I stopped in to the local Bostonian retail outlet tonight to buy a pair of shoes. I am sure that the shoe salesman knew more about shoes than anyone I’ve ever met… Anyway, we struck up a conversation about the Clark Wallabees they were selling. I mean, who can forget the polyurethane soles, these shoes are classics.
I asked when the Wallabees became popular again. He told me that 5 years ago, members of a band (maybe Oasis?) started to wear the shoes during shows, the shoes then caught on with fans. Word-of-mouth marketing, influencers… you just can’t seem to get away from it all. Guess I’ll have to go back now and reread the beginning of Malcolm Gladwell’s the Tipping Point .
D.C.’s ad biz: The death of passion
Did anyone catch Cary Hatch’s recent column (free registration required) in the Washington Business Journal? Why aren’t more people talking about Cary’s sentiments on the absence of passion from the Washington ad scene? Hatch, CEO of MDB Communications in D.C., talks about changes the ad industry has seen in the last 20 years. More importantly, she writes about a lack of passion in leadership (and perspective employees). Hatch still gets up each day with the same passion that she felt 20 years ago. She almost asks the rest of us if we can say the same thing! Well, can you?
Just another day
On Friday, I went up to Capitol Hill. I was meeting with a couple of Senate staffers about some list management issues they are having. The town was buzzing with activity for this weekend’s WWII monument dedication. I knew that I wouldn’t run into Washingtonienne but thought of her anyway as I entered Hart. On the way back through Union Station, I struck up a conversation with the duck man and couldn’t help but wonder if my future also held the possibility of one day quacking my way through Washington, DC.