I read an article yesterday that said Americans take only 11 out of 14 vacation days a year. That is awful. Americans are giving back 438.9 million vacation days a year or $60.46 billion. That figure probably offsets the billions companies lose on fantasy football, online shopping and March Madness. How do we stack up against our European counterparts?
1) France: 36 days
2) Spain: 30 days
3) Germany: 26 days
4) British: 24 days
Another sweet app I just found is SidePath. Watch the demo video to see how it works.
RightCart is one of the cooler web apps I have seen in a while. I heard about it from my friend Zeke who works at ELC Technologies, the company that developed the product. Their GarageSale app for Facebook is pretty sweet too.
Word on the street is that this burger joint called Frugals is off the proverbial chain. I’ve had friends in Montana and Washington rave about how good the food is. Apparently, the portions are huge, the cost is low and the drive-up has two lanes. With the feedback I’ve gotten from people who have eaten at Frugals I am a little surprised that there are only four locations. However, their limited reach could be positive for someone looking to aggressively open several stores in a short period of time.
If I were to franchise Frugals I would look for markets that 1) are college towns and 2) do not have In-N-Out’s. So pretty much anywhere except California, Phoenix and Las Vegas.
CNN is airing a special next week entitled God’s Warriors. The program is a three part series highlighting Jewish, Islam and Christian religions. I’ll bet the farm that it will primarily focus on the kooks in each religion and ignore the vast majority of sane devotees. Such is the American media.
On CNN’s website, they have pictures of Ron Luce’s latest gig called Battlecry. You’ve got to love this guy! For two decades he’s been pushing the same poorly reasoned, quasi-biblical and alarmist messaging to gain a vast following of American youth. Personally, I find his act tired and irrelevant and suggest he read this.
To prevent embarrassment I will refrain from naming names, but I love how every ad agency’s pitch includes something along the lines of “we don’t have a cheesily named process like every other agency. Instead, ours is totally cool and organic and it’s called [ INSERT CHEESY NAME HERE ].”
Pardon me while I laugh hysterically for a brief moment! I have lost count of how many times I have seen this pitch on agency websites, but seeing it again on a local agency site today compelled me to post this quick entry.
Albuquerque based band Soular is trying to get into the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Click here to help them get in. If you haven’t already listened to them you are missing out on some fantastic music. You can buy their latest album here.
On the heels of my Chih’ua Tacos post, I’ve just discovered another promising franchise opportunity originating from an Albuquerque businessman. Solarius, founded by Scott Bushey in 1985, is now offering franchise opportunities to the “right people.” I’ve known Mr. Bushey and Solarius (formerly called Solarium) since my days as a Designer & Creative Director at Rome & Gold Creative (’01 - ‘04) when RGC was handling the re-branding of Sun Center of America to Solarium.
This week we launched an updated version of the DW Turner website. A few highlights inlcude:
- a bolder, brighter color scheme
- a consolidation of the international sites into the design
- IP detection which auto-forwards the visitor to the country of their region (i.e. if you visit the site while in Mumbai, it will automatically take you to www.dwturner.com/india/)
- Google Analytics to track site usage
- full Japanese translation for the Japan site
Hook me with feedback if you’ve got any.