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November 29, 2010 | Ron Lee: Office email intrudes on holiday work-family balance

Fess up: Did you check your work email over the recent Thanksgiving holiday? If you did, you’re in good company (although maybe not in the good graces of your family or in-laws for doing so). A recent survey shows a majority (59%) of employed American adults check work-related emails during the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Where you one of them?

August 30, 2010 | Greg Ness: The Sharing Economy

Apparently, the admonishments of parents everywhere imploring their children to share with others is finally being embraced by a new generation. A soon-to-be-released new book by Rachael Botsman and Roo Rogers, makes the point that sharing is now the thing to do. The above video promotes the book's message about sharing and collaborative consumption. There is more about the trend here.

August 16, 2010 | Paul Bourdeaux: Mobile Devices To Outnumber PCs By Q4 2010?

Why is the marketing community making such a big deal out of the mobile web? Maybe because some models are predicting that mobile devices, such as smart phones, iPods, and iPads, will outnumber PCs as soon as Q4 2010!

July 27, 2010 | Ron Lee: Digital Receipts Coming to Your Inbox Soon

How many times have you purchased something and lost your paper receipt somewhere between the checkout register and your car? New solutions are emerging that will offer digital files of your Point of Sale (POS) receipts that you can retrieve now or later via email or Smart Phone. This would come in particularly handy to facilitate an item’s return, exchange or warranty service—or to find that elusive expense-report receipt for your accountant.

June 09, 2010 | Lee Schwartz: Fargo’s Best Coffee Houses for Nightworking

Live in Fargo? Here’s your quick guide to grabbing the best table in almost any local coffee house.

June 03, 2010 | Lee Schwartz: The Casino Marketing Catch-22

Loyalty.

Every business seeks it from its customers. “Disciples.”  “Raving Fans.” “Build a community.”

Casinos are no exception. While a significant amount of their marketing is to attract new customers, they consistently need to market to their existing customers, possibly more than any other industry.

May 05, 2010 | Ron Lee: Retail Banking Study Shows Decline in Customer Loyalty

“Customer Loyalty and Brand Image Decline among Retail Banking Customers For a Fourth Consecutive Year.”  While that headline of the JD Power and Associates Retail Banking Satisfaction Study should hardly come as a surprise, one finding that may be more troublesome to bank executives is the percent of consumers who may consider switching banks. Find out more about what the study uncovered.

April 14, 2010 | Ron Lee: Economists study urban economic indicators

Move over GDP, CPI, sales tax and retail sales. Some economists now are turning to urban economic indicators for spending, moving and working to get a new gauge on the economy. Reading the urban “tea leaves” means tracking new indicators, such as counting the number of subway passengers near hot shopping districts, watching theater ticket sales, and even reviewing costs for average apartment rentals on Craigslist.

March 17, 2010 | Ron Lee: Keylogging could be leading to student grade inflation

In a life-imitates-art plot resembling a scene from the movie comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, it appears that a handful of students from Maryland’s Winston Churchill High School allegedly could have used special USB-based keylogging devices to gain access to teachers’ passwords, enabling the grades of 54 students to be changed in the school’s grading system.  The Washington Post has been following this story.

February 25, 2010 | Ron Lee: Credit Union Seeks Rants From Gen Y

When was the last time your bank, credit union or financial institution asked you to sound off about their customer service, fees, or the banking industry? United Federal Credit Union (St. Joseph, Mich.) started an effort last year to do just that.  Got a beef with your bank? Mad about overdraft fees? Uncertain about your financial future? This credit union wants people to bring it on. And they are providing the virtual means to do so.

January 29, 2010 | Ron Lee: Big Banks Take a Beating in the Blogosphere

Consumers tired of big-bank bailouts and bonuses are being urged to vote with their wallets by moving their money to smaller community banks.  Thanks to a virtual movement called “Move Your Money,” consumers now have an easier way to research alternatives, such as smaller banks located in a zip code near them.

December 11, 2009 | Greg Ness: East and West

This thoughtful, fascinating, and energetic presentation by Hans Rosling reveals the date he predicts the economy of the East catches up with the economy of the West.