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Chevrolet Volt test drive

Chevrolet Volt test driveChevrolet had a huge promotion at South by Southwest. One hook was free local taxi rides in the Cruze, their version of the Honda Civic/Toyota Corolla.

The second hook was what got me – a test drive in the new Chevrolet Volt – a mostly electric car that won’t hit the market till “the end of 2010” – and then only in seven states.

I enjoyed it! It was very quiet. The build quality seemed to be solid. It was about as roomy as a Prius. I hit the pedal to the metal, and the acceleration wasn’t bad… maybe slightly faster than a Prius. The coolest thing was that during my 5 mile test drive, the gas engine didn’t kick in once.

My recommendation? Wait.The Volt has a lot of cutting-edge technology, and it will be a few years till it becomes cheap enough to compete with the value of a Prius. My real recommendation is that if you want to buy a green car, get a used Prius. Buying used is almost always more green than buying new. You’ll save as much as $20,000 – and you won’t have to wait until they are available in your market.

Yes, the photo is really poor, due to my cheapo cell phone.

http://www.chevrolet.com/volt
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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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