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September 26 Palin is PainfulThis is hard to watch in some ways. It's like seeing a normal citizen suddenly in front of the media glare, and makes you realize how hard it is to do what politicians and media people do well. That said, this video makes clear that Palin is totally unqualified to serve as VP, and potentially as President. What's amazing is that millions of Americans will vote for McCain and Palin anyway.
September 22 Platrium achieves TRUSTe certificationWe just announced that Platrium achieved a significant milestone: provisional* certification by TRUSTe's Trusted Download Program (whitelist). We've long felt we have industry-leading practices that clearly inform consumers about our products, and carefully gather permission to download our software onto the desktop. It's great to have these practices recognized by the program and its' sponsors (Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, Verizon, and others). This will inspire confidence among consumers and help us build new business partnerships. It took a lot of work to get there, but we're glad we've reached this milestone.
UPDATE 2: TRUSTe logo removed.
Now time for a quick game of Pirate Poppers to celebrate, then back to work.
UPDATE: * The certification is provisional until a certain amount of time passes. September 19 That's better - I'm a PC ads workAfter canceling their Seinfeld ads, Microsoft just released a new campaign. This one I get: it embraces the cool of being a geek, and makes it something to be proud of, while simultaneously making the Apple ads seem a little smug or elitist. I particularly like how the ads weave in Bill, showing him to be just another person who happens to use and like PCs. Now they just have to develop this campaign a bit and reinforce they value proposition to get people to have a favorable opinion of Vista.
September 17 How Cormac got his nameNaming Cormac was a breeze compared to the vigorous discussion Julia and I had over Zack, our first son. We wanted an uncommon name that didn't seem too outlandish, and also honored our heritage. Freeland is a Scottish clan (a family genealogist traced the lineage back there, and we looked the name up in York on a family vacation in the early 80's), and Neal is Celtic in origin, so when we found Celtic name Cormac in Baby Name Wizard, it felt right. Plus it barely registered on the census rolls. Last fall I also enjoyed reading Cormac McCarthy's book The Road and seeing the Cohen brothers' film adaptation of No Country for Old Men. These works reminded me of how much fun Phil Hay and I had with Blood Meridian, which we read in high school.
We picked Julia's maiden name Claeys as his middle name. Julia's family has three girls, and there are no male cousins to carry the name forward. The name is Belgian, and as common there as Smith is here. Plus it makes a nice alliteration and initials: C. C. Freeland, sort of like e. e. cummings to my ear.
From one dictionary of Celtic names:
Cormac: The son of the chariot; first given, it is said, to a prince of Leinster who happened to be born in a chariot, while his mother was going on a journey.
September 07 Microsoft + Seinfeld = Worst...ad...everThe Seahawks lost to the Bills today 34-10 in an awful game. They just had no rhythm, and even managed to allow a touchdown on a trick field goal. Not a promising start to the season. But even worse was the Seinfeld ad for Microsoft. It wasn't funny, and despite my high-priced Kellogg MBA education and 6+ years of marketing experience I couldn't for the life of me figure out the point of the ad. It was just...odd. And not in the good way, as in off-beat. It seemed to have no point. Near the end Jerry asks Bill if he's going to make the PC "moist and chewy like cake" and the spot ends "The Future. Delicious." Huh? Contrast that to a couple of really funny ads from Apple that drive a clear marketing point home: "We're cool and it's easy to switch from PC to Mac, just visit an Apple store and ask a Genius." I can't believe this is what Microsoft has produced after hiring Crispin Porter, and plans to spend $300 m to advertise. UPDATE: On Sept 17 Microsoft announced that they canceled the rest of the campaign. In typical fashion, they said they are moving to phase II, and everything is going exactly according to plan.
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