Friday, September 30, 2011

Pizza Partnership Hits 10 Years

My friend Scott Anthony owns a Pizza Shop in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and holds an annual fund raiser for the local  fire department.

Scott donates the proceeds of all pizza sales one day each year to the Punxsutawney Fire Department.  Last year his efforts raised $30,000.

He has now been doing this for 10 years and everyone benefits.  The fire company receives much needed donations for new equipment, pizza buyers make a contribution to essential services in their community and Scott gets tons of positive media attention which puts him top of mind with customers when they think about takeaway food.

That's a triple win situation, so congratulations Scott on the 10 year anniversary of this innovative business idea.  

.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Digging For Victory Interview

(Listen to my interview with ABC Radio.)

I'm currently involved in a wartime Australian garden with a novel twist.

In 1942 Australian families were encouraged to grow their own fruit and vegetables as part of the national war effort. The Dig for Victory campaign proved highly successful. 

As part of Floriade 2011 the Australian War Memorial is recreating a wartime backyard garden which hopefully inspires today's gardening family with an eye on the environment and looking to be more self sustaining.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Is Ten A Magic Marketing Number?

I recently read an academic paper that theorized that committed activists in  10% of the population, over time, could change the attitudes of the remaining community.

At least that is what I think it meant.  Crammed wall to wall with graphs, equations and symbols the paper was barely readable.

In the Rogers and Hammerstein song "Stout Hearted Men", the late Nelson Eddy calls for ten brave men to join him and change the course of history.  And for centuries military structures  have used ten as the basic building block for sections and squads,  the fundamental units involved in action.

So is ten some knind of magic number or tipping point when it comes to communicating ideas and generating action?

What do you think?