Author: Paul

Sharing the shiny bits of life since I can remember. I run http://greenergrassmedia.com/.
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Using QR codes in marketing

Here at the South by Southwest Interactive conference, QR codes are everywhere. If you don’t know what they are, here’s the Wikipedia description. (In short, they are smartphone scannable codes that send users off to a website or mobile application. They often allow the originator to grab a potential new customer.)

Problem? Too many of these babies are all over the place here. It’s as if each company said, “We need to get something out there with a QR code on it – and it doesn’t matter what it says or links to. Just get it out now, now. We only have two weeks till the event kicks off!”

Fail.

None of them (that I saw) thought of a hook to make themselves stand out among the sea of other QR codes. Moral of the story? Take a little longer to think through your marketing effort before you launch it.

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Away for a little while

Life is getting overwhelming. I’m headed to Austin for South by Southwest Interactive conference. After that, I have a huge freelance job that will keep me crazy-busy for my non-daytime hours.

Meanwhile, wander over to my right sidebar. Notice the little “ARCHIVES” panel. Dig into there and you should be able to find some pleasure in my absence.

I took that photo in Kenya. It’s the back of a human-powered cart. I know that I’m not as overloaded as some people are!

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I learned my lesson

I was about to leave the supermarket parking lot. A lady tapped on my window with a concerned look on her face. “Did you know that it’s unsafe to drive while listening to headphones?”

My reply: “Thanks for letting me know.”

Inside my head: “I know that. I’m driving extra carefully while I have these on. And did you know that deaf people drive too?”

The lesson I learned? I often have the urge to tap on people’s car windows while they are sitting with their engine running for long periods of time and say, “I have to breathe this air. Would you mind turning your engine off?”

I won’t.

Reason? That lady made me feel angry toward her. I don’t want people to feel angry toward me – and they may not change, anyhow, so it would just be a waste of my (ahem) breath.

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Humility looks good on you

(This is one of those blog posts that has been rolling around in my head for a couple of weeks.)

We were visiting some friends overseas. One of them said, “That’s not how we pronounce that here – that’s only how it’s pronounced in America.”

At the time I thought, “Oh, I just didn’t know that.” But later, I realized how that friend made me feel stupid.

I’ve done that many times. “I’ve been there, and that’s not the way it really is.” Or, “It’s bad because there’s such a better way that it’s done in England, where we lived.”

I hope I lean toward humility and not toward arrogance. And I try to remember what C.S. Lewis once said: “If you think you’re not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.” I have a long way to go.

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Graceland

If you are ever going to be in Memphis, I would highly recommend a visit to Graceland. I’m not a big fan of Elvis, but it was fascinating to tour his home.

My favorite part was when we passed by the family graves. The tour guide lowered her voice as if we were going to wake him. She was giving reverence, like someone would give to a god.

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An early SUV

Digging through boxes last weekend, I came across this drawing from yours truly – circa a long time ago.

Yes, I did invent the idea of SUVs. (Sadly, the royalty payments are way behind.)

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Big corporations do adapt

Big corporations get a bad rap. But the stereotypes are not always true.

(Yes, McDonalds does offer packets of seaweed in other parts of the world than the USA.)

Thanks to a former colleague of mine, who brought that back to me after their travels to another part of the planet.

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Vertical addresses

In the UK, addresses are more vertical than in the USA.

(This was from a fax that came through to the office I worked at in England from 1995-1998.)

In Nairobi, Kenya, Africa, where Heather and I lived for five years, there are no street addresses. And that’s a city of 3-4 million people. There are street names but not building numbers. You have to ask good directions to find a place.

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