This is such a cool read, especially if you’re really interested in branding. It really has nothing to do with whether or not you enjoy starbucks coffee (I say that because the first reaction I get when I mention this book is, “I just don’t like their coffee.”) It covers the principles starbucks follows for success. It also contains a  ton of stories of what RPC would call “wins” (i.e. moments that equal success for the company).

I had my own starbucks experience the other day. Last Saturday, my birthday, my momma and I were going shopping, and I needed some coffee, pronto. We went inside and ordered, then stood at the end of the bar waiting for our drinks. Me and mom were screwin’ around and I said something and she loudly replied, “Well it’s your birthday! You get what you want!” The guy making my coffee stopped what he was doing and said, “It’s your birthday? Well, Happy Birthday! Come pick out some breakfast on the house!” He let me choose anything I wanted out of the food case.

It was really really cool to have that happen right as I was reading that book.  It was a win.

It’s on. MarriedLife Live starts at 7:00 tonight, and I’m so pumped! The sanctuary looks awesome, the band is ready, I have a killer outfit. (Sigh). Life is good. So, here we go…

OK RPC fems, our pink shirts have arrived!

S-XXL $15 each. Get ‘em while it’s hot

I’ve decided that I don’t want this blog to be too personal all the time (and it will be, ’cause I’m “emo” as the kids say), so I’ve decided to focus some of my blog energies into finding bad branding examples and showing them to you.

It might be a horrible advertisement, a miss-spelled word (boy, this might come back to bite me in the arse), or just something I find ridiculous.

Issues with this idea:
a) my camera phone is less than 1 mega-pixel, so the pics might turn out very badly; b) I’m not the most observant person you’ve ever met, and my attention span is lessening as I get older (I think my A.D.D. co-workers and husband have somethign to do with this); c) I don’t know all that much about branding, so maybe as I make fun of the bad stuff I see, I’ll see good things too and we can have fun together learning. Imagine.

I think I’ve talked my hubby into letting me buy a palm treo 650 off of eBay, so perhaps my image quality will improve eventually…

Anyway, on to the first picture:

This is from a local pizza restaurant in Auburndale. It’s quite blurry, so I’m going to translate for you:

Please for you safety ( oh come on. proof read.)

No shoeskates allowed (umm…shoeskates? lol)

No skating allowed inside (especially ice skating)

The restaurant

Thank you for your cooperation (no, thank you for your lack of punctuation and CAPS LOCK ISSUES)

Yeah, so considering that it is underlined, caps, italicized, and bold, I’m pretty sure they were mad when this sign was posted.
Darn heathens and their “shoeskates.”