I was just reading a GigaOm article titled, “Should Apple Buy Twitter?”

It likely comes as no surprise to you that I’m shocked Twitter is still around. While I love it and spend a good amount of time on it, I have no idea how they’re surviving.

Yes, they were just valued at $9 billion. Yes, they have tons of funding. But a company that hasn’t made a cent in their entire six years? I don’t get it.

Did we not learn our lesson in the dot com bubble? Eyeballs don’t always equate profits.

But now there is speculation Apple could buy the social networking giant with some of their cash reserves (it’s also said they have so much money, they could buy Facebook and Research In Motion).  Continue Reading »

Well, it was a fun week for Goldman Sachs, was it not?

I’m trying to decide if I’m going to write about it. Typically I would, but I feel really sorry for their head of corporate communications because everything blew up on his second day on the job.

Yes, his second day.

Justin Brackett and I were talking about it yesterday and I said I didn’t know if I would want to fix it or if I would say, “I did NOT sign up for this” and walk out. He thinks I’d do the former. He’s probably right.

So I don’t know. Perhaps I will write about it next week.

And, Illinois saw our former Governor head off to prison in Colorado. For 14 years.

I really wonder how that conversation at home goes. Does his wife tell him she’ll wait for him, as if he’s going off to war? What does he say to his kids? Fourteen years is a looong time, particularly when your kids are little.

And, with that, I give you Gin and Topics for the week. Continue Reading »

 It is the last work Friday of the year…WOO HOO!!

I finished the last of my speaking and business travel last night.

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting very bright.

Of course, I have that book thing I have to finish (it’s due Dec. 30) and I have some reading to catch up on. But no real thinking or hard work for 12 whole days.

And, starting tonight, it’s all family, all holidays, all the time. Bring on the cheesecake, ebelskivers, and wine!

And, this week, I have lots of fun topics for you. Dogs and seals and kids, oh my! Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by David Horne.

You want to build an incredible brand. This is one reason you became a marketing professional or started a company in the first place.

Who doesn’t want to create the next Google, Apple, Nike, or Coke?

Who doesn’t want to drive an incredible brand, one people love, that affects lives, and changes the world?

 “We are no doubt in the Great Age of the Brand.” – Tom Peters

Before you can build a brand that has market ubiquity, fosters loyalty, and promotes advocacy, the proper foundation must be set.

That foundation is credibility. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Anne Weiskopf.

Apologizing is hard to do. As Elton John so memorably summed up; “Sorry seems to be the hardest word.”

But sorry can be the smartest word for your brand if it’s sincere, delivered in a timely fashion, and if concrete steps are outlined to right the wrong.

What makes one apology more successful than another is the subject of a growing body of research. A key finding is that it’s much easier to forgive a perceived mistake then an intentional act.

Let’s look at a few examples. Continue Reading »

Steve Jobs resigned last week. This is likely not news to you. But what is interesting is it likely will cripple the consumer electronics industry.

Spending quite a bit of time on the speaking circuit, I constantly hear from leaders that they’re afraid to use the web for business reasons because they don’t want the competition to know what they’re doing. Continue Reading »

Guest post by John Heaney, principal at Orange Envelopes.

The National Science Foundation released a disturbing study recently that revealed that only nine percent of American companies engaged in any product or process innovation during the three-year study period (2006-08).

Frankly, I’m not surprised with the near absence of corporate innovation because I see so few companies that encourage a culture of innovation.

Too many CEOs focus exclusively on improving financial metrics – increasing earnings and keeping a tight control over costs. Few understand their corporate value can be linked directly to their embrace of innovation and their capacity to constantly renew themselves. Continue Reading »

Can you imagine being the CEO of Apple – the Godfather of all things iPod, iPad, iPhone?  Now picture answering almost every email that comes your way.  That’s exactly what Steve Jobs does.  He personally responds to almost every email that make it to his inbox while, of course, running one of the world’s most successful brands.  But bad things can happen when billionaires get a little annoyed. Continue Reading »

Guest post by Larry Spada the vice president of branding and marketing at Outdoor Living Brands.

Apple changed my life. When I saw my first Macintosh computer in the mid-1980s, I was speechless.

My only exposure to computers at the time was those ugly, old, ochre cathode ray streams of digits beaming from clunky monitors – or those big monster server rooms that we typically see in spy movies.

So there I was, in my buddy’s office, looking at this unusual beige box with a seven-or-so-inch monitor. And he was showing me a slowly bouncing, rotating 3D black-and-white checkerboard-patterned ball. Continue Reading »

The iPad is finally making its launch tomorrow after about as much hype as only Apple can bring. So will you be in line to buy it? Is yours waiting to be mailed? Me? A week ago I would have said no, but now?

Several months ago, in typical Apple fashion, there was a leak (I am sure it was a complete mistake, uhhhhh). Apple was going to be announcing the launch of the iPad. Like all celebrity gossip magazines, it happened to be true (I think the Enquirer is more accurate than the NYT, but that is just me). I would like to thank Apple for giving me at least 20 jokes in regards to the naming of it.

My first thought was, I have a MacBook Pro Laptop, I have a desktop, and an iPhone, what on earth would I want with an oversized iPhone which I assumed its main use would be coming down Mount Sinai with one in either hand right after I parted the Red Sea. Continue Reading »