How Many Brands Do You Interact With Each Day?
50? 500? 900?
For Tanner Woodford it was 1,035 – and he put it together in a clock.
Last month, I wrote about the day I spent obsessively chronicling all the brands, logos, identities and symbols – all 1,035 – that I interact with throughout the day. This research was done for a project I was working on at the time in the Visual Communication Design program at Arizona State University under Professor Al Sanft.
Classic…
From Brett and Jermaine of Flight of the Conchords Fame….
Is it true there are more sheep than people in New Zealand?
Jemaine: Ten times more. But in America there are probably more ants than people. Bret: More cars than people.Any thoughts on the president’s new stimulus package? What do you recommend forthe U.S. economy?
Jemaine: Budgeting. Bret: Yeah, the government should do a budget.I believe we already have a budget.
Jemaine: It doesn’t seem like it. Bret: They need to put aside a certain amount each week for rent and then some money for food and then some money for partying, having a good time. Jemaine: Put aside some for invasions!
Smart Guy, Smart Advice…
Andrew Tobias has some great advice for navigating through the current financial maelstrom.
This via Zen Habits is smart stuff:
- Andrew Tobias suggests a simple three-step budget: Destroy all of your credit cards. Invest 20% of all that you earn (and never touch it). Live on the remaining 80%, no matter what.
- Elizabeth Warren’s balanced money formula is outstanding. It’s the budget I use. Allocate 20% of your after-tax income for savings (or debt reduction), 50% for needs, and the remaining 30% for wants.
- If you crave a little more complexity, try the 60% solution from Richard Jenkins at MSN Money. He says spend 20% of your pre-tax income on savings (half for retirement, half for long-term savings or debt), 60% to committed expenses, 10% to irregular expenses, and 10% for fun.
And I liked this quote: “There are times where you can afford to redecorate your house, and there are times when you need to focus on rebuilding its foundation. Today, we have to focus on foundations.” – Barack Obama, Thursday, February 26, 2009.
Nice Site
I’m a big fan of Icebreaker products. So, tempted with a mate’s discount code I paid their US site a visit today and was really surprised. Most Kiwi sites are a mess. This is a terrific site that reflects the brand values of the company. Love the Baaacode idea.
Other great kiwi sites: Xero, the best online accounting software. Endemic world for kiwi things.
Let me know if you find others.
Penn On Professional Job Losses
Interesting column from Mark Penn on the impact of the recession on professional jobs. He makes a good point here:
“We are totally unprepared for this new phenomenon. We have safety nets for the chronically unemployed, for the fast-food workers let go (oddly they may be the only ones keeping their jobs in this recession), and for the manufacturing plants that have been shuttered. The stimulus will create construction jobs galore. But we have nothing for the tens of thousands of displaced advertising creatives and newspaper writers and editors that are among the newly unemployed. They can’t build roads — all they learned how to do was to write ads and draft editorials.”
