by Sue Horner | Apr 28, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
USB drives are useful. Mini highlighters are cute. There are magnets, keychains, stress balls, lanyards, mugs and sports bottles everywhere. But THESE are cool ways to promote your company (sadly, not available to Canadians): *Â Sharpie will personalize your pen...
by Sue Horner | Apr 16, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
A card arrived yesterday the old fashioned way, in the mail with postage stamp and all. It was from my friends at the local Honda dealership. Since I have just closed the deal on a new car, I thought it might be a “thanks for buying our car” type of card....
by Sue Horner | Mar 22, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Car sales representatives have a reputation that’s hard to shake. There are exceptions, of course, but would you generally link them with words like “honest,” “trustworthy” and “working for me”? I didn’t think so. They...
by Sue Horner | Mar 16, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Here’s a rare sight: a television ad that makes you smile, and you don’t even mind when it repeats several times during the show you’re watching. I’m talking about the Discovery Channel’s “I love the world” ad, sometimes known...
by Sue Horner | Mar 12, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Have you noticed that companies seem to be deliberately managing our expectations downwards? I’ve run across this a couple of times lately : When I traded in loyalty points for lift tickets for a recent ski trip, the web site said it would take about two weeks...
by Sue Horner | Mar 9, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Happy birthday to Barbie, who turned 50 today. Talk about a toy with legs! Whether 50 is the new 40 or 50 is the new 30, she sure looks good. And she’s got all kinds of “dream” things — dream bedroom, dream dining room, dream kitchen, dream...
by Sue Horner | Feb 4, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
The discussion over Super Bowl ads continues days after they aired. Of course, we Canadians are sheltered and can’t see the ads during the event itself, but they are a still a hot topic of conversation. (The game? What game? Oh, yeah, the football game, we did...
by Sue Horner | Jan 19, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Big Brother was watching me this weekend, and it kind of creeped me out. OK, so I was being nosy. A neighbour’s house was up for sale, and I was curious to see how much it was listed for. So I went to the real estate company’s site, scrolled through the...
by Sue Horner | Nov 19, 2008 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Christmas catalogues are landing in the mailbox about as fast as the two maple trees next door dropped all their leaves last week. Today’s specimen: Lee Valley Tools. The company is based in Ottawa, but they have a dozen locations across Canada and a thriving...
by Sue Horner | Oct 2, 2008 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
A flyer in today’s newspaper is trolling for subscribers to a new magazine, and I’m kind of creeped out. Founder Moses Znaimer, the new executive director of the Canadian Association for Retired Persons (CARP), replaced the old CARP magazine with a glossy...
