A loyal reader asks: I try reading over my daughter's shoulder when she's texting (when did THAT become a verb?) and I have to plea ignorance. I don't know what she's writing. Why does she care about Point of Sale materials? Is she working for an ad agency behind my back?
You need to catch up. And quick. POS means 'parent over shoulder' so you are busted. We understand your need to know what's going on! There are great directories of text abbreviations, but our favorite is this search at No Slang.
Prepare to be shocked (and amused) when you check out these directories:
Net Lingo
Lingo2Word
Chat Slang and Acronyms
9.14.2007
Rock on.
A loyal reader asks: My kid is off to college and tells me she can download music free. And it's legal. Sounds fishy to me.
Stealing music is a serious crime. But your daughter might be on the up-and-up. Read on.
Hitting the bigtime on college campuses - Ruckus\. Ruckus Network, Inc., the provider of a multimedia network that supplies free and legal music downloads specifically for college students. The website is...
LOUD!
Okay, that's our age talking. But seriously...
On member campuses, students can access the Ruckus service anytime – on or off campus – to enjoy the full-featured music service. They can access the first, college-only service that blends social networking features with a massive and continuously expanding library of free, legal and safe music downloads. Ruckus has already proven successful at more than 120 colleges and universities across the country, including Brown University, Duke University, Georgia Tech, Indiana University, North Carolina State, Princeton University, University of California-Berkeley, the University of Denver, Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania.
I'm sure there is no ulterior motives here. Righhhhttt......
But still.
Stealing music is a serious crime. But your daughter might be on the up-and-up. Read on.
Hitting the bigtime on college campuses - Ruckus\. Ruckus Network, Inc., the provider of a multimedia network that supplies free and legal music downloads specifically for college students. The website is...
LOUD!
Okay, that's our age talking. But seriously...
On member campuses, students can access the Ruckus service anytime – on or off campus – to enjoy the full-featured music service. They can access the first, college-only service that blends social networking features with a massive and continuously expanding library of free, legal and safe music downloads. Ruckus has already proven successful at more than 120 colleges and universities across the country, including Brown University, Duke University, Georgia Tech, Indiana University, North Carolina State, Princeton University, University of California-Berkeley, the University of Denver, Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania.
I'm sure there is no ulterior motives here. Righhhhttt......
But still.
8.27.2007
What's in it for me?
A loyal reader asks: I have a young staff. I would love to find something to reward and motivate them. But all the incentive programs I know about are, shall I say, stodgy?
The times they are a changing, loyal reader.
Check out Snowfly.
Intriguing.
The times they are a changing, loyal reader.
Check out Snowfly.
When employees meet crucial business goals, their reward is two-fold: the opportunity to play a game and the chance to win big. Every play is a guaranteed winner. When given the option to play the game or settle for a predetermined number of points, employees choose to play each time. They can then redeem earned points for prizes they actually want, such as an item from the Internet, a gift card, a day off from work or any other prize the company wants to offer. With Snowfly, you give your employees the right rewards, in the right way, for the right reasons, so your company will receive the right results.
Intriguing.
8.02.2007
Map it, Danno.
A loyal reader asks: I keep hearing that there are neat mapping tools online. I want to see some! I want to customize, collaborate, plan! Whatcha got for me?Oh reader, we love maps. Read on.
One of our favorite resources, Mashable, recently published this amazing list. We couldn't have said it better ourselves.
CUSTOMIZABLE AND COLLABORATIVE MAPS
Click2Map.com - Create custom Google Maps, manage your markers, publish and share your creations.
ClustrMaps.com - Get a visual representation of all the visitors to your website.
Geotag it - Add geo tags to Flickr and Del.icio.us posts and see where other links and photos come from.
MapBuilder.net - Uses Google Maps to help you build a custom tagged map you can add to your own website.
Mapicurious.com - Mark vacation spots, restaurants, bars, just about any place you would recommend.
Mappr.com - Another site allowing you to geo tag your Flickr photos to allow people to see them on a map.
Maptales.com - Tales of trips and more sorted on to a Google Map.
Maptrot.com - Create maps of interesting locales such as Route 66 or major sports stadiums, share them with the world.
Mkmap.com - Collaborative map that allows users to add things such as transit services and restaurants.
OpenStreetMap.org - A user editable map of the world to be worked on in collaboration.
Pixagogo.com - Add your own photos to a Google Map, give people a real feel for your neighborhood or vacation.
Planiglobe.com - Customize a map and download PostScript and Illustrator versions.
Quikmaps.com - Doodle on a Google Map, pass it around, embed in your site, or download it to your GPS.
Tagmaps - A way to visualize text on geographic maps, then can be used on your site.
Traffic.com - Check out traffic for your area on a map.
Trippermap.com - Tag your Flickr photos with a location; they get added to a flash based map for your website.
Useamap.com - Helps you publish a map for your event, provides a short url for easy use.
Wayfaring.com - Create and share maps, explore ones made by others.
Wayki.com - Tag locations and share with others, explore tags others have left.
YourGMap.com - Customizable and embeddable Google Maps with content you choose.
TRANSIT MAPPING
goDCgo.com - Look up Washington DC-specific information such as traffic, special events and car pooling.
IamCaltrain.com - Interactive map of the San Francisco metro area trains.
onNYturf.com - Interactive subway map of New York City.
Seattle Bus Monster - Plan your bus routes in the Seattle, WA area.
SUBJECT SPECIFIC MAPPING (not all are interactive, some are just some neat specialized maps!*)
DaylightMap.com - See where the sun is shining currently on this map.
Feedmap.net - Add a geo-code to your blog so people can look blogs up by location. You can also browse for areas that would interest you.
FlightAware.com - See how many planes are currently in the air and where they are.
Gruvr.com - Place to look up local music and add tour info.
HealthMap.org - A global disease outbreak map. For general interest or to suggest places you may wish to avoid.
Hotpotr.com - Map of Wi-Fi cafes and hotspots.
Incident1.com - Interactive map of 911 calls from around the United States.
Mailboxmap.com - Enter an address, get the locations of USPS mailboxes nearby.
Map-Runner.com - You can create a run route and assign a difficulty rating and a safety rating; it will be available to all runners using map runner, and they can rate it.
MapMyRun.com - Plot out your running course, indicate where water and bathrooms are, calculate your workout. They also have MapMyHike.com, MapMyRide.com, MapMyTri.com, and MapMyWalk.com.
MappyHour.com - Click anywhere on the map to display nearby bars and their happy hour specials.
MapWii.com - Enter your Wii number and see other players online to setup games all from a geographic map.
Moremap.com - Uses Google Maps as a basis to show earthquake activity, traffic reports, radio stations, and numerous other functions.
Platial.com - Add content from video, photos, stories, feeds and add it to your website.
PublicRoutes.com - A global map of mass-transit systems.
SignalMap.com - Find or add your own reports on cell strength to various locations and by carrier.
Tornado Paths - Visual history of tornado paths on a map.
VirtualVideoMap.com - Shows a Google Map with YouTube videos sorted by locations.
POPULAR MAPPING SERVICES
Ask.com Maps - Ask.com’s driving directions solution.
Google Mars - Google’s interactive map of the fourth planet of our solar system, Mars.
Google Maps - Get directions, look up your house with satellite photos. The basis of many websites.
Mapquest.com - Look up local businesses, get driving directions.
Poly9 FreeEarth - A free, online interactive 3D globe with various layers you can apply.
Windows Live Local - Microsoft’s entrant in to the mapping game.
Worldmapper - Maps of the world resized based on various subjects such as land mass and population.
Yahoo! Local Maps - Get driving directions, find businesses and much more.
Again, credit for that amazing list goes to Mashable. If you don't subscribe, you should!7.11.2007
15-Love
A loyal reader asks: I have a client in the tennis business. They want me to find national publications with tennis subject matter on their editorial calendars. I've done some Google searching, but I feel like I'm drowning in irrelevant results. HELP ME!
Score 1 for us. We have a great idea.
Check out MRI+, a free database of magazine planning information run by Mediamark Research.
MRI+ is a free digital library of competitive data that serves as an electronic information link between planners and the publishers of major consumer and business publications.
MRI+ consolidates the databases planners use to evaluate magazines at one site:
So here's what you do.
Of course, you still need someone to apply some judgment, but it's a great start.
Score 1 for us. We have a great idea.
Check out MRI+, a free database of magazine planning information run by Mediamark Research.
MRI+ is a free digital library of competitive data that serves as an electronic information link between planners and the publishers of major consumer and business publications.
MRI+ consolidates the databases planners use to evaluate magazines at one site:
- Top-line data from the Survey of the American Consumer™
- ABC Circulation Reports
- Advertising Expenditures
- Editorial profiles and calendars
- Subscriber Studies
- Links to Publisher sites
So here's what you do.
- Log in.
- Go to New Search.
- Select Consumer Publications in part 1.
- Select Profile and Editorial Calendars in part 2.
- Select contains and type 'tennis' in the keyword box.
- Click on search.
Of course, you still need someone to apply some judgment, but it's a great start.
6.19.2007
Functional exercise.
A loyal reader asks: I have been looking for resources on Functional Exercise lately. Sure I've found some. But most of them make me sign up for stuff or lead me to other sites. It's annoying. Help!
For those, like me, who don't know what Functional Exercise, GoAnimal defines it like this:
Speaking of GoAnimal, it has a nice list of exercises.....see them here. You'll find hover steps, skating steps, touch low/reach high, partner-resist core squats and more.
About.com again does a great job. See Best Ab Exercises and Core Exercises
Physical Therapy Connections has a nice list of exercises to try with very clear directions.
Getfitsource. Sure, they sell products. But they have some great videos and workouts here for download - fa-ree!
I'm tired just thinking about it all.
Good luck :)
For those, like me, who don't know what Functional Exercise, GoAnimal defines it like this:
Technically speaking, a functional exercise is multi-joint and multi-plane; this is the definition favored by physical therapists. More broadly, a functional exercise is one that is relevant to real-world challenges. An exercise is considered functional when it prepares us for some movement challenge that we are actually likely to encounter.Thanks for asking....
Speaking of GoAnimal, it has a nice list of exercises.....see them here. You'll find hover steps, skating steps, touch low/reach high, partner-resist core squats and more.
About.com again does a great job. See Best Ab Exercises and Core Exercises
Physical Therapy Connections has a nice list of exercises to try with very clear directions.
Getfitsource. Sure, they sell products. But they have some great videos and workouts here for download - fa-ree!
I'm tired just thinking about it all.
Good luck :)
6.12.2007
Achoo!
A loyal reader asks: With all this talk about TB, I'm starting to feel a little paranoid - I mean sick. How can I find out what's going around in my neighborhood?
Glad you asked.
There's a new application called Who is Sick? It's kind of neat. A little creepy? Maybe.
"Who Is Sick was started in 2006 with a mission to provide current and local sickness information to the public - without the hassle of dealing with hospitals or doctors. With a strong belief in the power of people and a faith that user generated content can be extremely valuable, our team set out to create an entirely new system for tracking and monitoring sickness information."
All of a sudden, I feel a little under the weather.
The system needs to be more populated. I put in my sniffle symptoms and now it looks like an epidemic in my zip code!
Glad you asked.
There's a new application called Who is Sick? It's kind of neat. A little creepy? Maybe.
"Who Is Sick was started in 2006 with a mission to provide current and local sickness information to the public - without the hassle of dealing with hospitals or doctors. With a strong belief in the power of people and a faith that user generated content can be extremely valuable, our team set out to create an entirely new system for tracking and monitoring sickness information."
All of a sudden, I feel a little under the weather.
The system needs to be more populated. I put in my sniffle symptoms and now it looks like an epidemic in my zip code!
5.30.2007
Polling power.
A reader asks: I frequently have the need to get input from my large and very geographically dispersed team. When I send an email out, I get all these answers in different formats and, frankly, it's a pain in the neck. Any suggestions?
Why yes, thanks for asking!
You can poll your team (or customers or anyone!) without typing a single line of code. Some popular polling tools are Polldaddy, Quibblo, and Zoho Polls. All easy and all well-reviewed!
Still, our favorite is Wufoo. Wufoo is a very simple way to build amazing online forms. When you design a form with Wufoo, it automatically builds the database, backend and scripts needed to make collecting and understanding your data easy, fast and fun. You can send it by email or send the link. Seriously, this is easy.
Happy polling!
Why yes, thanks for asking!
You can poll your team (or customers or anyone!) without typing a single line of code. Some popular polling tools are Polldaddy, Quibblo, and Zoho Polls. All easy and all well-reviewed!
Still, our favorite is Wufoo. Wufoo is a very simple way to build amazing online forms. When you design a form with Wufoo, it automatically builds the database, backend and scripts needed to make collecting and understanding your data easy, fast and fun. You can send it by email or send the link. Seriously, this is easy.
Happy polling!
5.15.2007
I can't get no...
A reader asks: I remember several years ago reading about some measure of customer satifaction by industry. Do you know what I'm talking about and if it still exists?
Yes, as a matter of fact, we do.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index has been around since the mid-90's. They report scores on a 0-100 scale at the national level and produce indexes for 10 economic sectors, 43 industries (including e-commerce and e-business) and more than 200 companies and federal or local government agencies. In addition to the company-level satisfaction scores, ACSI produces scores for the causes and consequences of customer satisfaction and their relationships. The measured companies, industries, and sectors are broadly representative of the U.S. economy serving American households.
See industry scores here.
Yes, as a matter of fact, we do.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index has been around since the mid-90's. They report scores on a 0-100 scale at the national level and produce indexes for 10 economic sectors, 43 industries (including e-commerce and e-business) and more than 200 companies and federal or local government agencies. In addition to the company-level satisfaction scores, ACSI produces scores for the causes and consequences of customer satisfaction and their relationships. The measured companies, industries, and sectors are broadly representative of the U.S. economy serving American households.
See industry scores here.
5.01.2007
Bits & Bytes.
A reader asks:
Bits, bytes. I've never had the nerve to ask anyone what they really are. But since this is anonymous, what are they?
We're glad you asked.
Coincidently, we just read The Expanding Digital Universe, a March 2007 white paper by IDC. Excerpts below are pulled straight from there... So they get credit for the answer. We just get credit for knowing where to find it.
WHAT ARE BITS AND BYTES?
A "bit" is the smallest unit of information that can be stored in a computer, and consists of either a 1 or 0 (or on/off state). All computer calculations are in bits. A "byte" is a collection of 8 bits. Bytes are convenient because, when converted to computer code, they can represent 256 characters, such as numbers or letters. So a byte is 8 times larger than a bit. Common aggregations for bytes come in multiples of 1,000, such as kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, and so on. The progression is as follows:
Bit (b) 1 or 0
Byte (B) 8 bits
Kilobyte (KB) 1,000 bytes
Megabyte (MB) 1,000 KB
Gigabyte (GB) 1,000 MB
Terabyte (TB) 1,000, GB
Petabyte (PB) 1,000 TB
Exabyte (EB) 1,000 PB
Zettabyte (ZB) 1,000 EB
This seems simple enough, except sometimes multiples of bytes are considered as powers of 2, since the original machine language only has two states, 1 or 0. A kilobyte would then be 210 bytes, or 1,024 bytes. A megabyte would be 220 bytes, or 1,024 kilobytes, and so on.
For the sake of simplicity, in all calculations for this research we used the decimal system we mentioned first.
And now that you have that under your belt, check this out:
• In 2006, the amount of digital information created, captured, and replicated was 1,288 x 1018 bits. In computer parlance, that's 161 exabytes or 161 billion gigabytes. This is about 3 million times the information in all the books ever written.
• Between 2006 and 2010, the information added annually to the digital universe will increase more than six fold from 161 exabytes to 988 exabytes.
Jinkies. Those are some big numbers. See you again for the next Stump the Researcher!
Bits, bytes. I've never had the nerve to ask anyone what they really are. But since this is anonymous, what are they?
We're glad you asked.
Coincidently, we just read The Expanding Digital Universe, a March 2007 white paper by IDC. Excerpts below are pulled straight from there... So they get credit for the answer. We just get credit for knowing where to find it.
WHAT ARE BITS AND BYTES?
A "bit" is the smallest unit of information that can be stored in a computer, and consists of either a 1 or 0 (or on/off state). All computer calculations are in bits. A "byte" is a collection of 8 bits. Bytes are convenient because, when converted to computer code, they can represent 256 characters, such as numbers or letters. So a byte is 8 times larger than a bit. Common aggregations for bytes come in multiples of 1,000, such as kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, and so on. The progression is as follows:
Bit (b) 1 or 0
Byte (B) 8 bits
Kilobyte (KB) 1,000 bytes
Megabyte (MB) 1,000 KB
Gigabyte (GB) 1,000 MB
Terabyte (TB) 1,000, GB
Petabyte (PB) 1,000 TB
Exabyte (EB) 1,000 PB
Zettabyte (ZB) 1,000 EB
This seems simple enough, except sometimes multiples of bytes are considered as powers of 2, since the original machine language only has two states, 1 or 0. A kilobyte would then be 210 bytes, or 1,024 bytes. A megabyte would be 220 bytes, or 1,024 kilobytes, and so on.
For the sake of simplicity, in all calculations for this research we used the decimal system we mentioned first.
And now that you have that under your belt, check this out:
• In 2006, the amount of digital information created, captured, and replicated was 1,288 x 1018 bits. In computer parlance, that's 161 exabytes or 161 billion gigabytes. This is about 3 million times the information in all the books ever written.
• Between 2006 and 2010, the information added annually to the digital universe will increase more than six fold from 161 exabytes to 988 exabytes.
Jinkies. Those are some big numbers. See you again for the next Stump the Researcher!
4.18.2007
Are birds social?
A reader asks: I am fascinated by all these social networking sites. How can I find a network where I can 'hang out' with other bird-watching enthusiasts?
We don't suppose you mean The Orioles, huh? Thought not. Read on for the answer...
_______________________________________
This Field Guide: Birds of the World group on Flickr has over 3,000 members and over 33,000 photos and substantial discussion. There are strict rules -- this is serious business.
You can submit your birding info, analyze your personal birding info, and analyze other public birding info in eBird. Registration is required.
Perhaps a teeny bit off topic, but really interesting: BirdJam is a company that integrates bird watching with iPods. With BirdJam, any North American bird song can be found within 15 seconds from the easily-accessed playlists organized by habitat and family. Call me a geek (okay, you didn't really have to do that) but I think that's really cool.
And sure, there are forums all over the place - like on Birder's World, for example.
Can't find the kind of network you want? Make your own! (listen carefully - this is really, really neato...)
You can create a full social network that you can customize and brand as your own. It's true. Check out Ning. It has a full suite of capabilities for photos, videos, discussions, blogs, privacy settings... you name it, Ning has it.
We can think of some really great ways to use this tool... anyone want to join a research social network?
We don't suppose you mean The Orioles, huh? Thought not. Read on for the answer...
_______________________________________
This Field Guide: Birds of the World group on Flickr has over 3,000 members and over 33,000 photos and substantial discussion. There are strict rules -- this is serious business.
You can submit your birding info, analyze your personal birding info, and analyze other public birding info in eBird. Registration is required.
Perhaps a teeny bit off topic, but really interesting: BirdJam is a company that integrates bird watching with iPods. With BirdJam, any North American bird song can be found within 15 seconds from the easily-accessed playlists organized by habitat and family. Call me a geek (okay, you didn't really have to do that) but I think that's really cool.
And sure, there are forums all over the place - like on Birder's World, for example.
Can't find the kind of network you want? Make your own! (listen carefully - this is really, really neato...)
You can create a full social network that you can customize and brand as your own. It's true. Check out Ning. It has a full suite of capabilities for photos, videos, discussions, blogs, privacy settings... you name it, Ning has it.
We can think of some really great ways to use this tool... anyone want to join a research social network?
4.04.2007
Blog stats.
A reader asks: I hear a lot about how many blogs there are – one stat said a new blog every ½ second or some such number. But how many blogs are ACTIVE and how many get started and stall out? Also, while you’re at it, is there any way of ranking a blog’s “goodness”. Like some sort of ranking? And if so, what is that ranking based on? Man, I’m FULL of questions!
You ARE full of questions! Or something... (hee hee)
Here goes:
Steve Rubel pointed out a report recently from Microsoft. It says that almost 75% of Blogger's blogs are Spam Blogs or splogs. Yikes. That is a lot. And while the methodology is disputed by some, there is no arguing that there are a lot them - splogs, that is.
According to David Sifry (founder of Technorati) last October (new report in new format coming soon):
How to find the good ones? Well, Technorati has a good tool. You do the search and then choose how much authority you want to filter by -- little, none, a lot -- and it narrows the search. We've found it to be very useful.
Or you could ask us. We'll help you find the relevant blogs you need. The best way we've found is to use great search techniques to narrow and then read, read, read.
You ARE full of questions! Or something... (hee hee)
Here goes:
Steve Rubel pointed out a report recently from Microsoft. It says that almost 75% of Blogger's blogs are Spam Blogs or splogs. Yikes. That is a lot. And while the methodology is disputed by some, there is no arguing that there are a lot them - splogs, that is.
According to David Sifry (founder of Technorati) last October (new report in new format coming soon):
- Technorati is now tracking more than 57 Million blogs.
- Spam-, splog- and sping-fighting efforts at Technorati are paying dividends in terms of the reduction of garbage in our indexes, even if it does seem to impact overall growth rates.
- Today, the blogosphere is doubling in size approximately every 230 days.
- About 100,000 new weblogs were created each day, again down slightly quarter-over-quarter but probably due in part to spam fighting efforts.
- About 4% of new splogs get past Technorati's filters, even if it is only for a few hours or days.
- There is a strong correlation between the aging and post frequency of blogs and their authority and Technorati ranking.
- The globalization of the blogosphere continues. Our data appears to show both English and Spanish languages are a more universal blog language than the other two most dominant language, Japanese and Chinese, which seem to be more regionally localized.
- Coincident with a rise in blog posts about escalating Middle East tensions throughout the summer and fall, Farsi has moved into the top 10 languages of the blogosphere, indicating that blogging continues to play a critical role in debates about the important issues of our times.
How to find the good ones? Well, Technorati has a good tool. You do the search and then choose how much authority you want to filter by -- little, none, a lot -- and it narrows the search. We've found it to be very useful.
Or you could ask us. We'll help you find the relevant blogs you need. The best way we've found is to use great search techniques to narrow and then read, read, read.
3.21.2007
Visuals.
A reader asks: I'm not a visual guy. But I need to create charts and visuals to make my concepts clearer for my presentations. Like I said, this does not come easy to me. I've seen Ven Diagrams, Pyramids, Flow Charts. But are there others?
Answer: Are there ever!
We recently found about the coolest collection ever.
Check out the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods.
Let it load. It takes a minute. Then run your cursor over each part of the table. You'll see a neato flash window with an example of the visualization method. It gave us some great ideas and we bet it will do the same for you.
A few are:
Radar Chart
Scatterplot
Concentric Circles
Cognitive Mapping
Tree
Metro Map
Histogram
Continuum
Magic Quadrant
Failure Tree
Value Chain
S-Cycle
Well, you get the picture!
Answer: Are there ever!
We recently found about the coolest collection ever.
Check out the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods.
Let it load. It takes a minute. Then run your cursor over each part of the table. You'll see a neato flash window with an example of the visualization method. It gave us some great ideas and we bet it will do the same for you.
A few are:
Radar Chart
Scatterplot
Concentric Circles
Cognitive Mapping
Tree
Metro Map
Histogram
Continuum
Magic Quadrant
Failure Tree
Value Chain
S-Cycle
Well, you get the picture!
3.06.2007
Hair.
A reader asks: I've been pondering hair. It’s so weird, hair is. Dead protein. That’s all it is. Do you know how much money is spent each year trying to get you to spend your paycheck on products to make your dead protein look better? Me either. But I bet it is a lot. How about a ballpark figure here?
First of all, ad spending on hair care products is expected top $1 billion this year, according to Advertising Age. That’s a lot of advertising.
U.S. Shampoo sales were up 0.7% to $620.3 million for the 52 weeks ending Sept. 10, according to Information Resources Inc., Chicago. Meanwhile, sales of conditioner were up 3.5% in supermarkets to $360.3 million for the same period.
My favorite quote from the research “Hair care was flat for a while” okay, I thought it was funny.
One more piece of info:
According to IRI, hairspray sales in the US were about $367 million last year and US gel and mousse sales were $581 million.
Add them all together? It's almost $2 billion a year. And this doesn't include hair color. That's $2 billion on its own.
(And AdAge estimates the ENTIRE hair market at $8 billion, but that includes unmeasured channels, which always makes me go hmmmm....)
First of all, ad spending on hair care products is expected top $1 billion this year, according to Advertising Age. That’s a lot of advertising.
U.S. Shampoo sales were up 0.7% to $620.3 million for the 52 weeks ending Sept. 10, according to Information Resources Inc., Chicago. Meanwhile, sales of conditioner were up 3.5% in supermarkets to $360.3 million for the same period.
My favorite quote from the research “Hair care was flat for a while” okay, I thought it was funny.
One more piece of info:
According to IRI, hairspray sales in the US were about $367 million last year and US gel and mousse sales were $581 million.
Add them all together? It's almost $2 billion a year. And this doesn't include hair color. That's $2 billion on its own.
(And AdAge estimates the ENTIRE hair market at $8 billion, but that includes unmeasured channels, which always makes me go hmmmm....)
2.19.2007
Like Steve.
A reader asks: I was following a blog on Carepages where this guy had some pithy quote from pop culture almost every day. No one remembers all those lines! How can I be as cool as Steve?
Oh, reader. You probably can't be quite as cool as he is. But here are some suggestions...
Check out Quotegeek. Very fun.
We ran a search on HOPE. Found these (among others...)
Red: Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.
Movies > The Shawshank Redemption
Gloria: Joanie, you are now a world-class hopeless romantic.Joan Wilder: No, hopeful. Hopeful romantic.
Movies > Romancing the Stone
Man can't help hoping even if he is a scientist. He can only hope more accurately.
Love Against Hate
Personalities > Karl Menninger
For you patient searchers (you know who you are!) try Fagan Finder's Quote Search. Here there are 20 or 30 different quote search engines to try! It's hard to imagine you won't find something good here.
We're always looking for great research quotes. We know. It's not the most fascinating subject to everyone. So as an experiment, we tried some of the engines...
From Quotez
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
Wernher von Braun
From Board of Wisdom
one of our all time favorites (you may have heard this from us before!)
Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from many, it's research.
Wilson Mizner
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
Albert Einstein
From Said What
Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.
David Ogilvy
Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.
Marston Bates
And if you're more in the mood for a good cliche, check out Cliche Finder.
Until next time!
Oh, reader. You probably can't be quite as cool as he is. But here are some suggestions...
Check out Quotegeek. Very fun.
We ran a search on HOPE. Found these (among others...)
Red: Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.
Movies > The Shawshank Redemption
Gloria: Joanie, you are now a world-class hopeless romantic.Joan Wilder: No, hopeful. Hopeful romantic.
Movies > Romancing the Stone
Man can't help hoping even if he is a scientist. He can only hope more accurately.
Love Against Hate
Personalities > Karl Menninger
For you patient searchers (you know who you are!) try Fagan Finder's Quote Search. Here there are 20 or 30 different quote search engines to try! It's hard to imagine you won't find something good here.
We're always looking for great research quotes. We know. It's not the most fascinating subject to everyone. So as an experiment, we tried some of the engines...
From Quotez
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
Wernher von Braun
From Board of Wisdom
one of our all time favorites (you may have heard this from us before!)
Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from many, it's research.
Wilson Mizner
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
Albert Einstein
From Said What
Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.
David Ogilvy
Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.
Marston Bates
And if you're more in the mood for a good cliche, check out Cliche Finder.
Until next time!
2.04.2007
Find Blogs.
A reader (okay fine, Wendy's mother) asked:You're always telling me that there are blogs that I'd want to read. How do you expect me to find them?I want to read about genealogy.
One easy way to find some starting points is to use the Google Blogsearch. For this, I typed in genealogy and the top results were:
Genealogy and How - Daily blog of online genealogy records and databases
Genealogy Blog - Genealogy on the Internet :: Today and Everyday
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter - The DAILY newsletter for genealogy consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether the vendors like it or not! Check...
RssGenealogy.com - Latest Genealogy News - One source for all the latest genealogy news
The Genealogy Guys Podcast - George G. Morgan and Drew Smith discuss genealogy! Their podcast is the longest-running, continuous genealogy podcast
Then, when you start reading the first one, Genealogy and How, you'll see the blogroll is:
Dick Eastman
GenealogyBlog
GenealogyToday
RSS Genealogy
About Genealogy
Olive Tree
The Paper Trail
Ancestors at Rest
Family Bibles
Canadian Lib Genie
Family & Local Histories
Interment.net Blog
Death Records Blog
If you go to RSS Genealogy, you'll find 63 feeds. Wow.
You get the picture. What takes time is figuring out which ones matter. Which are worth reading. But if you pick a trail and follow it, you are bound to find some interesting and worthwhile sites.
There are other ways to go about this, as well. You can find articles in trade publications, consumer magazines...even newspapers...that talk about respected blogs.
What you'll find is that in any category, there are blogs that are linked to most often. These are worth checking out, for sure.
You can go to Alexa and see what the traffic is for specific blogs. If it's wildly popular, check it out.
(And of course, there are many blog search engines and directories! So don't get too tied down to Google. Some swear by Technorati, some Blogdigger. And some really interesting metasearches like Talk Digger. I bet we revisit that one soon - it's really neat.)
So go crazy! And try not to get too distracted by all the interesting things you find off-topic!
One easy way to find some starting points is to use the Google Blogsearch. For this, I typed in genealogy and the top results were:
Genealogy and How - Daily blog of online genealogy records and databases
Genealogy Blog - Genealogy on the Internet :: Today and Everyday
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter - The DAILY newsletter for genealogy consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether the vendors like it or not! Check...
RssGenealogy.com - Latest Genealogy News - One source for all the latest genealogy news
The Genealogy Guys Podcast - George G. Morgan and Drew Smith discuss genealogy! Their podcast is the longest-running, continuous genealogy podcast
Then, when you start reading the first one, Genealogy and How, you'll see the blogroll is:
Dick Eastman
GenealogyBlog
GenealogyToday
RSS Genealogy
About Genealogy
Olive Tree
The Paper Trail
Ancestors at Rest
Family Bibles
Canadian Lib Genie
Family & Local Histories
Interment.net Blog
Death Records Blog
If you go to RSS Genealogy, you'll find 63 feeds. Wow.
You get the picture. What takes time is figuring out which ones matter. Which are worth reading. But if you pick a trail and follow it, you are bound to find some interesting and worthwhile sites.
There are other ways to go about this, as well. You can find articles in trade publications, consumer magazines...even newspapers...that talk about respected blogs.
What you'll find is that in any category, there are blogs that are linked to most often. These are worth checking out, for sure.
You can go to Alexa and see what the traffic is for specific blogs. If it's wildly popular, check it out.
(And of course, there are many blog search engines and directories! So don't get too tied down to Google. Some swear by Technorati, some Blogdigger. And some really interesting metasearches like Talk Digger. I bet we revisit that one soon - it's really neat.)
So go crazy! And try not to get too distracted by all the interesting things you find off-topic!
1.23.2007
CEO Bloggers.
A reader asks: I've been reading about CEO's and blogging. Like this article BusinessWeek a few months back; but also tidbits in some of my daily reading. So how can I find out which CEOs really are blogging?
One great place to start is The NewPR/Wiki's CEO Blog List. Listed by country, this list is constantly updated.
You can check out the CEO Blog Watch blog.....
The Fortune 500 Business Blog Wiki... or the Fortune 500 Blog Project.
One great place to start is The NewPR/Wiki's CEO Blog List. Listed by country, this list is constantly updated.
You can check out the CEO Blog Watch blog.....
The Fortune 500 Business Blog Wiki... or the Fortune 500 Blog Project.
1.09.2007
Stump the researcher. Part 5.
A loyal reader asks: I know I should know what they are, but what the heck are hedge funds? I keep hearing that the growth is huge. Yeah, tell me about that too.
So glad you asked.
We have a great source for these types of questions - financial trends and the like.
The Financial Services Fact Book 2007 Make a note of it. You'll need this one day. Don't worry, though. If you forget, you can always ask us...
This from the Fact Book:
Hedge funds are private investment pools subject to the terms of investment agreements between the sponsors of, and investors in, the hedge fund. While mutual funds typically have a minimum opening investment of about $1,000, hedge fund investors are often required to have a minimum investment of $1 million.
So glad you asked.
We have a great source for these types of questions - financial trends and the like.
The Financial Services Fact Book 2007 Make a note of it. You'll need this one day. Don't worry, though. If you forget, you can always ask us...
This from the Fact Book:
Hedge funds are private investment pools subject to the terms of investment agreements between the sponsors of, and investors in, the hedge fund. While mutual funds typically have a minimum opening investment of about $1,000, hedge fund investors are often required to have a minimum investment of $1 million.
ASSETS OF HEDGE FUNDS, 1950-2006 (1)($ billions)
(1) All data are for January.Source: Hennessee Group LLC.
12.13.2006
Retail.
Our reader asked:
A reader asks: For a strategy meeting, I want to find the top retail chains. I think I have a great idea how to market my client's product, but need to compile a list of partners to consider. What criteria should I use and how can I make a list?
The National Retail Federation compiles an annual list of the hottest retailers. You can check it out here. It show where the headquarters are, 2 years of revenue (and the change), 2 years of earnings (and the change) and 2 years of units (and the change). Looks like a great start!
Good luck.
A reader asks: For a strategy meeting, I want to find the top retail chains. I think I have a great idea how to market my client's product, but need to compile a list of partners to consider. What criteria should I use and how can I make a list?
The National Retail Federation compiles an annual list of the hottest retailers. You can check it out here. It show where the headquarters are, 2 years of revenue (and the change), 2 years of earnings (and the change) and 2 years of units (and the change). Looks like a great start!
Good luck.
11.29.2006
Compare.
FruCall
This is way cool. Want to be sure you're getting a good deal when you're shopping? Stop by and register at FruCall. When you spot an item you like, call 1-888-363-7822 (you have a cell phone, right?) . Type the UPC of the product you're interested in and Frucall will tell you the best online prices for that item. If you like the online price better, you can buy it directly from the online merchant while you're on the phone. Or buy it later, if you'd rather. Your info is stored so you can check it at home later - and you can even leave yourself "voicenotes."
Pronto
This is a very comprehensive product search - Pronto has a terrific product selection on the web so you can find the lowest prices every time you shop online.
ShopLocal
Find the best deals to buy Online and at your Local stores.
Dealcatcher
Coupons, compare prices, deals.
This is way cool. Want to be sure you're getting a good deal when you're shopping? Stop by and register at FruCall. When you spot an item you like, call 1-888-363-7822 (you have a cell phone, right?) . Type the UPC of the product you're interested in and Frucall will tell you the best online prices for that item. If you like the online price better, you can buy it directly from the online merchant while you're on the phone. Or buy it later, if you'd rather. Your info is stored so you can check it at home later - and you can even leave yourself "voicenotes."
Pronto
This is a very comprehensive product search - Pronto has a terrific product selection on the web so you can find the lowest prices every time you shop online.
ShopLocal
Find the best deals to buy Online and at your Local stores.
Dealcatcher
Coupons, compare prices, deals.
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