Never Trust the Atlantic
So, as it turns out, that graphic comparing Coke and Pepsi logos throughout the years (posted here by yours truly) is imperfect.
Records reveal that the iconic Coca Cola script didn’t actually appear until the 1900s, and has been tweaked over the years in subtle ways.
The crux of the Pepsi freneticism argument still stands, I believe. But for the sake of posterity, I wanted to air the revised, more accurate chart.
(Hat tip: Brand New)
Titanic Deck Chair Update
Believe it or not, Radio Shack (I’m sorry… I’m sorry… The Shack) was once a significant, dare-I-say epochal company.
In 1977, it introduced the very first fully assembled microcomputer, complete with keyboard, monitor, processor, memory, and programming language.
The system (called the TRS-80) was a huge success. And by 1983, computers made up 34.5% of Radio Shack’s revenues.
Then they lost it all to Apple and IBM.
Since then, things haven’t been so good. According to Ad Age, some of the company’s persistent little problems include “an indistinct position in the marketplace, stores a fraction the size of competitors’, and a reputation for less-than-stellar customer service.”
But all that was before “The Shack.”
Surely, this ingenious re-naming will magically fix all of those aforementioned business liabilities, particularly by accentuating the fact that you’re purchasing highly intricate technology components from some guys in a shack.
The only success story here belongs to Butler, Shine, Stern, and Partners—bartering for the clothes of a dying animal.
Had we any shame, we might not even watch.
What’s the Matter with Pepsi? (Part 2)
A helpful illustration I just came across:
(Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan)
What’s the Matter with Pepsi?
Plenty.
Most of which can be extrapolated from this, one of the most unintentionally hilarious would-be Juvenalian satires of the modern era (at least as it pertains to marketing extortion).
Long story short, PepsiCo CMO Dave Burwick has resigned. Looks like Tropicana was the first strike. Then Gatorade (I beg your pardon, “G”). And finally the Obama/Pepsi debacle.
So who’s really to blame? Peter Arnell, or the self-delusional Pepsi brass that commissioned such preposterous jargon. There’s an old saying, you get what you pay for.
But I’m starting to think in this industry–you get what you get, and you pay for it later.
Phasing out the IE Dinosaur
The bane of every web developers existence is Internet Explorer 6. When it was developed in 2001, it was a good web browser. However, it is now 2009 and there is a lingering population who still uses this now legacy technology.The problem with IE6 is that it does not meet with modern day web standards even some basic CSS styling components. As a result, developers must spend sometimes hours creating “hacks” that allow their sites to work within IE6 even when they appear correctly in every other browser currently in popular use.
Some reports are showing that 15% to 20% or users are still using IE6. All analytics that I personally monitor are showing less than 10% and some sites are receiving less than 5%. There are many organizations and groups who have recently banned together to start a movement to eliminate IE6 including the group at IE6 No More. Even some mainstream organizations such as YouTube are beginning to announce they will no longer support IE6 as a technology and only limited resources will be available to those who continue to use the browser. Even Microsoft is pushing for users to give up IE6 especially on the heals of the release of IE8 which Microsoft is actively pushing through its automatic updates.
So, if you are using IE6 to read this post I implore you to update your browser right now by installing IE8. Also, don’t forget that there are plenty of other popular browser alternatives available such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. If you haven’t tried one of these, I do encourage you to install IE8 AND one of the “other guys” even just to try it out, see what else is available.