Cautionary Tales
A few months ago, I went to a St. Louis Blues hockey game with my son. He ordered a chicken sandwich from a concession stand run by a local restaurant. The chicken was raw. When we returned the food to the stand and asked for a refund, the woman at the cash register apologized and…
Our company made a marketing mistake. Iām going to tell you about so you don’t repeat it. We sell email marketing software to many schools and school districts. So we recently ran a print advertisement in the membership directory for the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA). The ad included the address for our website…
In a recent Monday Mash-Up, I shared a blog post Iād written about misleading statistics. It struck a nerve with several readers. Margaret is one of those readers who told me the story of her run-in with garbage data. Margaret works as a fundraiser at a nonprofit. Margaret often wonders how best to reach older donors and prospects. Some…
Yesterday I received an unsolicited text message from someone pitching a local political candidate. Iām not sharing this story to publicly shame anyone. Iām sharing it because thereās a business and life lesson here. So Iāll change the names to protect the guilty. The text said, āHi Thomas,ā (that was the first clue this was…
Last week, my twin children turned 22. Iām still Dad, but my hardest parenting work is behind me (I think/hope). That got me thinking about parenting lessons learned. Hereās a big one: When the kid does something bad, that doesnāt mean the kid is a bad person. As parents, we need to help our kids…
During a new show broadcast after the Super Bowl on Sunday, CBS television wanted us to believe that a talent-show performer died in a tragic sword swallowing accident. The idea was to create high drama. Keep us viewers glued to the tube. I said, āTo hell with this,ā and Iāll never watch this rotten show…
In July 1968, a young sound engineer named Geoff Emerick grew annoyed with his employers and quit his job. Geoffās employers muddled through without him. And fifty years ago this month, they released a double-albumā¦ …with a plain white coverā¦ …entitled, simply, āThe Beatles.ā So, yeah this really happenedā¦ A 22-year-old sound engineer is hanging…
Last month, I told you about conspiracy theorists who tried to āproveā that the moon landings were a hoax. (Hereās that email.) In that email, I noted that many marketers remind me of the conspiracy theorists. They take a couple of facts and paste them together to create a wacky, inaccurate picture. A few weeks ago, my…
When I was younger (and lonelier), I wrote a song called āUnrequited Love.ā I wrote it a few weeks after a blind date. I thought the date went well. I called her — several times. Left messages suggesting a second date. No reply. No more dates. Sad story. Iām thinking of writing a similar song…
In 1911, Bobby Leach went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. On purpose. He broke a few bones and spent a few months in the hospital. But that was OK with him. He survivedā¦ …and then he cashed in on his fame. He wasnāt the first person to survive that fall. A woman named Annie…