The food insanity

After reading today’s WSJ article on Denny’s free food promotions, I am honestly starting to believe that people’s thinking needs to be redesigned. The Title “Who could eat all this?” paired with this visual is a scary interlude to the article describing the food contests that are being held as a promotional tactic for restaurant chains.

The article focuses on the success of free meals during tough economic times. My beef is with the consumers, not the companies. Why would you go out to eat during lean times in the first place? And why would you eat so unhealthy and stuff yourself with low quality food to the point that it’s damaging to your well being? In my opinion leaner finances should trigger new approaches to handle the budget and might even get you going in re-evaluating the priorities in life.

My logic is simple. I should buy good food and less of it. As a result I will lose weight and keep my body healthy. Food should not be the cheapest thing in your budget list. It sustains your body (and sometimes soul) and there is no other way to go about it. I don’t buy the excuse that larger families can’t eat healthy. Sure they can if they would not spend money on plastic utensils and dishes, unnecessary packaged goods and just general crap.

Why is it so hard to just stop and think about the consequences? These habits are symptoms of flawed thinking patterns. This thinking needs to be redesigned if we are to move towards a healthier and more sustainable way of living. Then the businesses will follow.

The selfish approach

I recently watched Food, Inc, which impacted me more than I thought it would. Despite the constant conversations I have had on sustainability and the environment for the past 2 years as part of my graduate program’s curriculum, I was still affected by what I saw. I knew about the damage that the industrial farms create for the environment, I knew about Monsanto and I knew about genetically engineered food, but I still had difficulty relating the facts to my own life until I saw the movie.

I then remembered the first project my team and I worked on, which we named “The selfish approach”. In that project we took the regular environmental issues that have become sort of a white noise in public’s ears and showed the audience the impact they have on an individual’s health, wallet and well being. Food Inc. did the same for me. Since I saw the movie, my desire to eat chicken breast has evaporated due to the visual of miserable overweight chickens moving like invalids on their featherless stomachs. And something as harmless as corn has ignited a little flame of anger within me. As a result I turned to a very basic diet of fruits, vegetables and few selected proteins. It is too early to see the changes on my body, but I have to say that my budget has improved substantially.Which only proves that the selfish approach in conveying the message works the best.

Bad economy is not a good reason for career stagnation

Yes, I agree that when things are rough and one needs to make her ends meet, there should be room for compromise. However it infuriates me when people’s advice for a person’s unemployment problem is: “You should just take anything that comes your way. At least it’s a job.” But what if the “job” is off your career strategy? Should you just take it anyway, suck it up and maybe loose valuable time that you can invest in your career development? My response is “Absolutely Not.”

I agree that humility is important and maybe starting at a lower salary or title is the right thing to do, when you’re strapped for cash, but the job selection can’t be a random process based on your rent needs. After reading Penelope Trunk’s “Frugality is a career tool” blog I realized that intuitively I have been living by the same principle of frugality, which enabled me to stand firm in my job search for a long period of time. I choose to be frugal so I won’t have to be mediocre in the future. I choose to spend less on “stuff” so it won’t distract me from my life’s goals. I consciously do that, because I know where I need to be and wasting time on “at least it’s a job” is not what will help me getting there.

Personal Brand

Lately I have become saturated with the information about personal branding. I agree about the value of it, but somehow it makes me feel like I am walking product with a big price tag. But yesterday I realized that it’s  a matter of approaching it correctly. As I was working on a brand audit for a non-for-profit organization, I tried to apply the questions to myself and I have to say that it sounded slightly ridiculous. Later that afternoon, in my hour of web browsing procrastination I found this wonderful blog that is a perfect example of personal branding. Here is a woman that is so true to her own passion and style that she managed to create a solid brand for herself and even a following!

I must admit that I have been in search of a personal style (which would be a part of my brand) for a while. And friends, it is hard work! So maybe the questions that are used for brand audit are an easy way to position my brand after all.

A brand’s loyalty to its target

Last weekend I decided to help my boyfriend with his Christmas shopping. The challenge was to find a gift for his 15 years old niece. Not having a contact with teenage girls in over a decade myself, I decided to confirm my intuition about teens favorite brands. I began my initial search by going on the Juicy Couture website. After seeing a few possible options I googled the question about teens favorite brands and saw an answer of a teenage girl, who favors brands such as Louis Vuitton, D&G, etc. Given the fact that a Louis Vuitton bag is quite expensive and I, a 31 year old woman, find it a luxury to own one, I became slightly depressed.

It wasn’t the fact that I find the bag expensive that depressed me, but the fact that it indicates a blurring line between girls and women. I associate the LV brand with being a mature woman, who deserves the product. Making it a teen brand cheapens the experience, at least for me. Not only I don’t want to be associated with 15 year old girls at this point in my life, but I also don’t want these teenagers to share my brand experience while using the product.

This realization led me to another thought about luxury goods and overspending in general. It is a common knowledge by now that we are in this economic mess partially due to the obsessive over spending. That being said, I had never associated the social responsibility of the brands towards their market with the failure of past business strategies. Companies will always want to make money, but in my opinion, targeting a wider audience is ultimately not a sustainable solution. Luxury items are luxurious for a reason. Teenage girls are not supposed to have them and middle class women are not supposed to overspend on them. I love my LV purse, but I do not want to rush and buy another one even if i had the money to spare. I want to enjoy the one I have, to experience the brand as it was designed and I don’t want to get myself in debt over it. In my opinion targeting the financially unstable is a short term business growth strategy for Luxury goods.

Great branding supports a great product

I had never liked cupcakes. That was until I tried Crumbs. I first ate the mini cupcakes at a party and loved the taste. They were not dry and the frosting was not too sweet, just perfect.

The taste got my attention, but the store earned my loyalty. Each Crumbs store is a perfect example of a good brand strategy. Not only it is inviting, visually pleasing and convenient to choose a cupcake of your liking, but the staff is friendly and patient. Before I discovered Crumbs my only familiarity with a cupcake store was through Magnolia bakery, where it felt like visiting a mini battle field. The cupcakes are ok, but the system for purchasing them is quite stressful with a bouncer at the door and a long line inside.

Given the fact that Crumbs had opened in 2003 and the average growth of the business has been around 40%, the owners must have done something right. I know one thing for a fact, when I walk on the street and see someone holding a transparent bag with a striped trimming on top I instantly crave a cupcake.

When creatives get professional

I have always thought of myself as a fairly organized person. Sure I keep most of my tasks and appointments in my head and to do lists on various post-its around my apartment. But that’s normal, right? Apparently wrong, even with my good memory and creative reminders. Unfortunately this technique is not working anymore. Between grad school work, job search, freelance, networking, personal life, etc. I started to become slightly overwhelmed and caught myself having major ADD issues. So with a heavy heart I decided to schedule my life.

I remembered Benjamin Franklin’s guide to Achieving Moral Perfection and decided to adopt certain elements from this method. Might as well take example from the great. So kicking depressing thoughts aside (such as: I’m becoming so boring and predictable) I created a weekly schedule. My calendar now looks like a schedule from a boot camp, but if that will help me focus I’m willing to join the ranks of the predictably boring and organized. After all I’m not seeking moral perfection, just avoiding clutter and anxiety and hope to accomplish everything I have planned.