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itsbaconbits
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Name: Jeff
Country: United States
Metro: Los Angeles
Birthday: 5/28/1982
Gender: Male
Interests: Rapping, dancing, writing poetry, song writing, playing games, chillin, watching the Lakers
Occupation: Consulting
Industry: Business
Message: message me
AIM:  itsbaconbits
Member Since:
3/17/2003
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More and more I am becoming convinced that video games have become a cornerstone of not just 'at home entertainment' but as a cornerstone of entertainment. I am not a gamer myself so please don't send me messages of being a gamer homer. I remember as a kid that video games were something I played after school and before I got out to play basketball before dinner. It was a short and sweet session of punching through blocks with Mario or Luigi. I was on shrooms' back then: the ones that make you grow larger and allow your opponent to hit you just one more time before suffering a Goomba induced fatal would.
My buddy James directed me to this article on CNET showing GTA IV's first week performance. $310M ONE DAY OPENING. $500M IN ITS FIRST WEEK. Is that not just ridiculous? I had a blog earlier on Iron Man's stellar first weekend opening of ($100M). We are talking about 3x that in just one day for a gaming title. I will point out however that for every behemoth title or franchise like GTA, Halo, and Mario there will be a host of other titles that are your equivalent of Bennifer's disastrous Gigli. It just boggles me.
GTA's FIRST week of sales would rank it's publisher Take-Two Games and its developer Rockstar Games (if they combined to become a 'country') to be 176th in GDP! They would have a higher combined gross domestic product than the following countries:
- East Timor ($472M)
- Comoros ($436M)
- Vanuatu ($421M)
- Samoa ($387M)
- The Gambia ($379M)
- Solomon Islands ($358M)
- Guinea-Bissau ($343M)
- American Samoa ($334M)
- Dominica ($268M)
- Federated States of Micronesia ($232M)
- Tonga ($219M)
- Cook Islands ($183M)
- Palau ($145M)
- Marshall Islands ($144M)
- São Tomé and Príncipe ($142M)
- Anguilla ($109M)
- Kiribati ($73M)
- Tuvalu ($15M)
- Niue ($10M)
That's just ridiculous. But not as ridiculous as Gigli.
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| In Fast Company's June article on American Apparel titled sex vs ethics Rob Walker, the writer, talks about American Apparel's public facing transition from an ethics touting (a la sweatshop free clothing) to their newfound image of sexual overtones (see ad samples below). The article doesn't claim that AA has lost its sense of ethics or has forgotten its roots in best labor practices, it simply points out that using ethics as a selling point can only go so far: a niche. AA is growing, and part of that growth is thanks to their new broad base of customers. American Apparel sells clothing without a logo. Their clothes are not about projecting iconic or symbolic coolness onto you. The clothes are meant to complement the vanity already inside you. Ethics sells, but it isn't going to expand the bottom line like he diameter of a star going supernova on you. In fact, the article quotes:
"...according to the Journal of Industrial Ecology only 10% to 12% 'actually go out of their way to purchase environmentally sound products' "
That's nuts. If you were to walk down the street and stop 10 people and pop the question, 'do you care about ethics or the environment?', 'is sweatshop free or environment important to you?', 'would you buy sweatshop free or green oriented products?', I can BET that the majority of those you polled would say YES with a capital Y-E-S. Yet... our actions and behavior say something different.
That got me thinking about several product/service movements including but not limited to green, ethics, and good old made in the USA. I am planning on going to b-school and I was thinking about exploring the opportunities within green product lines. But is that enough of a sell? Can we do what sex did for the smoking industry in their heyday? I mean is it enough to stand on a soapbox and say 'hey buy this because it's biodegradable or zero emission or sweatshop free or made in the US?' Sadly I don't think it's enough. It's one selling factor.
Consumers are complex algorithms. Too many functions besides just green-zero emitting-ethical-Yankee fervor. There's PRICE, CONVENIENCE, UTILITY, QUALITY, and the bazillion other quirks that trigger the 'purchasing yes' button.
I think what we'll see going forward is that companies will creatively market their products with other marketing overtones as their primary message (much like American Apparel is doing now) and using the 'green-zero emitting-ethical-Yankee' concept as a secondary (much like you'll see American Apparel saying 'sweatshop' free in size 4 super-undersized font on their ads. Something is better than nothing right?
Other Movements or Companies I support
Product Red - AIDS focused product and awareness campaign
Method Home - environmentally sound cleaning productsOrganic Foods - I'll admit I'm a hypocrite when it comes here... I'll still eat a fast food burger. Sorry.
French Ad
Meet Sophie Ad
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| NOTE: PLEASE JOIN ME AND READ MY BLOG ENTRIES ON MY OFFICIAL BLOG AT WWW.JEFFIGNACIO.COM. IF YOU WISH TO READ THROUGH XANGA, CARRY ON. THANKS!
Ten minutes ago I purchased a Kindle for myself online. I'm not sure what you do during your breaks, while you're waiting for a bus, or when you're just standing in line but I usually pull out my Q9 phone and read news on my browser. While I normally surf for sports scores, I will occasionally pull up the Reuters site and read the latest news. Normally it's some sort of natural disaster or some new political scandal pushing towards the front of the headlines. When my Kindle arrives I'm hoping to add a new habit of mine: reading books, magazines, or news headlines all from my Kindle.
What can I say? I'm a content addict. I can't go without my daily fix of hearing the latest news in business, technology, or admittedly the entertainment section (don't go spreading that around now). I love to read. Ever since I was young I just had to read something. I might not have always read the most educational things however (as evident by my ongoing affair with comic books). Sunday mornings were especially notorious for my ravaging of the Sunday comics. I'd read everything top down but I always seemed to exclude Family Circus. I always hated that cartoon. Even at age 7 I thought it was corny. In middle school I would read the Riverside Press Enterprise. I'd peruse the Front Page section and of course I'd finish my bowl of cereal reading the last few stats from last night's basketball games in the Sports section. In high school I think I regressed back into comic books. Marvel Comics always had a sweet spot in my heart.
Today, post undergraduate, I read mostly the WSJ, management books, economics books, and magazines. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this post but I know I wanted to return this blog to its old self. It should have content. I'm a content addict after all. Sometimes it's better to give than to receive, and I know that I've just been consuming for myself for a very long time. It's good to be back on the blogosphere.
My current magazine subscriptions:Good Magazine - Your subscription fee goes to a charityFast Company - Thank you Kiran (my best friend) for gifting this to me. Great gift.Wired - Come on... they even featured this in the movie IRON MAN!!!!
Amazon's Kindle
Motorola Q9
Family Circus (the comic I always skipped)
Press Enterprise
Marvel Comics
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| Thrusday - My BFF Kiran brought me out to watch a hockey game between the LA Kings and the Toronto Maple Leafs, all paid for by Kiran's company GM. Gotta love corporate perks. We were seated in the box suites. I have NEVER experienced a sporting event with a view like this. Thanks Kiran!!!!! The Kings won by scoring 4 goals in the first period. RIDICULOUS! Oh and the dessert cart looked ENTICING! But damn it was expensive I heard. Blah. Can't say I ever experienced the Staples Center like that before. After the game I opened up my X-Mas gift and lo-and-behold I got a UCLA Tailgating chair! SWEET. Thanks Kiran you're the best.
Friday - Tried going out to PYT Fridays at Jimmy's Lounge in Hollywood with Theresa P. and Sotheary B. I sent our names to their guestlist around 3 PM BUT when we arrived they didn't have our names on the list. Cover was going to be $10 each. The girls didn't agree so we bounced. PYT seems like a popping place but next time. We went over to Busby's in Santa Monica instead. I'm not the biggest fan of the place but hey, no cover so I can't complain. Glad my roomie Randy B. came out to party it up with us.
Saturday - Woke up early for a Riordan Fellow Leadership Committee meeting. I really don't enjoy waking up early on a Saturday if I spent Friday night drinking and dancing. Gotta do what you gotta do though right? After the meeting I went over to the Riordan Mentorship training session. I was definitely happy to see my mentee. Last time I saw him was in November. Turns out he was accepted into UC Merced. Congrats Mario! Hopefully he hears favorable news from UCLA and UC Berkeley.
After the Mentorship session I drove out to LCC Retreat in Pauma Valley. First of all, where the hell is Pauma Valley? It's in San Diego County and it's mostly an indian reservation. I was stuck in Freeway 91 traffic. At first I was really upset that I spent an hour just to move three miles, but then I saw the nastiness that was the accident up ahead. Jeez, I hope no one was hurt. As I got closer, I drove down a dark, unlit highway in the middle of NOWHERE! All of a sudden a giant orgy of lights came across the horizon in the form of Pala Casino and Resort! Who knew! An Indian casino in the middle of nowhere. I drove past it and ended up in Pauma Valley. There was a dinky sign indicating PAUMA CASINO (but no resort???) was to the left. My guess is since the sign was insignificant that this casino is a little shack with one person with a table. On this table are three cups, and in one of the cups is a little red marble. Guess which cup it's in!
As always , LCC Retreat delivered on fun, comedy, friendship, and debauchery. Congratulations G13 to the group. Too bad my roomie Randy couldn't come out. Good times.
Sunday - I wanted to go snowboarding. That didn't happen. I left retreat way too late. Stopped my folks' place to watch football and eat carne asada fries. Mmmmm.... carne asada fries. AND I decided to get them in Riverside as opposed to San Diego??? WTF? Jenn A. came over and we just caught up while walking-talking at 3rd Street. I got a new game for the Wii: Mario Galaxy. My roomie is way ahead of me! And the Lakers eeked out a win.
On this horizon: DSP Rush events, work, San Francisco, Riordan Fellows Session, MT's Bday Bash, Mammoth Snowboard Trip | | |
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