A little New Year’s Eve silliness…

Some of the names of brews from smaller brewerys are really creative.  I ran across an article in Beverage Industry (Nov ‘07) about the Great American Beer Festival held in Denver on October 11 – 13.  Check out some of these beer names…

Summertime 69 – Herb & Spice beer from Gunnison Brewery

Butthead Bock – Bock from Tommyknocker Brewery

Midas Touch – Honey lager from Dogfish Head Brewery

Bitch Creek ESB – Brown ale from Grand Teton Brewing Co.

It’s always fun perusing the fridges at the beer store….almost as fun as reading the labels while enjoying a few at home.  I wonder how much influence the names of micro brews really have on purchase and branding or if it’s just good old creative fun. 

Happy New Year!

Should we blame China for tainted food, toys and drugs?  Should we blame ourselves?  Should we blame the importers?  Should we blame greed?

An editorial in trade magazine Food Quality Dec/Jan ‘08 issue by Bill Riedel PHD suggests the importers are to blame for inadequately specifying the end product they desire - leading to inadequate products being imported into the good ‘ole USofA. 

“In any industrial quality system, the idea that purchasers set up purchasing specifications for what they buy is fundamental” Bill writes.  “Large international companies have obviously failed to write and convey appropriate purchasing specifications.”  

“While in China,” Riedel was told that “some importers were buying strictly on the basis of price and had essentially no purchasing specifications.” A potential recipe for disaster.

Riedel believes that Chinese factories are up to the task if importing companies clearly specify what the end product should/shouldn’t be…. “Large international companies had been able to demand complete reconstruction of (Chinese) plants.”

“It is high time we stop blaming China and accept the reality that some importers fail to clearly specify that products must meet the regulatory requirements of the importing country as a minimum, whether for lead-free paint on toys, melamine-free gluten, or foods.”

Bill’s thought that, “Government agencies should not be the only industry quality control arm ensuring compliance by product inspection and sample testing” makes sense.  Why shouldn’t the company importing the goods be more responsible for the quality of the items they import?  It appears that recent agreements between the China & US governments turned out to be a more of a “make nice” PR effort than anything truly actionable.   

Seems like shared blame for unacceptable Chinese imports….

A fiendly little online Santa Claus game….   Earn points by jumping over chimneys to deliver presents to good little girls and boy.  Gain extra points by chainsawing pesky elves along the way.  Why ask why?   Just don’t say Ho Ho Ho as you slash away - it ain’t PC.  Thanks to AdRants for pointing this one out.

Yahoo reports that last night “MTV has recruited 51 youngsters – one from every state, plus another from Washington, D.C. – to cover the 2008 election.

The youths are equipped with laptops, cell phones and video cameras, and are being asked to find political stories that resonate with young people.”

The efforts and Think MTV are great ideas  to get young people interested and involved in their goverment.

In a post about “Made in China” goods titled One Step Forward for Product Safety recently ,I didn’t realize how small a step it was. 

According to Food & Drug Packaging editor Megan Waitkoff, “many of the food safety issues and lead-tainted toy recalls were the product of plants that had already received Chinese certification and U.S. government approval. Unless the government decides to hire more hands to carry out these agreements, and they’ve made no recent declaration to do so, consumers have no choice but to rely on the word of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who in turn have no choice but to rely on the word of a few Chinese government officials and manufacturers.”

Sounds like no step – or at best a side step – not a step forward….  Reminds me of a book The Elements of Influence and the presentation the author Allan Kelly (his blog link there) made at a BMA meeting last year.   Seems like a Freeze tactic in a Bear Hugto me…  If Waitkof is correct, fundamentally nothing’s been accomplished.

“Google-placed ads on web pages have been reportedly hijacked by “trojan software” that replaces text ads with alternate ads from other providers, according to BitDefender, a Romanian antivirus company,” according to an Adotas article today….oddly titled “Wrath of a Trojan.” 

According to MarketingVox review of the Pew Internet & American Life Project report.

“Teens are more likely to cover their online tracks. Among those who use social-networking sites, a higher percentage of teens than adults restrict access to their profiles.”

Pew Clue To You - they also hide other stuff like smoking, drinking…

MediaBuyerPlanner.com article today revealed CPG televison advertising case study findings from Arbitron’s Project Apollo.

“Among heavy buyers, those who purchase the category 35 times per year or more, frequency is a bigger driver of “Brand X” purchase likelihood. Conversely, for light category buyers, recency of media exposure is a more important contributor to “Brand X” purchases.  This is not a universal finding that can be applied to all brands and all media, but is specific to Arbitron’s “Brand X.”"

Makes sense.

A new financial magazine just for professional ball players?  Bet the steroid sellers are lining up already… Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies star, Lenny Dykstra is launching the magazine, Players Club, in April 2008 with expected circulation of 20,000.

More at MediaBuyerPlanner.com

Nearly (gasp) ten years ago I ran into Marilyn Price.  Price started non-profit ‘Trips for Kids’ which originally helped organize mountain bike rides for inner city kids in San Francisco – but has since grown into much more serving kids via chapters across the country.  I did what I could while at a NNJ bike company to assist her efforts from the ‘other side’ of the country…

Last month, I stumbled across a blog that asked for ‘our help’ via online voting to help Price earn a ”Volvo Life Award.”  Along with much deserved recognition, the award would add more $$ to the Trips to Kids budget.

So, how ’bout it yo!?  Send a little love to Marilyn and inner city kids across the country.  A little mountain bike ride in the woods with some other human beings could solve a lot of problems in this world.  All YOU have to do is click the mouse a few times….