After watching ice cream trucks all but disappear from streets, the food truck business has made a huge comeback. When a taco truck in Indiana can make it into the New York Times, you know there’s a trend afoot. West Coast Tacos in Indianapolis is the perfect example of the hybrid business – new product, old package, new relevance.

Everybody in Cleveland (and in other places too) is super-upset about LeBron joining the Heat. His decision though is part of a trend-wave that’s been building since we’ve tumbled (nose-dived?) into the recession. People, businesses, organizations have been making tough decisions through the spectrum of what I’m calling the “New Economy” matrix.

It’s a balance of [...]

I’m not going to (yet) judge the Old Spice Viral campaign (no, I didn’t say Social Media campaign). We should revisit this campaign in three months and see what the residual effects are, then again in six months.
What I do think we can do now is define the type of content strategy they utilized to [...]

I went to my bank, Marshall & Ilsley in Broad Ripple, the other day and something really strange happened. There was no one else in line and the two tellers were finishing up with their previous transactions. One of them looked up at me and said, “Hi Sara, I’ll be right with you.” WAIT – what? She used my first name? Which she obviously remembers from previous visits?

Recently I’ve read a few posts about converting social media fans or followers into something more. The question came up again at the latest Indy Social Media Breakfast featuring a panel of speakers in the cultural attractions and tourism industry. How do you move someone from being a follower or fan and get them to actually do something?

Last night I went to the Ok Go concert (an MOKB and WTTS production at the Earth House) as a casual fan. I own one album, and I (along with millions of other YouTube viewers) find their videos clever and amusing. They have never been among my favorite bands, but despite that I am much more likely to tell stories about this concert than any other.

At first it seemed so convenient and full of instant gratification to buy music online, or even from my phone. I’ve been purchasing music via online download almost exclusively for the last four years. This was fueled in part by my green side telling me I’m saving on packaging materials and the transport of the product, and also by the fact that I had moved away from my favorite record store in Chicago.

To stay organized I make lists for work related, as well as personal tasks. If I write it down, I know it will get done because I need to mark it off of the list. For the past several weeks, I’ve been using TeuxDeux, a dead-simple, web-based list maker.

You know those moments when you stumble upon a little innovation and wonder why no one thought of it before? Let me explain. Have you ever noticed that it isn’t easy to get a pickle or olive out of an emptying jar without a utensil, or perhaps the unitasking pickle picker that Rachel Ray says, “sounds kind of dirty, doesn’t it?”

If you’re active in social networks, you know this type of person. The one who tweets pictures of food and posts about their meals on Facebook. For us foodie/photo types (I’m including myself here because I’m very guilty) there’s a website built specifically with us in mind. Welcome to the scene Foodspotting, the social network for sharing sightings from your favorite eateries, markets and watering holes.