A frustrating week at the oche for the Chips, but we managed to squeak out a 12 – 9 victory against The Ladies in Waiting.
After a four win and four loss night, somehow Gary Meyers managed to hang on to the number two ranking in the league. My night was only slightly better (5 and 3) leaving me at number six in the league.
We’re back at Cooper’s on Wednesday night for a second go round with Who Darted.
First dart at 7:30PM. Gary is buying again.
Cheers!
John Kennedy
New Business Manager
We found another item for our holiday wishlist. Seattle designers (like us) will love this map of Seattle neighborhoods from Ork. Clever design and typography, guys.
They also have posters for Boston, Chicago, L.A., New York, D.C., Portland, San Francisco, and more.
Order online or pick one up in Ballard.
Thanks to Seattle Magazine for spotting this one.
Tim Hodgson
Principal/Creative Director
California-based Google just celebrated its Grand Opening of its new offices in our city of Kirkland, WA, about 2 miles from our old offices on Sixth Street South. Interestingly, for 14 years, from 1992 to 2005, I lived near the site that Google built its facilities on.
From keyholes to keywords.
The site was what we called the “Souder Door site,” a dormant door-manufacturing facility. I was a representative of the Everest Neighborhood Community Association (one of Kirkland’s 9 official neighborhoods) and we kept close tabs on the various proposals over the years for what to do with the property. Developers coveted it. Condos were proposed. A shopping center was pitched. The then-mayor of Kirkland even met with us and proposed a fantastical train station.
Rah!
Never in a million years would we have guessed that Google would ultimately occupy the site. In fact, Google didn’t even exist in 1992.
Google Kirkland, in conjunction with the smaller Google Seattle office across Lake Washington in the Fremont neighborhood, employs about 600 people. They have primary responsibility for Google Talk and Talk Video, and also work on Google Maps, Chrome, Gmail, YouTube, Analytics, AdPlanner, AdWords and more.
Good for Google. Good for Kirkland.
Gary Meyers
President
We get asked (challenged might be a better term) by non-marketing folks, such as CEO’s and CFO’s in B2B environments, how to measure ROI for a company brand. Why bother with brand? How’s it make us money? Why the heck should anyone invest in brand building in this lousy economy? Especially a B2B company?
Fair questions. Think brands don’t have prescribed value?
Top brands are worth millions.
In a bidding war and negotiation in 1998, Volkswagen paid $780 million for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. But BMW got the Rolls-Royce brand name and logo for $66 million. According to the New York Times, analysts “quickly declared BMW the real winner of the takeover brawl because the name is considered by many to be Rolls-Royce’s most valuable asset.”
Or billions.
The 2008 BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands ranking, created by BusinessWeek and Interbrand, ranks the top 100 global brands, and is typically published every September.
How are rankings determined? Interbrand says it evaluates brand value “in the same way any other corporate asset is valued — on the basis of how much it is likely to earn for the company in the future.” Interbrand uses “a combination of analysts’ projections, company financial documents, and its own qualitative and quantitative analysis to arrive at a net present value of those earnings.” Interestingly, Interbrand adds that brand values are “based on data collected during the 12 months prior to June 30, 2008. This means that more recent developments, including the troubles at Merrill Lynch and AIG, are not factored into the brand valuations.
”
Read more…
Gary Meyers
President
