Just A Question

Who is buying Egglands' other eggs?

Want to Get In On The Social Network Game?

Try Kiva.org. Kiva.org is one of the earliest, if not earliest, social entreprenuer sites, where micro loans are made by citizens from all over the world (heavily supported by folks from the U.S. and Canada).

You can read journals about the success that the loans have brought the entrepreneurs.

You can join the site. You can join a team of lenders. Your can order Kiva gifts made by the entreprenuers. And of course you can make a loan.

Shown here is Fatmata Jollah, and here is a short bit from the journal of her Kiva adviser:

Fatmata explained to me how she used the loan she got from you. As you might already know from her business description and early photo, Fatmata sells a number of items which include: cottons, “laise” clothes, “wax” clothes, jewelries and more. But however, with this loan she received from you, she decided to invest all of it (Le 400,000) on jean trousers and the balance on transportations and other costs associated with the business. She chose to use the whole loan on jeans because jeans sell faster and make more profit for her than all other items she sells. It is in neighboring Guinea that she buys the jeans from. A pair of jean trousers costs her Le 25,000 (about $ 8.4) and she sells at Le 30,000 (about $ 10).

Just Another Ordinary Day in Hawaii

The Pro Bowl just concluded a thiry year history in Hawaii. Alas, next year it will be in Miami the week before the Super Bowl.

There will be blue skies, there will be "B" roll shots of the Atlantic Ocean. But here is what will be missing: some of the best players won't be there, because they can't risk an injury before the Super Bowl. The blue skies of Hawaii. The Pacific Ocean. Beautiful faces of many different colors. Leis and Hula.

And here's what Hawaii will miss: one of the best advertisements there has ever been for our beautiful state. Sure, we were disappointed that not as many people came for the Pro Bowl this year -- they were at home, looking for new jobs -- but they got to see it on TV -- hopefully HDTV. Viewers not only saw "B" roll of our majestic volcanoes, no longer active, but blowing our minds every time we see them -- they saw the interaction of people -- of the faces of Hawaii, the Aloha, the friendliness.

One year, the Hawaii Visitors Bureau had a campaign Come for the Beauty, Stay for the People. Boy is that ever true. So next year, we won't have the Pro Bowl. But we'll still have Hawaii.

Hallmark IS definitely About Relationships

Less than 24 hours after my post I got a personal response from the Public Affairs folks at Hallmark replying to the comments I made.

Here are the lessons:

• everybody's watching. Remember what your mother said about having your words on the front page of the New York Times.


• It's brave new world.


• We are all connected.
  
• The internet is magic.


• Hallmark is true to it's brand.
  

Here is part of the very thoughtful reply I received from Deidre Mize. My advice to readers: stick with Hallmark. They understand you.

Hi Gloria,
My name is Deidre Mize, I work at Hallmark in Public Affairs and
Communications.
I noticed your recent blog posting about one of Hallmark's Valentine's Day
commercials and wanted to respond.
When creating this commercial we wanted to show that love can be expressed
in a number of creative, economical and heartfelt ways, including Mom's
voice in a valentine.
As is our normal practice, our marketing team tested this commercial before
it aired among consumers, including mothers. These consumers responded
favorably, so we appreciate receiving different points of view like the one
you shared on your blog...
We are continually learning about the intricacies of these connections, and your perspective will help us to look at this differently in the future...

Thank you Deidre, and thank you, Hallmark.

Hallmark makes an unusual stumble with its Brand

Currently Hallmark is running commercials about Valentine's Day, specifically promoting their talking/signing cards. Specifically, there is a scene in a school cafeteria where three girls show what cute things thei rmoms did for them for Valentine's Day. The first put tiny little heart stickers all around an apple, the second girl's Mom had made a bologna sandwich on whole wheat bread cut like a heart. But the third girl -- her mother gave her a hallmark signing card with Mylie Cyrus.

Of course the cafeteria screams on cue with envy and the little girl with the heart-studded apple is crestfallen.

This figures in brand digital because I saw it in HDTV. Hallmark is about relationships not about competition and making people feel badly.