Blog
Don’t Miss the Magic
Can you tell she was raised in a retail store? Our daughter wrote this story as an assignment for school; the underlined words are from her spelling list. There's still time to find the manger before the wassail runs out. Once upon a time in a little town called...
Wisdom verses Folly
"Reactance" is a swanky physchological word for manipulation. The idea of persuasive writing in the last 50 years was to make people believe the impossible by convincing them the business somehow knows their needs. It might sound like this: "You don't need to sort...
Beware of the Doghouse
To all the women out there who've ever unwrapped a vacuum cleaner, and to all the retailers who think the best ads are about product, price and promotion. Merry Christmas from The Lively Merchant
Idiom: Shoppertainment
We can't even go to church anymore without expecting to be entertained. We want great music and puppet shows for the kids. We want to hear a message that tickles our ears, not pierces our hearts. Christmas has become a gross spending spree instead of a glowing...
Four Freedoms
On January 6, 1941 President Roosevelt forever changed to direction of the nation. He single handedly added freedoms beyond the American Constitution. It was never implied Americans should expect freedom from "want and fear." While these are wonderful ideals, as...
Idiom: Creativity
If you ask a class of second graders, "Can you dance? Can you draw? Can you sing?" they will all say yes. Ask a class of college freshman and they will all say no. Somewhere along the line we lose confidence in our creativity. Yet your customer longs to be creative in...
History does repeat.
491 years and 18 days ago, the 95 Thesis was nailed to the door in Wittenberg. In its day, this was the means of inviting scholars to debate important issues. Not a single person took the challenge. A decree condemning the views was issued. The decree was later...
Idiom: Technology
Are you trapped by technology? Do you spend 20 minutes trying to find the right words for an email that's going to sail through cyberspace only to land three feet away on your coworker's desk? Do you save everything into electronic files and folders but can't find...
Who’s kidding who here?
Pepsi forced Coke into the greatest marketing blunder of the 20th century. Coke couldn't stand coming in second in the infamous Pepsi Challenge so they decided to change their classic winning formula. The results were nearly the death of a legend. This list of...