Tough Times. Un-appetizing Measures.
Tough times call for tougher measures. Sometimes that measure involves cutting back on the one thing we as Americans love most, food. Enter Chris Greenslate and Kerri Leonard, a couple who woke up one morning and said, “Hey, let’s see if we can survive eating on a dollar a day.” How’d they do [...]
Crisis of Confidence
I have spent a great deal of time in the past six months considering our country’s economic situation and dissecting it on many levels: as a business owner, as a marketer, as a consumer myself. Like many in our country, I wake up in the morning wondering whether this is merely a crisis of confidence [...]
The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
Something about sifting through quotes reminds me that the problems we face as a nation are not necessarily new, albeit, they are in a unique context.
Every generation believes that they are the exception to history, which leads to a distorted kind of hysteria. It’s good to be reminded that these same troubles have been measured, [...]
Growing the Farm: Community Supported Agriculture
Buying shares in Community Supported Agriculture is a perfect example of how consumers are adapting to the new economy — investing in local growth while reducing their environmental footprint.
The concept of a CSA’s involves a group of individuals who pledge to support a farm so that it becomes the community’s farm, with the growers and [...]
The Bling Thing is Over
Those of us engaged in marketing in the United States suddenly find ourselves in a precarious situation. We have helped create a false economy based on a belief perpetuated by our industry: the more you buy, the happier you are.
In fact, our work has been so effective that consumer appetite has become insatiable. Americans buy [...]
The Invisible Middle Ground
There is no more middle ground. As a society, we seem addicted to dramatic shifts. The White House will soon be trading hands from the son of an American dynasty to the son of a Kenyan immigrant. We downsize from the excess of a Cadillac Escalade to the economy of a Toyota Prius. We go [...]
Investing vs. Spending: Moving Forward in the New Economy
Pretty, shiny, sparkly. It’s all too easy to get caught in the game of keeping up with the Joneses in today’s society. Everywhere you look, the media is constantly promoting aspirational lifestyles that are unrealistic for the average person to maintain. But, we still watch, we still want. We still buy.
Over the last decade, society [...]
