Photo: Rose by
Fred Winston
Beautiful image,
thanks Fred!

"Baby boomers and members of Generation X were like dogs - treat them right and they will be loyal. But members of this latest generation, Generation Y, are more like cats. They just go where the money is." Linsey Perry

Congrats & Cheers: Jeff Zucker to be named chief executive of NBC Universal. The boy wonder deserves the promotion. LA Times story by Meg James here. Yahoo takes the lid off of Panama this week. Randy Thomas was the voice actor heard during last night's halftime show - she goes into the record books as the first woman to vo the half (she has also been the voice of six Academy Awards shows).

CBS SportsLine has put all the Super Bowl ads in one location here. Congrats to Phil Duncan his great voice gave him away in his one line on-camera role as the boss (Pierce come in here) in the Salesgenie.com spot. Lewis Lazare reviews the bidding and declares Bud & Coke the ad bowl winners. Could not agree more Lew, bravo! Read his take here. The Letterman with Oprah bumper was brilliant!

Fred Winston is blogging here. Kudos Fred!

Wise words of the week: Tom Peters...

"You are in a losing battle unless you are totally, perpetually, viciously and vigorously at war with the tendencies toward control, stifling, bureaucracy, over planning, over systems, too many metrics, etc."

Tony Perkins writes Part II of his "confession", Avoiding the Bubble Blues...

1. Keep your eye on the money because cash is king.
2. Focus your venture money on overcoming risks.
3. Stay away from snappy people and Web 2.0 frat rats.
4. Customers (and prospects) are everything.
5. Bring in the design experts.
6. Base your PR strategy on the principle of attraction rather than promotion.
7. Do it for the passion. Not the money.

Tony's counsel comes from his diary about running two startups in the newly fashionable dotcom times. More here.

Photo:
Ron Fell
Good shooting, thanks Ron!

"Successful, effective messages - words and language that have been presented in the proper context - all have something in common. They stick in our brains and never leave, like riding a bicycle or tying our shoelaces. Not only do they communicate and educate, not only do they allow us to share ideas - they also move people to action. Words that work are catalysts. They spur us to get off the couch, to leave the house, to do something. When communicators pay attention to what people hear rather than to what they are saying, they manage not merely to catch people's attention, but to hold it." Frank Luntz

Congrats & Cheers: Tony Perkins and his AO team have done it again, another successful meet, this time it's AO Media happening this week in the city. Live + archive video and program details here.

David Weinberger speaking at yesterday's AO Media Buzz Marketing session (from my notes, not exact but close): "Basically you want to be interesting but marketers generally have forgotten how to be interesting because they are so concerned with shaping the message...If you can manage to be interesting you've got buzz...The fact that it sometimes works is not a model for how you market...Buzz marketing is all exceptions, an act of genius, you can't do a methodology for exceptions, for genius, can you?...Go forth and be interesting...except, you are probably, the company, especially the marketers, are probably incapable of being interesting anymore, the most interesting people in your company are your customers, your market, way more interesting than you are...message control does make people boring...Marketing is still at war with its customers." Brilliant, David! Bravo! Kudos too to Jarvis, just back from Davos, good job moderating.

Equal parts Marvin Gaye and Jack Johnson: That's the Rhapsody take on Paolo Nutini, his debut album drops in the USA today. His New Shoes track is tight, love it. Paolo clearly has buzz. Artist site here.