Tag Archives: scribbles

Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Where Did it Come From?

Last Saturday, while strolling through the produce aisles at Fred Meyer, I paused to examine the locally-grown fruits, which was on sale, I commented to a woman, picking out pears, that the previous week I’d purchased the peaches. While they were slightly overripe, the taste was amazing. She smiled, commenting she’d purchased a box of […]

Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Lower Prices Doesn’t Equate with Value

For the past months, I’ve been doing the grocery shopping for my mother. Her most recently craving is marshmallow pinwheels, which run around $5 for a dozen. You can buy three dozen Oreos — a far superior cookie — for that price! We decided to see if Walmart offered a cheaper generic brand. Normally, I […]

Metrics Can’t Make Up for Experience

A few weeks ago, I interviewed with a large company in downtown Seattle. I’d done research on the company and its offerings, studied their current site, watched a couple of their training videos, and wrote a series of questions to root out information about the position, overseeing an aspect of their customer outreach. I was […]

Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Do Women and Men Shop Differently

One would think since I write about grocery shopping I would relish wandering the aisles for canned goods, perusing the meat and dairy cases, shivering through the frozen foods section, selecting produce, and sifting through coupons for the best deals. Truth be told. I look forward to visiting the grocery store, but struggle to fill […]

Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Instructions Not so Easy

For the past few months, I’ve been immersed in writing instructional videos and accompanying cards and training decks. Having never used the product, for which I’m writing the materials, I simultaneously learned how to use it while writing the content. In the past, I’ve written a couple of users guides, a large manual (took several […]

Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Turning on the Data Spigot

Years before laptops, smart phones, tablets, and other ubiquitous electronics, consumers were inundated with persistent noise from ads on TV, radio, and publications, hard-to-overlook billboards, signs, direct mail, catalogs, and email enticements. Even the skies were occasionally punctuated with skywriting or banners streamed behind planes. Introduce handheld devices, and users not only can’t escape from […]

Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Upgrade or Retain?

Recently, during an email exchange with a client, Windows XP was mentioned. My first thought was surely no one is still using that old operation system. “Why create a marketing campaign to encourage people and companies to upgrade?” I was wrong. According to Net Application, which tracks the usage of web browsers and operating systems, […]

Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Signs of the Times

At one time, the signs displayed in grocery stores and taped to the windows were hand-painted on sheets of butcher paper, using bold colors, graceful letters, and dramatic flourishes, emphasizing the sale prices. Today, hand-painted signs are a lost (or dying) art, a rarity among the multitude of printed, vinyl, and plastic banners and placards […]

Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Piggly Wiggly Started It

Earlier this week, after coming to the realization there was no fresh food in our refrigerator, my husband and I pried ourselves from our computers and ventured to our local grocery store. Being late at night, there were few shoppers, the lights and music dimmed, butcher paper spread over the meat, trays of fish emptied, […]

Steven Sinofsky, Ribbons and Tiles

News of Steven Sinofsky, president of Windows, leaving Microsoft is swiping across the Internet. It comes on the heels of the Windows 8 launch. Sinofsky barely had time to celebrate the momentous launch of the operating system, designed to power the “new era of PCs,” before getting the boot. Or maybe he left on his […]