You may haven noticed Starbucks has changed its logo. The idea is to go back to its “roots” to help Starbucks compete with smaller coffee shops that are eating away at market share. But the logo is just so dang ugly. Not only is the green logo much more clear and visually pleasing, it also has the benefit of not pissing off certain Christians (hint: look at the mermaid’s chest).
Apparently you can now get pasta at Pizza Hut. This is very confusing for a company that previously marketed itself as the place for best pizza. Check out this commercial:
I’m guessing Pizza Hut is looking to diversify and capture a new market. While there may indeed be an opportunity in delivery Italian-style food (pizza, pasta, calzone, etc.), a brand with the name pizza in it won’t be very successful. The name “Pizza Hut” clearly communicates that they sell pizza (not rocket science here).
It’s further confusing to the customer with the spin-off of the pizza hut logo:
The problem is this only appears in commercials, and isn’t actually a brand that they are building. Mixed messages will only hurt the Pizza Hut brand.
Stanford University has an awesome annual conference called Startup School, which has talks about how to start a successful company from famous entrepreneurs, lawyers, and venture capitalists. I’ve watched every single one, and my favorite by far is the talk by David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails:
A few great points from his speech and my two cents:
1. It’s ok to not have a goal of making billions.
We constantly hold up the creators of great companies (like Bill Gates) in the highest regard and laud them for making billions of dollars (and they deserve it). But they are a very small fraction of entrepreneurs and businesses, and statistically you have a much better chance at making a million than a billion. Making a million is a fantastic success, even though it’s not as sexy as a billion.
2. You don’t need to be the next Google, Facebook, or Craigslist.
Don’t obsess about being the “next big thing.” There are tons of successful, profitable companies out there that come about simply from solving problems. In fact, David Heinemeier Hansson became successful because he ran into a problem that many other people had, and created a solution for that problem. Sometimes we’re married to the idea about being the “next big thing” when really we just need to step back, take a look at the world around us, and develop a solution to a problem that a bunch of other people have too.
3. It’s possible to treat your customers well AND charge them a price.
Many developers passionate about democratizing content online, and that’s great. But if you want a successful company that is financially viable, you should probably charge a price. In the age of open-source, it’s important to remember that businesses do charge for their products and services. Seems like a no-brainer, but I think a lot of entrepreneurs think that they can just build a great product and maybe get some VC funding for it. The bottom line is there needs to be financial viability for the long run (something Facebook and Youtube are having problems with).
4. Having a limited amount of time every day to work on something really focuses your energy.
I’ve always got a bunch of projects going on at the same time, and invariably one doesn’t progress as fast as I want. By sitting down and blocking out specific times to work on specific projects, I’ve had more luck ensuring all my projects keep moving forward.
My university is thinking about using Google for a number of solutions, including email and a online information portal. We found that Google can save lots of money and personnel while giving the most up to date technology to our users. But during out discussions, we were thinking about the legal implications of having a third party host data. The potential problem arises when faculty and administrative email is not hosted by the university, but still is discoverable if a lawsuit arises.
Some universities are worried about this and avoiding third-party solutions altogether, while others seem to be adopting a “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission” strategy, both of which are bad. In fact, the latter is just plain dumb – it opens up universities to serious legal problems when a lawsuit inevitably happens.
Where data can be hosted, and who owns it, is a huge unresolved issue in cyber law.
I just saw an ad for Disney World Vacations. The tagline: “Discover how a Disney vacation is more affordable than you might think. Go to www.disneyworld.com/affordable to find out more.”
I’m guessing Disney wants to show us that Disney vacations are reachable for those of us who aren’t millionaires, but this ad does the opposite. By telling us Disney World is “more affordable than I might think,” it actually perpetuates the idea that a vacation with Disney is very expensive and out of my reach. Disney is a premium brand, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to market the Disney magic as a budget brand.
My name is Andrew Lundsten, I recently graduated from Christopher Newport University where I studied Economics, Accounting, and German. I'm passionate about people, public service, and entrepreneurship, among other things. I work for a public accounting firm in the DC area.
