What a cross-town trip can teach you about your business.

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2 critical miles

The distance between the FDR highway – the farthest road on Manhattan’s East Side, and 11th Avenue – the farthest road on Manhattan’s West Side, when traveling along 23rd street, is a short, straight, 2 miles.

Oh, but so many things can happen between those two points.

As I made the trip from point A to point B this week, it occurred to me how it was a metaphor for running your own business. Let me explain.

I keep my car in a garage on 23rd and the FDR for a few reasons:
– The monthly rates are “reasonable” for Manhattan (aka, less than the cost of an iPad)
– You park your own car (never handing your keys to a valet)
– Easy access out of the city to the Northeast, such as Boston

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Why you should stop your whining and listen to Elon Musk.

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How was your day?

Did you whine because your boss gave you a little extra work at the end of the day? Did you feel good about yourself because you wrote a nice little blog post, closed a sale, or balanced your budget? Or maybe you had a really productive meeting?

Well, it doesn’t really matter because you’re still a total loser.

You heard me! Are you complaining about the ONE little job that you have? Are you puffing your chest out because your Vice-President replied all to your group email and said “Nice work!”?

Well, you’re pathetic because you’re not Elon Effing Musk.

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Jim gives his observations from the NY Auto Show. Is the industry advancing, or is it all just marketing bling?

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Episode #150! Thanks to everyone that has read the blog and listened to the podcast over the years.

It seems things have come full circle… In Episode #1 of the Hopkinson Report podcast, I compared the iPhone to a Porsche, and asked, “Has the iPhone reached ‘no substitute’ status?”

Well, the iPhone is still going strong, with Apple on track to make $100 billion dollars in 2011. It sold 18.65 million iPhones in the quarter, an eye-popping 113 percent increase over last year, destroying Wall Street’s consensus estimate of 16.6 million units.

As for Porsche, I get to them a little later.

When I talk about marketing cars, I think the interesting thing is that companies have to market them all the time. A user might buy a car only once every 3, 5, or even 10 years, so car companies have to be building this brand and trust constantly.

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Today I question the spread of social media to every last place on earth.

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Hey everybody

It’s my annual Super Bowl commercial podcast. You know I love sports, you know I love marketing, and I also love beer and cars so that’s covered too.

Last year I broke down 10 Super Bowl commercials that were completely irrelevant (and 6 that weren’t), but this year I’m going to do a quick one.

Passing thoughts were that a lot of commercials must have paid big money royalties to songwriters, including Kenny G, Elton John, David Bowie, Jay Z, Eminem, and the theme from Star Wars. I guess on the big stage, you want a music that people know.

I thought Bridgestone and Audi and Teleflora hit their mark, Best Buy tried a little too hard, the beer commercials were about par for the course, and the ad exec that suggested the ‘Pepsi Max can to the groin‘ should be fired. You know his defense was. ‘C’mon… can to the groin always works.’ Sadly, he’s kinda right.

And by far the one that stopped me in my tracks was Chrysler’s Eminem spot. Beautifully shot, held your attention, and made you think. Am I going to go buy a Chrysler? Let’s say the chances of that rose from never, not a chance…. to less than 3%.

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The ideal customer is not only one that keeps coming back, but that buys more expensive items over time.

Is Apple the best in history?

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We are winding down the end of the year, just a few podcasts left to go. As we hit the holidays,

I bet there are a lot of Apple products on people’s lists:
– I’ve been predicting all year that the iPad is going to be the #1 tech gift of the season (along with the Kindle)
– iPod music players are always in demand
– The laptop elite will be lusting for the Macbook Air
– Digital entertainment geeks might long for the $99 Apple TV

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