Monthly Archives: April 2010

According to Barry Braun, University of Massachusetts kinesthesiologist, writing in the American College of Sports Medicine Newsletter: “Standing…may contribute to daily energy expenditure without triggering the caloric compensation effect.” Stand up guy.

Why do many of us struggle to control desires for food? Siren calls to eat can lead to fatal rocks of obesity. Turns out one of the sirens is not mental, not a lack of willpower. It’s a hormone named acylated ghrelin. It increases desire for tasty delights. So we must strap our wills to the mast and sail past the seductions of Ghrelin.

Recently, Peter Hubbell and I were invited to be Keynote Speakers for the Minneosota American Marketing Association Annual Conference in Minneapolis. We chose a subject close to our hearts. Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands.

We asked attendees challenging questions that face us all today: Has marketing reached a dead-end after recession? Is there nothing beyond branding-as-usual? We answered an emphatic “No!” Using Saatchi & Saatchi examples from around the world, we revealed the vital dimensions of mystery, sensuality and intimacy that empower achievement of loyalty beyond reason.

I commute. Every day. Two hours to work. Two hours home. Many people say it’s crazy. But there are thousands of us who do it every day, so mass transit may be a form of mass delusion.

Alois Stutzer of the University of Zurich’s Institute for Empirical Research in Economics says “Commuting is a stress that doesn’t pay off.” To add injury to insult, Business Week adds “Commuting is also associated with raised blood pressure, musculoskeletal disorders, increased hostility, lateness, absenteeism, and adverse effects on cognitive performance.”

Maybe we’re just too sick and tired to get sick and tired of commuting. Or maybe we’ve learned that we can adapt to anything and make the best out of any circumstance life throws our way.

This is a fascinating time in the life of America’s Celebrity Culture.

We put our stars and champions on pedestals, as if they were gods.

But they prove themselves to be mere men and women, with all the flaws of ordinary mortals, though their particular talents may be legendary.

It’s hard to take your eyes off this. Like watching a car wreck in progress. Will that guy live? Will he die?

Tiger Woods seems to be a train wreck as a person. His career may still be collateral damage. But in a new commercial from Nike his father speaks to him as a son, asking deep caring questions.

Given American suspicions about mercantile motives (though our country thrives on business), it will be interesting to follow people’s feelings about Nike’s spot.

Mine are mixed.

Tiger’s motives are easier for me to imagine. He craves redemption and forgiveness, to move on with his life — and his public life.

Nike’s motives are less clear to me. Do they really care for their spokes-star as a person? As a father to a son?

Or is this about their brand? If so, what does “Just Do It” say about them in this context? (You can’t see their Swoop without hearing their slogan in your mind). What does it say about Tiger?

F. Scott Fitzgerald, famously wrote, “There are no second acts in American lives.”

Time will tell for Tiger.

He desperately wants to put his train back on the tracks, powering through tragedy caused by his own hubris.

Apparently, so does Nike.