Eat Every Opinion With Respect

Today I had the chance to stop by a Fresh & Easy store in Las Vegas. I'm the type of person who always reads the "writing on the wall." My eye is naturally drawn to the written word, especially when it has been edited by a comedian.


What might a designer do to avoid this issue in the future?

• Put the writing on the wall much higher
• Paint the sentences on the wall instead of using glue-on letters
• Be prepared to handle repairs immediately as needed
  

Personally, I think writing on a wall is a super design idea not only for Fresh & Easy, but for any business. So don't avoid it, just look for better ways to get the font on the plaster. It's a great way to display company values or to send subliminal messages to all the readers who enter the space.

I wonder if the company who sold them the letters provided installment instructions or suggestions for optimal use?

Go any other ideas about writing on the wall? Leave your comment here. I believe in eating every opinion with respect.

Vote for Triple Bottom Line Companies

America is the land of the free and the home of the impatient. Check out this video where Dr. Lorraine Haataia encourages viewers to pay attention to the companies they're supporting, and to choose to buy from CSR triple bottom line companies like Patagonia, Whole Foods Market and Chipotle Mexican Grill, and to think twice before making too many purchases at large, low-price stores like Walmart.

Dr. Lorraine encourages buyers to slow down just a bit to “Google” the companies and manufacturers they’re voting for with their dollars.

If you’re interested in having Dr. Lorraine Haataia speak at your organization, contact her at www.DrLorraine.net.

Mercury in Your Mascara?

Before you go shopping for your favorite cosmetics again, check out the product ingredients at Environmental Working Group's Cosmetic Safety Database. There's a good chance you'll be looking for a new brand!

If you have a favorite safe brand or product you'd like to mention, please post a comment.

Find Your Reps on Project Vote Smart

Project Vote Smart makes it easy to find your representatives. Search by candidate's or official's last name, or enter your zip code.



Let your representatives know what you're thinking!

Walgreens May Lose Customers Who Can Spell

According to Gallup's Honesty/Ethics in Professions survey, a pharmacist is the second most trusted professional in the United States, falling just behind nurses who take first place.

Ironically, the third most trusted professional is a high school teacher who could help the druggists correct the spelling on this sign I saw posted at Walgreens on Old St. Augustine Road in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 12, 2009.

As a former English professor myself, a mini-alarm goes off in my brain when I see a misspelling on a business sign. It's an advertisement that someone didn't pay attention to details. It amazes me that the store manager didn't notice! The company who made the sign didn't catch the error! The installers didn't catch it. And the pharmacists who show up for work every day aren't doing anything about this sign.

What they mean to say is that they want to ensure parking for their customers. They certainly aren't insuring parking!

Is anyone else out there concerned about this type of oversight? If you pick up a prescription at Walgreens, you want to pick up right drug. We all want to trust the pharmacist to type the correct name of the drug, and put the right pills in the right little bottle with the right instructions.

If you're investing in signs and would like a second opinion about wording to avoid possible misinterpretations, contact Dr Lorraine at www.DrLorraine.net.

Got other sign stories you'd like to share? Feel free to leave a comment.

Ten Great Reasons to Stall Your Advertising

Most people who see an advertisement in a restroom stall or urinal are likely to read it because they have at least a few seconds to spare and they're compelled to read just about anything in front of them, even graffiti.

In the image below you see several colorful examples from Midwest Indoor Advertising:

 

Here are ten reasons you should consider advertising in your restrooms (a.k.a. indoor advertising):

1. Entertain while building brand recognition.
2. Target men or women of specific age groups.
3. Hold audience captive for 30 seconds or more, longer than most other forms of advertising.
4. Get your message through to the young, the affluent, to those who are out spending.
5. Offer phone numbers, calendar events or web sites that people can enter directly into their PDA on the spot.
6. Reach specific geographic locations.
7. Provide compelling news or facts that motivate reader to take action.
8. Capture people when they don't mind taking the time to read, unlike telemarketing, web site pop-up windows, emails, and other less appealing forms of advertising.
9. Customize your ads to suit a number of target markets.
10. Utilize this cost-effective form of advertising in your restrooms even if you don't do it anywhere else.

If you're interested in finding an ad agency who can help you with indoor marketing, see IBAA's membership directory:
Indoor Billboard Advertising Association Membership Directory

Even if you don't have a big budget to advertise outside your business, consider placing ads for upcoming events or specials in your own restrooms. Kaibo Restaurant, Beach Bar and Marina at Rum Point in Grand Cayman hung framed cork boards on the back of their stall doors. Although they would look better if they were centered on the door, some signage is better than none. The off-center would, however, make more sense if the hooks were moved more to the right so that a hanging purse, beach bag or towel wouldn't cover the sign.

The font on the Kaibo sign below is too small. They should say less with bigger font and with more attractive graphics.

The small font on April Events Calendar from REI shown below could also minimize the impact of their message. It would make more sense to advertise specific events with eye-catching photos in the stalls and place a larger calendar someplace else where people can read all the details. It would also be easier to keep the calendar more updated where the past weeks rolled off and only the upcoming four weeks were shown. I took this photo on April 27, a time when most of the April events were obsolete.

If you aren't utilizing indoor advertising and need advice on designing a customer communication strategy for your business, contact Lorraine@DrLorraine.net.

If you have more ideas about best practices for indoor advertising, feel free to share your comments.

Are You Still Working on Your Salad?

One of my pet peeves is waiters who ask if I'm still working on my meal. First of all, I'm on vacation today, so I'm not "working!" But today when my husband and I went to lunch at the Cabana Cafe in Destin, FL, the waitress came to our table and asked me if I was still working on my salad. This is a very common misuse of the word work. Most people work to eat, not the other way around. And if I was working on my food, I'd be the one doing the cooking in the kitchen, not the one going to a restaurant so I didn't have to work to prepare the meal!

After she walked away from our table, my husband asked me why I didn't tell her that I wasn't working today. I usually return a comment back to servers saying something like, "No, I'm not working right now, but I am still eating." But it's a hopeless solution. For starters, some waitresses look at me confused when I say this, so what's the point anyway? I can go on correcting servers throughout the United States the rest of my life and not solve this linguistic faux pas and national epedemic.

Another interesting thing happened with the same waitress. After I placed my order for the Asian salad, she told me that this was a very bland choice and she suggested that I change my order. Huh, I thought? I thanked her for her opinion and glanced over the menu again. Nothing else on the menu looked as good as a salad with lettuce, fresh mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, cucumbers, red onions with ginger soy dressing. It sounded great to me!

"I prefer vegetarian, so I think I'll stick with this salad," I said. Since she said it was bland, I asked, "can you please bring extra dressing on the side?"

"Would you like chicken or shrimp with that?"

Huh, I thought again! "No thank you," I said.

I wonder if Wayne Anderson, the owner/manager is providing enough training for his staff? I know that Wayne is the owner because when we got our bill, it was attached with a clothes pin to a Cabana Cafe post card. The post card includes a picture of Wayne with his general manager, Mandy, and his coffee roaster, Sophie. I really like the gesture with the postcard and the wooden clothes pin with a joke written on it:

It's good for a man to believe in something. So I believe I'll have another beer.

Wayne's restaurant might survive simply because it's near the beach in an area that draws a lot of tourism. But Wayne's restaurant might not make it if he doesn't start asking his customers the two magical questions:

1. What is the one thing that you enjoyed most about your experience at the Cabana Cafe today?
   
2. What is the one thing we most need to improve?

If Wayne doesn't ask his customers these questions, he will be running his business blinded by the opinions of his own semi-loyal employees. I'd like to send my feedback to help Wayne with his business, but he has made it quite difficult for me to reach him. I didn't see or receive a feedback form when I was there today, and this evening when I looked at his website, I discovered that the website doesn't have a contact us area. I did, however, find an e-mail for a Wayne Anderson who is on the Board of Directors for the YMCA of Florida's Emerald Coast. If it is the same Wayne Anderson, then I'm impressed that he is giving to his community not only through a small business, but also through his community service to the YMCA.

The salad was very good. I wish Wayne the best with his business venture into his not-so-specialized coffee/cafe, pizza/salad buffet, lunch, dinner and everything-about-food ice cream shop.

The next time a waiter asks you if you're still working on your food, can you please help me out and tell them that you're paying them to work on your food? I think I'll ask Susie Ross of Waiter Training to help too.

Gap Blames Subcontractor for Child Labor

The Gap pushes child labor accusations on its subcontractor who "illegally subcontracted the goods in clear violation of Gap policy," says Marka Hansen, Gap North America President.

Check out this raid in New Delhi, India, on a day when 14 children were rescued from a factory producing Gap clothing. But this was only 14 of an estimated 100,000 children working in 3,000 sweatshops in New Delhi.



Thank you CBC News for bringing this important news to consumers!