Tim Ferriss’ Must-Read Books

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (Violate Them at Your Own Risk!) by Al Ries and Jack Trout
“I’ve re-read this before every product launch that I’ve done or even in the product development phases. Talks about things like creating a category versus trying to be the best in an existing category.”

Getting Real (The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application) by 37signals
“It does have a software focus but all of it can be applied to entrepreneurs in general. It’s really about creating a lean startup and testing assumptions that you may have. Is offering options, more options, always the best decision? The answer is no.”

Vagabonding (An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel) by Rolf Potts
“This is one of two books that I took with me in 2004 around the world. The other is Walden by [Henry D.] Thoreau. This is arguably, the most practical manual of life philosophy that I’ve found. It’s an outstanding book for those people who  feel trapped in any situation in their business or career or who simply want to experience more of life.”

Seneca (Letters from a Stoic) by Seneca
“Someone who’s able to help control an empire indirectly, but also amass wealth without being controlled by it. Seneca is an outstanding thinker and this is I think one of his most accessible books.”

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World (An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Childen) by John Wood
“[John Wood] is on track to be Dale Carnegie 2.0. If you’ve ever wondered what you can do to really change the world, outside of perhaps your business or using your business, maybe a change in direction to give a test by dipping your toes into the world of philanthropy or causes this is a book you need to read.”

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
“A lot of philosophy in that as well, but it’s about a detective with Tourette’s Syndrome.”

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman
“A collection of stories and adventures of the physicist Richard Feynman.”

NOTE: Tim also recommends in the comment section of his blog Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor . He also says that of his book choices, if he was forced to only choose one book to buy and the rest to read in a library, he would buy Seneca (Letters From a Stoic) or Vagabonding (An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel) and read the rest in a library.

Kevin Rose’s Must-Read Books

Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte
“The master when it comes to taking complicated data and turning it into beautiful charts and graphs that are easy to understand. If you’re into graphic design, print design, web design, you name it, you’re going to get some really good information and how tos out of these books. He has a whole series of these books.”

The Tipping Point (How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference) by Malcolm Gladwell
“Bunch of really good information in here on how to make ideas go viral. This could be good to apply to any kind of products or ideas you may have.”

8 Weeks to Optimum Health (A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of Your Body’s Natural Healing Power) by Andrew Weil
“He is a Harvard educated doctor and then also has Eastern medicine experience as well. Really great well rounded book. Love Dr. Weil and I read this probably every couple of years.”

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
“Isn’t a religious book, but more on self-realization, study on yourself, breathing exercises, relaxation and understanding human nature.”

The Intelligent Investor (The Definitive Book on Value Investing) by Benjamin Graham
“The foundation for investing. A lot of people have used this as their guide to getting into investment. Warren Buffett cites this as the book that got him into investing. How to evaluate different companies out there before you make an investment.

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Learning more about your chosen field or topic of interest can give you an edge in terms of better performance and much improved profits – these outcomes come from improved skill levels in various areas of your business. Keep in mind that you’re the focus of your business – if you improve yourself, your business improves at the same time.

If you’re an entrepreneur, resign yourself to the fact that there’s almost always someone out there with more capital and more resources than you. That’s a fact. But there’s one area where you can get an edge over everyone else in your field and industry. The way you do this is by having invaluable knowledge that others may not have or know how to implement and constantly improving these levels of knowledge. Power in business, by virtue of us living in this information ,isn’t based on physical brute manpower as it was a few hundred years ago. How far and how high you can take your business is now based on brain power and the decision making skills to put that knowledge into action. We need to quickly develop our potential – increasing our knowledge is the only path.

Technology is an impressive and a generally important tool to have in your business. Amazingly powerful software and computers that fit in the palm of your hand are definitely great tools to have but they will not necessarily take you where you need to go in terms of learning. They can help, but true learning comes from the inside.

We all have our special gifts as human beings. At the same time though, we need to find our own unique strengths, magnify these strengths, and at the same time improve our weaknesses so they’re no longer our weak points. This allows us to grow into more balanced human beings and at the same time we expand our capacity to contribute in business.

One of the keys of knowledge that you need to understand is that knowledge, in and of itself, is fluid. What yesterday was the newest, most advanced information is now old news today. There are always eternal truths but in general, learning is a journey that you need to be on a daily basis – learning from every experience, whether an apparent failure or success. If you have the mentality that there’s always something to learn in every experience you have, then success will come regularly for you.

If you’re currently managing a team of employees, you need to foster an attitude in your workplace and among communication with your employees that knowledge should be gained without limitations. To gain an edge, you need to give your employees the freedom to learn what they need to learn, when they need to learn to it, and use this information to strengthen the entire business team. Knowledge is not to be hoarded; it is to be shared freely.

When I was writing this article, I started thinking beyond just gaining knowledge and began thinking about a more abstract topic: ethics and integrity. Is there such a thing as morality and ethics in business when it comes to knowledge? Or is it fair to  just do whatever you can to get ahead without getting caught? Are there certain business practices when it comes to information which are unethical even if they are completely legal? Many times we may be doing something that can be classified as borderline unethical and not even realize the ramifications of our actions. Let’s say we hire an employee away from another competing company. This employee knows of a product they are launching soon, but it’s been confidential up to this point. Do we ask this employee for information on this product? If we do, is this just getting a business edge or is this unethical and unfair?

You can run your business in a no-holds-barred type of way – getting an advantage no matter what it takes. You can also run your business transparently, always putting integrity above profits. Either way is successful – there’s no denying that. I’m not going to lecture you one way or another either, this isn’t a sermon! What I will advise you is to think of both ways of running your business and think about which of the two ways brings you the most satisfaction. Which business style inspires you? You need to get pumped about your business if you want to succeed – there needs to be passion!

If you want to inspire your co-workers and employees to fast track their knowledge you need to get these same people to feel as emotionally committed to taking this journey as you are. Unless you have a literal gun in your hands you can’t force anyone to do anything! Even if you had a gun, they’d just do it, well, because they don’t want to get shot! You need to have these people open to the idea of learning and really wanting to do so – this is the definition of true motivation and leadership in management. You need to get this commitment from people before you launch into action trying to create complicated systems.

The bottom-line is that for you to be able to get the people in your organization to join you in your quest for increased knowledge, you need to get them to join you in the same thirst for knowledge, that sense of wonder, curiosity, and that inquisitiveness you feel right now. Like all successful leaders in all facets of life, you need to win over these people to your way of feeling and thinking and then share with them how important it is to exponentially increase the knowledge levels of your business. Remember that motivation precedes action, action then produce results, and results produce more motivation. One of the best ways to accomplish this task is to create a culture of innovation and curiosity. At first it may be challenging if everyone’s been exposed to the all-too-common business culture of “just doing what you can to get by each day”. But once this learning culture is established, it makes it much easier for you to leave your business in the hands of another, and see that the culture you initially instilled is still going strong and has even been improved!

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The introduction of bathrooms with showers. This means you can now take a shower while flying thousands of miles in the air.

Emirates has begun service on its A380 which travels between Dubai and New York which includes the airplane shower feature.

“International premium travelers are highly aspirational,” says Emirates president Tim Clark. “You have passengers coming out of luxury hotels, and you can’t have them getting into something that comes out of the dark ages in terms of the airplane. So we brought the service up to high levels, and then went beyond that.”

The biggest commercial airliner in the world is the shower-equipped Emirates A380, with 50% more space in the cabins than a Boeing 747. Emirates has already ordered 58 A380 and has received one. These A380s are being configured in 3 classes with 489 seats, 14 enclosed suites in first class, and 76 lie-flat beds found in business class. The aforementioned shower spas are in the upper deck, consisting of two bathrooms – one on each side of a staircase.

Emirates has been in the process of developing the A380, including the interior design, for several years now. Major fuel costs and concerns of onboard weight were less an issue then.

“In those days, of course, we didn’t have fuel at the price it is now,” says Tim Clark. “But in terms of the long-haul mission and, bearing in mind that we wanted to again raise the bar on first class, we decided on showers.” Clark says that he “couldn’t see why we couldn’t actually put them on these airplanes, since we have the real estate to do it without taking up revenue-generating space.” The planes carry an extra “500 kilos of water to cover the shower requirement,” which adds 25% to the total water weight on the A380.

The showers aren’t a free-for-all though. There’s a five-minute shower time limit per passenger. The way you know how much time you have is due to a light panel in the shower. Green means begin your shower. Amber means it’s time to start washing your hair. Red means your time is up.

Emirates isn’t the only airlines trying to make inroads into the premium market. Other international airlines are improving their premium service. Singapore Airlines has introduced a super-luxury product, calling it “a class beyond first” on its long-haul fleet. The luxury airplanes includes private cabins with 23-inch flat-screen lcd monitor televisions and closets.

Emirates Airlines expects the demand for premium flights to increase. “We fly into Houston on a daily basis with our 777s, which have eight first-class suites and 42 business seats, and they’re full all the time because you have all the oil traffic coming through, both ways,” says Tim Clark. “We have two New York operations a day, and our premium cabins are full. But, of course, what we do is very niche-directed and very segmented.”

Other features on the Emirates Airbus A380-800 include an onboard lounge (including full alcohol bar, wi-fi internet access via your laptop and monitors with the views coming from the external cameras) and over 600 channels of tv, movie, and audio entertainment to keep you busy during the flight.

The Emirates A380 is now travelling daily between Dubai and New York. A ticket on an unrestricted round-trip first-class fare between New York and Dubai in September will cost $14,635 (corporate discounts are available). In comparison, an unrestriced walk-up, first class ticket on American Airlines between Heathrow Airport in London and New York costs $16,350.

One week before tax time is NOT the time to organize your paperwork. You should start way sooner – like now, for instance?

Now that I’m talking to you about getting organized with your tax paperwork, the first thought that might rush into your head is, “I gotta get me some containers, folders, files, and binders!” You might even get these in a variety of wild colors including neon green and hot pink – among others.

You set these crazy amounts of organizational equipment on the floor. Now what? Where do you go from here? Now you have to organize the organizational equipment and you go even crazier than before! What’s the solution?

How to Clean Up a Huge Organizational Mess

Well, there’s a solution. There’s small companies that have sprung up recently to help out with this growing financial organizational problem. These companies help instruct people on how to get the best storage products and how to use them correctly.

The way these companies run their business is buy producing specialty organization items that have instructions on how to use them correctly. They then support the use of their products by writing in their company blogs, sending out instructional newsletters, and running organizational intensive workshops that immerse students in organizing their finances in the right way. If you think about it, whether you’re a tax veteran or a college kid in your dorm that’s just getting started, it’s important to always improve your organizational skills.

“By making products more user-friendly and offering consumers compelling reasons to use their products, businesses can set themselves apart from the competition,” says Parkland Group founder and president Larry Goddard. Parkland Group is a Cleveland-based business consulting firm helping businesses succeed and grow.

Get Your Life Buttoned Up

Buttoned Up is a startup company that was founded with the confused user in mind. The founders, Alicia Rockmore, 42, and Sara Welch, 36, started the 11-employee Ann Arbor, Michigan company four years ago because they themselves needed the service they now provide but there’s wasn’t anything like that out there at the time. The Buttoned Up co-founders say that they used to spend tons of money at stores like Target, Wal-Mart, and the Container Store and when they got home with all these organizational products they had no idea what to do next.

It’s rare for someone to instinctively know what specific items to put in specific containers or what important documents and files to put into your filing cabinet or organizer.

“They needed a road map to give them the tools to actually do it,” says Rockmore.

The Buttoned Up Product Line

The company currently has more than 20 organizational products and can be found in nationwide retailers. One of the hottest ones right now is the Life.doc, which is a bright red binder where you can put your emergency, insurance, and other important documents in one spot. When you open the $29.95 binder, the first thing you see is the “Welcome Letter” that talks about the Buttoned Up philosophy of focusing on the most important 20% of organizational tasks – it’s an organizational remake of the 80/20 Pareto Principle, which is that 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes. It also includes forms to fill out that include emergency, financial, and insurance information. The entire binder is covered in transparent plastic and is labeled colorfully with details on how to use it correctly.

“This way, consumers can see and understand the product before buying,” says Rockmore.

Other Buttoned Up products include Valuables.doc, Do&Delegate.list, and the Moving.kit.

The two women also have a newspaper column, a company GetButtonedUp.com blog, and an e-mail newsletter with advice and tips. They talk about tax tips, organizing computer passwords, making to-do lists, and why organizing is important for your entire lifestyle. They feel that this content “deepens the relationships we have with consumers, which leads them to our products… or from one product to another,” says Rockmore. They have also just released a book titled Everything (almost) In Its Place: Control Chaos, Conquer Clutter, and Get Organized the Buttoned Up Way.

Other organizational startups include See Jane Work, which sells organizational products online and through their California store and The Paper Princess, which sells stationary, bookplates, and calendars.

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Maybe get yourself a glittery hairdo, pink makeup, wear a shiny gown and play with dolls for the entire day. Sounds good?

As for me, well, can’t say I’m interested in doing that, at all. But make a G.I. Joe theme store and I’m there, no doubt about it.

A new store, named the Casa de Barbie (Spanish for House of Barbie or Barbie Store), has officially opened. Young girls wait for hours to get in and mothers make offers on clothes that are just up for decoration. The fanaticism is incredible.

How the Barbie Store Idea Come to Be

The idea for the store came to Tito Loizeau, 37, in a shopping mall three years ago. He went on to build this Barbie-themed store and it’s been a huge hit in Buenos Aires, Argentina ever since.

The way he tested his idea was to set up a small “House of Barbie” promotion for Mattel (creators of Barbie) inside of the shopping mall. The demand was immediate – and powerful. Kids would want to buy everything in the store – even items that had nothing to do with Barbie.

“It would be a pink shirt you could buy anywhere in the mall,” said Loizeau. “But they’d want the shirt because it was associated with Barbie.”

The Debut of the Casa de Barbie

So he decided to open the 6,996 square-foot Barbie “fashiontainment” store – first in the world. In the bubble-gum scented store, girls with a love of everything Barbie get their Barbie hairdos and makeovers at the Barbie beauty parlor and can play with dolls at the Barbie playroom while eating their pink-frosted desserts from the Barbie cafe.

It wasn’t easy for Tito Loizeau to get his Barbie Store open. He spent a year persuading Mattel to license the idea of the store to him. Loizeau, along with two partners, put up $500,000 of their own savings to open the House of Barbie. His group now has exclusive rights to the Barbie Store license in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay as well as first-option rights in all of Latin America. In exchange, Mattel takes a percentage of all sales made in his Barbie Stores and the exclusive right to expand the Barbie Store concept around the world.

Why Do Argentinian Girls Love the Barbie Store So Much?

“I am here because I wanted to have my hair done for my mum’s birthday,” said six-year-old Pilar Tolosa.

Open since September of 2007, the chic Palermo neighborhood in Buenos Aires – home to many high-class restaurants and swank boutiques – has been taken over by the Barbie frenzy.

“There are girls who come every single day,” says Loizeau. “No one understands it.”

To enter the store and partake in the Barbie activities, you’ll be paying $7 an hour. You’ll then recieve free access to play with the Barbie dolls and toys, you can try on the various costumes, makeup, and jewelry. Once you’ve found the perfect Barbie wardrobe to wear, you can walk down the Barbie catwalk runway, where you’ll be strutting under the disco lights and thumping music. The Barbie Store also includes the coffee shop and beauty salon, where you can get a Barbie hairstyle or a painted butterfly on your cheek. You can also rent out the Barbie playroom for your kid’s parties at a starting rate of about $650.

Exclusively for Barbie Fans

“It is something that is just for the girls, that is the most important thing and I think that is their most favorite thing. That is what makes them feel special. As soon as they enter they see a place that is exclusively for them, where they are the stars of the store, that was created for them,” says Barbie Store manager Fernando Bosc.

Tito explains that Saturdays are the most hectic days at the Barbie Store. “It’s chaos,” says Loizeau about Saturday afternoons. He says that the Barbie birthday parties bring even more chaos. Some girls “get angry that they can’t go in and they throw tantrums.”

Although a huge hit now, Tito didn’t think it was going to explode in popularity the way it has. He had an initial estimate of about 20 or 30 girls a day but he’s had days with over 150 children coming in.

The Initial Idea for the Barbie Store and How It’s Changed Over Time

It’s interesting how what he thought would sell well didn’t and that only after conducting various focus groups that he found out what really would sell. He originally wanted to sell glamorous Barbie outfits in kid sizes. Once he did some focus groups with mothers, he found out they didn’t like the idea – even if the young girls would approve. Instead he found that the best strategy was to commission the development of basic kids clothing in a Barbie theme that has matching items for sale. He also initially targeted girls 3 to 9 for the sizes but he found that he needed to create bigger sizes as demand grew from girls as old as 16 wanting Barbie apparel. He even has plans to create adult sizes in the near future.

It also may be surprising to know that the store doesn’t focus on selling dolls – even there are some select dolls for sale. Instead, the focus is on T-shirts, handbags, skirts, and pants in various shades of pink. The clothing is designed and made in Argentina and are available only at the Barbie Store.

Not a Barbie Toy Store

“We’re not a toy store. Girls play here and then they want a Barbie.” says Loizeau.

Removal requested () – –

As far as future plans go, anything is possible. For the near future, Tito Loizeau plans to secure funding in order to open more Barbie Stores in other cities in the neighboring regions of Buenos Aires.

The Barbie Store address is Scalabrini Ortiz 3170 Capital Federal in Buenos Aires, Argentina and they can be visited online at their Barbie Store website: Barbie-Stores.com. The Barbie Store phone number is 0810-4444-BARBIE and the store hours are Monday-Saturday 10am-8:30pm and Sunday 1pm-8pm.

What do you think of the idea of the Barbie Store? Would the idea work just as well in other markets around the world?

When I say mobile banking, I’m talking about accessing their bank accounts through their cellphones and PDAs – its really starting to enter the consciousness of most technologically savvy executives and business owners. I recently went out with some buddies of mine and I noticed a good friend of mine (who’s an internet entrepreneur and marketer) whip out his Blackberry and check his account balance plus some other recent transactions. Now, I know that most people are a little skittish about logging into a website through their Apple iPhone, for example, and checking out ultra-confidential information, such as their bank statements. Some might think, “What if someone intercepts the signal and hacks into my account and steals all my money?” In fact 89% of consumers do not feel comfortable in using their cellphones to do their mobile-banking transactions.

Well, turns out younger people around the world are really coming to grips with the fact that mobile connectivity is the way of the future, and increasingly, the way of today.

The Flexibility of Mobility

For me personally, almost everything I do is based around mobility and information flexibility. For scheduling and calendar purposes, I use Mozilla Sunbird which is an excellent replacement for Microsoft Outlook and is completely free. Mozilla is the same company that handles the equally excellent Mozilla Firefox browser, which completely blows away every other browser out there (Microsoft Internet Explorer and Apple Safari). So what I do, is I use the Provider for Google Calendar extension. This allows Sunbird to automatically update Google Calendar – which if you dont’ have, go right now and get yourself a Google account so you can use Google Calendar. G-Calendar is essential for me because it allows me to visit clients, friends, and family and at a moment’s notice, no matter where I am in the world, check my schedule for the day and the month, and the year. I can make changes to my G-Calendar and then it’ll make changes in my Sunbird. Remember my post on 8coupons and their mobile phone coupon service? Another example of mobile phones sneaking their way into the mainstream.

Another way I use mobile connectivity is Google Documents. I have a G-Documents account with certain key text files that I need at a moments notice – such as client information, todo list, and random other things, like assembling a gift list for friends and family and a list of movies to rent. It’s not only great to have this flexibility for business, but also for a vibrant social life as well.

So as people become more and more accustomed to putting personal information solely on the web (such as with Google Documents) they slowly begin to feel comfortable trusting the internet with critical information like bank statements. The mobile phone demographic group leading this charge? Generation Y (those born between 1978 and 1994) are really taking advantage of these services. Yes, the Facebook App + iPhone crowd is getting on the mobile banking bankwagon. 21% of Generation Y consumers use their cellphones for mobile-banking transactions, as compared to 10% of the general population. These numbers, especially for the Gen Y group, are expected to grow exponentially – expected to be in the upwards of 35 million mobile-banking Americans by 2010.

Which are the top mobile-banking banks?

9 out of the top 10 banks offer mobile banking – with Bank of America having the biggest amount of mobile-banking customers – a cool half a million. But just because BoA is ahead of the game now doesn’t mean they’re going to stay ahead. Technology changes extremely rapidly, mobile phone banking trends change just as fast, and these banks have to be constantly improving their services in order to stay on top of the game in terms of overall bank reputation and development of technological advances.

Speaking of reputation, 65% of people cited feeling worried that the personal information they might input online may not be secure – that was their biggest worry.

“(Banks are) pretty much keeping up with the Joneses,” says Wendy Feller, who’s the head of the financial services practice for the IBM Institute of Business Value. “My bigger fear is that they’re not pushing the envelope”.

Is it really worth marketing to Generation Y?

I’ll give you a few reasons to prove that Gen Y is a market to really notice and market to – I’ll give you 1.89 trillion reasons actually. Yes that’s right, Generation Y’s collective annual income is $1.89 trillion, with more than 75 million members. These numbers are expected to jump 85% over the next 10 years to $3.5 trillion, which would surpass earnings from Baby Boomer’s by over $500 billion. Now we can definitely see why this group can be very profitable for businesses willing be on the cutting edge of technology. The market is there – the question, though – is the technology there?

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And a marketer’s dream.

Think about this: Thousands and thousands of college students from the end of February to the later days in April pack the streets, clubs, and bars of locations such as South Beach, Miami Beach, Daytona Beach, Panama City Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Jamaica, and the Bahamas.

Why Spring Break Should Be a Marketing Target For You

Marketer’s are using this hot yearly event to put their products in front of the eyes of these young affluent college students. Presumably, these students have large amounts of disposable income (all thanks to mom and dad back home). And you know how much college students love those impulse buying decisions.

“Basically, we’ll give away all four coolers at this spot. We’re doing 600 bottles a day,” says Gabriel Garcia of TrueBlue fruit juice. Her company was giving away massive amounts of the juice drink to pedestrians on Ocean Drive in South Beach.

Why College Students Are Excellent Marketing Targets

What it boils down to is this: Get some crazy college kids, with wads of money which they know they want to spend, and in a hot spot like South Beach – you have the makings of a massive method of product promotion and service marketing. College students on these spring break trips likely will have large amounts of spare cash for their vacation and are more likely to spend this cash than other types of tourists.

Another great aspect about doing this spreak break marketing in a hotspot like South Beach is that these visitors will likely be a trend follower and trendsetter – bringing friends along and involving them in their buying decisions. More bang for your marketing buck.

“I think Miami is probably one of the most aspirational destinations for spring break. This is an influencer that goes there,” says Sara Tervo, spokeswoman for Pink of Victoria’s Secret.

If we take Pink as a marketing example, they recently hosting a spring break VIP event at the Raleigh Hotel her in Miami Beach. Their method was to hand out Pink trademark stuffed dogs to winners of contests they had poolside. With about 3,000 people attending the event – and a huge portion of that being women in their early 20′s (which is Pink’s target audience) this was a boon to get their brand out there.

“We target certain lifestage moments, knowing spring break is a big one in that girl’s life,” says Tervo.

If we break this down to its power as a marketing tool, we can tell the difference between this type of promotion and the typical hotspot promotion of handing out flyers. Flyers are pure marketing hype – no true intrinsic value to the marketing recepient. However, by handing out free items, customers will be LINING UP to get their hands on YOUR product.

“Most of what they hand out are the fliers,” says Krissy Skaei, a South Beach tourist from Missouri State who received a TrueBlue bottle. “It’s good to get something that’s useful.

Taking Spreak Break Marketing to the Streets

Some companies charge huge amounts of money to coordinate promotion events like this. A Sunrise company named Good Time Boys Productions charges as much as $4000 a week to promote a product for you. Of course, you’ll have to spring for the cost of the free products you’ll be giving away.

In order to see if giving away free product will be useful for you and your business, you might want to think about your product. If your product is too expensive to give away why not take a page from Pink and give away a stuffed toy of your mascot – or even just a teddy bear with your company’s name or website on the front. If your product or service is inexpensive – and it’s a product that the consumers you are targetting with your giveaway will want – try to give a less expensive version of the product or a demo version. This can lead to future sales and future revenue streams. Most importantly, target the right customers! Don’t give away free donuts at a pool party where everyone has ripped arms and washboard stomachs – an energy drink promotion at a spot like this though, would be perfect!

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Don’t think that Pernod Ricard doesn’t already have it’s hands in other spirits. They are stacked with other types of fine liquors in their business portfolio, including Scotch whisky, Cuban rum, and French Champagne. Pernod Richard adds Sweden to the mix, purchasing Absolut directly from the state-owned maker of Absolut vodka, Vin & Sprit.

“It is a unique acquisition,” says Pernod Ricard Managing Director Pierre Pringuet. “I would describe it as a big bang.”

What does Sweden think of this?

Well, the government ABSOLUTely  loves the deal, mainly due to the higher than expected price tag for the Absolut brand. Shares immediately went down by 4.3% however – so investors weren’t too happy.

It’s hard to tell what the Swedish people think of this. The brand is now longer owned by a Swedish company; Pernod Ricard is based in France. I’d love to get some thoughts from the Swedish people about this mega-deal. Although not explicitly mentioned in the contract, the Swedish government believes that Pernod Ricard intends to keep Absolut vodka and its production inside Sweden.

“There is no written contract about that but the value of the brand is because it is Swedish,” said Pernod Ricard Chairman Patrick Ricard. “A Swedish brand must be produced in Sweden.”

Were there other companies bidding on Absolut?

There were 4 companies in total trying to grab Absolut. You had Pernod Richard, Fortune Brands (United States), Bacardi Ltd. (Puerto Rico), and an investment group headed by Sweden’s Wallenberg family.

“All four presented well-prepared and very interesting proposals, but it was soon clear to us that Pernod Ricard’s bid was the best,” said Mats Odell, Financial Markets Minister for Sweden. “It is a very good price for the company.”

Why did Sweden want to sell Absolut and why did Pernod Ricard want to buy?

If you want to know why Sweden want to sell, I can point you to a few numbers. 546 million numbers. Absolut’s company, Vin & Sprit, had $546 million in outstanding debt, which Pernod Ricard will now take over.

Pernod Ricard wanted Absolut because they feel the vodka company fills a gap in their offerings. They really didn’t have any premium vodka brands in their spirits portfolio. They also felt, due to the huge presence of Absolut in the United States, that this would bolster all of their spirits and perhaps they can use the Absolut name brand to push their other spirits in the USA liquor market.

“We wanted to bolster our presence in the United States and Absolut, with its 5 million cases (in yearly sales), will definitely do that,” said Pernod’s Pierre Pringuet.

About Pernod Ricard

Founded in 1975, they own Havana Club rum, Chivas Regal whiskey, Kahlúa coffee liqueur, Jameson Irish Whiskey, # The Glenlivet (single malt scotch whisky), Wild Turkey (bourbon), Seagram’s gin, Malibu coconut-flavored rum, Mumm Champagne, and Beefeater gin. Patrick Ricard is their current Chairman and CEO and their slogan is “Local roots, global reach”.

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We all know about the “no late fees” policy. What may be surprising is how that turned out.

About the Blockbuster No Late Fees Policy

With the No Late Fees Program, there are no more penalties for late movies or late video games at Blockbuster but you still have a due date for the items you’ve rented – you get one full week for games and two days or one week for any movies you rent. If you want to keep your rentals an extra day or so, Blockbuster will give an extra week goodwill period for free – this means no late fee. But now let’s say you’ve kept the item for that extra week of goodwill they’ve given you and you still haven’t returned your rentals. Then your rental gets coverted into a sale and you have to pay the full price for the movie or game minus the rental fee you were originally charged. If you return this game or movie within 30 days though, Blockbuster will reverse that sale and only charge you a restocking fee of $1.25. This fee can vary between stores. Only about 160 franchise-owned Blockbuster stores have discontinued this program – all of Blockbuster’s company-operated stores in the United States and Canada are continuing this program.

Blockbuster CEO Responds to the No Late Fees Program

CEO James Keyes believes that starting that policy which eliminated movie rental late fees, which was implemented about three years ago, is one of the root causes of Blockbuster dropping in sales year after year since 2004. Yes, this means that sales have dropped since implementing that policy. On Blockbuster’s point-of-view, they loved late fees because they accounted for almost one-fifth of all revenue. Of course, in the customer’s point-of-view, late fees stink. Big time. So Blockbuster dropped them, in order to appease customers. But, what has it do for Blockbuster? After all, in business, the goal is to be profitable, not just make some people happy that used to be upset before. It’s a nice bonus, but rule number one in business is to always turn a profit.

The problem that the elimination of late fees has caused is that now Blockbuster customers, knowing they won’t have to pay the late fee if they bring the movie in late, return the movie very late. This means major problems for the new releases section of Blockbuster stores, since the store shelves are often stripped of new movie releases.

One idea I have for the new CEO is why not combine the no late fee policy with an early return bonus? For example, a standard movie rental at Blockbuster costs $4.49 (plus tax). If a customer brings back the movie the same day before closing, why not refund the customer $3? Everyone’s happy: the customer got a movie rental for $1.49 and Blockbuster still rented a movie but now has that movie available for other customers the next day. It’s a good compromise: James Keyes if you’re listening, take note!

Is the Total Access Online Rental Store Still a Focus?

One of the moves that new CEO Keyes is implementing is a de-emphasis on the Blockbuster Total Access online rental store, which has been unprofitable for them. It was pretty shocking for me to read that it’s been completely unprofitable. To think a company like Netflix had a net income of almost $50 million in 2006 and BlockBuster to completely, well, stink at online movie rentals is a total conundrum to me. Oh yeah, by the way, Netflix has grown into a 7 million subscriber base business.

Another move Keyes is gunning for is lifting the ban on using credit cards to get rentals of movies and games in excess of the check-out limit per visit. Now you can use a check card. Not a huge move, but no doubt improves sales among those that rent massive quantities at one time.

His big move, the big move he’s thinking is going to be the future for Blockbuster, is that customers will go to kiosks inside the actual Blockbuster store to burn the movies onto a disk or download the flicks straight onto their cell phones or other mobile devices. Although Keyes feels store rentals are going to be an integral part of the Blockbuster business for at least five years, he wants to keep Blockbuster on the cutting edge if viewers eventually download films.

“This is an industry in transition and a company that hasn’t been able to keep up with that change,” says CEO Keyes. “But Blockbuster is one of the best-known brands in the world. We’ve just got to find ways to use technology to make the company more relevant.”

New CEO James Keyes replaces John F. Antioco, who had been the leader of Blockbuster since 1997. Others who have left the company along with former CEO Antioco have been the chief financial officer (CFO), chief operating officer (COO), general counsel, and the online business manager.

Startups are still going strong on the internet, just without the crazy extravagances of yesteryear. Gone are the lavish grand opening parties and the expensive high end offices. In is bootstrapping and cutting expenses down while keeping profits up. Most of the companies that went belly up in the dot-com burst had no control over lavish spending and that translated to enormous overhead – which severly crippled their growth and development as businesses.

8coupons.com, founded by Landy Ung, is part of the new-generation of dot-com startups, focused on development first, party later.

Landy Ung, along with her full-time programmer Wan Hsi Yuan (who is also Landy’s boyfriend) run their business from their 500 square foot studio apartment. The living room is, well, their office. That’s definitely a way to keep overhead down!

8coupons centers around a business model where they send users a text message to their cell phone with discounts to local New York businesses.

Browsing around their website, here are a few of the coupons I found:

• “Pop Burger (Chelsea): Free fries with purchase (of lunch entree)”
• “Groom-o-Rama (Petcare, Pet Supplies, Puppy Sale) (Greenwich & West Village): Doggie T-Shirts 25% Off Reg. Price (Includes sizes Xs-XL)”
• “Birdies, Grandma’s Chicken for the people (East Village): $6.50 Lunch Special (2:30-5:30) (3 piece chicken & small ice tea)”
• “Wild Gifts (souvenirs, jewelry repair, hookahs) (East Village): 88¢ body jewelry (OCHO LOCO DEAL! While Supplies Last)”
• “Ronaldo’s Pizza Cafe (Lower East Side): 20% off check!”

So as you can see, they have pretty varied offerings there.

How do they get businesses to sign up and give them deals to offer?

They currently have more than 150 advertisers, who reside in New York. The way Landy Ung gets these businesses is by walking up to individual businesses on the streets of New York and starts talking to these business owners, trying to convince them to join the service. One of the hardest aspects of this is getting the advertisers to fall in line with the whole cell phone coupon thing. Since the typical 8coupons user doesn’t print the coupon, she has to be certain that the participating company will honor the coupons that the customers are bringing in on their cell phone screen. They also use flyers and word of mouth referrals in order to build their user base. The local company that wants their coupons on 8coupons start with a free trial then they pay $8.88 a day (comes out to about $3241 for a year).

These are the reasons they give for businesses to sign up with 8 coupons:

1. Attract new customers to your business
2. Maximize revenue with current customers
3. Edit, pause, or delete your coupons at anytime!
4. Generate more traffic to your website and storefront
5. Track your coupon’s performance with free coupon metrics
6. Improve your business’s online visibility in local search results
7. Profit from the growing numbers of ready-to-buy local internet searchers
8. It’s a highly targeted and effective way to reach your customers

How is the experience like for customers?

They have more than 1,700 users on the site – they pick a coupon on the 8coupons website and then enter their cell phone mobile telephone number. They then get sent a text message coupon which they then show to the participating businesses.

What’s with the obsession on the number 8 (ocho, eight)?

It’s both part of their business model and just a lucky charm of sorts. They like doing this ocho loco (crazy 8 in spanish; Landy was a Spanish major in college) thing where they have “ocho loco deals”. The 8coupons team goes to local businesses and gets them to do “ocho loco deals” with a lot of 8′s in it. This can be 8-cent burgers or 88-cent body jewelry. They also give you up to $88 if you refer a local NYC business to post a coupon on the website. Speaking of 8-cent burgers, The Twisted Burger in New York’s East Village ran an 8-cent burger with one-dollar beer promotion and the response was ridiculous. 500 customers overran the restaurant with an hour-and-a-half line. Founders Landy Ung and Wan Hsi Yuan became temporary servers and dish bussers. “Our goal was to do whatever it took to make the event successful,” said Ung.

Landy Ung also finds a lot of symbolism and significance in the number 8. It’s the luckiest number in many Asian countries. Also, flip the 8 on it’s side and you get the infinity symbol. Their mascot is the 88 butterfly, and it’s name is La Mariposa Ochenta Ocho Loco.

What have they invested into the business? Are they profitable? Any expansion plans?

Their outside funding comes from Landy Ung’s mother’s fried chicken restaurant. In total, they’ve put about $30,000 into the business. They have enough money to last a year and they’re hoping to get venture funding soon.They feel 8coupons should turn a profit by the first quarter of 2010. They are trying hard to pick up a business development person, a programmer to ease the burden on boyfriend Wan Hsi Yuan.

“We don’t go out anymore,” says Yuan. “For the past two years, all we do is work.”

The real goal is true business success for 8coupons. To Landy Ung this means that “when a customer thinks about local coupons, they’ll think about 8coupons.”

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