Marketing 101

If nothing else, I remember one thing from my Marketing 101 class in college. If you are going to run a national campaign introducing a new product you better have it available in the store when customers come in and want to buy it. The quintessential example of this is the 1988 Oldsmobile campaign 'Not Your Father's Oldsmobile'. Not only did this campaign destroy the brands' dedicated customer base but when the ads began to air, the new models were not yet available on the showroom floor. This marketing debacle is typically credited as the beginning of the end for the Oldsmobile brand, which GM eventually shuttered in 2004 (disclosure: my father drove Oldsmobile's for my entire childhood and I hated every last one of them).

Today I was out running errands during lunch and stopped by Dunkin' Donuts' to grab a cup of coffee. I got my coffee and as I was turning to leave the person behind me ordered a pumpkin latte (I'm personally not a big fan of Dunkin' Donuts' lattes but that is not the point). The counter person informed her that they did not have that flavor and asked if she would like vanilla.

So it is the day before Halloween (mischief night if you are from NJ), Dunkin' Donuts has been plastering the airways with their 'Pumpkin' commercials for weeks, the store I am in even has a pumpkin latte poster in the window; and they don't have any to sell. Seriously? I was instantaneously transported back in time to Marketing 101, thanks for the trip down memory lane Dunkin' Donuts.

Is it worth winning?

Does our American ethos of success and winning lead us to ask the wrong questions? Questions we typically ask when we face a problem revolve around 'Can We?' but is this always the right way to think about everything?

Certainly 'Can We?' questions help lead to advances in technology, science, health care and many other fields but is it always the right question? Before asking 'Can We?' we first need to answer the questions 'Should We?' and 'Is it Worth it?'. We need to more appropriately define winning and count the cost of winning before we ask 'Can We Win?'.

Most news reports I hear about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq center solely around questions like 'Can We Win?' but does anyone really understand anymore 'What' we are trying to win and whether or not that 'What' is worth the cost of winning?

The same question needs to be asked far more often in health care. Our society has defined extending life as winning and death as losing. But at what cost? Is one more day, week, or month lying in a hospital bed, in extreme discomfort, separated from family and loved ones really 'winning' for a young child and their family?

A Franciscan Benediction...

I first heard this benediction at the end of talk by Craig Groeschel a couple years ago. I have been holding onto it ever since then waiting for an appropriate time to use it. This weekend I have the opportunity to speak at our church on the topic of community service and outreach and I thought that would be the perfect time to use it. But while working on my talk this morning I decided that it was simply too good to save for Sunday so here is my benediction for you today.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

The Nobel Peace Prize. Really?

It was announced today that President Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Really? Frankly this strikes me as a little odd. To the best of my knowledge, the Nobel prizes are meant to recognize outstanding accomplishments. The deadline for this years prize was February 1st, 2009. Not even a full two weeks after Mr. Obama took the oath of office. What exactly did he accomplish in those two weeks that put him ahead of the other 204 nominees? Apparently the Nobel Foundation has decided to start making awards based on vision, ideas and intentions instead of implementation and results. A slippery slope to be sure.

Disclaimer: This post is not, nor should it be construed to be derogatory towards President Obama. Nobody can be fairly judged or rewarded based on two weeks of work. A proper evaluation of an individuals impact on a global stage can simply not be made that quickly, no matter who you are.

By the numbers

Here is a recap of our recent tour of UK Children's Hospices by the numbers:

• Days: 19
• Nights: 18
• Flights: 3
• Miles Driven: 1,303
  
• Children's Hospices visited: 12
• Towns visited: 17
• Places we stayed at: 9
• Castles visited: 3
• Cathedrals visited: 2
• Pictures taken: 1,397
• Miles run: 39.5 (my Garmin watch worked in the UK)
  
• The weight of John Adams by David McCullough: 3 pounds (I only know this because it caused my bag to be overweight)
• Cost: does not matter, the trip was worth every penny (or pence)