Chocolate and Valentine’s Day are the perfect couple. Whether you’re looking for a gift for your sweetheart or a way to stop feeling lonely, chocolate is the answer. And if we’re talking about chocolate and romance, it’s hard to think of a more romantic chocolatier than Godiva–I mean their logo is a naked lady on a horse. While the company originated in Belgium nearly 90 years ago, it is now headquartered in New York, NY and does all of its U.S. production in Reading, PA. They’ve also opened close to 300 retail locations across the country.
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While having the baby boomers leave the workforce should be a good thing for our generation in terms of employment outcomes, the mass retirement will likely bring new challenges. As people age they not only head more healthcare, but they also need more care in general. Sometimes that can be provided by families, but sometimes it needs to be done by professionals. Relias Learning is a Cary, NC based company that educates those professionals by offering “online training to senior care, health and human services, corrections, and intellectual and developmental disabilities organizations.”
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There are generally two ways to market to people. You can build your own audience, or you can rent somebody else’s audience. That’s why a lot of companies are built around building audiences to rent to other businesses. FierceMarkets is a perfect example. They are a Washington, DC based company that specializes in business-to-business media, publications, and marketing. The end goal is to “connect companies with the right audience and ensure each campaign generates the highest possible return on investment.”
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I don’t go to the theater very often, but when I do I usually enjoy it. There’s something pretty cool about seeing someone become a completely different character right before your eyes. As we spend more and more time looking at screens of all sizes, it’s important to remember our “theatrical traditions.” That’s what American Conservatory Theater is all about. They are a San Francisco, CA based non-profit that “embraces its responsibility to conserve, renew, and reinvent the rich theatrical traditions that are our collective legacy, while exploring new artistic forms and new communities.”
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We can all agree… that we can all agree on some things sometimes–even when it comes to politics. I tend to like when the disagreement between the two parties locks things up because it means that the government won’t be able to break anything else; however, I understand that occasionally we need our government to actually accomplish something. The Bipartisan Policy Center is a Washington, DC based non-profit that encourages the two parties to work together on important issues where ideological differences can be worked through. The organization was “founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell,” so it truly is a bipartisan effort.
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A few years ago I got a lot of free stuff from Bonobos and Gilt Groupe by referring people. It was certainly out of self interest, but it’s hard not to refer a product or service that you love when they’re giving both referrers and referees free stuff. Referral marketing is tremendously effective, but it can be hard to implement a system that works. Extole is a San Francisco, CA based company that specializes in helping “brands acquire new customers at scale by rewarding existing customers.” Why build out your own software to reward customer referrals when you can use Extole’s platform instead?
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We all have at least one friend who has a brilliant idea for an app or website, but no way of building it. They think that if they can just find some geek to develop it for “equity,” they’ll be instant millionaires. Building a digital business isn’t even close to that easy, and marketing/business talent is just as important as tech talent. Most people who want to start a company on the web need to either figure out how to do it themselves or pay a lot of money (not equity) to get someone to build it for them. Even then, most agencies are designed to help clients later in the game. That’s not true with Digital Intent. They’re a Chicago, IL based business that helps “clients identify products customers will pay for, design compelling user experiences to make customers happy, and rapidly build high performance products that scale.”
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Every company and organization in the world is looking for better talent. The problem is that the quest for talent is typically a zero-sum game for employers. The world’s most talent people are typically employed, so the only way to hire them is to steal them from someone else; however, there are some exceptions. The Center for Talent Innovation is a non-profit think tank that focuses on these exceptions. They’re based in New York, NY and have a two-fold mission: “to drive ground-breaking research that leverages talent across the divides of gender, generation, geography and culture; and to create a community of senior executives united by an understanding that full utilization of the global talent pool is at the heart of competitive success.”
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Last week we talked about brand experiences. They can happen at any scale, but typically bigger brands want to create bigger experiences. The battle for mindshare is only getting fiercer, and that means companies are going all out to get people to pay attention to them. TV, radio, and online are great channels, but it’s hard to beat in person. That’s exactly what Sparks specializes in. They are a Philadelphia, PA based agency that “creates dyanmic brand experiences anywhere in the world a customer engages with your brand.” They’re operating at the highest level and working with the biggest brands–names like Google, LG, the New York Times, Motorola, Dropbox, and HP.
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Last year I got married at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I’ve never been much of a plant person, but it was truly a perfect setting. I’m just amazed that they can grow such a diverse array of beautiful plants in this climate–especially with the winter we’re having this year. If I was opening such a garden, I’d want to do so in a more moderate climate like San Francisco’s. John McLaren was the landscape gardener who was Golden Gate Park’s superintendent for 56 years. He picked a place for a future botanical garden that had “a variety of soil and exposure, sloping, dry and sunny hillsides, sheltered spots and rich, low or marshy land.” The San Francisco Botanical Garden finally got the necessary funding in 1926, and in 1954 the Strybing Arboretum Society was founded to support the garden and its programs. Today the organization is known as the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, and it supports “55 acres of both landscaped gardens and open spaces, showcasing over 8,000 different kinds of plants from around the world.”
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One of the best things about the Internet is that it allows creative people to find a market for their work. What used to be a hobby for someone can now be a living. The problem is that creating isn’t enough–you have to learn how to run a business too. Gumroad is a company that makes that part easier. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they “help millions of creators earn their livings in an interesting, authentic way.” Gumroad’s platform takes all of the complications out of selling digital goods online. Whether it’s a book, music, a video, or something else, Gumroad will help you with marketing, accepting payments, and offering secured downloads.
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Job searching comes with a lot of repetitive tasks. Imagine if you had the technical skills to automate the most annoying ones. You could focus on doing stuff that makes you more employable instead of wasting hours on mindless repetition. There are certainly some smart engineering types who build their own systems to automate their lives, but what about the rest of us? We can use IFTTT (If This Then That). They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that lets you “put the Internet to work for you.” The service plugs in to all of your favorite sites, so it’s not like you’re starting a new workflow from scratch.
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When I think about my personal impact on the environment, I think about driving, flying, heating my home, what I eat, and other similar things. Clothing doesn’t typically come to mind, but the production and transportation of clothing can have significant negative impacts on the environment. Reformation is trying to reduce the impact. They’re a Los Angeles, CA based “environmentally sustainable fashion brand that repurposes vintage and surplus
materials to create a chic, limited edition collection.” The way that they operate is completely different from most other fashion brands, but it’s working.
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At this time last year, Amy and I were in the thick of wedding planning. Part of me is relieved that it’s in the past (because the wedding was awesome), but I also kind of miss it. We were lucky to have an amazing wedding planner who proposed great ideas and narrowed down the early decisions for us to make them manageable. Before we got to that point, though, we had to do our “homework.” That meant looking through all kinds of books and magazines to mark what we liked and what we didn’t like. It was a bit old fashioned, but it worked. Loverly is a New York, NY based company that brings that process online. It’s “a one-stop-shop for wedding planning where brides and grooms find ideas, people to hire and things to buy.”
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Remember when the only way to interact with a brand was to call the 1-800 number on the side of their packaging? If you complained they might send you some free product or a coupon, but it would probably take 8-72 weeks to arrive. Technology is bringing brands and their audiences closer and closer together. This is generally a good thing, but only if the brands do it right. Mass Relevance aims “to inspire brands to involve their audience.” The Austin, TX based company does this by offering a platform and products that “help your brand become an integrated part of your customers’ lives, anywhere they are.”
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On my last day of vacation I got blasted in the face with a volleyball. It didn’t break my sunglasses, but it really hurt. My nose is still sore, but it only left a tiny red mark across the bridge of my nose. I wouldn’t have minded a black eye, but I know some people care a bit more about how their faces look. They’re more likely than I am to purchase products from Benefit Cosmetics, a company that got its start when twin sisters moved to San Francisco, CA and opened a beauty boutique. One of their first products, Benetint, was developed to help an exotic dancer “enhance her nipples.” That’s certainly one of the more interesting stories I’ve heard about how a company got its start.
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Until today I’d never looked up the meaning of my last name. I always knew that Franzen was Swedish because my dad’s dad’s parents were both Swedes, but I never knew that it actually means French man. Other than owning a French breed of dog, parlaying a tiny bit of Français, and enjoying French food, I haven’t really lived up to the name. Todd Snyder has lived up to his surname. It means “one who makes outer garments” in Dutch. His eponymous Todd Snyder brand is a New York, NY based men’s fashion line that is inspired “by Savile Row craftsmanship, military tailoring, and a distinct New York sensibility.” I’ll guess that Todd Snyder’s Iowa roots have also had an influence on the company.
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I ran into a few issues in pre-school. The first was when a kid bit me, and then I started biting other kids. They almost kicked me out. Then I got into an argument with a teacher because I insisted that a square was rectangle, my parents got called in… and they had to correct the teacher on her geometry. I don’t remember learning much in those years, but I’m sure it was an important time for my educational development. Parents seem to take early childhood education much more seriously these days. That probably explains the growth of The Learning Experience. They are a Boca Raton, FL based company that aims “to provide the tools and the environment that will give every child the opportunity to develop to their greatest potential.” They don’t use the term “day care” much on the corporate site, but I that’s what their local centers (locations in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and Virginia) seem to call it.
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I’ve been on vacation in Aruba for the past 10 days or so, and I’ve gone fishing every day. The fishing has been decent, but I’ve also see all kinds of wildlife from pelicans and sea turtles to eels and frigate birds. It’s amazing how much life a marine environment can support and what you can learn just from experiencing the ecosystem. This need not be formal education, but it can be. The Chincoteague Bay Field Station is a Wallops Island, VA based non-profit that makes a marine environment academic by providing “outstanding multi-disciplinary, educational and research opportunities that celebrate the rich natural, cultural, economic, and technological resources of the mid-Atlantic Coastal region through field-based and hands-on learning, often in affiliation with multiple public and private partners.”
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There’s no question that social media is important for businesses of all kinds, but it’s a relatively new channel that offers an uncertain return on investment. Most of my investment in social media marketing has been a flop, but I know that plenty of other brands have had major success. Companies that are investing in social need to do so wisely, and that often means getting professional help. Optimal “is the leading social advertising and analytics platform, with offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York, Chicago, and London.” They started in 2008 when social really began to take off, and since then “have managed and optimized over 100 billion impressions for advertisers and agencies.”
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One cool thing about living in a major city after you graduate college is that it’s easy to get involved with groups of people with similar interests. This is obviously great for your social life, but it can also help your career. Meeting people who are in the places that you want to be is always good. The Council of Urban Professionals is not only a way to do that–it’s also a way to do good in your community. They are a New York, NY based non-profit that “molds diverse business and civic leaders, and empowers them to exert influence, achieve their individual goals and create collective impact through a range of programs and initiatives.” It started in a living room with 62 young urban professionals (that’s a big living room!), and now the organization has well over 5,000 members.
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If you want to see me act like a child, take me furniture shopping on an empty stomach. It’s weird. I really appreciate what good furniture does for a space–whether it’s home or office–I think I just get freaked out by all the fake setups in a furniture store or something. I much prefer looking in a catalog and seeing a really cool office setup or a cozy living room. Even though they’re still staged, it feels more authentic. Haworth is a Holland, MI based company that “can make your environments work harder for you.” In other words, they make and sell furniture that is stylish yet functional (and they sell a lot of it–more than $1 billion a year).
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I don’t remember what methods my teachers used to teach me how to read, but I do remember that it all came together on while my family was traveling to Florida on a train for vacation. For me it felt like a binary thing–one minute I couldn’t read, and the next minute I could. I’ll assume that’s the desired outcome, even though we all known that literacy is much more of a progression. The progression happens more quickly with the right methods, and that’s what the Children’s Literacy Initiative is about. They are a Philadelphia, PA based non-profit “that works with teachers to transform instruction so that children can become powerful readers, writers and thinkers.” While most literacy focused non-profits work directly with children who are learning to read, CLI ensures that the people working with those children are properly prepared for such an important job.
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Our government spends a lot of money. $10 billion is essentially a rounding error in the Federal budget. The problem with that is that even the tiniest amount of government spending can have a huge impact on people’s lives. It’s important that our elected officials do a better job of spending our money on the right things. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a Washington, DC based non-profit that “conducts research and analysis to help shape public debates over proposed budget and tax policies and to help ensure that policymakers consider the needs of low-income families and individuals in these debates.” This is an organization that sees the people in the rounding errors.
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Much of what we do on social media sites is completely frivolous, but we all know how powerful they can be when directed in the right way. Whether it’s raising money, awareness, or a volunteer force, there’s no better medium than the Internet for pushing a specific cause. Causes is a San Francisco, CA based company that wants to be the place that people go to when they want to “discover, support and organize campaigns, fundraisers, and petitions around the issues” that matter to them and their communities.
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Skin is the barrier between you and the rest of the world–it’s extremely important both cosmetically and medically. We all have skin issues at some point. It may be as simple as a pimple or as serious as cancer, but more than 100 million Americans are afflicted with some sort of skin disorder. The American Skin Association is a New York, NY based non-profit that brings “patients, families, advocates, physicians and scientists” together to “to defeat melanoma, skin cancer and disease.” If it has to do with the body’s largest organ, the American Skin Association is on top of it.
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Though it was more than a decade ago, I still have very strong memories of the college application process. I knew where I wanted to go, so I didn’t do a lot of research on other options. Back then research meant requesting brochures from any college that you were interested in. There was some information available on the web, but you had to go to each individual school’s site. A lot has changed in how people seek out educational opportunities (and it’s not just about undergraduate admissions anymore). Noodle is a company at the forefront of that change. They’re based in New York, NY, and they are “the first and only life-long education related search company in the world.” What does that mean? They offer “extensive data on over 150,000 schools and hundreds of thousands of education providers.” In other words, they’re taking a much broader view of what an education search is about.
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Going to the opera is the ultimate stereotypical thing that male tv characters do to make the women in their lives happy. You almost get the sense that nobody wants to go to the opera–they just want to influence other people’s opinions of them by going. While I’m sure there’s some of that, I’ll bet that most people who go to the opera truly love it. I’ve never been, but I’d like to go at least once. When I do, maybe I’ll go to The Metropolitan Opera in New York, NY. It’s the largest classical music organization in North America, and it’s been around for just over 128 years. The Met’s goal is to be “a vibrant home for the most creative and talented artists, including singers, conductors, composers, orchestra musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers, and dancers from around the world.”
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We usually think of advertising geniuses as the people who come up with the creative, but the media side (where you show the ad) is often just as or even more important. Everyone has noticed a disastrous ad placement, but how many of us take note when a marketing message appears in the right place at the right time? The people at Crossmedia certainly do. They are a New York, NY based (with offices in LA, Philly, and Germany) “independent channel-driven agency delivering communications planning, media services and international account management.” They offer a variety of services that are built with “an equal mix of business, media and agency performance.”
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I hate to get personal, but raise your hand if you’re wearing underpants! I guess it’s not really all that personal unless you didn’t raise your hand. Most of us wear undergarments on a daily basis because that’s what we’ve always done. There are certainly some comfort and hygiene benefits, but those wily marketers really pulled one over on us when they convinced us that we had to wear clothes under our clothes. I’ll bet that the folks at Jockey International had something to do with it. They’re a Kenosha, WI based company that aims “to satisfy the human need for comfort.” They got their start selling socks to lumberjacks in Michigan in the late 1800s, and they now offer more than 600 styles of underwear and t-shirts (and socks, sportswear, and loungewear too).
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