creative ways to use your store so it becomes less of a shoe store and more of a "shoe bar". Give your users an experience.... and let them place their orders whenever they want.

So why not? What do the shoe stores have to lose by trying it out?

Disclaimer: My favourites are Kenneth Cole and Cole Haan. I tried a bunch of others but these fit me the best and I love their style.

Image link from shoeblogs.com (if I am violating any copyright please let me know and I will remove the image).