One year ago I gave up smoking. I wouldn’t have believed it possible a year and a month ago. It’s amazing how something so meaningless can have such a significant impact on your life (health including). On one hand it seemed so easy to give it up but I remember the week or two of mild neurosis. Eventually I felt stronger -I felt I could out will an incredible temptation and this was an empowering feeling. I have come to view the habitual nicotine user as weak willed (though I sympathize).  But in all honesty I had to do it – for my children. My advice to anybody who wants to give it up is be strong (or be weak) – my challenge.

Diversifying for the greater good.

Several charitable endeavors have played an important role in providing me with a sense of self. SDMC will continue the tradition. Diversification of our ‘demonstration’ will now include advertising campaigns for select non profits. We’ll be designing the art and copy for print advertising in select magazines.

Placement will begin as soon as a system for measuring results can be determined and those terms agreed.

Exclusivity and the Luxury branding Fallacy.

One of my dear passions is the art and science of argument. To me argument is not about being right but rather it is about discovering what is right. An argument is simply a proposition that must be defendable. The point of defending a proposition is not to be right but to test the validity of the proposition. A good book on rhetoric is filled with classic fallacies and there Latin names. But I’ll treat this subject with good O’ common sense ‘reasoning’.

As it happens I'm in the market for a new watch. I currently own a Movado but I have not treated her so kindly so I am limiting my budget on a replacement. Movado probably fits into what’s often called the Luxury market. There is a basic premise to maintaining a luxury market. Let me begin with the problem which is nothing less than disrespectful marketing. It is true that scarcity is one of the commonly identified psychological heuristics that motivates action and desire. Superficially it would indeed seem that creating an appearance of exclusivity would be a great marketing strategy.

True enough – right? The problem is that this principle is easily exploitable.

Companies like Invicta (once a good watch – when Swiss) give their products outlandish retail prices but make them accessible at considerably lower the cost. In fact, what Invicta says cost eight hundred will indeed cost two hundred at most retailers (difference well noted). Sure it’s making Invicta a ton of money but Invicta is very much losing its reputation. This faux market threatens the reputation of Invicta consumers– but as watches go Invicta has lost its place among the classics.

This pricing strategy is very well established.

Web 2.0 promised a level playing field and fair markets right? – right! We’re not there yet but we’re heading that way.

Marketing today must be fundamentally based on ethics to be sustainable. Pulling one on the consumer will eventually catch up with you. Invicta will probably continue to make money but we’ll no longer look at a person wearing Invicta and think status. The Irony is that this is what Invicta is subconsciously telling you they are selling – what a bargain.

A more ethical approach to integrating market segments would be to create particular models and sell them at those higher prices and then offer a few lower priced models . I’ll jump on a two hundred dollar Movado and if Movado has limited this price range and maintained a greater and more exclusive range Movado will also maintain the integrity of their luxury status.

I am under the assumption that marketing is fundamentally a promise that a brand makes to a consumer. It seems to me that the most exclusive brands are not really exclusive but rather - they are supremely honest.

Invicta and others may as well be making Rolex in China. But in fact, what these companies are doing is much worst, as the fake Rolex buyer probably knows he is perpetuating fraud.

This is why I advocate professional organizations such as the American Marketing Association of which I am a member. But membership is not enough – application of integrity is what truly matters among professionals.

As for the watch I’m limiting myself to two hundred dollars since it will probably only last me a year or two. I still expect a good watch, made in good tradition, a watch I can be proud to wear, but most importantly this watch has to be honest. Perhaps I’ll buy a vintage piece this time.

It’s been a year since we settled into our new home. It’s twice the square footage as my last but then my last only took me two months to restore. I guess the real difference is that it was my business back then. I had one of my workers there (last project) full time and that made a real difference.

We knew then that it would be slow as I started a new path. Every free weekend is something more – tile, hardwood, paint, Venetian plaster, etc. I feel like I’ve been laying the floor for a year.

I think we’re finally starting to see the light. I’ve had new maple cabinets for a year but we’ve been waiting to do concrete counter tops – we gave up on that but we’ve finally prepared the surface for tile. “I know what I’m doing next weekend”.

I am looking forward to a weekend on the stream with rod in hand – free of guilt.

Our coming trip to Europe has me double focused on our house now.  I’m still determined to catch the Oct-Nov. steelhead run in the streams off Lake Michigan in the coming month, “wish me luck getting away”.

In the least I’ll no longer have to look at those ugly hardwood planks thrown across my cabinets as a makeshift countertop – a nearly complete kitchen – woo hooo. We originally planned on flipping this home in two-three years. It will be interesting to see how the markets play out. I have always taken pride in maintaining equity at least double that of my debt. Ultimately I’m glad I got out of the market when I did – we seen it coming.

A good friend of mine lost a fortune that you could have retired on. I’ve not followed the auctions lately but I’m curious how it affects the art world. I had always heard art and entertainment continue to gain in recession.